Cultural Appropriation and Abolitionism in the 18th Century

​Olympe de Gouges, when writing her play about slavery, Zamore and Mirza, or the Fortunate Shipwreck, displayed a certain amount of confusion about the geographical setting and the people she depicted. The play is described as an Indian drama. The Action  is said to take in the East Indies. The main characters, Zamore and Mirza are described as Indians and another as governor of a Town and a French Colony in India. There are also 'several local indians'. Gouges describes a ballet that is take place at the end of the performance where Indians and soldiers mix, and which is to represent the discovery of America.
 
In a  postcript she added to the play, she recommended that the theatrical company 'adopt both the colour and the dress of the Negro.' thereby contradicting apparent claims that her protagonists are either Asian or native Americans.
 
Although the French did colonize India, it is not clear that this is supposed to be the setting of the play. Rather, the West Indies is where the French had slaves. What about East Indies? The French did again colonise Vietnam, then Indochina, but this was not where the slave trade was conducted. On the other hand, the French East India Company had interest in Mauritius and Reunion (Ile de France and Ile de Bourbon), both, in the West Indies. The proximity of the West Indies to America may have led to the idea of a ballet re-enacting the discovery of America. 

​What can we make of such racial ignorance and inept geography? Of course Olympe was largely uneducated. And the anti-slavery movement in France was yet to grow strong enough that many people were aware of the specifics of the slave trade and of the conditions of living in the West Indies. In fact, Gouges was one of those who helped bring the evil of slavery to the attention of the French public, and Brissot, one of the founders of the Club des Amis des Noirs, claimed to be influenced by her play, and offered her a membership to the abolitionist club as soon as it was founded.
 
Olympe was ignorant, but she did not, as an 18th century woman, have much of an opportunity to educate herself by travelling. She was confused, but had good intentions: she felt that by portraying courageous, intelligent and compassionate runaway slaves, she would spread the word about the abuse that was perpetrated and interest the public in helping stop that abuse.
 
Poor education, lack of opportunity, good intentions all sound like the sort of excuses given for every day racism and cultural appropriation. Does it make sense to see in Zamore and Mirza the beginnings of these phenomena?

Ballet - at the end of the last act. 

The performance should end with an heroic Ballet of Savages and Soldiers; Zamore and Mirza’s wedding takes place on stage; a tree trunk serving as an Altar, men and women should file past, each holding a palm frond. Zamore and Mirza are to be carried in triumph on a palanquin; a chariot, pulled by slaves, carrying Madame de Saint-Frémont, closes the procession. Zamore and Mirza approach the Altar, led by two elderly People, one of each sex. The young couple kneel while the old people crown them and young Savages dance around them. A canon is heard and the sea appears to be covered in Ships. This Ballet must depict the discovery of America, the terrified Savages interrupt their ceremony and run towards the shore. The Soldiers arrive in a mass, the Savages hand over their kneeling women to the Soldiers and then [all run and hide in the forest. The women pretend to hand themselves over to the force of the Warriors but as soon as the Ballet starts they all run away over the Hill. The Soldiers seem to pursue them angrily. The General appears and halts, at a sign, the fury of the Soldiers, and gives them such an example of morality that the women return. The General makes them understand that he landed on the Island to protect them rather than to tyrannise them. The Ballet ends in admirable harmony; Indian Music, blending with Military Music, must create a novel theatrical effect.