#20 The Paradoxes of Freedom: a Socio-Historical Approach w/ Orlando Patterson

In this and the following podcast, you will listen to selected parts of a lecture series on the subject of slavery and freedom with professor of Sociology at Harvard University, Orlando Patterson. The lectures were held in December 2023 at various locations in London and were recorded by our colleague, Rolf Scott.

This episode features the first lecture given by Patterson titled ‘The Paradox of Freedom: a Socio-Historical Approach’, held at the Royal Anthropological Institute in London. The episode begins with an introduction by David Scott, professor at Colombia University, who summarises the line of thought going through three of Patterson’s most treasured monographs: ‘The Sociology of Slavery’ from 1967, ‘Slavery and Social Death’ from 1982, and ‘Freedom in the Making of Western Culture’ from 1991. Patterson then proceeds with unfolding the deeply contested value and concept of freedom with regards to its intimate connection with slavery. The first 40 minutes of the lecture, Patterson supports his claim that freedom is a socially constructed value and a cultural product of the West made possible by relations of slavery. In the last 50 minutes, Patterson then relates this dialectic of freedom and slavery to its historical development through Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, and Christianity.

If you are interested in learning more about Patterson’s work, you can listen to his second lecture on slavery and genocide here on the Anthropology on Air podcast channel, and you can find videos of both lectures in full length including an open conversation session on YouTube. Links are provided in the show notes.

We hope you enjoy the episode.

Resources:

-       Lecture series: https://therai.org.uk/events/lecture-professor-orlando-patterson-the-paradox-of-freedom-a-socio-historical-approach/

-       Video of this episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vurr2AwIu0M

-       Video of the second lecture on slavery and genocide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW7Nw5aFAgE&t=8s

-       Video of open conversation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHZsNu62mas&t=4085s