Peering beneath the surface of traditional historical narratives

Elizabeth Marsay wanted to ensure that her students were not hindered in their causal explanations of the abolition of slavery by being exposed to overly categorical, simplistic, and monocausal narratives in the classroom. By drawing on both English and Canadian theorisation about causation, Marsay outlines how her introduction of competing narratives enabled her students to consider the characterisation, prioritisation, and interrelation of multiple causes of slavery’s end in the British Empire.