Zofloya

Dacre’s novel is subtitled “The Moor,” and Zofloya is repeatedly described using this term. This outdated term is non-specific and has historically been used in Western European culture and literature to identify someone who is Muslim, African, or both. The use of the term “Moor” likely dates to the ancient Roman era: in 25 BCE, Rome conquered territory in northern Africa, traditionally ruled by Berber kings, and eventually established two provinces there. The term “Moor” derives from the Latin word Maurus, initially referencing these indigenous North African peoples. After the rise of the Islamic faith in the 7th century CE, many people in the region became converts to Islam and eventually adopted some elements of Arabic culture. In the year 711, a group of Muslim Berbers conquered a significant portion of territory in present-day Spain and Portugal, establishing a Muslim state known as Al-Andalus, which endured in some form into the late 15th century, although its borders were often in flux.

The proximity of this region to Christian European kingdoms, particularly Spain, meant that throughout the medieval and early modern eras, the term “Moor” became generalized. Rather than referring to a specific group of individuals from North Africa, it could simply be used to signal anyone who practiced the Islamic religion, or anyone who was perceived as “darker-skinned” or even simply “exotic” in some way. A historical privileging of whiteness and Christianity in Western European culture means that calling someone a “Moor” was a way to signal what they were not (Christian and of European ancestry) rather than necessarily providing clear information about their ethnicity or religion.

The most famous reference to a “Moor” in English literature is the eponymous protagonist of William Shakespeare’s Othello (written around 1603); like Dacre’s novel, this play is set in Venice. Othello is described several times as Black; there are also references to him having converted to Christianity, implying he was likely initially a Muslim. In Shakespeare’s play, Othello’s racial and religious “otherness” becomes a source of conflict and tragedy; however, Othello himself is not necessarily portrayed in a negative light. He is tricked and manipulated by a Venetian character named Iago, who is the clear villain of the play. The use of the term “Moor” is undoubtedly connected to racist assumptions and a history of racial and religious prejudice in Western Europe, but not all characters described as “Moors” are always portrayed as villains. For her part, writing 200 years after Othello, Dacre does depict Zofloya in a negative light, reflecting the cultural and historical context of 19th century racial ideology.