La masacre del Zong (1781): una experiencia de empatía histórica

Abstract

This research seeks to provide a new perspective on the impact of work on historical empathy developed with students. It is based on an experience with 4th E.S.O. students, focused on the episode known as the slaughter of the slave ship Zong (1781), in which 142 African slaves were thrown into the sea. In the current proposal, located within the teaching unit Human Rights and human trafficking: a problem of yesterday and today, they were invited to reflect and comment on the event and the judicial process that accompanied it. After working in class, one of the proposed exercises was to answer the question: Should the ship's captain Zong be sentenced? From the analysis of the responses (n=100) different degrees of empathy were established, which resulted in a solid and valuable study, in line with other similar investigations in this same field.