Singing of Sex and Freedom: Courtesans and Erotic Arts in “Zabet”

Abstract: This article examines depictions of mixed-race courtesans in the eighteenthcentury Creole courtesan song “Zabet” which was originally transcribed in an unpublished document by the travel writer Moreau de Saint-Méry (1750–1819). My analysis of “Zabet” interrogates the intersecting oppressions of racism, sexism, and imperialism. Specifically, this article demonstrates how the lyrics of this song present a woman-to-woman sexual mentorship that provides a space of resistance for women of color to these intersecting oppressions. Through this mentorship, the song’s narrator/singer provides important lessons for mixed-race women in how to manipulate racialized and gendered stereotypes of the sexual marketplace in colonial Saint-Domingue.