Reconfiguring Slavery
West African Trajectories
Distributed for Liverpool University Press
Despite our tendencies to historicize slavery by repeatedly proclaiming its death or end, this volume shows we are mistaken in relegating it to the past, through focusing on a range of trajectories followed by slavery as an institution, as well the lives of particular groups of slave descendents. The contributions presented here show that existing studies of slavery and abolition in West Africa do not adequately portray the fragmented field, and this volume advances a new conceptual framework for understanding slavery in West Africa today by focusing on its recent reconfigurations rather than historical lineages.
List of Figures
Notes on Contributors
Preface
A Note on Language
1. Introduction: Rethinking Slavery in West Africa
Benedetta Rossi
2. Slave Descent and Social Status in Sahara and Sudan
Martin A. Klein
3. African American Psychologists, the Atlantic Slave Trade and Ghana: A History of the Present
Tom McCaskie
4. After Abolition: Metaphors of Slavery in the Political History of the Gambia
Alice Bellagamba
5. Islamic Patronage and Republican Emancipation: The Slaves of the Almaami in the Senegal River Valley
Jean Schmitz
6. Curse and Blessing: On Post-slavery Modes of Perception and Agency in Benin
Christine Hardung
7. Contemporary Trajectoies of Slavery in Haalpulaar Society (Mauritania)
Olivier Leservoisier
8. Slavery and Politics: Stigma, Decentralisation and Political Representation in Niger and Benin
Eric Komlavi Hahonou
9. Slavery and Migration: Social and Physical Mobility in Ader (Niger)
Benedetta Rossi
10. Discourses on Slavery: Reflections on Forty Years of Research
Philip Burnham
Glossary of Foreign Words
Index
Anthropology: General Anthropology
You may purchase this title at these fine bookstores. Outside the USA, see our international sales information.
