Slavery in Africa: Historical and Anthropological PerspectivesSuzanne Miers, Igor Kopytoff Univ of Wisconsin Press, 1977 - 474 pages This collection of sixteen short papers, together with a complex and very much longer introductory essay by the editors on "African 'Slavery' as an Institution of Marginality," constitutes an impressive attempt by anthropologists and historians to explore, describe, and analyze some of the various kinds of human bondage within a number of precolonial African societies. It is important to note that in spite of the precolonial emphasis of the volume, all of the essays are based at least partly on anthropological or ethnohistorical field research carried out since 1959. All but one have been augmented greatly by more conventional historical research in published as well as archival sources. And although the volume's focus is upon the structures and conditions of servitude within the several African societies described, many of the essays illustrate, and some discuss, the conceptual as well as the practical difficulties of separating the institutions and customs of "domestic" African slavery from those of the European dominated commercial slave trade in which many of the societies participated. -- from JSTOR http://www.jstor.org (May 24, 2013). |
Contents
African Slavery as an Institution of Marginality | 3 |
The Societies Discussed in This Volume | 4 |
THE SLAVE AS INSTITUTIONALIZED OUTSIDER | 83 |
Margiland | 86 |
VARIATIONS IN THE USES OF SLAVES | 103 |
Peoples of the Zambesi Region ca 17501850 | 106 |
Sena Society 107 The Acquisition of Akaporo 107 Social | 119 |
Igbo Country | 122 |
The Mbanza Manteke Region of Zaïre | 236 |
THE HISTORICAL DYNAMICS OF SLAVE SYSTEMS | 259 |
The Kerebe and Their Neighbors | 262 |
Leone | 287 |
The Vai and Their Neighbors | 288 |
The Duala of Cameroon | 305 |
Northern Part of Cameroon Coast | 306 |
Servitude among the Wolof and Sereer of Senegambia | 335 |
Slavery in NineteenthCentury Aboh Nigeria | 133 |
The Lower Niger | 134 |
Slavery and the Evolution of NineteenthCentury Damagaram | 155 |
Damagaram at the End of the Nineteenth Century | 156 |
The Character of Slavery in Damagaram 158 Procurement | 169 |
Slaves and the State 169 Conclusions 172 Glossary | 175 |
SLAVERY IN THE STRUCTURE OF DESCENT GROUPS | 179 |
Sherbro Area | 182 |
Imbangala Lineage Slavery Angola | 205 |
Mbundu and Neighboring Peoples in the Late Nineteenth Century | 206 |
Economic and Social Dimensions of Kongo Slavery Zaïre | 235 |
Precolonial Senegambia Showing Wolof and Sereer Areas | 336 |
THE ECOLOGY OF SERVILITY IN MULTIETHNIC SETTINGS | 365 |
Tawana Expansion ca 18471906 | 368 |
Desert Edge Niger and Nigeria | 391 |
Territory of the Tuareg of the Central Sudan Nineteenth Century | 392 |
SLAVERY AND EMANCIPATION UNDER COLONIAL RULE | 413 |
Sierra Leone in 1912 | 416 |
The Machube | 435 |
Borgou and Northern Benin | 436 |
| 461 | |
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Common terms and phrases
abika Aboh acquired African agricultural authority became become belonged called captives chiefs child clan clients coast colonial considered continued cultural dependents descendants described distinct domestic Duala economic effect European example existed fact father Fulbe given household Imbangala important increased individual institutions interview jaam Kerebe kin group king kinsmen labor land less lineage lived London machube mafa major male marginality marriage married master means nineteenth century officials origin outsiders owner particular pawn period persons political population position possible practice probably production purchase question referred relations relationship relatively remained responsibility result River role rule rulers Sena servile Sherbro slave trade slavery slaves social society sometimes sources status structure successful suggests term titles trade traditional Tuareg units usually village wealth Western wife wives women