Historical andmodern slavery

Week 18Ethnicity and ‘Race’

Recap

• Considered complexity of concepts

and terms and the contested and political nature of theories of ‘race’ and racism

• Looked at ‘whiteness’ to explore the relationship between ethnicity and identity

• Considered how nationalism is ‘imagined’, but that it leads to gendered effects

Outline

• Rise of the transatlantic slave trade

• Consider why Africans were enslaved and the ongoing legacy

• Look at modern day forms of ‘unfree’ labour

Rise of the TransatlanticSlave Trade

• Trading in slaves took place before the 15th Century

• But it rapidly increased afterwards

• Africa was the major supplier to the American continent

• During the 17th Century an estimated 1,341,00 slaves were shipped to the Caribbean sugar industry (Wolf, Europe and the People without History)

Beginnings of the Trade

• Initiators of the Trade along the West African Coast were the Portuguese

• Initially, trade was focused on other ‘products’ such as gold and spices

• Trade escalated when it was found that new colonial territories (such as São Tomé and Brazil) were ideal for growing sugar.

Growing Competition

• As the trade in Slaves became more lucrative, others such as the Dutch and British joined in.

• From the 18th Century slaves

were the main commodity traded

in Africa

• British slave trade became dominate

Capitalism and Slavery?

• Eric Williams argues that the slave trade was the main stimulant for the Industrial Revolution in Britain.

• Products were produced in England to trade for slaves, who were shipped across the Atlantic for profit.

Capitalism and Slavery?

• Map of commodity routes

• To what extent do you think the Slave Trade aided Britain’s Industrial Revolution?

Market Forces

• Over time the supply and demand issues changed both the sites of export for slaves and the market to buy them

• The Portuguese traded initially in areas like Sierra Leone, whereas the later British traded with West African areas such as the Gold Coast

• After the British Slave Trade was ended, slaves went to the Spanish New World areas such as Cuba

Why Africa?

• Europe had a history of slavery prior to the transatlantic trade – Directly in Scotland (miners and saltpan workers)– Indirectly through ‘indentured service’

• Many of the indentured servants were used to provide labour in the New World Colonies

• Indigenous populations were also used as slaves by colonisers

• But the preference was for African Slaves

Why Africa?

• Suggested reasons– Africans were better and more reliable– Native Americans proximity to their kin

encouraged rebelliousness and escape• African slaves of different linguistic and ethnic

origin were deliberately mixed to reduce solidarity

– Native groups could also be enlisted in help to track down and return runaways

• The colour of their skin was a permanent marker of their status

Supplying the Trade

• The ability of West Africa to supply the trade is also surprising

• Europeans financed the trade but the capture, delivery and control of the trade in Africa was in African hands

• African tribal organisations facilitated the development of the Trade

Supplying the Trade

• The tribes that collaborated with the trade gained wealth and power

• It built on existing commodity exchanges, but introduced prestige products such as firearms

• It built on existing inter-tribal slaves mechanisms, which were more benign (such as pawnship to settle debts)

Legacy of the Trade

• Slavery allowed the success of the colonialism of the ‘New World’ and the economic enrichment of Europe and the US

• It destroyed existing African tribal life and enhanced tribal rivalries. This plundering has legacies in the poverty experienced today.

• In the ‘New World’ even after slavery was abolished the ideology of the ‘other’ remained strong.

• Much of the poverty and racism experienced by Black people have their ideological and material routes in the transatlantic slave trade

• To what extend do you think the Transatlantic Slave Trade can still be considered responsible for problems in the world today?

Slavery Today

Far from being extinct, various forms of slavery still exist today. Including:

– Bonded labour • Assigning away ‘rights’ in payment for a debt (can be

passed down generations (estimated numbers 20 million Antislavery international)

– Forced labour • (including child labour) under threat of violence or other

penalties.

Slavery Today

• Forms of slavery

– Slavery by descent • is where people are either born into a slave

class or are from a 'group' that society views as suited to being used as slave labour.

– Forced marriage • married without choice and are forced into

lives of servitude

Trafficking

• The trade in slaves can also involve movements between or across nations

– Child Camel Jockeys

– Sex workers in Europe

– Sweatshop labour on some Pacific islands

– Mexican Men forced to work on farms in the US.

Victims or Villains?

• People who have been trafficked can have very little protection even after they have ‘escaped’– May be treated as illegal immigrants– Little support in being repatriated – May be ostracised at home either because of

fear of reprisals or because of nature of the work

Moves to outlaw

• Council of Europe's Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings 2005

• Aims to provide minimum assistance to trafficked people including;– At least 30 days to remain in the country to receive

support– Emergency medical assistance– Safe housing and legal advice.

• The UK Government has now announced intention to sign.

Summary

• The Transatlantic Slave Trade shaped the economic and social environment that we life in today

• Racism and poverty are two key reasons for slavery

• Slavery continues today in many different forms

Next week

• Consider theories of migration and diaspora

• Look at when diasporas are formed and the links maintained to home

• Consider how cultures merge and produce new forms