Suzanne Miers – författare

This is the prequel book to The End of Slavery in Africa, both very well-respected examinations of this subject.

This landmark book, now back in print, explores the historical experiences of slaves, masters, and colonials as they all confronted the end of slavery in fifteen sub-Saharan African societies. The essays demonstrate that it is impossible to generalize about whether the end of slavery was a relatively mild and nondisruptive process or whether it marked a significant change in the organization of these societies. This wide-ranging inquiry is of lasting value to Africanists and a variety of social and economic historians.

This book brings together a series of new case studies, some by young scholars, others by widely published authors. All are based on original research and designed to enhance our understanding of the process of the abolition of slavery in Africa at the grass-roots level. Part of the studies are on new areas of interest such as the German colonies and the Algerian Sahara. Others throw new light on questions already debated, such as emancipation of the Gold Coast. Some focus on the impact of abolition on particular groups of slaves, such as the royal slaves in Nigeria and concubines in Morocco. Among the themes considered is the role of slaves in their own emancipation, the short and long-term results of abolition, the role of the League of Nations, and the vestiges of slavery in Africa today.

This book brings together a series of new case studies, some by young scholars, others by widely published authors. All are based on original research and designed to enhance our understanding of the process of the abolition of slavery in Africa at the grass-roots level. Part of the studies are on new areas of interest such as the German colonies and the Algerian Sahara. Others throw new light on questions already debated, such as emancipation of the Gold Coast. Some focus on the impact of abolition on particular groups of slaves, such as the royal slaves in Nigeria and concubines in Morocco. Among the themes considered is the role of slaves in their own emancipation, the short and long-term results of abolition, the role of the League of Nations, and the vestiges of slavery in Africa today.

In her new book, well-known Africanist Suzanne Miers places modern slavery in its historical context, tracing the phenomenal development of the international anti-slavery movement over the last hundred years. She demonstrates how the problems of eradication seem greater and more intractable today than they had ever been, showing how slavery has expanded to include newer forms from 1919 to 2000, some of them crueler than the chattel slavery so familiar to the public mind. Miers describes the targets of ongoing anti-slavery campaigns, including forced labor, forced prostitution, forced marriage, the exploitation of child labor and of migrant and contract labor. She centers her story on Great Britain's efforts to suppress the slave trade since the late eighteenth century, and draws upon her extensive work in Africa, where slavery has attracted the greatest humanitarian and international attention. This book is a valuable resource for those interested in world history, slavery, race and ethnic history, international human rights, and labor in the world economy.

In her new book, well-known Africanist Suzanne Miers places modern slavery in its historical context, tracing the phenomenal development of the international anti-slavery movement over the last hundred years. She demonstrates how the problems of eradication seem greater and more intractable today than they had ever been, showing how slavery has expanded to include newer forms from 1919 to 2000, some of them crueler than the chattel slavery so familiar to the public mind. Miers describes the targets of ongoing anti-slavery campaigns, including forced labor, forced prostitution, forced marriage, the exploitation of child labor and of migrant and contract labor. She centers her story on Great Britain's efforts to suppress the slave trade since the late eighteenth century, and draws upon her extensive work in Africa, where slavery has attracted the greatest humanitarian and international attention. This book is a valuable resource for those interested in world history, slavery, race and ethnic history, international human rights, and labor in the world economy.

The literature on women enslaved around the world has grown rapidly in the last ten years, evidencing strong interest in the subject across a range of academic disciplines. Until Women and Slavery, no single collection has focused on female slaves who—as these two volumes reveal—probably constituted the considerable majority of those enslaved in Africa, Asia, and Europe over several millennia and who accounted for a greater proportion of the enslaved in the Americas than is customarily acknowledged.Women enslaved in the Americas came to bear highly gendered reputations among whites—as "scheming Jezebels," ample and devoted "mammies," or suffering victims of white male brutality and sexual abuse—that revealed more about the psychology of enslaving than about the courage and creativity of the women enslaved. These strong images of modern New World slavery contrast with the equally expressive virtual invisibility of the women enslaved in the Old—concealed in harems, represented to meddling colonial rulers as "wives" and "nieces," taken into African families and kin-groups in subtlely nuanced fashion.Women and Slavery presents papers developed from an international conference organized by Gwyn Campbell.Volume 1 ContributorsSharifa AhjumRichard B. AllenKatrin BromberGwyn CampbellCatherine Coquery-VidrovitchJan-Georg DeutschTimothy FernyhoughPhilip J. HavikElizabeth Grzymala JordanMartin A. KleinGeorge Michael La RuePaul E. LovejoyFred MortonRichard RobertsKirsten A. Seaver

The literature on women enslaved around the world has grown rapidly in the last ten years, evidencing strong interest in the subject across a range of academic disciplines. Until Women and Slavery, no single collection has focused on female slaves who—as these two volumes reveal—probably constituted the considerable majority of those enslaved in Africa, Asia, and Europe over several millennia and who accounted for a greater proportion of the enslaved in the Americas than is customarily acknowledged.Women enslaved in the Americas came to bear highly gendered reputations among whites—as "scheming Jezebels," ample and devoted "mammies," or suffering victims of white male brutality and sexual abuse—that revealed more about the psychology of enslaving than about the courage and creativity of the women enslaved. These strong images of modern New World slavery contrast with the equally expressive virtual invisibility of the women enslaved in the Old—concealed in harems, represented to meddling colonial rulers as "wives" and "nieces," taken into African families and kin-groups in subtlely nuanced fashion.Women and Slavery presents papers developed from an international conference organized by Gwyn Campbell.Volume 1 ContributorsSharifa AhjumRichard B. AllenKatrin BromberGwyn CampbellCatherine Coquery-VidrovitchJan-Georg DeutschTimothy FernyhoughPhilip J. HavikElizabeth Grzymala JordanMartin A. KleinGeorge Michael La RuePaul E. LovejoyFred MortonRichard RobertsKirsten A. Seaver

The literature on women enslaved around the world has grown rapidly in the last ten years, evidencing strong interest in the subject across a range of academic disciplines. Until Women and Slavery, no single collection has focused on female slaves who-as these two volumes reveal-probably constituted the considerable majority of those enslaved in Africa, Asia, and Europe over several millennia and who accounted for a greater proportion of the enslaved in the Americas than is customarily acknowledged.Women enslaved in the Americas came to bear highly gendered reputations among whites-as “scheming Jezebels,” ample and devoted “mammies,” or suffering victims of white male brutality and sexual abuse-that revealed more about the psychology of enslaving than about the courage and creativity of the women enslaved. These strong images of modern New World slavery contrast with the equally expressive virtual invisibility of the women enslaved in the Old-concealed in harems, represented to meddling colonial rulers as “wives” and “nieces,” taken into African families and kin-groups in nuanced fashion.Volume 2 ContributorsHenrice AltinkLaurence BrownMyriam CottiasLaura F. EdwardsRichard FollettTara InnissBarbara KrauthamerJoseph C. MillerBernard MoittKenneth MorganClaire RobertsonMarsha RobinsonFelipe SmithMariza de Carvalho Soares

The literature on women enslaved around the world has grown rapidly in the last ten years, evidencing strong interest in the subject across a range of academic disciplines. Until Women and Slavery, no single collection has focused on female slaves who-as these two volumes reveal-probably constituted the considerable majority of those enslaved in Africa, Asia, and Europe over several millennia and who accounted for a greater proportion of the enslaved in the Americas than is customarily acknowledged.Women enslaved in the Americas came to bear highly gendered reputations among whites-as “scheming Jezebels,” ample and devoted “mammies,” or suffering victims of white male brutality and sexual abuse-that revealed more about the psychology of enslaving than about the courage and creativity of the women enslaved. These strong images of modern New World slavery contrast with the equally expressive virtual invisibility of the women enslaved in the Old-concealed in harems, represented to meddling colonial rulers as “wives” and “nieces,” taken into African families and kin-groups in nuanced fashion.Volume 2 ContributorsHenrice AltinkLaurence BrownMyriam CottiasLaura F. EdwardsRichard FollettTara InnissBarbara KrauthamerJoseph C. MillerBernard MoittKenneth MorganClaire RobertsonMarsha RobinsonFelipe SmithMariza de Carvalho Soares

Significant numbers of the people enslaved throughout world history have been children. The vast literature on slavery has grown to include most of the history of this ubiquitous practice, but nearly all of it concentrates on the adult males whose strong bodies and laboring capacities preoccupied the masters of the modern Americas. Children in Slavery through the Ages examines the children among the enslaved across a significant range of earlier times and other places; its companion volume will examine the children enslaved in recent American contexts and in the contemporary/modern world.This is the first collection to focus on children in slavery. These leading scholars bring our thinking about slaving and slavery to new levels of comprehensiveness and complexity. They further provide substantial historical depth to the abuse of children for sexual and labor purposes that has become a significant humanitarian concern of governments and private organizations around the world in recent decades.The collected essays in Children in Slavery through the Ages fundamentally reconstruct our understanding of enslavement by exploring the often-ignored role of children in slavery and rejecting the tendency to narrowly equate slavery with the forced labor of adult males. The volume's historical angle highlights many implications of child slavery by examining the variety of children's roles—as manual laborers and domestic servants to court entertainers and eunuchs—and the worldwide regions in which the child slave trade existed.

Significant numbers of the people enslaved throughout world history have been children. The vast literature on slavery has grown to include most of the history of this ubiquitous practice, but nearly all of it concentrates on the adult males whose strong bodies and laboring capacities preoccupied the masters of the modern Americas. Children in Slavery through the Ages examines the children among the enslaved across a significant range of earlier times and other places; its companion volume will examine the children enslaved in recent American contexts and in the contemporary/modern world.This is the first collection to focus on children in slavery. These leading scholars bring our thinking about slaving and slavery to new levels of comprehensiveness and complexity. They further provide substantial historical depth to the abuse of children for sexual and labor purposes that has become a significant humanitarian concern of governments and private organizations around the world in recent decades.The collected essays in Children in Slavery through the Ages fundamentally reconstruct our understanding of enslavement by exploring the often-ignored role of children in slavery and rejecting the tendency to narrowly equate slavery with the forced labor of adult males. The volume's historical angle highlights many implications of child slavery by examining the variety of children's roles—as manual laborers and domestic servants to court entertainers and eunuchs—and the worldwide regions in which the child slave trade existed.

Child Slaves in the Modern World is the second of two volumes that examine the distinctive uses and experiences of children in slavery in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This collection of previously unpublished essays exposes the global victimization of child slaves from the period of abolition of legal slavery in the nineteenth century to the human rights era of the twentieth century. It contributes to the growing recognitionthat the stereotypical bonded male slave was in fact a rarity.Nine of the studies are historical, with five located in Africa and three covering Latin America from the British Caribbean to Chile. One study follows the children liberated in the famousAmistad incident (1843). The remaining essays cover contemporary forms of child slavery, from prostitution to labor to forced soldiering.Child Slaves in the Modern World adds historical depth to the current literature on contemporary slavery, emphasizing the distinctive vulnerabilities of children, or effective equivalents,that made them particularly valuable to those who could acquire and control them. The studies also make clear the complexities of attempting to legislate or decree regulations limiting practices that appear to have been—and continue to be —ubiquitous around the world.Contributors: Benjamin N. Lawrance, Gwyn Campbell, Cecily Jones, Sue Taylor, Nara Milanich, Martin Klein, Bernard Moitt, Trevor R. Getz, William G. Clarence-Smith, Jonathan Blagbrough, Philip Whalen, Malika Id' Salah, Zosa de Sas Kropiwnicki, Sarah Maguire, and Mike Dottridge.