This open access handbook takes a comparative and global approach to analyse the practice of slavery throughout history. To understand slavery - why it developed, and how it functioned in various societies – is to understand an important and widespread practice in world civilisations. With research traditionally being dominated by the Atlantic world, this collection aims to illuminate slavery that existed in not only the Americas but also ancient, medieval, North and sub-Saharan African, Near Eastern, and Asian societies. Connecting civilisations through migration, warfare, trade routes and economic expansion, the practice of slavery integrated countries and regions through power-based relationships, whilst simultaneously dividing societies by class, race, ethnicity and cultural group. Uncovering slavery as a globalising phenomenon, the authors highlight the slave-trading routes that crisscrossed Africa, helped integrate the Mediterranean world, connected Indian Ocean societies and fused the Atlantic world. Split into five parts, the handbook portrays the evolution of slavery from antiquity to the contemporary era and encourages readers to realise similarities and differences between various manifestations of slavery throughout history. Providing a truly global coverage of slavery, and including thematic injections within each chronological part, this handbook is a comprehensive and transnational resource for all researchers interested in slavery, the history of labour, and anthropology.
Author(s): Damian A. Pargas, Juliane Schiel
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan-COST
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 713
City: Brussels
Acknowledgments
Contents
Notes on Contributors
List of Figures
List of Tables
1 Introduction: Historicizing and Spatializing Global Slavery
Introduction
Global Perspectives of Slavery
This Handbook
Notes
Part I Ancient Societies (to 500 C.E.)
2 Mesopotamian Slavery
Introduction
Entering Slavery
The Labor and Economic Function of Slaves
The Experience of Household Slavery
Exiting Slavery
Conclusion: Paradigm and Variation
Notes
Further Readings
3 Ancient Egyptian Slavery
Introduction
Historical Overview
Entry into Enslavement
Abduction
Taxation
Sale
Hiring
Self-Sale
Birth
Debt Bondage
Extraction of Labor
Indirect Wages
Conditional Force
Commitment
Exit from Enslavement
Escape
Conditional Exit
Conclusions
Notes
Further Readings
4 Slavery in Ancient Greece
Introduction
Entry
The Experiences of Slaves
Exits
Notes
Further Readings
5 Slavery in the Roman Empire
Introduction
Entry into Slavery
Experiences of Enslavement—Labor Extraction
Experiences of Enslavement—Violent Domination
Exits from Slavery
Conclusion
Notes
Further Readings
6 Injection: An Archaeological Approach to Slavery
Introduction
The Archaeology of Slavery in State-Level Society
Classical Archaeology
African Diaspora
Finding Slaves in Small-Scale Societies
Conclusions
Notes
Further Readings
Part II Medieval Societies (500–1500 C.E.)
7 Slavery in the Byzantine Empire
Introduction
Entry into Slavery
The Enslaved in the Labor Market and Social Organization
Exit from Slavery, Economic Dependency, and Social Integration
Conclusion
Notes
Further Readings
8 Slavery in Medieval Arabia
Introduction
Entry into Slavery
Experiences of Slavery
Concubines
Eunuchs
Slave Soldiers
Female Slave Attendants and Domestics
Other Types of Labor Performed by Slaves
Exits from Slavery
Conclusions
Notes
Further Readings
9 Slavery in the Black Sea Region
Introduction
Entrance into Slavery
Experience of Slavery
Exit from Slavery
Conclusion
Notes
Further Readings
10 Slavery in the Western Mediterranean
Introduction
Entrance into Slavery
Experiences of Slavery
Exit from Slavery
Conclusion
Notes
Further Readings
11 The Question of Slavery in the Inca State
Introduction
The Inca Rulers
Becoming a Yana
Personal Service to the Ruler: Working for the Inca and Provincial Elites
Leaving the Yana Status
Conclusion
Notes
Further Readings
12 Injection: A Gender Perspective on Domestic Slavery
Notes
Further Readings
Part III Early Modern Societies (1500–1800 C.E.)
13 Slavery in the Mediterranean
Introduction1
Forms of Enslavement in the Mediterranean
Slaves’ Experiences
Exits from Slavery
Conclusion
Notes
Further Readings
14 Slavery in the Ottoman Empire
Introduction
Entries into Slavery
Extraction Possibilities (Labor and Other)
Exits
Notes
Further Readings
15 Slavery in the Holy Roman Empire
Introduction
Entry of Enslaved Persons into the Holy Roman Empire
Forms and Experiences of Enslavement in the Holy Roman Empire
Exit from Enslavement in the Holy Roman Empire
Conclusion
Notes
Further Readings
16 Slavery and Serfdom in Muscovy and the Russian Empire
Introduction
Slavery in Medieval Russia
Kholopstvo in Early Modern Russia
Entry
Labor Extraction and Daily Life
Politics Regarding Kholopstvo
Exits from Kholopstvo
The End of Kholopstvo
Serfdom in Muscovy and the Russian Empire
Entry into Serfdom
Extraction of Labor
Exit from Serfdom
Conclusion
Notes
Further Readings
17 Slavery in Late Ming China
Introduction
Enslavement Contracts: The Fiction of Voluntary Bondage
From Shadows to Light: Nubi Revolts
Entry: Becoming Nubi
Nubi Experience as Life in “Service”
Exit: The Unraveling Knot
Conclusion
Notes
Further Readings
18 Slavery in Chosŏn Korea
Introduction
Entry into Slavery
Experiences of Slaves
Exits from Slavery
Notes
Further Readings
19 Slavery in the Indian Ocean World
Introduction
Empires and the Consolidation of Pan-Indian Ocean Slaving Networks
Slaveries and Empires in the Age of Abolition
Notes
Further Readings
20 Maritime Passages in the Indian Ocean Slave Trade
Introduction
Routes into Slavery
Long Days’ Journey into the Night
On the Water
Conclusion
Notes
Further Readings
21 The Rise of Atlantic Slavery in the Americas
Introduction
Origins and Entry into Slavery
How People Lived and Worked as “Slaves”
Exits from Slavery
Conclusion
Notes
Further Readings
22 Plantation Slavery in the British Caribbean
Introduction
Rise of the Plantation System
The Atlantic Slave Trade
Jamaica circa 1756
Violence
Escaping Slavery and Slave Resistance
Notes
Further Reading
23 Injection: Atlantic Slavery and Commodity Chains
Introduction
Sugar
Textiles
Metals
Industrious Revolution and Industrial Revolution
Notes
Further Readings
Part IV Modern Societies (1800–1900 C.E.)
24 The Second Slavery in the Americas
Introduction
The Second Slavery
Plantations, Industrialization, Technology, and Second Slavery
Conclusion
Notes
Further Readings
25 Slavery in the US South
Introduction
Processes of Enslavement During the Second Slavery
Slave Labor in the Antebellum South
Paths to Freedom
Conclusion
Notes
Further Readings
26 Slavery in the Middle East and North Africa
Introduction
The Nineteenth-Century Transformations
Slavery and the Nineteenth-Century Transformations
Modernization of the Military
Effects of European Capitalism
Enslaved Labor
Abolition and Exit from Slavery
Conclusion
Notes
Further Readings
27 Slavery in Islamic West Africa
Introduction
How People Were Enslaved
Work of Enslaved People
Pathways to Freedom
Conclusion
Notes
Further Readings
28 Urban East African Slavery
Introduction
Entry into Slavery
Extraction of Labor During Slavery
Exits from Slavery
Conclusion
Notes
Further Readings
29 Slavery in South Asia
Introduction
Preliminaries: On Terminology
Entry into Slavery
Experiences During Slavery
Exits from Slavery
Conclusion
Notes
Further Readings
30 Slavery in Southeastern Europe
Introduction
Slavery in the Romanian Principalities: Basic Characterization and Entry into Slavery
Changes in the Institution of Slavery from the Mid-Eighteenth to the Mid-Nineteenth Centuries: Policies Regarding Slaves
Changes in Slave Labor: Extraction of Labor in the Final Period of Slavery
Exit from Slavery: Abolition of Slavery in the Romanian Principalities, 1831–1856
Conclusion
Notes
Further Readings
31 Injection: The Global Spread of Abolitionism
Introduction
The Rise and Development of Abolitionist Thought
The Mobilization of Abolitionist Movements
The Effects of Abolitionist Movements
Notes
Further Readings
Part V Contemporary Societies (1900–Present)
32 American Slaveries Since Emancipation
Introduction
The Afterlife of Chattel Slavery
What Were Postbellum American Slaveries Like?
Conclusion
Notes
Further Readings
33 Slavery in Francophone West Africa
Introduction1
Labor Coercion in Twentieth-Century West Africa
Tahoua: Slow Death of Slavery, Slow Birth of Wage Labor
Entry
Extraction
Exit
Conclusion
Notes
Further Readings
34 Slave Labor in Nazi Germany
Introduction
The Origins of Forced and Slave Labor in Nazi Germany
Terms and Practices
Civilian Foreign Forced Laborers
Prisoners of War Camps
Work Education Camps (Arbeitserziehungslager)
The Nazi Concentration Camps and Slave Labor
Entry: The (Pseudo-)Legal Basis for Admission
Camp Arrival and Initiation Rites
Prisoner Experiences and Forms of Extraction of Slave Labor
The Evolution of Slave Labor in the Camps (1933–1945)
The Terms and Conditions for the Establishment of a Subcamp
A Comparative Look at Slave Labor: Costs, Incentives, and Mechanization
Forms of Violence
The Inmate Society
The Perpetrators
Exit
Notes
Further Readings
35 State-Introduced Slavery in Soviet Forced Labor Camps
Introduction
The Gulag and (Coerced) Labor in the Soviet Union
Entry into the Gulag
Life and Work in the Gulag
Return from the Gulag
Notes
Further Readings
36 North Korean Slavery and Forced Labor in Present-Day Europe
Introduction
Entry into Slavery (How People Became Enslaved)
Experiences of Slavery
A Practice by Which Human Beings Were Held Captive for Indefinite Periods of Time
Treated as Property that Could Be Bought and Sold
Coerced into Extremely Dependent and Exploitative Power Relationships
Denied Rights (Including Potential Rights Over Their Labor, Lives, and Bodies)
Subjected to Forced Migration by Various Means
Compelled to Labor Against Their Will
DPRK Overseas Labor as Globalizing Factor
Notes
Further Readings
37 Modern Slavery in the Global Economy
Introduction
The Concept of Slavery: From the Abolition of Chattel Slavery to the Umbrella Term “Modern Slavery”
Classification Struggles and the Threshold of Slavery
Frameworks and Root Causes: How Wide and How Deep?
Conclusion
Notes
Further Readings
38 Injection: Modern Slavery and Political Strategy
Introduction
The Politics of Classification and Comparison
Modern Slavery and the Politics of Exception
Conclusion
Notes
Further Readings
39 Conclusion: Situating Slavery Studies in the Field of Global History
Global Slavery: Four Logics of Enslavement
Historicizing and Spatializing Slavery: Temporal Modes and Spatial Parameters
Situating Slavery Studies: Research Perspectives
Index
