Besides trading, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and its Western Indian counterpart (WIC) also sought to expand their dominant position by establishing and managing colonies. Central to this... Show moreBesides trading, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and its Western Indian counterpart (WIC) also sought to expand their dominant position by establishing and managing colonies. Central to this strategy was to stimulate an orderly, self-producing colonial population, with a European elite at the top and a sharp distinction between free citizens and people in slavery. The reality was less orderly, however: in disparate colonial settlements such as Batavia, Cochin, Ceylon, Elmina, Suriname, Curaçao and Berbice, people from different backgrounds, religions, and social positions encountered one another and formed relationships – formal and informal, coercive and consensual – which could either challenge or reinforce the social divisions on which colonial hierarchies rested. Regulating Relations, focusing on the abovementioned settlements in the eighteenth century, investigates how norms around marriage, family, and sexuality formed in this complex world: how did colonial authorities attempt to regulate the intimate relations of populations under their control, and how did men and women of various backgrounds give shape to these norms through their own behavior and use of institutions? Show less
While the literature on slave flight in nineteenth-century North America has commonly focused on fugitive slaves escaping to the northern states and Canada through the “Underground Railroad”,... Show moreWhile the literature on slave flight in nineteenth-century North America has commonly focused on fugitive slaves escaping to the northern states and Canada through the “Underground Railroad”, Conditional Freedom aims to provide new insights into the evolving social and political geography of freedom and slavery in nineteenth-century North America, particularly by exploring the development of southern routes of escape from slavery in the US South and the experiences of self-emancipated slaves in the US-Mexican borderlands. First, Conditional Freedom provides a social history of enslaved freedom-seekers. Second, it also provides a political history of the contest between Mexican free soil and the spread of slavery west of the Mississippi river valley between 1803 and 1861. Its main question is: what was the nature of slave flight in the Mexican borderlands, and how and why did Mexico develop into a site of “conditional freedom” for slave refugees from the American South? In order to reconstruct the entangled stories of slave refugees and free soil in the US-Mexico borderlands, this study draws mostly upon municipal, county and state archives, military and judicial records, diplomatic and personal correspondence, newspaper articles, “runaway slave” advertisements, petitions, memoirs and travel accounts. Show less
In the nineteenth century, tens of thousands of enslaved people escaped slavery in the US South. The bulk of historiography has hitherto focused on those who left the slaveholding states in their... Show moreIn the nineteenth century, tens of thousands of enslaved people escaped slavery in the US South. The bulk of historiography has hitherto focused on those who left the slaveholding states in their endeavors to reach freedom. In reality, however, the majority of slave refugees stayed within the South. Cities of Refuge: Slave Flight and Illegal Freedom in the American Urban South, 1800-1860 is the first study to put permanent southern-internal slave flight centerstage. It investigates how and why urban spaces of freedom arose, and how refugees from slavery navigated them. The freedom these people found was of an illegal nature because it had no basis in law. Based on four major cities as case studies, this dissertation analyzes social, cultural, political, and economic processes that made illegal freedom possible. Drawing from material from Baltimore (Maryland), Richmond (Virginia), Charleston (South Carolina), and New Orleans (Louisiana), the size of the urban free black populations, degrees of urbanization, and work opportunities receive particular attention. In a nutshell, Cities of Refuge paints a nuanced picture of slavery, slave control, and freedom within the changing social geography of the American South. Show less
The urban labour market must have been substantial in early imperial Roman Italy, where the economy was thriving and urbanization rates were unprecedented. It could be argued that the existence of... Show moreThe urban labour market must have been substantial in early imperial Roman Italy, where the economy was thriving and urbanization rates were unprecedented. It could be argued that the existence of slavery precluded an actual labour market. The Roman World of Work argues, however, that the economic concepts of a labour market and labour market segmentation hold explanatory power for understanding labour in the cities of Roman Italy. It turns out that gender was more restricting for the position of an individual than legal status, or skill levels. The Roman labour market was segmented along these lines of sex, legal status and skill levels. Yet such factors were culturally determined: they were given meaning and filled in by family and non-familial relations. An individual labourer cannot therefore be viewed on his or her own, but should be understood in the context of the prevailing social structures. This was true for the freeborn, but also for the slave and freed components of the group. Family and non-familial collectives provided intersecting trust networks that were crucial to economic interaction in Roman society, where reliable information was scarce and economic insecurity loomed large. Show less
Based on rich and wide-ranging data, this thesis describes the sensitive issue of the contemporary emancipation trajectories of agro-pastoralist Fulɓe in Central Mali. It explores how people are... Show moreBased on rich and wide-ranging data, this thesis describes the sensitive issue of the contemporary emancipation trajectories of agro-pastoralist Fulɓe in Central Mali. It explores how people are currently dealing with hierarchies they inherited from past master-slave relations and focuses on the relational dynamics between members of a network of migrants. The importance of mobility to identity is explored by analyzing the tensions that exist among migrants to reproduce or change hierarchical relations in post-slavery societies. To purchase a copy, please email: asc@ascleiden.nl, or check www.ascleiden.nl, under Publications. Show less
The history of American slave family life has been circumscribed by two shortcomings. First, historians have long disagreed over the extent of slave agency in the development of slave families.... Show moreThe history of American slave family life has been circumscribed by two shortcomings. First, historians have long disagreed over the extent of slave agency in the development of slave families. Second, historians have tended to overemphasize the experiences of enslaved people in the cotton South, and rarely studied slave families from a comparative perspective. This study addresses both of these issues by examaning, from a comparative perspective, the boundaries and opportunities for slave family life in three distinct agricultural regions of the American South: Fairfax County, Virginia; Georgetown District, South Carolina; and St. James Parish, Louisiana. Show less
