Book contents
- African Voices on Slavery and the Slave Trade
- African Voices on Slavery and the Slave Trade
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Foreword Beyond the Printed Word
- Introduction Finding the African Voice
- Part One Remembering Slavery and the Slave Trade
- Part Two The Verbal Arts and Everyday Objects
- Part Three Documenting Our Own Histories and Cultural Practices
- Part Four Slavery Observed: European Travelers’ Accounts
- Part Five Administrative Records
- Part Six Legal Records
- Part Seven Recorded Encounters with the Enslaved: Christian Workers in Africa
- Part Eight Documents from Muslim Africa
- 41 Introduction:
- 42 The Arabic Letters of Ghadames Slaves in the Niger Bend, 1860–1900
- 43 The “Hidden Transcripts” and Legal Rights of Slaves in the Muslim World
- 44 Slave Wills along the Swahili Coast
- Part Nine Living with the Past
- Index
43 - The “Hidden Transcripts” and Legal Rights of Slaves in the Muslim World
A Legal Case from Nineteenth-Century Mauritania
from Part Eight - Documents from Muslim Africa
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 April 2013
Book contents
- African Voices on Slavery and the Slave Trade
- African Voices on Slavery and the Slave Trade
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Foreword Beyond the Printed Word
- Introduction Finding the African Voice
- Part One Remembering Slavery and the Slave Trade
- Part Two The Verbal Arts and Everyday Objects
- Part Three Documenting Our Own Histories and Cultural Practices
- Part Four Slavery Observed: European Travelers’ Accounts
- Part Five Administrative Records
- Part Six Legal Records
- Part Seven Recorded Encounters with the Enslaved: Christian Workers in Africa
- Part Eight Documents from Muslim Africa
- 41 Introduction:
- 42 The Arabic Letters of Ghadames Slaves in the Niger Bend, 1860–1900
- 43 The “Hidden Transcripts” and Legal Rights of Slaves in the Muslim World
- 44 Slave Wills along the Swahili Coast
- Part Nine Living with the Past
- Index
Summary
Until the second half of the twentieth century, slavery and the trade in slaves were part of everyday life among many societies of western Africa. This chapter examines a legal debate surrounding the ownership and treatment of an enslaved caravan worker. The details of this unusual case, which sheds light on the local determinants of slavery, were recorded in a legal document found in a private family archive in the oasis town of Tishit, located in the heart of the Saharan country known today as the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. This document sheds light on four subjects: the trans-Saharan slave-trading world and the use of slaves as caravan workers; Islamic law and the rights of slaves; the public space accorded to the enslaved in various cultural settings; and the voices of the enslaved or hidden transcripts that can be gleaned from legal documents.
Keywords
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- Chapter
- Information
- African Voices on Slavery and the Slave Trade , pp. 503 - 510Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2013