posted
i heard that there was a form of slavery in Africa - but it was indentured labor and common. In Kutonu they have this system. It's not like brutal slavery in the Americas.
Posts: 34 | From: everywhere | Registered: Aug 2008
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posted
Yes, it is likely that indentured survitude was not uncommon in West Africa.
Of coarse there were black Africans that owned white slaves (not only in West and Western Africa nor only in recent history).
But it sounds like osirion's thread was more focused on the the Americas' version.
For a while the slaving industry wasn't yet as African-focused as it would become in the later dates many of us are more familiar with. The laws in the North American colonies weren't as anti - black nor were our contracts extended indefinately. Our ancestors would go free - for a time.
osirion - mind you that the 'racism' and prejudiced, racist view that associated blacks with slave was invented as a propaganda tool used for the following purposes.
By engraining in Americans' heads that blacks were negative [vile, savage, etc] in any possible manner you could imagine they create a bias that pits the people in favor of whites and in opposition to blacks.
A.)This eases the psyches of American Christians with concerns to B.
B.) African slaves were much more productive than others and in order to maximize profits you need to first remorselessly exploit the African labour and to keep morale high it's best that there is no knowledge that moral evils are being commited.
C.) This Propaganda was useful as well in pacifying the morale of the oppressed black collective.
D.) Last but a key reason white 'supremacy' persists as a major (albeit in some respects discrete) ideology today: this propaganda is especially attractive for certain whites as it also coyly plays on *insecurity* and thusly sustains its self on folks egos and their need/desire for compensation -> self-aggrandisement (and thus it is ultimately very powerful and tempting).
quote:* This bias is ultimately social in the beginning and persists to this day. If you don't believe me ask the average (uninformed) American a question -- the answer to which you know contradicts popular stereotype/popular misconceptions -- and pay very close attention to the dialogue you get -> not to whether answers are for or against but rather to how the points to the contrary are made ie. the reasoning/logic behind them is often rooted in a tautological arguement (ideology). The only exceptions are ones who bring up empirical/abstract data [math] or historical evidence [history] and do not desperately cling on to them (as if it were more concrete & non-abstract acual science/biology) and rather know that they/we do not know based on selective statistics and history texts alone.
posted
Osirion, Given your implicit and broad definition of "slave" then children and wives would be slaves of their parents and husbands respectively. Bearing in mind that the essence of slavery is that one is not free to dispose of oneself as one sees fit.
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But the essence of being free to dispose of oneself as one sees fit really does not capture the issue of European-style slavery of the African and the Native American in the Americas and colonial slavery in Africa.
The peculiarity of European slavery in Americas and Africa is that the slave was completely dehumanised which led to him/her being treated with extreme cruelty.
Posts: 5492 | Registered: Nov 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Alive-(What Box): a key reason white 'supremacy' persists as a major ideology today is because this propaganda was/is especially attractive for certain whites as it coyly plays on *insecurity* and thusly sustains its self on folks' egos and their need/desire for compensation
ie,
Al needs/wishes to feel better about himself.
So, when presented with the option of "White Supremacy", it only follows that Alfred would automatically prefer to believe a 'white race' is special by attaching that which is positive to 'white race' and seeing himself as *a part of something special* (that race). Nothing insane there.
^The insecurity is highlighted when the feel-good belief system is posed to prohibit white from ever equating to less than another group (in any respect).
quote:... compensation/aggrandisement (and thus it is ultimately very powerful and tempting).
quote:you could imagine they create a b*i*a*s that pits the people in favor of whites and in opposition to blacks.
Any who, to assume black = slave white -> master without a good amount of knowledge in non-Europe centric history is a product of bias.
Posts: 5555 | From: Tha 5th Dimension. | Registered: Apr 2006
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quote:Originally posted by AllixDarcy: i heard that there was a form of slavery in Africa - but it was indentured labor and common. In Kutonu they have this system. It's not like brutal slavery in the Americas.
The form of slavery practiced in Africa was not chattel slavery in that slaves were treated as chattel or animals. On the contrary slaves in Africa were treated humanely and could buy their freedom. What's more a newly freed slave could also move up the ranks of the society he was formerly enslaved in. Such was also the case in Ancient Egypt.
Slavery in America was like that for a short time but quickly degenerated into a harsh chattel slave system with black Africans dehumanized.
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