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Research ArticleArticle

Promises and Pitfalls of Global Comparisons

Slavery in West African Political Cultures

BENEDETTA ROSSI
African Economic History, January 2021, 49 (1) 15-46; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3368/aeh.49.1.15
BENEDETTA ROSSI
Benedetta Rossi (), Associate Professor, African History and Anthropology, University College London (UCL).
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Abstract

Taking cue from Paul Lovejoy’s criticism of the dichotomies of centralized and decentralized societies, and Slave Societies and Societies with Slaves, this article contextualizes Lovejoy’s arguments within broader debates on historical comparisons in global slavery studies. It examines a case of slave trade that involved negotiations between actors belonging to different political cultures in regions west of Lake Chad in the 1920s through 1940s. The article agrees with Lovejoy’s criticism of macro-historical dichotomies and argues in favor of comparative models that go from the specific to the general. It suggests that historians pay specific attention to vernacular ideas and embodied experience.

  • © 2021 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
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African Economic History: 49 (1)
African Economic History
Vol. 49, Issue 1
1 Jan 2021
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Promises and Pitfalls of Global Comparisons
BENEDETTA ROSSI
African Economic History Jan 2021, 49 (1) 15-46; DOI: 10.3368/aeh.49.1.15

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Promises and Pitfalls of Global Comparisons
BENEDETTA ROSSI
African Economic History Jan 2021, 49 (1) 15-46; DOI: 10.3368/aeh.49.1.15
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  • Article
    • Abstract
    • Introduction
    • Africa in the World of Slavery
    • The Commandant, the Chief, and the Slaves of N’Guigmi
    • The Trial
    • The Enslavable Barbarian and the Barbarian Slaver
    • Ideas and Bodies
    • Conclusion
    • Acknowledgment
    • Footnotes
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  • References
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