Convenor(s)
Madeira-Santos Catarina / IMAF - EHESS
Curto José C. / York Universuty
The historical path of the colony of Angola has been marked by two major phenomena within the history of labor: the Atlantic slave trade directed towards markets throughout the Americas and forced labor within the Angolan colonial space and neighboring (inter) imperial areas. These two colonial labor phenomena interacted with each other, with the modalities of slavery and with the dependencies specific to the African societies involved. The terminus of this long and complex process coincided with the abolition of the indigenato regime in 1961. However, the transition from one phenomenon to the other remains largely understudied. In this panel, we want to emphasize approaches highlighting the tensions which have arisen between different schemes, concepts and practices of labor, not only from the point of view of the reformulation of metropolitan and international legal prescriptions, but also, and above all, from the point of view of colonial agents and African actors directly involved on the ground. Within this analysis of a longue durée process, the nineteenth century seems to represent “a place of privileged observation”: a profoundly “slavocratic” colonial society, formed over three centuries and with deep roots, is confronted with significant legal abolitionist movements and the need to transform itself economically, socially, institutionally, culturally, etc. What types of resistance, innovation, and/or continuity can be identified in this process? To what extent can forced labor be understood as a new form of slavery? How did local actors, colonial and African, position themselves within this transition/substitution and created new strategies for survival, individually or as groups? These are some of the important questions to be debated within a panel whose theme is only now attracting the historical attention it deserves.
Do tráfico de escravos ao trabalho forçado: a história de Angola na longa duração
O percurso da colonia de Angola foi marcado por dois fenómenos maiores da história do trabalho: o tráfico de escravos atlântico, em direcção aos mercados americanos, e o trabalho forçado dentro do espaço colonial angolano e nas áreas (inter) imperiais circunvizinhas. Estes dois fenómenos laborais coloniais, interagiram entre si e com as modalidades de escravatura e de dependência específicas das sociedades africanas envolvidas. O terminus desse longo e complexo processo coincidiu com a abolição do regime do indigenato em 1961. No entanto, a transição de um para outro fenómeno permanece, de uma maneira geral, pouco estudada. Neste painel pretendemos privilegiar as abordagens que ponham em evidência as tensões que se produziram entre diferentes regimes, concepções e práticas do trabalho, não só do ponto de vista da reformulação das prescrições legais metropolitanas e internacionais, mas também, e sobretudo, do ponto de vista dos agentes coloniais e dos actores africanos directamente envolvidos, no terreno. Nesta análise de longa duração, o século XIX parece representar “um lugar de observação privilegiado”: uma sociedade colonial profundamente escravocrata, formada e sedimentada ao longo de três séculos, vê-se confrontada com importantes movimentos legais abolicionistas e a necessidade de se reconverter do ponto de vista económico, social, institucional, cultural, etc. Que tipo de resistências, de inovações e/ou continuidades se podem identificar neste processo? De que maneira pode o trabalho forçado ser entendido como uma nova forma de escravatura? Como é que os actores locais, coloniais e africanos, se posicionaram perante esta transição/substituição e criaram novas estratégias de sobrevivência a título individual ou como grupo? Estas são algumas das questões fundamentais que serão debatidas neste painel, cujo tema começa agora a atrair a atenção que merece, por parte dos historiadores.
Madeira-Santos Catarina / IMAF-EHESS
Pawnship in Angola: a long term approach (XVIIth-XXth centuries) /La mise en gage en Angola. Une analyse dans la longue durée (XVIIe-XXe siècles)
This paper discusses practices of and transformations in pawnship within African societies of Angola during the longue durée. Our approach will focus on the impact of the Atlantic slave trade and of the installation of a colonial system (especially the Regime do Idígenato) on this African servile status. Therefore, interfaces between different regimes of slavery, servitude and labor will be specially underlined. Case studies, in turn, will permit to illustrate these issues and, at the same time, highlight the role of time, space and gender variables in shaping a wide range of situations.
Cette communication interroge les pratiques de la mise en gage (penhor) et leurs transformations, dans les sociétés africaines qui ont été en contact, plus au moins direct, avec la colonie de l’Angola, entre le XVIIème et le XXème siècle. Il s’agit d’évaluer l’impact de la traite atlantique et de l’instauration d’un système colonial officiel (notamment le Regime do Indigenato) sur ce statut servile africain, aussi bien que de repérer les porosités entre différents régimes d’esclavage, de servitude et de travail. Les études de cas permettront d’illustrer ces processus et d’apprécier le rôle des variables temps, espace et genre, dans la configuration d’un large éventail de situations.
Sapede Thiago / EHESS
«Church slaves» (muleke) in the Kingdom of Kongo (XVIIIth century)/Les « esclaves de l’église » (muleke) au Kongo du XVIIIe siècle
This paper focuses on the muleke (also called “church slaves”) in the 18th century Kingdom of Kongo. The word nkele (sing. muleke) was used by the missionaries to describe servile church assistants of African origin who occupied the lowest level of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. This term in Kikongo originally designates a child (or a young person), as well as dependents in a general sense. A considerable number of sources and scholars have described the muleke simply as “slaves. But a deeper analysis enables us to uncover a more complex status of muleke. This contribution discuss the particulars of this type of slavery and explores its relations with political power and Catholicism.
On s’intéresse aux muleke (sing. nleke), dits « esclaves de l’église », au Royaume du Kongo au XVIIIe siècle. Le terme nleke désigne en kikongo un enfant (ou jeune), et d’une manière générale les dépendants. Il fut employé par des missionnaires pour décrire les assistants d’origine africaine de statut servile occupant la base de la hiérarchie ecclésiastique. Une partie considérable des sources et de l’historiographie les caractérise en tant qu’ «esclaves » ou « serfs », soumis aux missionnaires européens. Mais une analyse critique permet d’y repérer un statut plus complexe. Cette enquête discute les spécificités de ce type d’esclavage et ses rapports avec le pouvoir politique et le catholicisme.
Curto José C. / York University
Libertos, Labor and Colonial Expansion: Angola, c. 1854-1875/Libertos, Trabalho, e Expansão Colonial: Angola, c. 1854-1875
Between 1854 and 1875, over 60,500 individuals saw their status in colonial Angola transformed from slave to that of liberto (liberated slave). Imposed by a metropolitan government under international pressure to end the export slave trade from and slavery in Angola, this transition created a large pool of servile laborers at the disposal of the colonial state for deployment in various expansionist schemes. Our contribution analyses the making, exploitation, and resistance of this large servile labor force in the attempt to create a “new” Brazil in colonial Angola.
Entre 1854 e 1875, mais de 60.500 pessoas viram o seu estatuto em Angola colonial transformado de escravo para liberto. Imposta por um governo metropolitano sob pressão internacional para acabar com o comércio da exportação de escravos e a escravidão propriamente dita em Angola, esta transição criou um grande numero de trabalhadores servis à disposição do estado colonial para serem utilizados em vários esquemas expansionistas. Nossa contribuição analisa a criação, exploração e resistência deste grande força de trabalho servil na tentativa de criar um “novo” Brasil em Angola colonial.
Sebillote Marie / EHESS
Villages of Liberty in Angola (XIXth century)/Villages de liberté en Angola (XIXème)
The arrival and settlement of Spiritan catholic missionaries in Angola around 1870 was followed by the recruitment of children to be raised in the missions’ schools. This way missionaries intended to create « liberty villages », composed only of catholic families having gone to these schools. The recruitment of girls was based on the missionaries’ use of a local practice: matrimonial compensation, a kind of exchange that can be simplified with the mirror image of a dowry. Catholic missionaries in the area of Landâna in Angola used this system, as evidenced by the marriage contracts written by these missionaries in 1888 that I will present in this paper.
L’arrivée et l’installation des missionnaires spiritains catholiques en Angola dans les années 1870 s’accompagnent du recrutement d’enfants pour peupler les écoles construites dans les missions. Le but, à terme, est de créer des « villages de liberté », villages peuplés de familles catholiques ayant été éduquées dans ces écoles. Le recrutement se fonde, en ce qui concerne les filles, sur l’utilisation d’une pratique locale: la compensation matrimoniale. Les missionnaires catholiques dans la région de Landâna en Angola ont repris ce système de compensation matrimoniale à leur compte, comme le montrent des contrats de mariage écrits par ces missionnaires en 1888, étudiés dans cette communication.