ZIRPP Monthly Lecture : “East Africa’s Forgotten Slave Trade?”

Chairperson: Mr. Muhammad Yussuf;

Speaker: Prof. Abdul Sheriff;

Subject: “East Africa’s Forgotten Slave Trade?”

Date and Time: Saturday 28 September 2019; at 4.00pm;

Venue: ZIRPP Conference Room, at Vuga (behind Majestic Cinema).

ABSTRACT; Over 400 years ago, the first African slave landed in the US – which brings in a major problem in analysis of the E. African slave trade (EAST) – dominance (tyranny) of the “Atlantic model”. Whereas the Atlantic slave trade is given a geographical title, EAST is defined in racial and religious terms – Arab/Islamic. Why? as a counterbalance to the Atlantic? Such racialization & religious label arises from Colonial history, new American scholarship, and reluctance of African scholars and the public to examine African involvement in this business for political reasons. 

There is no doubt there was large-scale slave trade and slavery on the East African coast from the 19^th century. It was triggered by British attempts to prohibit export of slaves from E. Africa; but it resulted in the development of a slave economy along the East African coast to produce cloves from Zanzibar and oil-producing seeds on the coast of Kenya for export to the East as well as to the West. By the 1860s the slave trade had tripled, but most of them were used within East Africa.

There is also no doubt also that the slave trade was on a large scale from the African interior. There is evidence of Arab and Swahili slave traders from the coast; but there is also plenty of evidence that inter-tribal wars were conducted by African chiefs, such as Chief Mataka of the Yao, who brought many of the slaves to the coast – but we do not want to talk too much about it. They were then transported by Arab and Swahili dhows to Zanzibar and the North.

In Zanzibar and the coast of Kenya, many of the land/slave-owners were Omani Arabs, but there were also the upper classes of the Swahili and Shirazi who were involved in this trade and even owned clove plantations, including the Mwinyi Mkuu. Slaves were also used in Zanzibar town by Indian traders as domestics and “”coolies to transport their goods from the port to the warehouses, or to clean gum copal or make copra. In 1860s, 6,000 slaves belonging to them were freed by the British, although ¾ of them owned less than 3 slaves. But slaves were also used by American and European merchants and consular officials. However, since they could not own slaves, they used contractors to supply slaves to camouflage their use of slave labor.

So, it is clear that every section of the Zanzibar society was involved in the slave economy in one way or another. Even some of the prominent politicians in Zanzibar have privately admitted that their grandparents used to own slaves, but it is a taboo to talk about it because the issue of slavery was such a powerful tool in Zanzibar politics.

Finally, a majority of the people in Zanzibar and the Swahili coast have been Muslim, and Arabs have been part of the coastal society for a couple of millennia. But how has that affected the question of slavery? The way the issue has been treated in colonial, Western and Christian missionary literature has been to attach the label to the “Orientalist’ conception of the Muslims and Arabs, without considering in what way Islam has affected their practice of slavery. In fact, we find that the contrast between the European/Christian Atlantic and the Muslim/Arab Indian Ocean is extremely relevant in understanding slavery as a universal institution.

Slavery existed in the time of the Prophet, as it did in the time of Moses and Jesus, and none of these religions abolished it. However, Islam strongly recommended, and even legislated on the status of the slave, his/her rights, and the rights of their children, including manumission of slaves, and the ‘suria’ or ‘slave wives,’ which was quite different from the Atlantic experience. Ali Mazrui described Arabs as “color-blind but paternity conscious.” This has significantly influenced the integration of societies, in contrast to the rigid racial separation that still troubles Western societies. Are we ready for an open debate based on facts instead of emotions and political agenda?

This presentation was provoked by an article by a German journalist titled “East Africa’s Forgotten Slave Trade”, and ZIRPP responded by selecting it as a topic for discussion for this month. In his presentation, Prof. Abdul Sheriff will argue that East Africa's Slave Trade is, indeed, not forgotten, since he has been researching it for the past 50 years (see Sheriff: Slaves, Spices & Ivory in Zanzibar).

Tea, Coffee, Snacks and soft drinks will be served freely.

Please forward this message to anybody who may be interested. 

Those who would like to attend should send their email addresses and telephone numbers to: zirpp@googlegroups.com. 

Please confirm your participation. You may bring one or two friends with you. 

All are welcome.

Sincerely,

Muhammad Yussuf
Executive Director
Zanzibar Institute for Research and Public Policy
P.O. Box 4523
Zanzibar
TANZANIA
Tel: 0777 707820 Cellular
Tel: 0242 233526 Office
Email: yussufm@gmail.com
Weblog: www.zirppo.wordpress.com