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 Periodical article |
 Leiden University catalogue |
 WorldCat |
| Title: | Slavery, freedom, and failed ransom negotiations in West Africa, 1730-1900 |
| Authors: | Lofkrantz, Jennifer Ojo, Olatunji |
| Year: | 2012 |
| Periodical: | The Journal of African History (ISSN 0021-8537) |
| Volume: | 53 |
| Issue: | 1 |
| Pages: | 25-44 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | West Africa |
| Subjects: | slave trade slavery resistance violence |
| External link: | https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021853712000035 |
| Abstract: | This article builds upon previous work on the impact of ransoming on processes of captivity, enslavement, and slavery in West Africa. Ransoming is defined as the release of a captive prior to enslavement in exchange for payment. It was a complicated process with no guarantee of success. The article examines the responses of families of captives to the failure of ransom negotiations. The ability to respond to failed ransom negotiations and the type of response chosen was dependent on the political climate and the resources available to those seeking the release of a captive. The purpose of ransom negotiations and ransom payers' responses to the failure of these negotiations was not to reform slavery, but to prevent the enslavement of certain individuals who in their view, due to local constructions of class, religion, gender, age, and rights, ought never to have faced the possibility of enslavement. The authors identify the reasons why ransom negotiations failed and how captives and their allies retaliated against the captors through a variety of tactics including road closures, trade boycotts, retaliatory seizures, and warfare. Notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract, edited] |
