ALST 281   Slavery and the Slave Trade in Africa

Slavery and the slave trade are global phenomena with historical roots in the earliest civilizations. The course examines the long history of slavery and the slave trade in African societies, exploring the role that slavery played in African economic, political, and social life, as well as how the export of human beings as slaves transformed African societies. The course also considers how slaveholders and slaves shaped early African societies, the logic and consequences of African participation in the Atlantic slave trade, the aftermath of abolition in 20th-century colonial Africa, and how coercive forms of labor control have persisted into the 21st century.