Islamic Patronage and Republican Emancipation: The Slaves of the Almaami in the Senegal River Valley
Islamic Patronage and Republican Emancipation: The Slaves of the Almaami in the Senegal River Valley
This chapter examines the concealed trajectories of internal slavery in the Senegal River Valley. In particular, it looks at the endogenous trajectories of upward mobility among the slaves of a number of Almaami and the impact of new trajectories, inspired by colonial abolitionist ideology (for example, the military and school-teaching), on internal emancipation trajectories. The chapter first discusses Islamic patronage and pre-colonial emancipation in the Senegal River Valley, focusing on patrimonialism, clientelism, and the integration of slaves into the rural poor. It then examines how the ex-slaves' relationships with ex-masters and freemen in general influenced the relative strength of the stigma attached to slave status. A slave's social mobility was determined by the maintenance and renegotiation of dependence. The chapter also considers the transformation of slave–master relations into patron–client relations.
Keywords: Senegal River Valley, slavery, social mobility, Almaami, Islamic patronage, emancipation, patrimonialism, clientelism, slaves, rural poor
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