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Panel xii
Martin A. Klein
Enrico Dal Lago
Mark J. Goodman
Niall McKeown
Giovanni Salmeri
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PANEL XII




Theory and Evidence in African, Ancient and Modern Slavery



Convenor: Mark J. Goodman (York University, Toronto, Canada)


This panel examines issues of power and hierarchy in African, ancient, and modern (United States) slave societies, with particular focus on issues of authority and ideological hegemony and of challenges to power expressed through forms of rebellion and resistance, including slave revolt and social banditry. Theoretical issues involved in comparing slave systems across time and place and in situating literary expression in relation to historical evidence are also examined.


Martin A. Klein (University of Toronto, Canada)

Slavery and the Early State in Africa



A central problem in understanding the early State is how some men are able to establish their authority over others; that is to say, how they are able to coerce those others into yielding a new authority or through the distribution of rewards persuade those others to yield. The argument of this paper is that the acquisition of slaves and the use of slaves as instruments of royal power permit the state to assert itself in opposition to its rivals. A part of this process of evolution is also the conversion of captives into slaves, which creates a class of people who are permanently subject to others and can be used either for labour or as the king's men, devoted and often powerful instruments of royal power. Royal slaves, because they depend on their masters for their privileges, are often dependable and loyal, and because they receive nothing by right, are often faithful followers. To the degree that the would-be monarch often originates as a military leader, he often has privileged access to the captives taken in war and can select those who will be his most effective instruments. The paper will use mostly data from different parts of Africa to make this argument.


Enrico Dal Lago (National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland)

Hierarchy, Power and Rebellion in Slave Societies:

Comparing the Roman World with the Antebellum American South



Among the relations of power and hierarchy that have characterized human societies from the beginning of history, slavery has been justly considered the most extreme. Following O. Patterson's model of slavery as 'social death', it is possible to devise a number of comparisons between slave societies in different areas of the world and at different points in time. Such a 'diachronic' comparison between an ancient and a modern slave system would highlight the specific features of each system and lead to a better understanding of the ideologies and practices that characterize the master-slave relationship. We propose to implement such a 'diachronic' comparative approach, focusing specifically on two of the best-known slave societies, the Roman world and the antebellum American South. The paper examines the ways in which the relations of power that underpinned the two slave systems came to be changed, or at the very least strained, by the occurrence of particular instances of slave rebellions. Although neither Rome's nor America's slave societies ever ran the risk of being overthrown by such instances, their occurrence generated fear and uneasiness in the two master classes; and fear and uneasiness led to widespread methods of suppression or rebellious activities. At the heart of these fears lay the fact that slave rebellions had the potential of overturning the hierarchical relations that are the very basis of the social systems, because of tradition, custom and, most of all, economic convenience.


Mark J. Goodman (York University, Toronto, Canada)

Hegemony and Violence in the Antebellum South



This paper discusses attempts to offer a theoretical explanation for planter dominance in the antebellum South, focusing on arguments advanced by Stanley M. Elkins and Eugene D. Genovese. These influential accounts, it is suggested, depend for their argumentative power and continuing interest on a highly-charged reading of Freudian and Gramscian theory, and a particular understanding of the role of psychological violence in dominating the enslaved. The place of these accounts in US cultural history and the historiography of American slavery is also examined. It is suggested that the notion of overmastering psychological power advanced by Elkins, in particular, is indicative of the anxious political climate in which he wrote, and provides a window into the tensions and preoccupations of the period. In the conclusion, resonances with the current political climate are considered.


Niall McKeown (University of Birmingham, UK)

Comparative Evidence and the Ancient Slave: Reconstructing the Past, or Constructing It?



Comparative evidence provides us with a way of broadening our minds when approaching the evidence and forcing us to ask new questions of it, but there have been few explicit considerations of the use of comparative approach. However, Thomas Gruenewald's Raeuber, Rebellen, Rivalen, Raecher (1999) criticizes the manner in which rebels in the ancient Roman world (including slave rebels) have been read. He notes that while some historians feel that Eric Hobsbawm's model of social banditry can be vindicated by reference to ancient texts, others see it as an ahistorical set of “literary” clichés which do not become more historical through repetition. This material is examined with particular regard to slave rebellions and current debates between post-modern theorists and those influenced by Marxism.


Giovanni Salmeri (University of Pisa, Italy)

From Satyricon to Marius the Epicurean:

Slaves in Ancient and Modern Novels



The paper is organized in three sections. The first section discusses the presentation of slaves in Latin and Greek novels. Special attention is paid to the sexual abuse of male and female slaves and to the practice of prostitution. The second section of the paper takes into consideration the presentation of slaves in a few nineteenth century novels which deal with the ancient world (for example, Quo vadis by Sienkiewicz, and Marius the Epicurean by Pater). The sources of these presentations are also investigated. The final section of the paper examines the use in nineteenth century French and English novels of some clichés concerning slavery taken from ancient literary production.