Slavery Workshop

Slavery: dialogues across time and place

The event (sponsored by School of History, Classics, and Archaeology and CLACS) brought together scholars working on human trafficking and enslavement in a wide variety of chronological periods and geographical locations, from Egypt in the sixth century to Britain today. The event showed the strengths of international slavery studies in the Northeast and at Newcastle in particular. The opening panel included Brycchan Carey (English, Northumbria) talking on the subject of the circulation of information on the Caribbean and slavery through natural histories. Siobhán McGrath (Geography, Durham) provided a critical analysis of the discourse around modern abolitionism and the language of “development.” Micaela Langellotti (Classics, Newcastle) took us to early Roman Egypt to give a deeper insight into the role of slavery in a newly created Roman province. Ulrike Roth (Classics, Edinburgh University) complicated our understanding of the transition from roman slavery to medieval serfdom by emphasizing the study of enslaved women, children and families. Jane Webster (Archaeology, Newcastle) took us on a journey following the millions of beads that were produced in Europe and shipped to Africa during the Atlantic slave trade.

The afternoon opened with Louise Waite (Geography, Leeds) who explained how the U.K. government is increasingly creating a “hostile environment” for illegal migrants, creating the context for labour exploitation to flourish. Vanessa Mongey (History, Newcastle) traced how the slave trade was able to continue to be a lucrative activity in the Caribbean even after it was outlawed. We stayed in the Americas –and in the nineteenth century— with Hannah Durkin (English, Newcastle) who presented her latest research on Sallie “Redoshi” Smith, a rare female narrative of the traumas of the Middle Passage. Simon Corcoran (Classics, Newcastle) reflected on roman historical legal sources and how these sources can provide insights into the ideology but also the social realities of slavery. The workshop closed with a lively discussion on the definitions, experiences, and legacies of slavery and the value of interdisciplinary and diachronic exchanges.