Hello All: Please read pgs 183-212 in Collins for this week. You will read the rest next week.
1- Explain the different demographic arguments that are being presented by Thornton, Meillassoux, and Kline. Is there one that you agree with more than the others? Why?
2- According to Thornton, what does polygyny have to do with population growth? What historian is he arguing with and do you think he has enough evidence to support his hypothesis? How does he come up with his sources?
3- According to Meillassoux, what does fertility have to do with price of enslaved women? From what sources is he able to make his analysis?
4- According to Kline, what is the difference between the 'household mode of production' and the 'slave mode of production'? How do these modes of production affect the costs of enslaved workers? What sources does he use to make his claims?
5- Do enslaved people have any rights, and if so, what are they?
1. The demographic argument posed by Thornton states that reproduction was low in groups of slaves because the number of men and women was heavily disproportionate. Additionally, Thornton states that poor living conditions and bad nutrition made it incredibly difficult to carry out a pregnancy. Meillassoux argues that fertility was not the primary factor that drove the cost of women above the cost of men; he argued that women's inclination toward domestic tasks made them a valuable commodity. Meillassoux stated that it wasn't a matter of men having an inability to do such tasks, it was a matter of culturally designated gender assignments to work. Kline acknowledges the disproportionate sex ration, and argues that slave masters discouraged fertility because child rearing would take away from overall production.
ReplyDelete2. With regard to polygyny, Thornton states that the instability of marriage that comes with polygyny affected population growth. Marriage instability, according to Thornton, could have made offspring more vulnerable to abuses stemming from conflict. Thornton is arguing with Manning’s model that focuses more on slave raiding, rather than polygyny. Thornton does seem to have a surplus of souces, considering he draws examples from Angola, the Atlantic trade, and Guinnea-Bissau.
3. Meillasoux states that it is not necessarily fertility that drove the price of women above men, but rather their willingness to perform domestic task and tasks that require manual labor. Meillasoux that women were more willing to fetch water and firewood because men would have found it embarrassing. Meillasoux utilizes “numerous statistical data for American and West Indian slavery to confirm this.”
4. Kline states that the household mode of production was a form of slavery in which the slaves lived in the house with their owners, worked side by side with their owners, and, “participated in a network of face-to-face links.” Kline describes the slave mode of production as a form of slavery in which slaves live in separate areas from the owners, and their labor was used to fuel the lifestyles of their elite owners. Domestic slaves were more expensive than the other form. Kline actually utilizes oral sources which “indicate a clear preference for women and children.
5. Enslaved people did have a certain amount of rights: men were not allowed to take control or responsibility for their children because that was left as a reserved right for women. However, if a woman attempted to escape, she would face severe punishment upon her return; where concubines would be merely replaced by another woman more willing to perform the job. All in all, they still lived very restricted lives.
1. Thornton argues that there was a much lower male population in west Africa as a result of the trans-atlantic slave trade, and although polygyny was practiced for years beforehand, the newfound lack of males placed a greater burden on the female population. Meillassoux piggybacks Thornton's arguments and further states that the increased productivity of the women and decreased reproductive roles caused a sharp increase in depersonalization and desocialization. Klein contrasts Meillasoux's arguments and states that female slaves in Africa, or at least in West Sudan, were valued more for their reproductive capabilities then their physical productivity.
ReplyDelete2. Thornton argues that even though the slave trade took millions of working-age Africans from their homes, most of which were men, the local populations did not see dramatic decreases in population. He credits this stability of population size with the polygyny family structure which was commonly practiced. Patrick Manning was another researcher who came up with a similar model to Thornton's, but Manning argued that African raiders took men and women at equal rates which Thornton argues against. Thornton uses various sources such as studies produced at the Edinburgh Conference and his own research in Angola to back up his argument.
3. Meillasoux argues that with the changing gender ratios, women began to be valued by their abilities to perform physical tasks rather than their fertility rates. As the number of men decreased, women began to take up the slack in terms of working fields or doing manual domestic labor. Their complacency to perform these tasks is what gave them a higher value.
4. Kline points out differences in types of slavery in Africa. While there was not much of a plantational presence in the continent, slave owners still had varying practices in how they treated their slaves. In specifics, there were household and slave modes of production, whereas slave modes tended to be a little harsher and the slaves were more depersonalized.
5. Enslaved peoples in africa did enjoy some rights, or at least more than their American counterparts. For the most part, slaves physical well-being was better looked after unless they prompted punishment through some form of unpopular action. Also, women were able to take care of their children.
1. Thornton argues that African populations were able to be maintained through the practice of polygyny, but that this created an increase in the ratio of dependents to working people. This demographic shift placed a large amount of work onto African women. Meillassoux is arguing that the greater value of slave women over slave men on the market has been fundamentally misunderstood due to cultural biases of western researchers. He says that women were not more valuable solely for their reproductive capabilities, but were also targeted specifically for their ability to work, especially in positions that men could not do as well. Klein agrees with Meillassoux that women were valued for more than reproduction, but Klein’s argument focuses specifically on the slave mode of production that occurred in Sudan. He states that women were not just valued for their reproductive and working capabilities, but also because they were integral in maintaining the slave system because they were more easily assimilated and they helped assimilate new males.
ReplyDelete2. Thornton is showing that the existence of polygyny allowed a population with a high female-to-male ratio to maintain their population levels through the ability of a man to have multiple wives. He is arguing with historians Fage, J.E Inikori and L.M. Diop who argued for depopulation that created an unfavorable land-labor ratio. As evidence for this, Thornton used a model population based on known figures for Angola in the late eighteenth century. He then applied this model and the effects of the slave trade on it to the rest of West Africa that had similar demographics to Angola at this time.
3. Meillassoux says that fertility had very little to do with the price of enslaved women. She states that the majority of slave populations in the New World were unable to reproduce themselves, and were therefore only maintained through the import of new slaves. She shows how the majority of enslaved women in the New World did not reproduce which would not have been the case if they were valued specifically for their ability to reproduce. Furthermore, of those that did reproduce, only half would have been girls, which would have led to a net reproduction rated of less than 0.5.
4. The household mode of production is one where the slave becomes incorporated into the family unit and does work similar to that of the master. In the slave mode of production, the slave is not assimilated into the family and instead is supervised by the master. This creates two distinct classes of master and slave. In the slave mode of production the individual slaves are less valuable because there are more of them and because they are being heavily exploited. Klein relies primarily on oral accounts, especially those of European administrators.
5. Slaves in Africa enjoyed rights to a certain extent and were often treated better than slaves in the New World. This was a by-product of the different modes of production that predominated in each region.
ReplyDelete1. During the trans-Atlantic slave trade, there were more enslaved males that were taken from Africa and transported to the New world, Brazil or the Caribbean. John Thornton is arguing that since more male slaves were taken, “the trans-Atlantic slave trade reduced the male population at a rate three times greater than the female.” (p.184) This meant that the majority of the slaves in Africa were women. Many people believe that female slaves are valued over male slaves because of their ability to procreate. Meillassoux is arguing the opposite. He is arguing that enslaved women in Africa were valued above all workers because female tasks were predominant in production. This would lead to a greater demand for female slaves. Martin Klein’s argument goes against Meillassoux. Klein is arguing that women slaves were more valued than men slaves because they were a more secure and stable investment and because of their reproductive abilities. According to Klein, a woman’s reproductive capacity far surpassed her work labor ability. Meillassoux and Klein both argue that female slaves had cost more and their arguments seem to cross paths. I agree with Meillassoux and Klein, but I will expand on why I agree with Klein. At first, I agreed with Meillassoux because Klein did not seem to have enough sufficient evidence. Then, when I went through my notes, I started to agree more with Klein. During the Hunter-gathering society, agricultural surplus, which had two subsets, came about. The two subsets were private property and The State. Even from precolonial times, women were treated as private property because of their ability to reproduce and women were also the first slaves. Women were also forced to have their master’s children.
2. Polygyny is the “principle method of familial organization in West Africa.” Even though the majority of people sent over to the Americas during the trans-Atlantic slave trade were males, this did not have a massive effect on the population in West Africa, specifically Angola. Because of Polygyny, the opposite actually happened. Women counterbalanced their losses to the slave trade by continuing to reproduce.
(p.187) The difference in the sex and age rations affected African women because “the number of males who played a vital role in child support if not child care, were declining.” (p.189) Thornton is arguing with Fage, who uses his own papers and research to argue that the “total volume of the trade was insufficient to offset natural growth and Africa was not depopulated.” (p.188) Fage does not have enough evidence to support his argument.
3. According to Meillassoux, fertility has nothing to do with the price of enslaved women. Females slaves were more expensive than male slaves, but not because women could reproduce. Meillassoux states that the hypothesis of female slaves being more expensive than men due to procreation is not supported by objective data. Up until 1808, slavery was continued by the purchase of new slaves and not by genetic reproduction. (p.195). Also, female slaves had very few children. Meillassoux uses statistical data to make his analysis. Enslaved women rarely had kin to rely on and had no lineage. A wellborn women prided herself on her fertility, so it was not likely for an enslaved woman to do the same.
4 There were two types of slave systems: Household mode of production and Slave mode of production. The household mode of production consisted of a small percentage of the slaves, they lived within the household, they worked alongside free people of the house and they interacted and intergrated with the masters and his family. The slave mode of production consisted of a high slave population, the slaves lived in separate settlements, they engaged in physical labor and created surpluses that the ruling class sustained from. The slave mode of production slaves were used the most because they were the cheapest. The slaves were “’poorly nourished, poorly treated, and poorly rewarded.’” Since the slaves in the household mode of production integrated with the masters family and female slaves were able to marry masters, they were more expensive and treated much better. Klein uses the source of Paul Guebhard.
ReplyDelete5 Enslaved people in Africa had a few rights. Under Islamic law, the child of a free man is a free child. Also, an enslaved woman was free if she bore her master a child. A slave had the right to buy their own freedom, even though women did not have access to such wealth. If an enslaved woman bore her master’s child and it was a girl, the master would choose her spouse, a right women would not have even if free. In the conclusion, there’s a sad comparison between a free woman and an enslaved woman that states they are basically the same. The only major difference is that a free woman is a part of a lineage.
1.) Thornton argues that even though the male population was much lower than the female population, polygyny was used to maintain the African population during the slave trade. Meillassoux argues the female slaves were infertile and had very few children. He argues that it was sustained by the continued acquisition of new slaves by purchase or by capture than by genetic reproduction. Klein argues that women who bear children are less productive and that it is cheaper to buy a ready slave than to raise a child so reproduction was low. Each agree that the ratio of women to men was high and that women were kept while males were traded off because of the female’s various roles in domestic work and agricultural work. Only Thornton believes that their reproductive ability played a factor. I do not agree with one more than the others because it could have varied between different places.
ReplyDelete2.) Thornton that the tendency for men to be sold in the slave trade increased the ratio of women to men left in African populations. Polygyny was already established at this time in African societies, so with less men and more women, men would take more wives. This led to increased child production where one man could have 20-30 children. Women were reproducing at the same rate that slaves were being traded. He is arguing against Inikora and Diop, who concentrated on quantitative assessments saying that the African population decreased. He uses a model population like that of Angola, descriptive data from Guinea-Bissau, the work of Patrick Manning who did a similar study, and the writings of Fransisco de Lemos Coelho. I believe he has enough evidence to support his hypothesis.
3.) Fertility has little to nothing to do with the price of female slaves according to Meillassoux. Slave women were often more expensive for men because of their ability to perform punishing physical task along with domestic work where it was humiliating for men to do domestic work. He uses numerous statistical data for American and West Indian slavery, the story of Adukwe, and the Bamum kingdom as examples or sources.
4.) In household mode of production, slaves usually did the same work as their master. Working side-by-side, they speedily integrated as part of the family unit, even eating the same food. They were treated much better than slave mode of production, where they were poorly treated, nourished, and rewarded. Masters did not work alongside these slaves, only supervised. In slave mode of production there was dramatically more surplus in commodity production than in household mode. Female slaves could provide concubines for the rich and powerful, participate in agricultural labor as well as domestic, and provide a domestic life for the ordinary male slave which provided motivation. Male slaves were only used for labor. The many uses of the female slave led to higher prices for females than males. Klein uses work by Meillassoux, Patrick Manning , and oral sources as means of sources.
5.) Slaves did have few rights. Under Islamic law, a child of a free man was born free regardless of the mother’s status, and the mother was free if she bore her master a child. Male slave’s offspring belonged to the wife’s master. Slaves had limited rights but they were not always guaranteed.
1. Thornton argues that there were lower reproduction rates due to the disproportional ratios of female to male slaves. One argument he makes is that taking the men out of the society led to a decrease in the labor force that was responsible for the clearing of farmland, hunting, and fishing which in turn led to a decrease in food available to the population. Meillassoux argues that women were not valued for their fertility but for their production which led to lower reproduction rates among slave. He argues that slave reproduction occurred through transactions and that female slaves were discouraged to have children due to the decrease in production it would cause. Klein argues that the ratio of men to women was disproportionate not because men were valued more than women but because the majority of women and children were absorbed within Africa. I agree with Thornton that the living conditions and poor diets made it incredibly hard for slaves to successfully reproduce.
ReplyDelete2. Thornton believes that the population of West Africa was able to survive and maintain vitality due to polygyny which was the main method of familial organization. He argues that the institution of polygyny allowed the women to counterbalance the losses the population experienced due to the slave trade. He argues with Fage who believes that depopulation had occurred in West Africa. Thornton’s argument is supported by Patrick Manning’s model that was created using different a different approach and assumptions. Inikori and Diop also presented at the Edinburgh conference arguing against Fage.
3. Meillassoux argues that fertility did not factor into the value of female slaves; they were valued over all as workers. The value of female slaves as workers stems from female tasks being predominant in production. He uses sources from past royal courts which indicate lower child-rearing rates to make this analysis.
4. The two types of slave system within the western Sudan were household mode of production and slave mode of production. In household mode of production, slaves lived in the same residence, worked along side their owners, and were given a social identity. In slave mode of production, the slave population increased, and slaves lived in separate residences, worked to sustain a ruling class that did not work, and were denied a social identity. Price data indicates that there was more demand and value placed on women than men. Klein argues that prices for slaves thrived under the willingness of owners to pay the price. He states, “the use of slave labor would not have expanded as much as it did, had there not been enough of a return to finance the purchase of new slaves. He uses historical data and oral sources to make his claims.
5. Male slaves did not have paternal right’s. Female slaves did not have a social identity or any sexual rights. They were looked at as “things”. During household mode of production, the child of a slave was absorbed into the household. While in slave mode of production, slavery was hereditary. A slave could also buy his or her freedom by paying for the price of two slave. However, female slaves often did not have the access to that much wealth.
1. The three authors from the readings all take a different stance on the reasoning for the gender ratio's disproportion, fertility, and the genre of work needed to be completed at the time. Thornton's argument has to do with the ratio disproportion, mens' numbers taken from Africa far exceeded the women's, three times in fact. He argues that in Africa female slaves were valued higher, one reason was their ability to procreated and replenish slave populations. Meillassoux argues that women were more valuable in the African society because the demand for female slave tasks were the predominate in the African society. Klein makes an argument to the ideal that most women and children were assimilated into the African society, since slave children would be absorbed by their fathers household. I think that the idea Klein is trying to make sounds correct given some of the other circumstances, Thornton is probably also correct in the ideal that living conditions probably greatly impacted the slaves ability to reproduce effectively.
ReplyDelete2. Polygyny, by process, is when one male is able to produce children with multiple women, basically. He is argues that polygyny was one of the major reasons that the African population was able to sustain during the slave trade due to many males being shipped off to the new world. Thornton cites the work of Manning who modeled a similar population statistic.
3. Meillassoux's argument is that fertility has nothing to do with the price of female slaves. He believes their value was based in the merit of the work that they were able to completed due to the gender roles. He uses data from the fertility rates of slaves and how most slave women did not bear many children regardless.
4. He differentiates these two categories of slaves by stating that domestic slaves would be the slaves that would work in tandem with their masters to complete tasks that were "domestic". They would live amongst their owners and participate socially as well. The slave mode of production was one of seclusion, slaves would not be part of the masters household and would only do tasks that would benefit the good of the plantation environment. He makes these claims based on oral accounts of life in these two situations.
5. Depending on the circumstance some slaves have more rights than others do. Slaves who are in slave mode of production have no rights and no way to ever emancipate themselves realistically. Whereas the domestic slaves would have more rights but still limited to basic human rights, no special outstanding privileges
1. Thornton argues that the “trans- Atlantic slave trade reduced male population at a rate three times greater than the female”. Through the practice of polygyny, Africans were able to maintain vitality of society though the extrication of men did put burdens on women. Meillassoux agreed with Thornton, but added that the “left behind, females were less necessary for procreation comparatively to productivity. Meillassoux also stated that depersonalization or desocialization was the fate for most women who did not achieve considerable influence through skills and intellect. Klein does not agree with Meillassouxs’ assessment. Klein believes that female slaves were valued more than men, not because of their ability to labor, but because they were a more stable investment. I think that Klein’s assessment seems very logical because women were seen as less likely to revolt in the eyes of their owners.
ReplyDelete2. Thornton argues that of the many slaves that were brought to American plantations, most were male. Due to this fact, low birthrates caused there to be a struggle within population. Thornton credits polygyny practices within Africa for helping to stabilize populations. Thornton argues with the old quantitative assessments made by Fage. He comes up with a population model (using Angolas population comparative to West African population) of withdrawing slaves equal to the number known from studies of the volume of the slave trade. Patrick Manning makes a similar model and through analysis, both men come up with the conclusion that the approach to the problem of population should involve investigation of quality of the population left behind, not just its quantity.
3. Meillasoux states that the argument for fertility as a means of reproduction within the slave trade is not backed by any objective data. He points out that from looking at simple reproduction within slave populations, the gross rate of production once calculated falls below 0.5. Meillasoux uses people of the Maghreb and other people such as the Bobangi as evidence that most communities just continued to buy slaves rather than have them reproduce. He also points out that most female slaves had no desire to have children and if they did, some would abort the child or commit infanticide.
4. The household mode of production and slave mode of production were different in the fact that in the household mode, the slave became more part of the family unit and the master did the same work as the slaves. In the slave mode, the master supervised and did not work with the slaves. In the slave mode of production, there was a surplus of slave labor whereas in the household mode, there were fewer. Slaves were the cheapest commodities of labor for many well of people so they became accumulated within societies.
5. For the most part, slaves did not have many rights. Male slaves had no paternal rights whatsoever. His offspring belonged to his wife’s master, who could do with the child what he saw fit. Other than concubines, most women had no rights as well. Even then, females had no control over their body or her sex life.
1.Thorton argues that there was a lower male population due to the transatlantic slave trade. The lack of males led to women not being able to reproduce as much leading to a decline in population. Meillassoux argues against Thorton by saying that women were more valuable than men because of there domestic abilities. Klein argues that women were more valuable than men because of their ability to reproduce.
ReplyDelete2. Thorton argues that even though millions of slaves were taken from Africa, there was still not a dramatic change in population numbers. Polygyny helped women replace the population. Thorton argues with Fage who said that there was a decrease in the population due to the slave trade.
3. Meillassoux argues that fertility didn't necessarily make women more valuable than men but rather their ability to work.
4. According to Kline, household mode of production is less harsh than the slave mode of production. He also states that domestic slaves are more valuable than other slaves.
5. Enslaved people did have some rights. Women had reserved rights to have control over their children over men. They were treated better than slaves in the New World, but overall they still lived restricted lives.
1.The argument that is made by Thornton is that the role of African women played is often understated by historians. Thortons argument suggest that as male slaves became more involved in the slaave trade in increasingly larger numbers, female slaves did not play as large of a role in the slave trade as a result of polygamy and traditional marriage practices. As a result thorton believes that women played a large role in agriculture. Meillassoux agreed with thorton on the central role the women played in agriculture after a large amount of men became involved in the slave trade. Meillassoux also believed that the increased role that women played in the labor force led to the dehumanization of female slaves by their masters who only saw them as profitable labor tools which was a new aspect to African slavery at this time.Kline argued that the value of a Female slave came from her ability to reproduce not her productivity. I agree with thortons argument because it most logically addresses why slave masters wanted more women, which is because they were productive agriculturally and they could reproduce.
ReplyDelete2.According to Thorton polygyny is responsible for maintaining Africas population when it should have dramatically decreased due to the large number of males that entered the slave trade. Thorton came to this conclusion by creating a population model based off of the population density required to support the slave trade at that time and population habits in other regions. Thorton argued against L.M Diop who believed that the slave trade did deplete Africas population and that polygamy could not have made up for the effect that the slave trade had on the African population.
3.Meillassoux makes the argument that the price of female slaves and their fertility were unrelated. Meillassoux suggest that since birth rates were so low in the new world that fertility was not a factor in the new world. He refers to "the story of Adukwe" which details the poor living conditions of slaves and Meillassoux uses this to make the argument that fertility rates were low as a form of resistance to their masters.
4. According to Kline, in a household mode of production the slaves did the same work as the masters and slaves were were a part of the family unit resulting in better treatment of the slaves. In the slave mode of production the slaves did all the work themselves and were treated very poorly. Kline cites Paul Guebhard as a source and points out that that slaves from the slave mode of production are the cheapest because they are treated the worst and more disposable compared to the household slaves who were integral parts of the family units.
5.According to Kline Female slaves often did not control the rights to their own body. Theses female sex slaves could be given and traded at the will of their masters. Female sex slaves also lost control of their offspring to their masters who decided who could be sold and who they could marry. Household slaves however had more rights, and were given huts and places to live in and even participated in the local economy.
1. Thornton states that in the US, more men than women, by approx. 3/1 were imported. This was the reason that the US slave population did not really grow. In Africa, the situation was flipped. Due to this, the African populations were able to replace their losses to the slave trade. Meillassoux argues that reproduction was not the end of purchasing a female slave, but rather it was the tasks that they could be utilized for. Klien seems to suggest that the reason for the high number of women is both due to the fact that males captured in war are much likelier to be killed, and that women are seen as less willing to attempt to escape. I do not agree with any one of these over the others, as they could possibly all be equally valid for a certain time period and area.
ReplyDelete2. Polygyny allowed the African populations to remain stable, even with the depletion due to the slave trade. Fage seems to be the targets of Thornton, with others supporting this position. He does seem to adequately support his position, using papers from the Edinburgh Conference, as well as his own work.
3. Meillassoux contends that fertility and price were unrelated. He instead presents the hypothesis that women were better adapted to toe roles slaves were likely to be used for, and thus were seen as better investments. Numerous examples from within Africa are used to support this view.
4. Essentially, the household mode of production is one in which the master and the slave are near-equals, with both sharing work. In a slave mode, the master supervises the slaves, taking no part in the work. Furthermore, in the household mode, slaves are a part of the family, while this is not usually true in a slave mode of production. Women tended to be more expensive, as they could do tasks in both systems, in addition to serving as status symbols. Both compiled data and oral sources are used to make this argument.
5. Slaves in Africa did have some rights, there were not many. Most arose out of the different modes of production employed in a given area, with most domestic slaves having more rights that slave production mode ones did.
1) Thornton argues that the populations were being maintained through practicing polygyny. Meillassoux is arguing that the greater value of slave women over slave men on the market has been fundamentally misunderstood due to cultural biases of western researchers. Klein is arguing that women slaves were more valued than men slaves because of their reproductive abilities. To a certain extent, I agree with them all but Klein’s argument, to me, is better because women were seen as less likely to revolt in the eyes of their owners.
ReplyDelete2) Polygyny is responsible for maintaining the population according to Thornton. Thornton argues with L.M. Diop because Diop believed that the slave trade was the cause for the depletion of the population and that polygyny could not have helped maintain the population.
3) Meillassoux argues that the price of the female slave had nothing to do with fertility but the value was based of the work of the slave. He uses data from the fertility rates of slaves and how most slave women did not bear many children regardless.
4) Household mode of production means they lived in the household, worked alongside free people of the house and they interacted with the masters and his family. In the slave mode of production, the slave is not assimilated into the family and instead is supervised by the master. The many uses of the female slave led to higher prices for females than males. Klein uses work by Meillassoux, Patrick Manning, and oral sources as means of sources.
5) Enslaved people did have rights in Africa during this time. A couple of the rights are 1) a child of a free man is considered a free person and if the mother bared the master a child the mother would be considered free. 2) A slave could but their own freedom. While there are not many freedoms there are freedoms nonetheless.
1. The argument that Thornton presents in the book is that the practices of the slave trade helped skew the populations in Western Africa. The withdrawal of two to three men to every woman from African countries to the Western world created a disproportionate amount of female slaves in Africa, which was on purpose according to Thornton, because of their ability to reproduce as well as being able to do many of the tasks men could do. The argument that Meilassoux presents in the book is that many of the female slaves in Africa a lot of times could not and would not have children in their conditions. If a female were used more as a tool instead of a child bearer, of course the production would go down. The argument that Kline presents is that yes there were a disproportionate number of males and females thanks to the slave trade. But the lack of a male in the family caused assimilation of the females offspring.
ReplyDelete2. Polygyny, according to Thornton, was very popular in Western Adrica. Some men could have a multitude of women living in the same compound and they would all be under his domain. Despite the large amount of men that were stripped away from the shores, the population stayed stagnant as a result of men with multiple wives. The historian that he brings up is Manning, who presents a population model similar to his. He uses the populations of Angola and Western Africa as sources.
3. The correlation between enslaved women and fertility is that there is none. Although the women were able to bear children, they were also able to do some of the tasks that were deemed emasculating to men, as well as the traditionally male tasks. This made them more valuable to keep than the males, and helps establish their presence when so many men were takien to the
4. According to Kline, the household mode of production is exactly what it sounds like: the slaves worked alongside the family the house belonged to, and the were treated better than other slaves. The slave mode of production is what is traditionally thought of as slave work, resulting in abuse, malnutrition, etc. female slaves would be more valuable than the males, as they could be
5.Enslaved people did have rights if we are comparing African slaves to the traditional American slaves. When a child was born he became a part of the household instead of the offspring of a slave. Other than the rights of children, the African slaves were still slaves in the respect of how they were worked.
1.) Thornton argues that the trans-Atlantic slave trade reduced the male population and leaving the practice of polygyny to maintain the vitality among the African population; yet with the extrication of the men placed a burden on the women. Meillassoux agreed with Thornton for the burden put on women, but also stated that their productivity was weighed more than procreation. Meaning that the women's master would use her strictly for labor uses only and could dispose of her if not performing. Kline on the other hand, argued that women were more valuable than means of production. The reason being is they reproduced and were valued more in price during slavery.
ReplyDelete2.) Polygamy, according to Thornton, is what helps restore the African population when men were sold in the trans-African slave trade. Which gives Thornton a chance to argue against Fage's quantitative assessment on population. A model was made of the population based on the conception that there was an unbalanced sex ratio among the population.
3.) Womens ability to be productive was valued more rather than their ability to reproduce children. Also the lack of wealthy living made it hard to bear a child, relating to the story of Adukwe. This story indicates a life of wandering and instability, relating to a poor living condition.
4.) To Kline, household mode of production consisted of masters and slaves equally worked aside one another, and even forming a bigger family unit. On the other hand the slave mode of production were treated with no equality to there masters and had poor living conditions. Another difference among the two modes is that household slaves were treated as family so had a greater value. Where as the slave mode was treated poorly and cost nothing to purchase, making them disposable. Paul Guebhard even reports that they had such low living standards that it was fairly cheap to dispose of them and by more.
5.) For the most part slaves did not have much rights, because men were used strictly for labor and had no other life. Women were used as sex slave, leaving them to no rights over their bodies or how their sex life is ran.
1. The demographic argument that was presented by Thornton is Atlantic slave trade had resulted in an unbalanced sex ratio in African. On the other hand, Meillassoux and Kline‘s arguments are to approve that female slaves are much valuable than male slaves. I personally more agree to Meillassoux and Kline‘s arguments because female slaves not only can reproduce child for more labor but also can did mostly housework and farming.
ReplyDelete2. According to Thornton, he thought that polygyny didn’t help with population growth. Thornton argued with historian Fage who think that polygyny won’t depopulate the total number in Africa. I think he did have enough evidence to support his argument by using statistics data about percentage of total population after slave trade.
3. According to Meillassoux, he thought that fertility has nothing to do with the price of enslaved women due to the low birth rate. he got his sources from other historians like Hogendorn. For example, approximately each woman can only have one child, and sixty percent of slave reproduction is from acquisition.
4. According to Kline, “household mode of production” is a method that slaves on count a small percent of population and they live in the household and connect with master directly. On the hand, 'slave mode of production' is a method that has a large population who sleep in a separate settlement and response for food surplus. By the effect of those modes, the costs of enslaved workers decreased due to the increased expropriation and accumulation. He got his sources from other historians like Olivier de Sardan, Paul Guebhard, and Futa Jalon.
5. Enslaved people only have little rights. According to economic law, enslaved people have right to have their child. Also enslaved women have only right to give their master a symbolic blow with his fist.
1. Thornton argues that even though more men where traded on the Trans-Atlantic slave trade than women, women suffered the most. He argues that the slave trade caused women to have more individuals’ dependent on them in Africa. Meillassouz argues that women’s participation and demand for in slave labor was greater than that of men because of the sexual divison of labor. Kline argues that women were more expensive, not because of their reproductive abilities, but because they combined
ReplyDelete2. The Trans-Atlantic slave trade caused a signification sex imbalance in Africa, because more men where traded rather than women. According to Thornton, polygyny helped to counterbalance some of the losses to the slave trade by continued reproduction. He argues with historian Patrick Manning. They created hypothetical models of populations and plotted the effects of the sex imbalance and polygamy rates. I believe the plotted charts service as enough evidence for his theory.
3. Meillassouz argues that fertility has nothing to do with the price of enslaved women. Female slaves did not have many children and did not reproduce next generation laborers. Therefore, the price of a female slave was more related to the sexual division fi labor and the higher demand for the tasks women where expected to preform rather than fertility.
4. According to Kline, the household mode of production is when slaves make up a small percentage of the population, lived within the household and worked along side members of the household. While the slave mode of production is when slaves make up a high percentage of the population, lived in separate settlements and their labor was the source of sustenance for the ruling class and lived of slave produced surplus. There are less differences between male and female workers in the slave mode of production, therefore in the household mode of production women’s labor was more highly valued.
5. Slaves did have ome rights. Women were allowed to take care of their own children. Also you could not be born into slavery. Generally, speaking African slaves were treated better than slaves in the new world.
1. All three do not deny female slaves outweighed male slaves in Africa. Their explanations, though, differ vastly. Thornton relies on the Atlantic slave trade for an explanation. Male slave numbers dwindled in Africa as they were pushed out of the continent and into the New World. This left a greater portion of female slaves, relatively speaking, in Africa. Female slaves were especially important as they possessed the ability to reproduce slave populations. Meillassoux puts forth the argument that it was not the female’s fertility that prompted a greater percentage of women to be enslaved. Rather, it was the economic necessity of work done by female slaves that created such numbers. Meillassoux provides evidence that most slave populations were replenished by acquisition of new slaves, not repopulation within the population. Klein comes forward bearing yet another explanation. Klein discusses the culture of slave populations and attributes high numbers of female slaves to the ease of assimilation of females and children into slave society. Klein seems to also put forth a greater emphasis on the fertility of the female than Meillassoux, suggesting it played a significant part in the valuing of females over males. I believe the facts put forth by Meillassoux make his argument remarkably compelling. There is no arguing against the data that shows acquisition as the primary source of repopulation of slave groups. And it only seems logical the economic capabilities of an individual female slave would be expensive to hinder by impregnation. Rather, it is more economical to acquire more slaves by trade.
ReplyDelete2. According to Thornton, polygyny helped to sustain the population of areas like Angola, his particular line of study and model for his models while they underwent significant losses during the transatlantic slave trade. An abundance of wives for one man meant that many more children could be born than in a monogamous society. This does mean, however, that the structure of society was significantly altered and male figures went down significantly. It seems he is actually arguing against mostly Fage, but also J. E. Inikori, and L. M. Diop. Though these three do not all agree, they all take quantitative assessments of slave populations. Thornton asserts the qualitative assessment bear more significance in study. I think he has a significant amount of evidence, but a lot of his argument’s cornerstone is hypothetical models of slave populations. He often discusses altering factors to unveil more about the populations. Thus an argument could be made on the potential inaccuracy of these models.
3. Meillassoux argues that fertility has little to do with the high price of enslaved women. The kinds of sources he pulls from in this argument include Soninke sayings, court records of kings’ children, and data from governments such as the Sokoto caliphate and the Barnum kingdom. He uses these numbers or stories to put forth his argument on the acquisition of slaves as opposed to their reproduction.
4. Klein depicts the household mode of production as one in which a small percentage of slaves works side-by-side with free members of the household toward common goals. They are well cared-for and develop a face-to-face social system with the opportunity for their offspring to be assimilated into the kinship. The slave mode of production evolved from the first. It contains a high percentage of the population with slaves working beneath masters under poor working conditions. The household mode of production also produced significantly less surplus in production than the slave mode. Klein’s sources here are mostly first-hand accounts such as those from Paul Guebhard, a British administrator.
5. Slaves had very few rights, tentatively delivered. While slaves could, for instance, buy their freedom or a slave’s child may be free depending on the condition of servitude of the father as discussed in class, Klein notes that enslaved fathers had very little control over their female daughters. For instance, the master of the daughter’s mother would often be the one to look after the child and pick her spouse. Females also had little control over their sex lives as put forth by Klein through various first-hand accounts of the conditions of household slaves in Africa.
Delete1. Thornton argues that although the Atlantic Slave Trade reduced the male population three times faster than the women population,the practice of polygany remained. Meillassoux argues that women made up most of the field workers and cultivators, and that the loss of male population caused women to be alienated to their mastersand suffered worse conditions without protection. Klein argues that women had more value for their work ability and not their reproductive ability. I agree mostly with Meillasoux because being alienated to the unprotected will of a master seems most logical and he also touches on their influence with skills and intellect despite that not helping the situation.
ReplyDelete2. Since the slave trade removed so many of the able-body men from the population, a decrease in population would seem natural due to the limited ability to reproduce. But the practice of polygany allowed for women to break the sex ratio and keep the population steady. He argues with Fage who says the volume of the slave trade was not enough to impact the population like this. Thornton argues that the quality of the population left behind suggests a struggle for reproduction, not simply the quantity. His sources are models resulting from assumptions made in how society was affected. I think the evidence is not the strongest since all he can do is simply assume what happened to make his argument models.
3. Meillasoux argues that women's ability to work and produce set their high price, not their ability to reproduce. He sources the steady populations of Sub-Saharan Afica, and the need to constantly keep importing more slaves to keep their population steady, just like in the Americas. If women were so valued for their reproduction, these constant imports would not be necessary.
4. The household mode was where slaves made up a small percentage of the population and worked alongside free people. The slave mode had a high slave population and provided surplus to a ruling class that did not labor. Slaves were cheaper in the slave mode because there were large numbers of slaves who produced large surpluses, making it easy for the masters to buy new ones. He references the accounts of different foreign administrators in the area.
5. Certain reasons for one held in slavery able to be worked of such as debt so one wouldn't be necessarily be enslaved for life. Also, children born to slave parents were not slaves themselves, a trend that would be different in America starting in 1600's Virginia.
1) Thornton believes that due to the success in the Atlantic Slave Trade that due to men being traded led to more women. With more women than men, the reproduction rate decline leading to a decline in population. Meillassoux argues against Thornton saying that women were more valuable due to there domestic traits such as field worker and cultivators. Klein argues that women were more valuable due to there reproducing ability.
ReplyDelete2) Thornton argues with Fage on the topic the belief that polygyny helped restore and maintain the population during the slave trade. Yes, he does have enough evidence because he gets his material for the argument through Manning who has similar statistics as Thornton.
3) Meillassoux argues that the set price of women was based on their ability to complete specific tasks and not on their ability to reproduce. Most slave women did not give birth to many children due to the slave fertility rate.
4)The household mode of production were tasks that were more domestic and was something the master would be willing to do along side the slave. The slave mode of production was one of seclusion, slaves would not be part of the masters household and would only do tasks that would benefit the good of the plantation environment. He makes these claims based on oral accounts of life in these two situations.
5)The amount of rights depended on the type of slave one was. Basically, slaves who are in slave mode of production had no rights and could never emancipate themselves. The domestic slaves would have more rights but still limited to basic human rights, no special outstanding privileges
1. There are several demographic arguments presented by the scholars John Thornton, Claude Meillassoux, and Martin Klein. Thornton bought up the demographic argument that a majority of the slaves in Africa were actually women. To prove this, Thornton addressed that issue and argued that, “the trans-Atlantic slave trade reduced the male population at a rate three times greater than the female.” Meillassoux’s demographic argument that African women were important productive cultivators in the fields because of the drastic decline of men due to the trans-Atlantic trade. Klein juxtaposes Meillassoux with here argument that female slaves were valued more than men, for they were a “more secure and stable investment on a social level until age or unreproductive capacity rendered her a liability (p.184).” I agree with the demographic argument provided by Klein because the reproductive ability of the female slaves would certainly make them more valuable to their masters as they could “grow” their own slaves in a sense.
ReplyDelete2. Thornton argues, that because of polygyny, the “undiminished numbers of women were able to counter balance some of the losses to the slave trade by continued reproduction (p.187).” Thornton argues alongside Thornton and together through their findings Thornton has a sufficient amount of evidence to support his hypothesis. Thornton comes up with his sources through the use of models and recreating the artificial society and using models to predict what would happen with the population.
3. Meillassoux argues that fertility is “ what is most expected” from the female slave and that her value as a laborer followed suit right behind her expectation has a “procreator” (p.194). One supporting evidence Meillassoux presents is that slaves weren’t really reproducing and their means of getting more slaves were buying them rather than having the slaves reproduce themselves has the gross rate of reproduction for the slaves was below 0.5. He is able to make this argument with sources such as those about the life of slaves and how it was infeasible to conclude from these stories that women value came from their ability to procreate.
4. In Klein’s argument she stated a difference between the ‘household mode of production’ and the ‘slave mode of production’ as being that slaves lived separately from their masters in the slave mode of production and that in the household mode of production the owners would work with the slaves rather engaging in the labor with them. These two modes of production drove down the prices of slaves has in the slave mode of production they were not seen as equals or part of the masters family thus, they weren’t valued has high as they would be in the household mode of production were they were seen as valuable workers. Klein supports his arguments with through oral accounts of people familiar with these two household modes of slavery.
5. Meillassoux would argue that slaves had no rights because she stated that, “ inferior estate characterizes the slave’s entire existence no matter what his or her condition is or how that condition changes (p.195).” He also says that the slave is kinless, thus, it therefore lacks the protection that comes from belonging to the kinship groups (p.194-195).