Slaves and Slavery, a Disturbing Object for French Social Sciences in Colonial West Africa

Before the 1960s and 1970s, little scientific work had been done on slaves and slavery in French colonial West Africa, as the colonial rule was supposed to have erased what had been an official justification for colonial expansion. Though, slaves are mentioned in some ethnographic, geographical and sociological work, especially produced by the Comité des Etudes historiques et scientifiques de l'AOF (1915-1936) or the Institut français d'Afrique noire (1936-1960). Slaves and slavery formed a disturbing object for colonial or social sciences, that couldn't be categorized in the usual frameworks of analysis, for they fell in between ethnic and social groups.