Session Abstract

Until relatively recently, the enslavement of captives was widely regarded as a legitimate and progressive substitute for summary execution. This popular formula was espoused by many leading religious authorities and eminent intellectuals, who most commonly framed the enslavement of prisoners taken in violent conflict using the language of a bargain, with prisoners ‘consenting’ to enslavement in order to avoid immediate execution. Both this panel and the multi-panel workshop of which it is part aims to expand existing knowledge in relation to the history of war and slavery. The particular focus of this panel is the history of slavery and abolition in the Americas. Each of the papers in the panel speak directly to our central question of how wartime practices shaped evolving patterns of enslavement and associated slave experiences. Through historical case studies of the political, economic and sociological consequences of war and slavery, the papers in the panel consider the varying ways in which slaves featured in wartime settings in Cuba, Jamaica, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. Each of these case studies will help to shed new light on the specific characteristics and consequences of the individual cases involved, while also creating a platform for a broader comparative analysis between both these cases and others cases featured as part of the larger workshop. From this vantage point, the panel provides an essential counterpoint to other related panels on the relationship between war and slavery within Africa and the Atlantic World.