Moneylending, Marriage, and Slavery: Pawning Practices in Southeastern Nigeria, 1920s–1930s

International concern grew over the status of African women’s and children’s welfare during the 1920s and 1930s. Responding to international pressure, colonial officials began to investigate the trafficking of women and children throughout the continent. In particular, the British investigated child pawning in Southeastern Nigeria during the 1920s and 1930s. As it became clear that customary moneylending practices created a slippage between pawns and child marriages and sometimes slavery, officials attempted to stop the practice of child pawning. This paper illustrates how a diverse network of individuals participated in child dealing, especially girls. For example, parents and extended family members often participated in the selling of their own child in order to secure the wellbeing of their remaining children. Child dealers persuaded family members to hand over a young girl by promising to pay a large bride price. In other cases, female children were taken by family members or stolen outright. Upon collecting the young girls, the dealers transported them to different parts of the region and sold them for a substantial profit. Moreover, the paper also maps the colonial response to pawning and marriage practices. The British effort to regulate marriages illustrates how the trafficking of female children became an issue of great concern during the first few decades of the twentieth century. Colonial administrators began to create mutual consent documents and propose Ordinances that would dictate the terms of marriage. Evidence shows how these efforts resulted in the unintended consequence of providing nefarious child dealers to legitimate having young girls in their possession when they produced fake marriage certificates.