This panel joins the conversation about slavery, abolition, emancipation and the carceral state that has been re-energized in the way of the extensive Black Lives Matters protests of summer 2020. It aims to widen the horizon of this active research field, both thematically and geographically, by offering a set of papers about the phenomena of 19th century slave trade and abolitionism across the Atlantic World that focus on its impact in unexpected places. Each of the panelists will explore issues of slavery, abolition, emancipation and punishment from the perspective of actors and entities resident in the Italian States, Spain, and later, Brazil in order to document the ways in which “the nefarious trade” had repercussions there. As it turns out, the moral, religious and political implications of the slave trade and the existence of African slavery were invoked in domestic parliamentary debates.

In the case of the Italian States, Giulia Bonazza shows that people there were actively engaged in the transnational debate on abolitionism, and that some Italian states abolished slavery to take a lead from both a moral and juridical point of view. They were deeply involved in the negotiation of international treaties and the Papal States played a fundamental role not only regionally, but also in the broader transnational abolitionist debate. Marco Mariano adds to that perspective with a paper that explores the mid-19th century Italian debate over slavery and abolition reveals a complex web of natural and cultural arguments over racial alterity taking place in Italy ironically, at the same time that it was moving southward and seeking its own colonies in Africa. Federica Morelli explains the convoluted logic by which the deputies at Spain’s liberal Cortes of Cádiz managed to redefine citizenship to include indigenous Americans but exclude those of African descent and how these debates foreshadowed the tension between liberal and illiberal forms of republicanism and democracy in 19th century Spain. Finally, Beatriz Mamigonian considers the Brazilian abolitionist campaigns of the 1880s through the skilled self-help tactics of illegally enslaved mine workers and their allies in the Brazilian Parliament, press and public opinion overseas.

There should be a substantial and diverse audience for this panel. Its participants are well-known experts in the field but are based outside North America and rarely speak in North America, making it a welcome and valuable opportunity for researchers from Europe, the US and Brazil to connect. (All panelists have financing and are eager and committed to attendance in New Orleans should travel be possible by January 2022). The topic should attract scholars interested in slavery, the slave trade, abolition, Italian history, Luso-Brazilian studies, 19th century liberalism, the Atlantic World, Mediterranean history, press and citizenship.