Slavery in the History of Black Muslim Africa »

Humphrey J. Fisher is Reader in the History of Africa at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. His late father, Allan G. B. Fisher, was formerly Price Professor of Economics at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, London.

"Will be welcomed by all interested in African history and anthropology. A valuable contribution and a rich mine of material."
--Journal of African History

In many parts of the African Muslim world, slavery still blights the landscape. What are the origins of this terrible institution? Why is it still practiced? How widespread is it and how does it differ from Western chattel slavery?

This book tells the story of how the enslavement of Africans by Berbers, Arabs, and other Africans became institutionalized and legitimized throughout Muslim Africa. A classic, pioneering study, first published in 1971 and extensively updated in this revised edition, Slavery in the History of Black Muslim Africa provides an expansive portrait of domestic slavery from the tenth to the nineteenth century in the context of the religious, social, and economic conditions of the African Islamic world.

Drawing on a host of accounts from contemporary observers such as Leo Africanus and Ibn Battuta, Fisher and Fisher describe the status and rights of slaves in Africa, and their various roles as currency, goods, eunuchs, soldiers, and statesmen, as well as the jarring historical interruption brought on by slave raiders and traders in West and North Africa.

Booknews

Utilizing the accounts of observers and those who participated in the institution of slavery<-->slavers, travellers, and slaves themselves<- -> and the records kept by the judicial institutions of Islam, Fisher (African history, U. of London) explores the political, religious, economic, and social forces surrounding the growth and legitimization of the institution of slavery in Muslim Africa from the 10th century to the 19th century. He explains how the institution differed in nature and harshness both geographically and across time, offering stories where slaves were relatively well treated and rose to prominent places in society, as well as stories in which slaves were treated brutally and often rebelled. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)