The history of slavery is often taught through the lens of the Atlantic world, leaving the histories of slavery and abolition in the Middle East and East Africa comparatively overlooked. This course broadens that perspective by examining slavery, the slave trade, and the many paths toward abolition across the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Middle East. Rather than treating abolition as a single event or inevitable process, we will explore the diverse and often contested ways in which slavery ended - or persisted - in different societies from the early modern period through the twentieth century. In this course, we will examine how enslaved people, slaveholders, merchants, religious authorities, imperial governments, abolitionists, and colonial officials understood slavery and freedom, and how those understandings changed over time. Throughout the course, students will consider fundamental historical questions: What constituted slavery in different societies? What did freedom mean to different actors? How did local realities shape international abolitionist projects, and how did global political developments transform everyday lives?
5 units · Letter (ABCD/NP)
The history of slavery is often taught through the lens of the Atlantic world, leaving the histories of slavery and abolition in the Middle East and East Africa comparatively overlooked. This course broadens that perspective by examining slavery, the slave trade, and the many paths toward abolition across the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Middle East. Rather than treating abolition as a single event or inevitable process, we will explore the diverse and often contested ways in which slavery ended - or persisted - in different societies from the early modern period through the twentieth century. In this course, we will examine how enslaved people, slaveholders, merchants, religious authorities, imperial governments, abolitionists, and colonial officials understood slavery and freedom, and how those understandings changed over time. Throughout the course, students will consider fundamental historical questions: What constituted slavery in different societies? What did freedom mean to different actors? How did local realities shape international abolitionist projects, and how did global political developments transform everyday lives?
Offered in Winter 2027 at Stanford University.