History 465- Week 4 Post

It was very interesting this week learning more about the African slave trade from a global perspective. Here in America information about the slave trade is usually examined in the context of the emergence of slavery in the United States, and it was enlightening to take a look at it from the perspective of another region, namely Latin America. Specifically in the realm of gender roles, the articles we read and discussed in class really helped trace the role this Triangular trade system of the Portuguese had on gender roles both in Latin America and in Africa.

We discussed the Kris Lane article mainly in class, and for good reason, as it is excellent at demonstrating how the roles African slaves were placed in determined their concept of gender. I was surprised at just how different the roles of slaves were depending both on their sex and on their location (urban, rural, etc.). There were slaves fulfilling the stereotypical “field worker” portrayal that has come to be linked with African slaves at this time, but there were also slaves involved in urban life, fulfilling the daily tasks that their elite masters did not feel like doing. Women were automatically placed into roles that the Spanish felt were feminine, and males were placed into what the Spanish perceived as masculine roles. The effect this had on forming gender roles cannot be underestimated. Whereas we discussed the possibility of Andean indigenous women preserving their pre-Spanish culture through their new roles, it’s hard the imagine African women could in any way preserve their former way of life. Furthermore, by forcing their way of life upon them, the Spanish justified themselves through religion. As Lane says, “it was the Africans’ privilege to be captured.” By capturing them and giving them Christian names, they were apparently saving them. The amount of times in world history religion has been used for non-religious goals is too many to count, but add another one to the list.

What I found most interesting this past week, though, was the information that the African cultures were already built upon slavery, pre-arrival of the Portuguese. Often we get the impression that African slaves were captured by white men marching into Africa and doing the deed themselves. While there probably were instances of that, the vast majority of the slaves were apprehended by other Africans, because slavery was natural in their society. What is key, however, is that the way slaves were treated in Africa differed greatly than how they were treated in Latin America. So while slavery wasn’t a new concept to Africans making the Middle Passage, it was a new level of harshness and coercion. Would the slave trade have been nearly as successful had the system of slavery not already existed in Africa? I doubt it, as a large part of the efficiency of the triangle trade system was that the Portuguese were able to exploit an already existent practice to their benefit.