Slavery and Reform in West Africa : Toward Emancipation in Nineteenth-Century Senegal and the Gold Coast.

This highly readable book recounts efforts to stamp out slavery in two West African countries--the Gold Coast under British influence and Senegal under the French. In both countries, slavery was sustained by slave owners' vigorous commitment to the institution, as well as by the economic opportunities derived from it. The context was the economic production of goods for external markets, requiring the use of extensive labor, a fact that prevented colonial authorities and abolitionist forces from challenging slavery with any sense of urgency and commitment. Consequently, opposition to slavery was mounted by the slaves themselves, serving as agents for their own liberation, and redefining their relationships with their masters. Getz (San Francisco State Univ.) successfully explores the tension between the efforts of slave owners to retain control, and of slaves to free themselves. Based on solid archival work and a sophisticated reading of existing literature, the book shows that emancipation was slow and tortuous, and that the French and British colonial regimes had the same aims. New information includes attempts by slaves to desert, slave routes from the hinterland to the coast, and the nature of indigenous resistance to the abolition of slavery. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. T. Falola University of Texas