FIRST DISCUSSION TOPIC: “SLAVERY “ AND ENSLAVEMENT” IN AFRICAN AS CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORKS FOR WRITING AFRICAN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY.

For much of this semester, we have probed the nature of social and economic institutions and practices in some regions of Africa prior to 1850. Some historians and other scholars who study Africa’s history of this period have argued that the continent had its own histories of exploitation, domination, and control of other human beings closer to the general and global understanding of “slaves”, “slavery”, and “enslavement.” 

From the information you have obtained in this class—lectures, and course materials—what “historical evidence” and “analyses” can you share and discuss within your group about “Slavery” and “Enslavement” as the concepts or means by which some scholars have assessed aspects of the social, economic, and even political history of Africa before 1850. Are you convinced or not convinced about the facts and analyses these scholars have assembled on this topic, and why? Are there other facts and interpretations you would like your peers to consider?