The African Diaspora in the Mediterranean Lands of Islam (Princeton Series on the Middle East) [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

Eve Troutt Powell (Author, Editor), John O. Hunwick (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1558762744 | ISBN-13: 978-1558762749 | Publication Date: October 1, 2002 | Edition: illustrated edition

For every gallon of ink that has been spilt on the trans-Atlantic slave trade and its consequences, only one very small drop has been spent on the study of the forced migration of black Africans into the Mediterranean world of Islam. From the ninth to the early twentieth century, probably as many black Africans were forcibly taken across the Sahara, up the Nile valley, and across the Red Sea, as were transported across the Atlantic in a much shorter period. Yet their story has not yet been told. This book provides an introduction to this "other" slave trade, and to the Islamic cultural context within which it took place, as well as the effect this context had on those who were its victims. After an introductory essay, there are sections on Basic Texts (QurÂ’an and Hadith), Some Muslim Views on Slavery, Slavery and the Law, Perceptions of Africans in Some Arabic and Turkish Writings, Slave Capture, the Middle Passage, Slave Markets, Eunuchs and Concubines, Domestic Service, Military Service, Religion and Community, Freedom and Post-Slavery, and the Abolition of Slavery. A concluding segment provides a first-person account of the capture, transportation, and service in a Saharan oasis by a West African male, as related to a French official in the 1930s.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

John Hunwick (Shari'a in Songhay) and Eve Troutt Powell (A Different Shade of Colonialism) have gathered (and briefly annotated) primary sources from the Koran, Islamic historians and theologians, non-Muslim anthropologists and others to end "the silence surrounding the experience... of African slaves in the Islamic Mediterranean." Though this "other" slave trade spanned nearly 10 centuries, no definitive history exists; The African Diaspora in the Mediterranean Lands of Islam offers scholars and students insight into the relationships between the brutal culture of slavery and the rich traditions of the Islamic world. Illus.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

[The authors] have offered an effective way of enticing the next generation of researchers." --—Journal of North African Studies

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 246 pages
• Publisher: Markus Wiener Publishers; illustrated edition edition (October 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558762744
• ISBN-13: 978-1558762749
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #498,941 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars African Diaspora In the mediterranean Lands of Islam, January 27, 2005

By 

Markus "Mike" (Princeton) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The African Diaspora in the Mediterranean Lands of Islam (Princeton Series on the Middle East) (Paperback)

from -Journal of North African Studies
"[A] significant, welcome step forward, not only in the study of African slavery but also more broadly in the history of the African Diaspora. The book is a series of translated primary source documents . . . organised topically and includ[ing] over 80 representative texts addressing the process of enslavement, markets, everyday life, social roles, identity, education, gender issues, status and social mobility, and emancipation. . . . A short historical contextualisation accompanies each major topic, introducing related textual selections.
"Introductory articles by Hunwick and Troutt Powell are among the best available on slavery in Islam and do a good job of orienting readers new to the subject. . . . [This is] the first collection of its kind in any language, and brings together texts from diverse origins. In this, the editors' selective approach matches well with the overarching purposes of the book. . . . Those interested in the origins of slavery in the Sahara and Maghrib will not only find useful primary materials to draw on, but also a broader framework for understanding the nature of the institution and some of its comparative dynamics over time. . . . [The authors] have offered an effective way of enticing the next generation of researchers." -Journal of North African Studies

5 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A first rate work, December 13, 2004

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Seth J. Frantzman (Jerusalem, Israel) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The African Diaspora in the Mediterranean Lands of Islam (Princeton Series on the Middle East) (Paperback)

The frequently over looked subject of Islamic slavery is fianlly brought to light in this important new work on the subject. The focus here is on the Africans sent to North Africa via the slave routes stretching acorss the Sahara and those beggining in Zanzibar. Between the 7th century and the present it is estimated that 11 million Africans were taken as Slaves to the muslim world. This book explains how they were captured, transported and most important their new lives in the Muslim world. Usual accounts paint a picture of a paradise where a slave lived as an equal and assimilated into the Muslim soceity. The reality was quite different then the western myth. This book tells of African women chosen only for their sexual attributes then used as sex slaves, any resulting children would be sold or 'pimped' off by the owner rather then living freely as Qu'ranic law sopposedly guaranteed. Here we have a wonderful new account of the Africans deported to North Africa, a story frequently overlooked in western history, which is all to often caught up in self flagulation of describing the Atlantic slave trade.

Seth J. Frantzman

5 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Imperative for the lethargic and much fooled (by Islam) western minds., December 29, 2005

By 

babyshein "babyshein" (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The African Diaspora in the Mediterranean Lands of Islam (Princeton Series on the Middle East) (Paperback)

For all true searchers and researches of the truth about Moslems and Islam and its hidden but still contemporary agenda of harassing, massacring and erasing other's cultures, the "inferior" culture of the infidels, this masterpiece is a must- simply imperative!

Its authors are heroes, no doubt about.