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Best regards, Andrew Stewart - - - Subscribe to the Washington Babylon newsletter via https://washingtonbabylon.com/newsletter/ Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: February 26, 2020 at 7:26:04 PM EST > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Africa]: Ferrell on Shell, 'Children of Hope: The > Odyssey of the Oromo Slaves from Ethiopia to South Africa' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Sandra Rowoldt Shell. Children of Hope: The Odyssey of the Oromo > Slaves from Ethiopia to South Africa. Athens Ohio University Press, > 2018. Illustrations. 352 pp. $49.95 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-8214-2318-9. > > Reviewed by Lacy S. Ferrell (Central Washington University) > Published on H-Africa (February, 2020) > Commissioned by David D. Hurlbut > > Sandra Rowaldt Shell's _Children of Hope: The Odyssey of the Oromo > Slaves from Ethiopia to South Africa_ uses prosopography--the > systematic analysis of a collection of biographies--to construct a > nuanced and detailed picture of the experience of enslaved people, > with particular emphasis on the "first passage" of slavery from > capture to the coast. She works with a remarkable (and unique) set of > sources, consisting mainly of sixty-four original accounts by > enslaved Oromo children, given to missionaries within weeks of their > liberation by the British navy off the coast of Aden. These accounts, > complemented by later reports from the Keith-Falconer Mission in Aden > and the Lovedale Mission in South Africa, allow Shell to reconstruct > life histories that contribute to the histories of the East African > slave trade and children's experiences of enslavement. > > This highly technical work is divided into five parts that trace the > children's journey from their homes in Ethiopia to South Africa and, > in many cases, back to Ethiopia. She begins with part 1, "Roots: > Memories of Home," in which she establishes the Ethiopian context. > Each chapter of the book builds around the children's narratives, > which include descriptions of their families and communities. The > children's enslavement came during the rise of Menelik II as well as > catastrophic ecological collapse, leading to displacement and famine > and the choice by some families to sell their children or kin. > > The second part, "Routes: From Capture to Coast," traces the "first > passage" of the children's journeys and describes not only the moment > in which they became enslaved but also the journey they took before > arriving at the coast. This section is particularly notable for the > many hardships that inflicted psychological and physical trauma to > these girls and boys, who at the time of their interviews ranged in > age from ten to nineteen. Because her sources provide such consistent > information (each child answered the same set of questions by the > missionaries), she can use her analysis to identify many patterns > through the data, from the relative ages of boys and girls to the > likelihood of running away, time spent enslaved before reaching the > coast, and the manner in which they became enslaved in the first > place. > > The data here is truly remarkable. For scholars of childhood, the > availability of first-hand accounts by children offers unparalleled > insights into their experiences. Shell is correct to note that most > accounts of childhood are filtered through adult perceptions; in the > case of these narratives, that is not because they are the later > reflections of an adult but because adult missionaries asked the > questions and the responses were "transcribed and translated by > Matthew Lochhead, assisted by interpreters" (p. 111). She dismisses > any possible anti-Muslim bias but does not address other ways the > missionaries may have, intended or not, shaped the accounts of the > children. She also goes too far in her assumption that because the > children gave the accounts within weeks of their liberation they are > not touched by "the filter of hindsight, learned experience, or > suggestion," since hindsight is of course always a factor when > recounting events, even from an individual's recent past (p. 6). And > indeed, as her sources show, these children had traveled great > distances, been traded by many individuals, and worked in various > capacities before being caught onboard trading vessels (dhows) and > liberated by the British. > > However, the stories still offer incredible insight into these > children's lives. She explicitly challenges much of the Africanist > scholarship on the interior slave trade, though for the most part she > critiques arguments (such as Paul Bohannan's, that Africans did not > trade slaves for money, and the slavery-kinship continuum model that > Suzanne Miers and Igor Kopytoff used to argue that acquiring slaves > was largely about incorporating kin, and that kinship protected, > broadly speaking, from enslavement) that are quite dated and have > robust challenges in more recent scholarship. > > The real benefit of the stories, then, is their unique specificity. > These are not anonymous, generalized experiences over an entire > region and large span of time; they are the individual reflections > reflecting slave trade patterns in central Ethiopia during the late > 1880s. As a result, many significant patterns emerge. One of the most > interesting to me was the length and duration of their first-passage > experience. These children passed through two to ten different > traders' hands, and their journeys, mapped in the book, zigzagged > back and forth before reaching the coast. Boys covered close to 2,000 > kilometers on average, and girls around 1,600 kilometers; these > distances took anywhere between a couple of weeks and, in one > shocking outlier, seven months. In the seven-month example, the boy > in question walked almost the equivalent distance from Cape Town to > Cairo. > > The gender difference throughout the entirety of the ordeal is > striking. Girls' journeys, for example, were markedly shorter than > those of the boys, suggesting higher value in the export market. > These girls were also by and large described as beautiful, suggesting > the importance of their sexual value. Indeed, the sexual aspect of > the trade is under-theorized in this text. The girls themselves, or > at least, in the accounts we have from the missionaries, never > discussed any possible sexual abuse, though Shell does briefly > address its almost certain inevitability. She only raises it, > however, in relation to the markedly different behaviors of the boys > and girls upon their arrival at Lovedale, when the boys seemed > "ebullient, noisy, talkative, merry, and 'naughty,'" in contrast to > the girls' "quiet, obedient, shy, and unhappy" demeanors. She remarks > that "the silence surrounding any reports of the inevitable sexual > abuse they would almost certainly have experienced could have > concealed some massive instances of personal trauma" (p. 130). This > point is not raised again until the appendix, "The Variables and > Authentication of the Data," when she references extensive evidence > that girl children, in particular, were treated as "concubines" > throughout their journeys and by successive owners (p. 208). In a > work that otherwise is so careful to trace the devastating traumas of > first-passage experience, it is disappointing that there is not more > attention drawn to this all-too-common abuse and the physical and > psychological consequences it could entail. It is also worth noting > that the missionaries themselves asked the same questions of boys and > girls, which may have contributed to this silence in the data. > > Parts 3 through 5 mostly rely on records from the missions > themselves, though there is also some later correspondence from the > Oromo themselves. Part 3, "Revival: From _Osprey _to Lovedale," > follows the children from their liberation in the Gulf of Aden to > South Africa, allowing her to explore the history of these > anti-slaving patrols and the larger mission politics of the region, > which among other things determined the ultimate demography of the > children who ended up in South Africa, since the missionaries > selected those children deemed most fit for agricultural labor. At > Lovedale, explored in chapter 10, knowing the fates of the non-Oromo > in attendance casts stark light on the toll that the first passage > took, as the death rate from disease was unusually high, even as the > Oromo children consistently outperformed the others in their class > marks. Within the comparisons and conclusions that are possible > across the sixty-four children, Shell treats each child as a distinct > individual. She uses their names and exact details throughout, > bringing them to life on the page and providing a powerful reminder > of their individual identities. > > Part 4, "Return: Forging a Future," consists of a single chapter > tracing the lives of the surviving Oromo and investigating their own > attempts and desires to return to Ethiopia. Of the original group, > approximately a third died in South Africa before repatriation was > widely available, a third made their way back to Ethiopia, and a > third settled permanently in South Africa or farther afield. Return > was made possible in part by a rather tense scuffle among the > British, German, and Ethiopian state over funding, after which > thirteen returned on a German vessel. > > In the final part, "Reflections," Shell offers a useful summary > overview of the data and arguments from the text. As throughout, this > is methodical and clear. The organization moves clearly, and each > chapter uses section headers to group themes and data. There are > thirty-five pictures, thirty-six graphs, eleven maps, and individual > maps for each child's journey to the coast. The appendices include > the children's narratives, as well as "My Essay Is upon Gallaland," > an account of Ethiopia by one of the boys. In all, this book has an > incredible collection of sources and uses the data clearly and > methodically to trace almost every aspect of the children's lives > from their homes through enslavement, liberation, and adulthood. Some > of the generalized conclusions she makes seem to stretch her data too > far--she is, ultimately, talking about Ethiopia during the 1880s, and > so comparisons to West Africa during the era of the transatlantic > slave trade might be overstated. But the detail she can give about > these children challenges the use of assumptions anywhere in the > history of African slavery. Most notably, her deeply analyzed > assessment of the first passage, and its impact on mortality and > trauma, offers rich potential for historians of slavery across the > continent. > > Citation: Lacy S. Ferrell. Review of Shell, Sandra Rowoldt, _Children > of Hope: The Odyssey of the Oromo Slaves from Ethiopia to South > Africa_. H-Africa, H-Net Reviews. February, 2020. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=54446 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
