‘Having a Road’: Social and Spatial Mobility of Persons of Slave and Mixed descent in Post-independance Central Mali

TY - JOUR

T1 - ‘Having a Road’: Social and Spatial Mobility of Persons of Slave and Mixed descent in Post-independance Central Mali

AU - Pelckmans, Lotte

PY - 2012/7/1

Y1 - 2012/7/1

N2 - This article examines the migration trajectories of individuals of slave descent and ‘mixed descent’ (children of slave concubines) in a royal family network from the Haayre region of central Mali. Focusing on the twentieth century, it considers the extent to which social status has defined options for mobility within this network. Its argument is twofold. First, it shows that attention should be paid not only to the slave/free divide but also to subtler hierarchical nuances such as mixed descent and royal slavery. Rather than social status per se, it is internal hierarchies within social status groups which defined a person's options for movement. Second, the mobile trajectories of people with royal slave status tended to be intertwined with and depend on the movements of their patrons. Although these dependent forms of migration hardly ever changed their social status, they improved their economic condition considerably.

AB - This article examines the migration trajectories of individuals of slave descent and ‘mixed descent’ (children of slave concubines) in a royal family network from the Haayre region of central Mali. Focusing on the twentieth century, it considers the extent to which social status has defined options for mobility within this network. Its argument is twofold. First, it shows that attention should be paid not only to the slave/free divide but also to subtler hierarchical nuances such as mixed descent and royal slavery. Rather than social status per se, it is internal hierarchies within social status groups which defined a person's options for movement. Second, the mobile trajectories of people with royal slave status tended to be intertwined with and depend on the movements of their patrons. Although these dependent forms of migration hardly ever changed their social status, they improved their economic condition considerably.

KW - West Africa

KW - Mali

KW - Slavery

KW - Abolition

KW - Generations

KW - life history

KW - Emancipation

KW - Migration

U2 - 10.1017/S0021853712000400

DO - 10.1017/S0021853712000400

M3 - Journal article

SN - 1469-5138

VL - 53

SP - 235

EP - 255

JO - The Journal of African History

JF - The Journal of African History

IS - 2

ER -