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“Freedom is the greatest gift your master can give you”; Understanding a protracted emancipation process from slavery to freedom from the perspective of Mauritanian master’s

Olsson, Christine LU (2022) EKHS21 20221
Department of Economic History
Abstract
Using Mauritania as a case study this thesis compares the decline of two forms of coercive labour, slavery and servitude, to understand how masters’ incentives differ depending on property right and thus affect conditions for decline. By re-analysing sociological research through an economic lens, this thesis offers a new angle on Mauritania’s emancipation process. It is suggested that changed market condition in the late 19th and early 20th century affected slave-owners opportunity to use slaves as a mean to access capital whereupon they were less incentivised to resist the emancipation initiated by France. Though people in servitude remained bonded. As these people did not provide the same benefits as property it is instead suggested... (More)
Using Mauritania as a case study this thesis compares the decline of two forms of coercive labour, slavery and servitude, to understand how masters’ incentives differ depending on property right and thus affect conditions for decline. By re-analysing sociological research through an economic lens, this thesis offers a new angle on Mauritania’s emancipation process. It is suggested that changed market condition in the late 19th and early 20th century affected slave-owners opportunity to use slaves as a mean to access capital whereupon they were less incentivised to resist the emancipation initiated by France. Though people in servitude remained bonded. As these people did not provide the same benefits as property it is instead suggested that specifically the increased cost of controlling them made masters no longer deem it worthwhile to keep people in servitude. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Olsson, Christine LU
supervisor
organization
course
EKHS21 20221
year
type
H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
subject
keywords
Labour coercion, Emancipation, Property right, Economic incentives, Capital markets, Narrative analysis, Mauritania
language
English
id
9096792
date added to LUP
2022-08-11 10:16:29
date last changed
2022-08-11 10:16:29
@misc{9096792,
  abstract     = {{Using Mauritania as a case study this thesis compares the decline of two forms of coercive labour, slavery and servitude, to understand how masters’ incentives differ depending on property right and thus affect conditions for decline. By re-analysing sociological research through an economic lens, this thesis offers a new angle on Mauritania’s emancipation process. It is suggested that changed market condition in the late 19th and early 20th century affected slave-owners opportunity to use slaves as a mean to access capital whereupon they were less incentivised to resist the emancipation initiated by France. Though people in servitude remained bonded. As these people did not provide the same benefits as property it is instead suggested that specifically the increased cost of controlling them made masters no longer deem it worthwhile to keep people in servitude.}},
  author       = {{Olsson, Christine}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{“Freedom is the greatest gift your master can give you”; Understanding a protracted emancipation process from slavery to freedom from the perspective of Mauritanian master’s}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}