Pawnship, Slavery, and Colonialism in Africa

Exploring the age-old institution of African debt bondage, in which people are held as collateral in lieu of debts that have been incurred, these twenty essays look at the various effects of this practice on such issues as kinship, gender and the international slave trade. Continuing well into the 1930s because of the economic demands enforced by European colonial rule, pawnship and slavery in the event of default on a loan has had a particularly detrimental effect on women and children, demonstrating the links between credit, servility and gender in large parts of Africa.