Jan-Georg Deutsch

This is an interesting exploration of slavery in German East Africa, the short-lived colony which the Germans established in what is nowadays mainland Tanzania. Focusing on the coastal Swahili strip and the central region of Unyamwezi, Deutsch examines the disparity between the ideology espoused by the Germans (slavery is an evil and should be abolished) and their actual actions (slavery is economically and politically useful to us, so we will pass colonial legislation which legitimates it). He argues that although there was little political will in the Kolonialrat to enact abolition, and though the colonial administration would not have been not strong enough to enforce it regardless, the social and economic changes which the Germans brought about in the region brought about an effective end to slavery though it still existed legally. There were few to no slaves being brought in over the borders from territories now controlled by the British or the Belgians, in order to replenish the population numbers, while new economic opportunities provided by the introduction of a cash economy a) gave slaves the opportunity to earn their manumission and b) tempted many of them to flee their masters now that they had a greater prospect of self-sufficiency.

Greater engagement with the sources would have been a great support to Deutsch's argument—he references extensively but rarely quotes from them (perhaps because in German? though I could follow just fine those quotes he did make, and the translation provided seemed accurate to me). More sources from the perspective of the slaves would also have been appreciated—though obviously, given the time and the place, that is more wishful thinking on my part than anything else. A very interesting case study, all in, should you have an interest in the time and topic.… (més)