You should read such observations and conclusions with care. How did Barth determine that the African kings had thousands of slaves to work their fields? Were they really slaves or some of them belonged to other categories of labor recruitment, for example, junior kin groups, pawns working to pay off debt, debtor-prisoners, or communally drafted labor? Some of the Christian missionary accounts are full of inaccuracies and exaggerations. For example, in the 1860s, a Basel missionary visited the palace of the Okyehene [King] of Akyem Abuakwa in the then Gold Coast. After spending about three days in the precincts of the palace, the Basel missionary came away with the knowledge that the Okyehene was using the services of numerous slaves. But the Basel missionary was wrong. He mistook the King's courtiers, servants, musicians and dancers, sentinels, cooks, etc. as slaves simply because they were poorly dressed. Thus his delineation of who was a slave was based what the people in the palace were wearing: the king and his top officials wore resplendent royal kente and headgears, while the so-named slaves wore "tattered cotton-like outfits that exposed some parts of their body."
Sent: Wednesday, March 20, 2013 3:24 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Henry Louis Gates is Wrong about African Involvement in the Slave Trade
Einar Schlereth
http;//einarschlereth.blogspot.se
On Tuesday, March 19, 2013 12:53:02 AM UTC+1, Ikhide wrote:
--"There are some fundamental facts. First, no African kingdom used slavery as its principal mode of production. Africa has produced no economies based on slavery. It was left to Europe to create a system of slavery where humans were chattel to be used as tools in the development of wealth. Secondly, in all massive enterprises where there are oppressors and the oppressed there will be collaborators. It is no secret that some of Afriica's best minds, Fanon, Memni, Karenga, have isolated incidents of collaboration among victims of oppression. Blacks were police officers in the white minority regime of South Africa but one cannot blame apartheid on black people. So when Gates claims that Africans were involved in the slave trade one can accept this, but what one cannot accept is that Africans were equally culpable for the slave trade. Nor should one blame the Judenrats (Jewish Councils) of Germany for Nazi atrocities although they often collaborated with the Germans. Indians collaborated with the British colonialists in India and some Chinese collaborated with the Japanese in occupied China, and while there is no excuse there is certainly explanation for collaboration."
- Molefi Kete Asante
http://www.asante.net/
articles/44/where-is-the- white-professor-located/ Hmmm/ It is incorrect that "no African kingdom used slavery as its principal mode of production." That is silly hagiography. There are many ways to counter Bill Gates without minimizing the role of Africans in the transatlantic slave trade. Africans are just as culpable as those that came to take away our siblings. *cycles away slowly*
- IkhideStalk my blog at www.xokigbo.comFollow me on Twitter: @ikhideJoin me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ikhide
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