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bahareads's review
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Voices of the Enslaved gives readers a glimpse into enslaved thoughts and daily life. Using mainly French court records, which gives academics a rare look into the thoughts and feelings of the enslaved. Sophie White is able to show how enslaved people fought to establish boundaries and the worlds slaves created for themselves. Readers see power dynamics in enslaved testimony, and how West Africans were familiar with judicial practices because similar things were practised in West Africa. The French slave court records counteract the question of what is a reliable slave narrative and how academics can use these records.
The first chapter tours French court proceedings. From there, White uses specific court cases to show relations between enslaved people, enslaved people and their masters, and enslaved people and how they regulated their communities. White ends with a slave story between two enslaved people owned by different enslavers. They were able to live as man and wife, free, for eight months. White and readers do not know what happens to Jean Baptiste and Kenet after they are recaptured but the fact they were willing to sacrifice everything to be together was powerful.
Court systems do not reveal the syncretism between Catholicism and Western African spirituality. Testimony allows enslaved people to narrate their feelings and stories. White shows historians what can be done with little source material. Seemly "useless" sources deserve to be used for unheard voices. Intimacy is a big factor in this work and in these stories. The construction and destruction of intimacy. The medium of court testimony allows readers autobiographical snapshots allowing us all to hear the voice of the enslaved.
The first chapter tours French court proceedings. From there, White uses specific court cases to show relations between enslaved people, enslaved people and their masters, and enslaved people and how they regulated their communities. White ends with a slave story between two enslaved people owned by different enslavers. They were able to live as man and wife, free, for eight months. White and readers do not know what happens to Jean Baptiste and Kenet after they are recaptured but the fact they were willing to sacrifice everything to be together was powerful.
Court systems do not reveal the syncretism between Catholicism and Western African spirituality. Testimony allows enslaved people to narrate their feelings and stories. White shows historians what can be done with little source material. Seemly "useless" sources deserve to be used for unheard voices. Intimacy is a big factor in this work and in these stories. The construction and destruction of intimacy. The medium of court testimony allows readers autobiographical snapshots allowing us all to hear the voice of the enslaved.
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