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What Do We Know and What Should We Do About Slavery?

Understanding the complexities of slavery's impact today

Julia O’Connell Davidson author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Sage Publications Ltd

Published:31st Mar '22

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What Do We Know and What Should We Do About Slavery? cover

This insightful book explores the complexities of slavery, advocating for the concept of afterlives over modern slavery to address contemporary injustices.

In What Do We Know and What Should We Do About Slavery?, the author delves into the complex issue of slavery, examining its historical and contemporary implications. The book posits that the term afterlives offers a more nuanced understanding of the ongoing struggles against injustice, violence, inequality, and oppression faced in the twenty-first century. By exploring the different perspectives on slavery, the author sheds light on the diverse ways people conceptualize and address this critical issue today.

The text highlights the ongoing debate surrounding the concept of modern slavery versus the afterlives of transatlantic slavery. While some advocate for a focus on contemporary forms of slavery, others emphasize the enduring impacts of historical racial chattel slavery on present-day society. This dichotomy raises essential questions about our understanding of slavery and the actions we should take to combat its remnants in the modern world. The author presents a thorough review of both perspectives, allowing readers to grasp the complexities involved.

Ultimately, What Do We Know and What Should We Do About Slavery? encourages readers to reflect on their own views and the implications of these differing frameworks. By analyzing the historical context and its relevance to current social justice movements, the book aims to foster a deeper understanding of how we can address the legacies of slavery and work towards a more equitable future.

In this scintillating little book, O’Connell Davidson sketches out the relationship between slavery, racism and modernity. In so doing, she picks apart facile solutions to ‘modern slavery’ offered by philanthropists, police departments and NGOs, and instead demands we think more seriously about the structure of global capitalism and the afterlives of transatlantic slavery and colonialism. This brilliant book clarifies the term ‘modern slavery’, clearing some of the ground on our path to freedom. 
  -- Dr Luke De Noronha
What Do We Know and What Should We Do About Slavery? brilliantly distills how to interpret the phenomenon of slavery and its relationship to freedom struggles both in past epochs and our current moment. By differentiating between the languages of modern slavery and slavery’s afterlives, Julia O’Connell Davidson underscores the policy stakes for abolitionists rejecting slavery in all its forms and enslaved humans whom, their condition notwithstanding, constantly reaffirm calls for reparatory justice and unapologetically declare that their lives and personhood matter.

  -- Neil Roberts
If you want to learn a lot about what matters most, in as short a time as possible, this is the series for you. -- Danny Dorling

ISBN: 9781529730753

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 140g

104 pages