After Abolition: Cugoano on ‘Lawful Servitude’ and the Injustice of Slavery
What made colonial slavery wrongful? This article reconstructs the answer given by a radical Black antislavery theorist writing in late eighteenth-century Britain: Quobna Ottobah Cugoano (c.1757–c.1791). His answer drew on lived experience. Born in present-day Ghana, Cugoano was enslaved aged 13 and...
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2025-01-01
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| author | Johan Olsthoorn |
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| description | What made colonial slavery wrongful? This article reconstructs the answer given by a radical Black antislavery theorist writing in late eighteenth-century Britain: Quobna Ottobah Cugoano (c.1757–c.1791). His answer drew on lived experience. Born in present-day Ghana, Cugoano was enslaved aged 13 and trafficked to Grenada, before being taken onwards to England where he reclaimed his freedom. His Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery [1787/1791] highlights two central injustices blighting colonial slavery – robbery (‘theft of rights’) and dehumanization. On my interpretation, enslaved Black people are dehumanized in three ways: through instrumentalization; commodification; and racial inferiorization. A specific type of violence accompanies each. Significantly, unfreedom and exploitation per se are not among the injustices of slavery. Both feature in a condition Cugoano calls “lawful servitude” – part of his overlooked vision for post-abolition transitional justice. After abolition, enslaved persons should continue to work for their ex-owners, “without torture or oppression” – until they completed seven years in total, nominally to compensate “for the expences attending their education” (98-99). Biblical laws of bondage provide the blueprint for post-abolition lawful servitude. Parsing its meaning and legitimating conditions allows me to clarify what in Cugoano’s view the injustice of colonial slavery exactly consists in. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-2afb397cbada48e68a84ef7562dfc9ab |
| institution | Kabale University |
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| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Aperio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Modern Philosophy |
| spelling | doaj-art-2afb397cbada48e68a84ef7562dfc9ab2025-01-31T16:08:52ZengAperioJournal of Modern Philosophy2644-06522025-01-016210.25894/jmp.2506After Abolition: Cugoano on ‘Lawful Servitude’ and the Injustice of SlaveryJohan Olsthoornhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-1314-5087What made colonial slavery wrongful? This article reconstructs the answer given by a radical Black antislavery theorist writing in late eighteenth-century Britain: Quobna Ottobah Cugoano (c.1757–c.1791). His answer drew on lived experience. Born in present-day Ghana, Cugoano was enslaved aged 13 and trafficked to Grenada, before being taken onwards to England where he reclaimed his freedom. His Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery [1787/1791] highlights two central injustices blighting colonial slavery – robbery (‘theft of rights’) and dehumanization. On my interpretation, enslaved Black people are dehumanized in three ways: through instrumentalization; commodification; and racial inferiorization. A specific type of violence accompanies each. Significantly, unfreedom and exploitation per se are not among the injustices of slavery. Both feature in a condition Cugoano calls “lawful servitude” – part of his overlooked vision for post-abolition transitional justice. After abolition, enslaved persons should continue to work for their ex-owners, “without torture or oppression” – until they completed seven years in total, nominally to compensate “for the expences attending their education” (98-99). Biblical laws of bondage provide the blueprint for post-abolition lawful servitude. Parsing its meaning and legitimating conditions allows me to clarify what in Cugoano’s view the injustice of colonial slavery exactly consists in. https://jmphil.org/article/id/2506/Quobna Ottobah Cugoano (c.1757–c.1791)slavery and antislaverydehumanizationviolencehuman rightstransitional justice |
| spellingShingle | Johan Olsthoorn After Abolition: Cugoano on ‘Lawful Servitude’ and the Injustice of Slavery Journal of Modern Philosophy Quobna Ottobah Cugoano (c.1757–c.1791) slavery and antislavery dehumanization violence human rights transitional justice |
| title | After Abolition: Cugoano on ‘Lawful Servitude’ and the Injustice of Slavery |
| title_full | After Abolition: Cugoano on ‘Lawful Servitude’ and the Injustice of Slavery |
| title_fullStr | After Abolition: Cugoano on ‘Lawful Servitude’ and the Injustice of Slavery |
| title_full_unstemmed | After Abolition: Cugoano on ‘Lawful Servitude’ and the Injustice of Slavery |
| title_short | After Abolition: Cugoano on ‘Lawful Servitude’ and the Injustice of Slavery |
| title_sort | after abolition cugoano on lawful servitude and the injustice of slavery |
| topic | Quobna Ottobah Cugoano (c.1757–c.1791) slavery and antislavery dehumanization violence human rights transitional justice |
| url | https://jmphil.org/article/id/2506/ |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT johanolsthoorn afterabolitioncugoanoonlawfulservitudeandtheinjusticeofslavery |