In the shadows between slave and free
A case for detangling the word “slave” from the word “chattel”
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12737759 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jennie Jeppesen (0000-0002-9128-1762, The University of Melbourne, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 399-418 |
| Publication date | 2020-07-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Atlantic Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1478-8810 • E-ISSN: 1740-4649 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/14788810.2019.1708158 |
| OpenAlex | W3041347939 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 47 |
The phrase “chattel slavery” evokes a narrative of the Atlantic slave trade as people with African heritage were stolen, forced to labour under abhorrent conditions, and were powerless to prevent their children being sold away generation after generation. However, slaves were not the only people held in a chattel status through the course of American history. Both Indentured Servants and Convicts were held as chattel, albeit a temporary form. This essay suggests that historians of both slavery and unfree labour need to untangle the word chattel from the word slave – for a person who is chattel is not always a slave (and a slave is not always chattel). I argue that terminology is crucial, and that analysis of the semantics of the word chattel shows how current word usage does not match with actual word meaning, which has repercussions in the current political climate
Linguistics · Meaning (existential · Narrative · Phrase · Sociology · Word (group theory · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Historical Economic and Social Studies · History · Philosophy · Psychology
Slave counterpoint
The white man's burden
Chattel or Person?
English
Freedom Bound
The Many-Headed Hydra
Under the Flags of Freedom
A New World of Labor The Development of Plantation Slavery in the British Atlantic
Sweet Liberty
The White Man's Burden
Indentured Servitude in the 17th Century English Atlantic
Historical time in the age of big data
Marriage on the Margins
Chattel Slavery and Wage Slavery
Slave Counterpoint
Adapting to a New World
Word Meaning and Belief
Brabbling Women
The Many Legalities of Early America
Out of the Land of Bondage”
Daughters of the trade
Chattel Slavery and Wage Slavery
Slavery and Social Death
Castle Slaves of the Eighteenth-Century Gold Coast (Ghana)
Harlots, Hussies, and Poor Unfortunate Women
Language
Early Modern Virginia
From Epic Journeys of Freedom
Frontiers of Labor
Government and Labor in Early America
The Trade of Bristol in the Eighteenth Century
The Trade of Bristol in the Eighteenth Century
Adapting to a New World
Slavery in the Americas, A Comparative Study of Virginia and Cuba
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,5 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2024 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |