Articles by Christine Whyte
Both Liberia and the USA make their independence from the imperial/colonial systems of the ninete... more Both Liberia and the USA make their independence from the imperial/colonial systems of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries an integral part of their national identities. Despite an upsurge in the use of the term ‘American Empire’ since the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, the American government has firmly identified itself as a republic with no colonial ambitions. Liberia, dubbed ‘Africa's oldest republic’, has similarly fashioned a national self-image of freedom and independence. This article uses the concept of Colonialism without Colonies to critically evaluate these claims, and further open up questions about the nature of imperialism in contrast to colonialism.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
This paper traces two particular resonances of post-slavery
history in Sierra Leone, from the abo... more This paper traces two particular resonances of post-slavery
history in Sierra Leone, from the abolition of slavery in 1928 to the riots around decolonization in 1955–56. The first was the state-led efforts to engineer a transition to freedom for ex-slaves that would keep them engaged as willing workers. The second was the ways in which Sierra Leonean elites sought to control the labor of the ex-slave classes by relegating them to the position of a marginalized “youth.”
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Slavery & Abolition, Mar 26, 2014
Literature on the development of the Slavery Convention of 1926 often gives Abyssinia (now Ethiop... more Literature on the development of the Slavery Convention of 1926 often gives Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) as the test case and primary target of the international convention against slavery. For the most part, the Abyssinian side in the legal debates is obscured and a strong narrative of helplessness in the face of European pressure to abolish the legal status of slavery emerges. This paper seeks to re-centre the history of specifically Abyssinian legal knowledge about slavery and argue that Abyssinian anti-slavery policy developed in interaction not only with European-led international law but also with a non-Western discourse of modernisation drawn from the example of Japan. In addition, the paper argues that anti-slavery legislation was an integral part of the imperial modernising project.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Book chapters by Christine Whyte
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Reviews by Christine Whyte
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Itinerario: International Journal on the History of European Expansion and Global Interaction
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Talks by Christine Whyte
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
The practice of sending children to live in a family home away from their biological parents is e... more The practice of sending children to live in a family home away from their biological parents is extraordinarily common in Sierra Leone. This talk puts the practice of child fosterage in historical context, focusing on an anti-slavery campaign to stamp it out in the mid-19th century. Changing notions of childhood clashed with practices of colonialism, prompting accusations of slave trading. By examining this incident in detail, it is possible to draw out the interconnections between anti-slavery, childcare and colonialism at the heart of the debate over the fate of Freetown's 'Alien Children'.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Uploads
Articles by Christine Whyte
history in Sierra Leone, from the abolition of slavery in 1928 to the riots around decolonization in 1955–56. The first was the state-led efforts to engineer a transition to freedom for ex-slaves that would keep them engaged as willing workers. The second was the ways in which Sierra Leonean elites sought to control the labor of the ex-slave classes by relegating them to the position of a marginalized “youth.”
Book chapters by Christine Whyte
Reviews by Christine Whyte
Talks by Christine Whyte
history in Sierra Leone, from the abolition of slavery in 1928 to the riots around decolonization in 1955–56. The first was the state-led efforts to engineer a transition to freedom for ex-slaves that would keep them engaged as willing workers. The second was the ways in which Sierra Leonean elites sought to control the labor of the ex-slave classes by relegating them to the position of a marginalized “youth.”
Fosterage describes the exchange of children, within or outside the extended family. Who could foster or be fostered was determined by a range of social and economic factors, related to specific conceptions of childhood. In 19th century Sierra Leone, families in the colony fostered both children rescued from captured slave ships and children from communities neighboring the colony who would then work in their homes as domestic servants. This relationship was believed to promote ‘civilization’ of Africans by training the foster-children in domestic work and exposing them to new customs, habits and learning. But it also worked to ‘civilize’ the foster parents. By fostering children, Sierra Leoneans could free themselves from domestic labor, allowing them to make a claim to a genteel social superiority.
I argue that this practice in the colony drew strongly on existing practices of fostering in the region. Fostering existed as both a childcare practice and a means to establish links between different families in West Africa before the arrival of the settlers. In the 19th century, these fosterage arrangements formed a vital part, not only of integrating new arrivals into the colony, but also of building and strengthening ties with the surrounding area. Fostered children were active not only in helping to construct the Sierra Leonean community but in linking the settlers with the culture and society of their neighbors.