Slavery and Marriage in African Societies

This article introduces a special issue focusing upon linkages between enslavement and marriage within African societies from the 1830s to the present day. The right to make decisions over marriage is one of the core powers which masters have historically exercised over individuals whom they enslaved. The exercise of this right had far-reaching ramifications for lived experiences of enslavement, with slaves – usually women and girls – being forced into conjugal relationships where their labour, sexuality and reproductive capacity were at the disposal of their husband/master. This article introduces two major themes that cut across the issue's contributions: direct connections and comparative analogies. The former refers to scenarios where marriage and enslavement directly intersected and overlapped, while the latter refers to claims that at least some African marriages were analogous to enslavement. Comparisons between marriage and slavery have been a recurring feature of African politics throughout the period considered here. They have also been frequently paired with moral denunciations and calls for change by actors as different as European colonial administrators and African victims-turned-activists. At the same time, the legitimizing cloak of marriage has been repeatedly used to deliberately obscure the continuing legacies of slavery.