All my companions are free, I alone am excepted : a socio-economic history of recaptured Africans at the Cape Colony in the age of reform, c. 1807-1834

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dc.contributor.advisorFransch, Cheten_ZA
dc.contributor.advisorEkama, Kateen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorCrous, Benjamin Danielen_ZA
dc.contributor.otherStellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of History.en_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2024-03-04T12:57:00Z
dc.date.available2024-03-04T12:57:00Z
dc.date.issued2024-03
dc.descriptionThesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2024.en_ZA
dc.description.abstractENGLISH ABSTRACT: The study of the enslaved peoples ‘rescued’ from illegal slave ships and apprenticed in colonial locales in the aftermath of the Abolition Act of 1807 is of burgeoning scholarly interest. The lived experiences and governance of those subject to this scheme in the British Caribbean, Sierra Leone and more recently Brazil and Cuba have received increasing attention. The literature on ‘recaptured Africans’ or ‘prize negroes’ as they were known at the Cape Colony, by contrast has remained rather inert since the early twenty first century. This study is an attempt to redirect attention to the history of recaptives at the Cape Colony, focusing on the period of change ushered in by the 1820s. Using the underutilised records collected by the Commission of Eastern Inquiry, as well as new quantitative sources and methods, allow for new insights to be gleaned about the history of recaptives during this period. Forming part of a larger ‘experiment’ in free labour, the 1820s saw the end of the fourteen-year apprenticeships of recaptured Africans at the Cape. With the aim of ending chattel slavery, the metropolitan government sought to assess the state of their colonies and prepare their labour markets for the integration of free labourers. This resulted in the despatch of Royal Commissions of Inquiry, as well as the passing of various ameliorative legislation. This dissertation argues that the period of reform ushered in by the 1820s merits attention specifically because it resulted in a variety of power struggles leading to conflict between colonists, commissioners and recaptives. Indeed, these contestations were symptomatic of a larger struggle as each group sought to redefine their place within the shifting colonial boundaries of class and race. Analysing the testimonies of recaptives brought before the Commissioners of Inquiry allows for these struggles to be personalized and the lived experiences of these subaltern labourers to come to the fore during this tumultuous period in Cape history.en_ZA
dc.description.abstractAFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die studie van mense wat tot slaaf gemaak is1, vrygestel is van slawe skepe en ingeboek is as vakleerlinge in koloniale omgewings in die jare na die Abolisie wetgewing van 1807 is van groeiende akademiese belang. Die geleefde ervaringe en bestuur van hierdie ‘recaptives’ in the Britse Karibiese Eilande, Sierra Leone en meer onlangs Brasilië en Kuba het tonemende aandag ontvang. Die literatuur op ‘recaptured Africans’ of ‘prysnegers’ soos hulle bekend was in die Kaap Kolonie, het in kontras vanaf die begin van die een-en-twintigste eeu redelik onaktief gebly. Hierdie studie, wat fokus op die veranderinge ingehuldig deur die 1820s, is ‘n poging om aandag te hervestig aan hierdie groep ‘recaptives’ aan die Kaap Kolonie. Die gebruik van onderbenutte bronne versamel deur die Kommissie van Oosterse Ondersoek sowel as nuwe kwantitatiewe bronne en metodes, laat dit toe om nuwe insigte rondom die geskiedenis van recaptives tydens hierdie periode te ontsluit. As deel van ‘n groter experiment in vrye arbeid, het die 1820s die einde van die veertien jaar vakmanskappe van recaptured Afrikane aan die Kaap ingelui. Met die oog op die afskaffing van slawerny, het die Britse regering besluit om ‘n Koninklike Kommissies van Ondersoek na hulle kolonies te stuur, sowel as die verkondiging van versagtende wetgewing. Hierdie verhandeling redeneer dat hierdie periode van hervorming van die 1820s spesifieke aandag vereis omdat dit ‘n magstryd omvat het wat gelei het na konflik tussen koloniste, kommissarisse en recaptives. Inteendeel, hierdie worstelinge was simptomaties van ‘n groter stryd soos elke groep gestrewe het om hulle plek binne die veranderende koloniale hierargie van klas en ras te hervestig. Deur die getuienisse wat recaptives voor die Kommissarisse van Ondersoek gebring het te analiseer, kan hierde stryd verpersoonlik word en die geleefde ervaringe van hierdie onderdrukte arbeiders in hierdie onstuimige periode van Kaapse geskiedenis na vore bring.af_ZA
dc.description.versionMastersen_ZA
dc.format.extentxi, 178 pages : illustrationsen_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttps://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/130381
dc.language.isoen_ZAen_ZA
dc.publisherStellenbosch : Stellenbosch Universityen_ZA
dc.rights.holderStellenbosch Universityen_ZA
dc.subject.lcshSlavery -- South Africa -- Cape of Good Hope -- History -- 19th centuryen_ZA
dc.subject.lcshEnslaved persons -- South Africa -- Social conditions -- 19th centuryen_ZA
dc.subject.lcshCape of Good Hope (South Africa) -- History -- 1795-1872en_ZA
dc.subject.lcshSlave labor -- South Africa -- Cape of Good Hopeen_ZA
dc.subject.nameUCTD
dc.subject.otherLiberated Africansen_ZA
dc.subject.otherPrize slavesen_ZA
dc.subject.otherCommission of Eastern Inquiryen_ZA
dc.titleAll my companions are free, I alone am excepted : a socio-economic history of recaptured Africans at the Cape Colony in the age of reform, c. 1807-1834en_ZA
dc.typeThesisen_ZA
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