Book contents
- African Voices on Slavery and the Slave Trade
- African Voices on Slavery and the Slave Trade
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Foreword Beyond the Printed Word
- Introduction Finding the African Voice
- Part One Remembering Slavery and the Slave Trade
- Part Two The Verbal Arts and Everyday Objects
- Part Three Documenting Our Own Histories and Cultural Practices
- Part Four Slavery Observed: European Travelers’ Accounts
- Part Five Administrative Records
- Part Six Legal Records
- Part Seven Recorded Encounters with the Enslaved: Christian Workers in Africa
- Part Eight Documents from Muslim Africa
- 41 Introduction:
- 42 The Arabic Letters of Ghadames Slaves in the Niger Bend, 1860–1900
- 43 The “Hidden Transcripts” and Legal Rights of Slaves in the Muslim World
- 44 Slave Wills along the Swahili Coast
- Part Nine Living with the Past
- Index
44 - Slave Wills along the Swahili Coast
from Part Eight - Documents from Muslim Africa
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 April 2013
Book contents
- African Voices on Slavery and the Slave Trade
- African Voices on Slavery and the Slave Trade
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Foreword Beyond the Printed Word
- Introduction Finding the African Voice
- Part One Remembering Slavery and the Slave Trade
- Part Two The Verbal Arts and Everyday Objects
- Part Three Documenting Our Own Histories and Cultural Practices
- Part Four Slavery Observed: European Travelers’ Accounts
- Part Five Administrative Records
- Part Six Legal Records
- Part Seven Recorded Encounters with the Enslaved: Christian Workers in Africa
- Part Eight Documents from Muslim Africa
- 41 Introduction:
- 42 The Arabic Letters of Ghadames Slaves in the Niger Bend, 1860–1900
- 43 The “Hidden Transcripts” and Legal Rights of Slaves in the Muslim World
- 44 Slave Wills along the Swahili Coast
- Part Nine Living with the Past
- Index
Summary
Pemba is a small island located in the Indian Ocean of the coast of eastern Africa and was part of a British protectorate during the early twentieth century. Pemba and its more famous sister island of Zanzibar are mostly Islamic. Islam dominated people's lives, and masters generally converted their slaves to Islam. According to customary understandings of Islamic law on Pemba, even if the Muslim dies without having left a will, their body should be handled with respect. This chapter presents a list of four documents, which constitute a small sample of the probate records and wills of former slaves on the island of Pemba. While the wills themselves are brief, they offer important insights into the religious beliefs and communal networks of former slaves. Moreover, they allow us to see how former slaves negotiated their ongoing relationships with their former masters and each other.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- African Voices on Slavery and the Slave Trade , pp. 511 - 518Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2013