Slavery and Emancipation
About the Book Series
This series contributes to breaking the mold of slavery studies by offering a platform for a wide range of historiographical approaches springing from a critical re-examination of primary sources. As the history of slavery and the legacy of its global abolition continue to fascinate scholars, this series takes as a starting point the idea that any understanding of slavery and its societal afterlife necessarily calls for an analysis of the distribution of historical power, as well as an acknowledgement of the fact that – while varying in scale and intensity – forms of enslavement can be found throughout human civilization and across the globe.
As such, it pays close attention to the legacies of slavery, such as cultural production, cultures of remembrance and forms of exclusion, as well as the struggle for equality and emancipation. We welcome proposals that deal with topics such as, but are not exclusive to, enslaved lifeways, legal foundations, economies of slavery, abolition of slavery, representations, cultures of resistance, and emancipation.
Please contact Dorothea Schaefter, Publisher at Routledge ([email protected]) if you have any questions about the series or wish to submit a book proposal.
Slavery and Post-Apartheid Cultural Production in South Africa: Holding Memory
1st Edition
By Nicola Cloete
May 15, 2026
In Slavery and Post-Apartheid Cultural Production in South Africa: Holding Memory, Nicola Cloete investigates the intricacies of memory, heritage, identity, and nation-building within the context of South Africa’s history of slavery. Combining theoretical, archival, and ethnographic research ...
The Private Slave Trade in Eighteenth-Century Amsterdam: On Jochem Matthijs and Coenraad Smitt
1st Edition
By Ramona Negrón, Jessica den Oudsten
April 22, 2026
An indispensable resource for academics and general readers, this fully translated and revised edition of De grootste slavenhandelaren van Amsterdam. Over Jochem Matthijs en Coenraad Smitt (Walburg Pers, 2022) examines the emergence of private Dutch slave trading in the eighteenth century. Focusing...
The Legal Framework of Slavery in the Dutch Republic and Its Colonies
1st Edition
By Bastiaan D. van der Velden
February 11, 2026
This study centers on the Dutch Republic, where Roman law—applied alongside contemporary legislation—was used to regulate the lives of enslaved individuals across its territories, albeit in a highly selective manner. Which provisions of Roman law were implemented, and what led to the exclusion of ...
Slavery in the Cultural Imagination: Debates, Silences, and Dissent in the Neerlandophone Space
1st Edition
Edited
By Marrigje Paijmans, Karwan Fatah-Black
April 24, 2025
With the rising tide of scholarly and societal interest in the history and legacy of colonialism and slavery, this collection offers a much-needed diachronic analysis of the cultural representations of the lives and afterlives of those subjected to slavery and indenture. It focuses on the history ...
The Dutch Transatlantic Slave Trade: New Methods, Perspectives, and Sources
1st Edition
Edited
By Ramona Negrón, Jessica den Oudsten, Camilla de Koning, Karwan Fatah-Black
December 31, 2024
In this book, a new generation of scholars offers fresh perspectives on the history of the Dutch slave trade. Traditionally, Dutch research has focused on business practices, often overlooking the enslaved and the complexities of illegal trade and violence. By experimenting with innovative ...