Ce numéro propose d’exposer la situation des intermédiaires dans le long terme, du moment de la traite à celui du post-esclavage. Esclaves eux-mêmes sous l’esclavage, surveillants et parfois eux-mêmes recruteurs de travailleurs après l’abolition de l’esclavage, ces intermédiaires dans la chaîne du commandement des relations de travail contraintes sont indispensables au fonctionnement du système esclavagiste et post-esclavagiste. Quel était leur rôle ? Étaient-ils des agents de la coercition ou bien de protection des travailleurs ?

This issue examines the long-term situation of Middlemen, both under slavery and in the post-slavery era. Enslaved themselves, overseers, and occasionally even recruiters of workers after the abolition of slavery, these intermediaries in the chain of command of coerced labor were essential to the smooth functioning of the slave and post-slave system. What role did they play? Were they agents of coercion or of worker protection?

Este número propõe apresentar as situações dos intermediários na longa duração, desde o tempo do trato até o pós-escravismo. Sendo eles próprios escravos durante a escravidão, feitores e por vezes recrutadores depois da Abolição, esses intermediários na cadeia do comando das relações de trabalho constrangidas foram indispensáveis para o funcionamento do sistema escravista e pós-escravista. Qual era o seu papel ? Eram eles agentes da coerção ou de proteção dos trabalhadores ?

Argumentaire

Dans la vaste question du travail contraint et forcé, les intermédiaires, placés à l’intersection des statuts de libre, d’esclave ou d’engagé, jouent un rôle central, quoique relativement négligé par l’historiographie. Ce numéro propose d’exposer leurs situations dans le long terme, du moment de la traite à celui du post-esclavage. Dans les sociétés esclavagistes, il s’agit de comprendre le rôle des géreurs de plantation, par exemple. Esclaves eux-mêmes sous l’esclavage, surveillants et parfois eux-mêmes recruteurs de travailleurs après l’abolition de l’esclavage, ces intermédiaires dans la chaîne du commandement des relations de travail contraintes sont indispensables au fonctionnement du système esclavagiste et post-esclavagiste. Quel était leur rôle ? Étaient-ils des agents de la coercition ou bien de protection des travailleurs ?

Bien entendu, ces relations dépassent le cadre de la plantation ; les intermédiaires jouent un rôle tout aussi important dans les relations familiales (les nourrices par exemple), dans les activités urbaines et commerciales (esclaves marchand·es, colporteur·trices).

Ces questions sont à situer dans le temps – de la traite au post-esclavage – et dans l’espace (Amériques, Afrique, océan Indien, Eurasie…), afin de saisir les spécificités des surveillant·es au sein de plantations d’aires géographiques et de périodes différentes. Il s’agira également de voir si, avec les abolitions de l’esclavage, le rôle de ces surveillant·es-intermédiaires se modifie et de quelle manière, selon la région, le type de culture (coton, sucre, café, etc.) ou encore les techniques de production (travail agricole ou dans les usines) ou le type d’activité (commerce, travail domestique). Ces éléments conditionnent-ils aussi les variables de race et de genre des travailleur·ses et les attitudes des surveillant·es eux/elles-mêmes définies par la race et le genre ? Comment ?

En amont de la plantation, le rôle des intermédiaires est tout aussi central dans la traite des êtres humains faits captifs, relativement bien documentée depuis le début de l’époque moderne. Au sein de la traite atlantique, transsaharienne, dans l’océan Indien, en Méditerranée et en Eurasie, plusieurs puissances interviennent, en ayant recours à un personnel local (recruteurs, traducteurs, surveillants…), qu’il faudra identifier, et ensuite suivre tout au long de la « traversée du milieu » ou de la déportation et jusqu’au lieu de travail. En aval, après l’abolition de l’esclavage, dans les différentes aires mentionnées, ces individus ont parfois été eux-mêmes en charge du travail et de la surveillance des travailleurs.

Éditeur scientifique

Alessandro Stanziani, CNRS-EHESS

Modalités de soumission

Les articles (45 000 signes maximum, espaces comprises, bibliographie incluse) devront être soumis en français, en anglais, en espagnol ou en portugais à ciresc.redaction@cnrs.fr.

avant le 1^er mars 2025 

Ils seront accompagnés d’une synthèse de 3 600 signes maximum espaces comprises. La liste complète des recommandations aux auteur·trices est disponible ici. Les articles seront alors soumis à la procédure d’évaluation par les pairs (peer review), en double aveugle.

Pour les articles acceptés, les versions définitives devront être prêtes pour le 1^er décembre 2025.

Références sélectives

• Almeida Mendes António de, 2008. « Les réseaux de la traite ibérique dans l’Atlantique Nord (1440-1640) », Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales, n° 63/4, p. 739-768.
• Balachandran Gopalan, 1996. « Searching for the Sardar: The State, Pre-Capitalist Institutions and Human Agency in the Maritime Labour Market, Calcutta 1880–1935’ », dans Burton Stein & Sanjay Subramanyam (dir.), Institutions and Economic Change in South Asia, Delhi/New York, Oxford University Press, p. 206-236.
• Carter Marina, 1995. Servants, Sirdars and Settlers. Indians in Mauritius, 1834-1874, Delhi/New York, Oxford University Press.
• Coquery-Vidrovitch Catherine, 2021. Les Routes de l’esclavage. Histoire des traites africaines, vi^e-xx^e siècle, Paris, Albin Michel.
• Manjapra Kris, 2018. « Plantation Dispossession : The Global Travel of Agricultural Racial Capitalism », dans Sven Beckert & Christine Desan, American Capitalism. New Histories, New York, Columbia University Press, p. 361-388. DOI : 10.7312/beck18524-016
• Mark-Thiesen Cassandra, 2012. « The ‘‘Bargain’’ of Collaboration: African Intermediaries, Indirect Recruitment, and Indigenous Institutions in the Ghanaian Gold Mining Industry, 1900–1906 », International Review of Social History, n° 57/S20, special issue, p. 17-38. DOI :10.1017/S0020859012000405 r 2012
• Newson Linda A., 2012. « Africans and Luso-Africans in the Portuguese Slave Trade on the Upper Guinea Coast in the Early Seventeenth Century », Journal of African History, n° 53, p. 1-24.
• Roy Tirthankar, 2008. « Sardars, Jobbers, Kanganies: The Labour Contractor and Indian Economic History », Modern Asian Studies, n° 42/5, p. 971-998. DOI : 10.1017/S0026749X07003071
• Sandy Laura, 2012. « Homemakers, Supervisors, and Peach Stealing Bitches: the role of overseers’ wives on slave plantations in eighteenth-century Virginia and South Carolina », Women’s History Review, n° 21/3, p. 473-494. DOI : 10.1080/09612025.2012.661157
• Stanziani Alessandro, 2018. Labor on the Fringes of Empire. Voice, Exit and the Law, Cham, Palgrave Macmillan.
• Stubbs Tristan, 2018. Masters of Violence. The Plantation Overseers of Eighteenth-Century Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia, Columbia, University of South Carolina Press.
• Witzenrath Christopher (dir.), 2015. Eurasian Slavery, Ransom and Abolition in World History, 1200-1860, London, Routledge.

Theme of this Issue

Within the vast topic of coercive labor, middlemen, who stood at the intersection of free, enslaved, and indentured status, play a central but relatively neglected role in historiography. This issue examines their long-term situation, both under slavery and in the post-slavery era. In slave-owning societies, for example, it is important to understand the role of plantation overseers. Enslaved themselves, overseers, and occasionally even recruiters of workers after the abolition of slavery, these intermediaries in the chain of command of coerced labor were essential to the smooth functioning of the slave and post-slave system. What role did they play? Were they agents of coercion or of worker protection?

Naturally, these relationships extended beyond the plantation; middlemen played an equally important role in family relations (e.g., as nannies) and in urban and commercial activities (slave traders, peddlers).

These questions need to be addressed both in terms of time – slavery and post-slavery – and space (the Americas, Africa, the Indian Ocean, Eurasia, etc.) in order to grasp the specific characteristics of plantation overseers in different geographical areas and periods. We will also examine whether the role of these overseers changed with the abolition of slavery and how, depending on the region, the type of crop (cotton, sugar, coffee, etc.), the production techniques (farm or factory work), or the type of activity (trade, domestic work). Do these factors also condition the race and gender variables of the workers and the race- and gender-defined attitudes of the slave drivers themselves? In what ways?

Before arriving at the plantation, the role of middlemen is equally central to the trafficking of captives, a phenomenon that has been relatively well documented since the early modern period. In the Atlantic, trans-Saharan, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, and Eurasian slave trades, several powers intervened, relying on local personnel (recruiters, translators, overseers, etc.) who had to be identified and then followed until the “Middle Passage” or deportation to the place of work. After the abolition of slavery, these individuals were sometimes themselves responsible for the activities of the workers’ and their supervision in the various areas mentioned.

Scientific Editor

Alessandro Stanziani, CNRS-EHESS

Submission Procedures

Articles (no more than 45,000 characters, including spaces and references) should be submitted in French, English, Spanish or Portuguese to ciresc.redaction@cnrs.fr

by March 1, 2025.

They should be accompanied by an abstract of no more than 3,600 characters including spaces. The full list of recommended guidelines is available here. Articles will then undergo double-blind peer review.

Final versions of accepted articles must be submitted by December 1, 2025.

Selected References

• Almeida Mendes António de, 2008. “Les réseaux de la traite ibérique dans l’Atlantique Nord (1440-1640),” Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales, no. 63/4, pp. 739–768.
• Balachandran Gopalan, 1996. “Searching for the Sardar: The State, Pre-Capitalist Institutions and Human Agency in the Maritime Labour Market, Calcutta 1880–1935’,” in Burton Stein & Sanjay Subramanyam (eds.), Institutions and Economic Change in South Asia, Delhi/New York, Oxford University Press, pp. 206–236.
• Carter Marina, 1995. Servants, Sirdars and Settlers. Indians in Mauritius, 1834-1874, Delhi/New York, Oxford University Press.
• Coquery-Vidrovitch Catherine, 2021. Les Routes de l’esclavage. Histoire des traites africaines, vi^e-xx^e siècle, Paris, Albin Michel.
• Manjapra Kris, 2018. “Plantation Dispossession : The Global Travel of Agricultural Racial Capitalism,” in Sven Beckert & Christine Desan, American Capitalism. New Histories, New York, Columbia University Press, pp. 361–388.DOI : 10.7312/beck18524-016
• Mark-Thiesen Cassandra, 2012. “The ‘Bargain’ of Collaboration: African Intermediaries, Indirect Recruitment, and Indigenous Institutions in the Ghanaian Gold Mining Industry, 1900–1906,” International Review of Social History, no. 57/S20, special issue, pp. 17–38.DOI :10.1017/S0020859012000405 r 2012
• Newson Linda A., 2012. “Africans and Luso-Africans in the Portuguese Slave Trade on the Upper Guinea Coast in the Early Seventeenth Century,” Journal of African History, no. 53, pp. 1–24.
• Roy Tirthankar, 2008. “Sardars, Jobbers, Kanganies: The Labour Contractor and Indian Economic History,” Modern Asian Studies, no. 42/5, pp. 971-998. DOI : 10.1017/S0026749X07003071
• Sandy Laura, 2012. “Homemakers, Supervisors, and Peach Stealing Bitches: the role of overseers’ wives on slave plantations in eighteenth-century Virginia and South Carolina,” Women’s History Review, no. 21/3, pp. 473–494. DOI : 10.1080/09612025.2012.661157
• Stanziani Alessandro, 2018. Labor on the Fringes of Empire. Voice, Exit and the Law, Cham, Palgrave Macmillan.
• Stubbs Tristan, 2018. Masters of Violence. The Plantation Overseers of Eighteenth-Century Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia, Columbia, University of South Carolina Press.
• Witzenrath Christopher (ed.), 2015. Eurasian Slavery, Ransom and Abolition in World History, 1200-1860, London, Routledge.

Argumento

Dentro do amplo problema do trabalho constrangido e forçado, os intermediários, situados na interseção dos status de livre, escravo ou engagé, desempenham um papel central, apesar de ter sido relativamente negligenciado pela historiografia.

Este número propõe apresentar suas situações na longa duração, desde o tempo do trato até o pós-escravismo. Nas sociedades escravistas, trata-se, por exemplo, de entender o papel dos feitores de plantação. Sendo eles próprios escravos durante a escravidão, feitores e por vezes recrutadores depois da Abolição, esses intermediários na cadeia do comando das relações de trabalho constrangidas foram indispensáveis para o funcionamento do sistema escravista e pós-escravista. Qual era o seu papel ? Eram eles agentes da coerção ou de proteção dos trabalhadores ?

Obviamente, essas relações extravasam o quadro da plantação ; os intermediários também desempenharam um papel importante nas relações familiares (por exemplo, as amas), nas atividades urbanas e comerciais (escravos/as ganhadores/ganhadeiras, vendedores/as ambulantes). Estas perguntas devem ser situadas no tempo – do trato ao pós-escravismo – e no espaço (Américas, África, Oceano Índico, Eurasia…) para podermos identificar as especificidades dos/as feitores/as no seio de plantações remetendo para áreas geográficas e períodos distintos.

Pretende-se também verificar a maneira pela qual, a seguir as abolições da escravidão, o papel desses feitores-intermediários mudou segundo a região, o tipo de cultura (algodão, açúcar, café, etc.), as técnicas de produção (trabalho agrícola ou nas fábricas) ou o tipo de atividade (comércio, trabalho doméstico). Estes elementos condicionariam igualmente os fatores de raça e de género dos/as trabalhadores/as e as atitudes dos próprios feitores definidas pela raça e o género ? De que maneira ?

A montante da plantação, o papel dos intermediários foi também central no trato dos seres humanos escravizados, relativamente bem documentado desde o princípio da época moderna. No seio do trato atlântico, transaariano, no Oceano Índico, no Mediterrâneo e na Eurasia, várias potências interviram, recorrendo a um pessoal local (recrutadores, línguas, feitores…) que precisam ser identificados e acompanhados durante toda a « travessia do meio » ou da deportação até o lugar de trabalho. A jusante, depois da abolição da escravidão, nas diferentes áreas mencionadas, estes indivíduos foram por vezes encarregados do trabalho e supervisão dos trabalhadores.

Editor científico

Alessandro Stanziani, CNRS-EHESS

Modalidades de submissão

Os artigos (45.000 caracteres no máximo, espaços incluídos, bibliografia incluída) devem ser submetidos em francês, inglês, espanhol ou português à ciresc.redaction@cnrs.fr

antes do 1^o de março de 2025.

Têm de ser acompanhados por uma síntese de 3.600 caracteres no máximo espaços incluídos. A lista completa das recomendações às/aos autoras/es está disponível aqui. Os artigos serão então submetidos ao processo de avaliação por pares (peer review), em duplo cego.

Para os artigos aceitados, as versões definitivas têm de ser prontas para o 1^o de dezembro de 2025.

Referências seletivas

• Almeida Mendes António de, 2008. « Les réseaux de la traite ibérique dans l’Atlantique Nord (1440-1640) », Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales, n° 63/4, p. 739-768.
• Balachandran Gopalan, 1996. « Searching for the Sardar: The State, Pre-Capitalist Institutions and Human Agency in the Maritime Labour Market, Calcutta 1880–1935’ », in Burton Stein & Sanjay Subramanyam (orgs.), Institutions and Economic Change in South Asia, Delhi/New York, Oxford University Press, p. 206-236.
• Carter Marina, 1995. Servants, Sirdars and Settlers. Indians in Mauritius, 1834-1874, Delhi/New York, Oxford University Press.
• Coquery-Vidrovitch Catherine, 2021. Les Routes de l’esclavage. Histoire des traites africaines, vi^e-xx^e siècle, Paris, Albin Michel.
• Manjapra Kris, 2018. « Plantation Dispossession: The Global Travel of Agricultural Racial Capitalism », in Sven Beckert & Christine Desan, American Capitalism. New Histories, New York, Columbia University Press, p. 361-388. DOI : 10.7312/beck18524-016
• Mark-Thiesen Cassandra, 2012. « The ‘‘Bargain’’ of Collaboration: African Intermediaries, Indirect Recruitment, and Indigenous Institutions in the Ghanaian Gold Mining Industry, 1900–1906 », International Review of Social History, n° 57/S20, special issue, p. 17-38. DOI :10.1017/S0020859012000405 r 2012
• Newson Linda A., 2012. « Africans and Luso-Africans in the Portuguese Slave Trade on the Upper Guinea Coast in the Early Seventeenth Century », Journal of African History, n° 53, p. 1-24.
• Roy Tirthankar, 2008. « Sardars, Jobbers, Kanganies: The Labour Contractor and Indian Economic History », Modern Asian Studies, n° 42/5, p. 971-998. DOI : 10.1017/S0026749X07003071
• Sandy Laura, 2012. « Homemakers, Supervisors, and Peach Stealing Bitches: the role of overseers’ wives on slave plantations in eighteenth-century Virginia and South Carolina », Women’s History Review, n° 21/3, p. 473-494. DOI : 10.1080/09612025.2012.661157
• Stanziani Alessandro, 2018. Labor on the Fringes of Empire. Voice, Exit and the Law, Cham, Palgrave Macmillan.
• Stubbs Tristan, 2018. Masters of Violence. The Plantation Overseers of Eighteenth-Century Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia, Columbia, University of South Carolina Press.
• Witzenrath Christopher (org.), 2015. Eurasian Slavery, Ransom and Abolition in World History, 1200-1860, Londres, Routledge.