British Policy to Slavery in the Indian Ocean World 1807-1945
This talk by Gwyn Campbell is part of our Fall 2019 Policy Lecture series. These academic talks are intended for McGill students and faculty.
This talk examines British policy to slavery in the Indian Ocean world (IOW) – from Africa to China - from 1807, when Britain abolished the slave trade, to the end of WW2. It discusses what the British considered to constitute “slavery” and “slave”, and its ambivalence during the colonial period to slave holding by indigenous authorities, and to forms of unfree labour.
About Gwyn Campbell
Gwyn Campbell is a Canada Research Chair In Indian Ocean World History. Born in Madagascar, he grew up in Wales where he worked as a BBC radio producer in English and Welsh. He holds degrees in economic history from the universities of Birmingham and Wales and has previously taught in India (Voluntary Service Overseas) and at universities in Madagascar, Britain, South Africa, Belgium and France. He also served as an academic consultant for the South African Government in the first phase of inter-governmental meetings leading to the 1997 formation of an Indian Ocean regional association.
Director of McGill’s Indian Ocean World Centre, Gwyn Campbell is a specialist in the economic history of the Indian Ocean region. A former collaborator on the sub-Saharan Africa team of the National Geographic and IBM's Genographic Project (2005-2010) that did research into early human origins and migrations, he is currently undertaking research into slavery, migration and diasporas in the Indian Ocean world, as well as investigating the foundations of the Indian Ocean world "global" economy. He also has a strong interest in the dynamics of minority cultures, imperialism, globalisation and third world development.
He is currently completing a manuscript on Africa and the Indian Ocean world from early times to 1900, which will appear in the Cambridge University Press New Perspective on African History series, and has recently published a book, David Griffiths and the Missionary "History of Madagascar," as part of Brill's Studies in Christian Mission series. Among his other interests are painting, poetry and prose.
