General Presentation of the Themes of the Conference:

1. Citizenship, Marginalisation and Injustices

The comparative analysis of social, political and economic experiences of the descendants of slaves in contemporary African societies reveals the stigmatisation, marginalisation and political under-representation from which they suffer. The origins of many current conflicts are found in the history of slavery and otherness (ethnic, racial or else) associated with them. In some countries, the activism of descendants of slaves contributes to a change of attitudes, but in others, silence continues to cover trauma which has become intergenerational. The ideal of shared citizenship is sometimes undermined by demands for justice and compensation which expose the fractures located at the heart of the social fabric and of national and international policies.

2. Sources, Social Memories and Self-Narratives

Documenting the pervasiveness of slavery, the discontinuities in its practices as well as its consequences is a central concern for researchers. Collecting and preserving oral sources, archaeology, written and iconographic sources, and life stories are all elements which allow scientific work to be produced. But these are also elements which structure or influence social memories, the ways in which individuals and societies represent their perceptions of work (gendered, forced, migrant), of ancestry (such as relation to family origins), autochthony (such as the relationship with territory and geographical origins) and a sense of belonging (such as the relationship with a group or nation).

3. Heritage Issues, Museums and Restitutions

Sites, objects and cultures linked to slavery are sometimes marginalised in national memory; they are sometimes on display in museums and form part (or not) of a shared experience. Are they becoming tools to raise awareness, promoting dialogue between former masters and slaves or their descendants? Artifacts are used as a means for starting dialogue between generations and between divergent memories, but they are also at the heart of persistent demands and political issues which sometimes go well beyond them.

4. Digital Humanities and Slavery

Several databases on slavery and the slave trade in Africa, the Western Indian Ocean and the Atlantic already exist. The inventory of sources (names of people and places, life stories, linguistic and economic variability, terminologies) deployed by these databases, their accessibility and technical questions related to their use (press, confidentiality, general conditions, legal notices, etc.) are all central questions. Today’s issue is about developing tools which facilitate a complete analysis of data and the development of common policies for managing this data so it can be put to best use.