Wealth, Land and Property in Angola: A History of Inequality, Slavery and Dispossession
In her talk, Mariana Candido explores the multifaceted history of dispossession, consumption, and inequality in West Central Africa, from the sixteenth century until the Berlin Conference of 1884-5.
Based on her book, Wealth, Land and Property in Angola this talk engages with different debates, including on slavery, land tenure, and gender in West Central Africa. It demonstrates how ideas about dominion and land rights eventually came to inform the appropriation and enslavement of free people and their labor. Drawing attention to how archives obscure African forms of knowledge and normalize conquest, Candido interrogates simplistic interpretations of ownership and pushes for the decolonization of African history.
Practical
Date: 4 June
Time: 16:00
Place: IISG, Cruquiusweg 31, Amsterdam
Entrance: Free admission, but please send an email to event@iisg.nl if you want to join.
Prof. Mariana P. Candido is Winship Distinguished Research Professor of History and a specialist in the history of West Central Africa, including the Atlantic World and the African diaspora, in the era of the transatlantic slave trade (ca. 1550-1860). Her work combines social and economic history, focusing on slavery, migration, colonialism, collective versus individual property rights, and gender. Her third book, Wealth, Land and Property in Angola: A History of Dispossession, Slavery and Inequality (2022), analyzes the ways in which West Central Africans accumulated wealth between 1600 and 1880. Linking commodification, land grabbing, and population displacement, the book stresses the role of women as historical agents and challenges teleological interpretations that see individual property as a sign of modernity and economic prosperity.
