Kasiah Vercelli - Digital Portfolio

Aloha everyone! One of my classes this semester is AS-140, or African Religion with Professor Failla. I am greatly enjoying the course so far, and have found it deeply enriching, so I wanted my first post to be related to it! In our class, we write every week about material we found particularly interesting or challenging, and make some personal connections to what we’ve learned. For my first assignment, I decided to focus on Chapter #1 of the book “The African Diaspora: Slavery, Modernity, and Globalization” by Toyin Falola. Enjoy!

The author, Toyin Falola, starts the chapter off with a brief introduction to how the transatlantic slave trade and other historical systems of servitude have shaped not only countries of the past, but the power structures and culture of our modern day. Throughout the section, he describes the lasting ramifications of slavery in economic, political, and moral contexts. Falola discusses the complexities and geographical diversity of the African diaspora, as well as the case for Pan-Africanism and Black transnationalism as a method of counteracting the lasting aftermath of the slave trade. He brings up arguments attributing the success of colonialism and industrialization in the West to the enslavement of Black people; the unpaid labor allowed the colonies and developing regions to establish infrastructure, farming, and other institutions vital to society. The author describes this as one of the justifications for reparations, explaining that because the West and Europe saw lasting benefit at the expense of Africans, there is a legitimate case to be made for monetary compensation. 

Falola goes on to give various examples of how slavery and its principles have persisted into the modern era, despite the emancipation of Black people in the United States and other nations. Something that I had no prior awareness of is the egregious violations of human rights in the form of chattel slavery and forced labor in both Sudan and Mauritania. Other forms of enslavement and exploitation that continue to exist throughout the world are sex trafficking, prostitution, debt bondage, human collateral for loan payment, sweatshops, and other mistreatment of workers. Many of these are predominantly underground industries run through the black market, which is extremely difficult to monitor and regulate. The same patterns of violence, intimidation, and racism that enabled historical slavery continues to enable mistreatment of the poor and marginalized. Falola concludes by detailing the need for a global rejection of the systems that allow exploitation, as well as the necessity of sustainable democracy in Africa and global Black empowerment.

This chapter was greatly enlightening for me, as some of the main issues raised by the author were things I had never thought about. My privilege as a white woman in America is not just tied to my present (through my freedom from racial discrimination, police violence, etc.), but my ability to know my past. I had never stopped to think about the cultural erasure slavery caused for Black people; the fact that I am able to trace my lineage and feel connected to ancestral roots is a liberty that many don’t have. The ramifications of the slave trade go way beyond what I was taught in my high school history classes. In addition to how our nation exploited Black people with forced labor, slavery led to the elimination of culture, tradition, and community for descendants of African slaves.