Abstract
Certain tenets are shared in North Africa that articulate Maghribi Mediterranean patterns of conceptualisation of power relations in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya-one Islam, one nation (al-maghrib al-'arabi), one culture, one language, and a silence. This culture of silence - the refusal to engage in discussions on slavery and racial attitudes - is the subject of this article. Internally, in the name of hegemony - Arab-Islamic hegemony in North Africa - this issue is concealed and, externally, Mediterranean slavery has been largely ignored by historians. It should be noted that we find a similar silence along the northern shoreline of the Mediterranean. Jacques Heers, a specialist in European history wrote, in his study of slavery in medieval Europe, that this silence reflects an embarassment felt collectively throughout the centuries. The North Africans must have felt a similar embarrassment in questioning interpretations of Islam and its ethics when confronting the matter of slavery.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 29-52 |
Number of pages | 24 |
Journal | Journal of North African Studies |
Volume | 7 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 1 2002 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Geography, Planning and Development
- Development
- Political Science and International Relations