Books by Vanessa Oliveira
“Vanessa Oliveira’s book centres on women as commercial agents and cultural brokers in Luanda during the 19th century. While Heywood focused on political leaders, Oliveira centred her analysis on powerful economic actors, such as the donas, who had an active role in the transatlantic slave trade…Oliveira demonstrates that African women were important economic agents during the era of the slave trade, but also played a crucial role in the establishment of cash crop economies…Oliveira examined the case of individuals, such as Ana Joaquina Santos Silva, who looked for creative ways to continue exploiting enslaved labour locally. These donas, similarly to their counterparts in other African ports, were not abolitionist. They did not question the morality of the slave trade. In fact, they were committed to perpetuating violence and profiting from the sale of human beings. And, when the anti-slave trade agenda arrived in Angola in the 1830s, these merchants tried to figure out ways to make sure that they continued to participate in a global economy and that their personal fortunes did not dwindle. Oliveira shows that Luanda’s economy and society were dependent on the internal slave trade, and turned, in the 1830s, to an economy exploiting enslaved people locally. Oliveira examines the role of women merchants in the contraband and human trafficking in the 1830-1860 decades, as well as their investment in new plantations, including of sugar cane, palm oil, and coffee heavily dependent on enslaved labour.” Read more...
The best books on The History of Angola (pre-20th century)
Mariana Candido, Historian
Interviews where books by Vanessa Oliveira were recommended
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1
Njinga of Angola: Africa’s Warrior Queen
by Linda Heywood -
2
Cross-Cultural Exchange in the Atlantic World: Angola and Brazil during the Era of the Slave Trade
by Roquinaldo Ferreira -
3
Slave Trade and Abolition: Gender, Commerce, and Economic Transition in Luanda
by Vanessa Oliveira -
4
Lourenço da Silva Mendonça and the Black Atlantic Abolitionist Movement in the 17th Century
by José Lingna Nafafé -
5
A History of West Central Africa to 1850
by John Thornton
The best books on The History of Angola (pre-20th century), recommended by Mariana Candido
The best books on The History of Angola (pre-20th century), recommended by Mariana Candido
West Central Africa was involved in the transatlantic slave trade from its inception in the fifteenth century until it ended in the late nineteenth century. It’s the region that lost the largest number of enslaved people to the transatlantic slave trade, with over 5.6 million people taken away. And yet Angola, where three of the five main slaving ports were located, is little studied in English. Here, Mariana Candido, a professor at Emory University, introduces us to some of the best books (available in English) on this era of Angolan history, from the biography of one ruler, Njinga Mbandi, to a survey of the entire period.
