Men of Value · How much is a man worth. Slavery and market of individual identities in early modern Naples and Valencia
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2018-10-01 → 2020-09-30
- EU contribution
- €158,122
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
How much is a man worth. Slavery and market of individual identities in early modern Naples andValencia
This project aimed at studying the formation process of personal identities of men forced to work at the oar in Naples and Valencia during the 16th and 17th centuries. At that time, Naples and Valencia were two of the most important slave markets as well as trading cities of the Spanish Empire. The research took into account three types of sources that have remained largely unexplored by historiography to date, and especially a book dating back to 1585 detailing the biographies of 657 slaves. This made it possible to focus in depth on slaves identities and in particular on the estimation process regarding their price. Who were the slaves? How was their price calculated? Which was the difference between male and female slavery? What was the relationship between their price and personal 'identity'? What was the difference between their use-value and trading value? In general, what were the negotiation processes underpinning the markets of men and what was the role played by the slaves themselves? These are the main questions the project aimed to answer. The idea was that aspects involved in negotiation processes were at the same time economic, social and psychological, insofar as they significantly affected self-perception. Hence, an in-depth analysis of a large number of biographies of the individuals sentenced to forced labour such as the one outlined can help clarify these aspects. This research study led to reconstructing a genuine marketing relationnel of personal identity in the ancien régime, also in relation with the gender aspect, through the analysis of a mass autobiography. Starting from this analysis, different original aspects were taken into account. In fact, the project made it possible to enter into the real everyday life of slaves. This project allowed for the question of personal identity to be tackled in a new way, in other words from the viewpoint of the slave and the parties involved in sale of the slave. Who was a man (and who was a woman) in the ancien régime? The negotiation processes show the situational and modifiable nature of identities (religious, cultural, psychological). The interdisciplinary approach also made it possible to take into consideration the issues of human trafficking and other forms of slavery and forced labour that have persisted in Africa and Asia up to the present day. What are the differences between present-day slaves and those of modern times? How much is a man worth today and yesterday?
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
This research aims to study the identity formation processes of slaves and captives in the Mediterranean between 16th and 17th centuries. It will do so by analysing the slaves markets of Naples and Valencia, two of the most important trading cities of the Spanish Empire. The project will combine different types of unexplored archival sources including the trials on slaves to be found within the Archivo del Reino of Valencia and a unique source represented by the book nr. 42 coming from Secretaría de Estado of the Archivo General de Simancas. The latter is as of now the most detailed source available on Mediterranean slavery, outlining the profiles of 657 slaves and captives aboard 26 privately-operated Neapolitan galleys in 1585. These sources will make it possible to focus in depth on the biography of slaves and the process of calculating their price.Through this analysis, my project aims to significantly contribute to two historiographical mainstreams: Mediterranean slavery and formation of personal identities in ancient regime. The underlying idea is that at the core of both these phenomena was an estimation process of 'how much is a man (and woman) worth' including social, psychological and economic aspects.To this end, I propose to read together the two topics (formation of personal identities and slavery) by doing a microanalytical study of men forced to labour. The main references for this analysis will be the micro-sociology of priceselaborated by Bourdieu and Boltanski and recent studies on social estimation processes in history, focusing on biographies as well as using case-studies oriented methodology.The fellowship will include a significant secondment to EHESS in Paris, and will result in the third monograph of the researcher on negotiated identities in modern Mediterranean.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITAT DE VALENCIA · ValenciaCoordinatorSpain
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union