AFAM 40A Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Partus Sequitur Ventrem, Animal Husbandry, European Colonialism
9 Mar 2019
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Natal alienation was a cultural method of using a power dynamic to control slaves. Natal alienation referred to the black slave as a socially dead individual, which meant they were alienated from all rights and claims of birth. They were considered genealogical isolates as they were cut off from their ancestors, culture, and living blood relations. This gave the slave owner absolute power since the enslaved had no other bonds but to their owner. The history of sugar production became the history of slavery; it drove european expansion from palestine across the mediterranean, then from africa across the atlantic. Sugar became the form of colonial exploitation and slaves became the form of labor for sugar production; both were necessary for the emergence of european colonialism and capitalism. This was so because slavery increased the supply of labor, was more productive than free labor, and could be held as an asset.
