Paper short abstract:

This presentation seeks to understand the reconfiguration of social relations that occurs between descendants of family slaves and descendants of masters in current Benin and specifically in Ouidah

Paper long abstract:

This presentation seeks to understand the reconfiguration of social relations that occurs between descendants of family slaves and descendants of masters in current Benin and specifically in Ouidah. There, the situation is quite different from the Sahelian region where a lot of recent works (Rossi, Bellagamba, …) were written. In coastal West Africa, slaves tends to be more incorporated in the lineage. This assimilation of former slaves in the main lineage, the idea of "making families" is now deeply rooted in southern Benin.

Ouidah is famous for being one of the largest slave port in the history of the Atlantic trade. Yet, it is well known that the Atlantic trade also fed domestic slavery in the coastal area. The social structure in Benin is also divided in class or groups, but in contrary with Sahelian countries, this division tend less to stuck people in their social group: a person with noble ancestor can marry another person with slave ancestry, there are no social caste(s) like the blacksmiths among the Mande, etc

This results in a social structure which is more fluid in this respect. In Ouidah, the emancipation of former slaves has gone through different processes such as migration, colonial school or simply the ending of regular relations. Despite their own internal social stratification, some of the most powerful lineages of the 18th and 19th centuries have sometimes reconverted their capital in order to still be prominent today. De Souza family here provide an exemplary case.