Reflections on public slavery and social death

Abstract

It is tempting to see public slaves as sharing characteristics of both slave and free and, therefore, as embodying an intermediate position that proves binary approaches to slavery and freedom wrong. This article argues that this temptation should be resisted. Based on an analysis of cases from different regions and periods, it agrees broadly with Patterson's clear distinction between slave and free statuses, but not with his interpretation of elite slaves as 'the ultimate slaves'. Public slaves were unusual slaves. A close analysis of their circumstances, and of the circumstances of other categories of slaves endowed with particular influence or autonomy in their societies, reveals that the social death metaphor suits certain contexts better than other. It does not accurately capture the historical diversity of the statuses and conditions of enslaved persons through time, and hence is unhelpful for the purpose of comparative generalisation.