Money, Slavery and Political Change in Precolonial West Africa

This project brings together two vital aspects of precolonial West African history which hitherto have been analysed separately. It places new pan-Atlantic perspectives on the history of slavery and the African diaspora alongside new archival data on the currencies linking West Africa and the Atlantic world, to offer a new approach to the history of economic underdevelopment in African and world history: the core argument is that the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the currencies linking African and world economies from the 17th to the 19th centuries formed part of the same economic structure which led to underdevelopment in precolonial West Africa.

Since the 1960s, historians have focussed on the history of the trans-Atlantic slave trade as a key factor in shaping the history of precolonial West Africa, with important discussions as to whether the slave trade expanded forms of slavery in West Africa itself (Rodney 1966; Fage 1969; Lovejoy 1983). Meanwhile, economic historians looked in some detail at the history of currencies in precolonial West Africa, and at how currency imports and currency-use reflected social and economic changes also linking Africa and the world economy (Adebayo 1994; Guyer 2004; Hogendorn/Johnson 1986; Inikori 2007; Lovejoy 1974). Yet until now, there has been no systematic analysis of the way in which the history of slavery and the history of currency were interdependent, reflecting key aspects of precolonial West African political change which created the indigenous economic and political structures which faced the rise of colonialism in the late 19th century.

The PI's key hypothesis is therefore that the analysis of both the history of slavery and of the emergence of economic underdevelopment in West Africa emerges more clearly if slavery and currency histories are analysed together. Where enslaved Africans were used as forms of currency and credit in early Atlantic economies (cf Newson/Minchin 2007; Newson 2013), understanding the trans-Atlantic slave trade as part of the economic complex which contributed to underdevelopment can make a real contribution to understanding processes of economic change both in Africa and in the world; such a focus reveals also how economic patterns and cross-cultural exchange were connected. Meanwhile, new evidence on pan-Atlantic diasporas in the history of slavery (Barcia 2014; Candido 2013; Ferreira 2012; Green 2012) show how histories of slavery, racism, and histories of economic divergences offer close correlations: where racial stereotypes were not universal as late as the 1640s, as the portraits of Kongolese ambassadors by Albert Eckhout in Brazil make clear, the emergence of such stereotypes went with the rapid expansion of the Atlantic slave economy from West Africa after 1660 (Gikandi 2011).

The new archival data found -- and theoretical advances made -- since African currency history was last debated in detail can build on new directions in the field. New institutional economics' focus on trust builds heavily on African examples (Cohen 1971; Greif 1993). In the Dutch Atlantic context, Nimako and Willemsen (2011) have indeed argued that the slave trade needs to be viewed partly through the lens of world economic history; meanwhile, work on slavery in precolonial northern Nigeria has shown that slaves were used as a form of currency in the 19th century (Hogendorn 1977). Bridging the histories of slavery and economic change in Africa therefore can produce leading contributions to core fields.

The project thus allows the PI to enhance the leadership role which their publications (Green 2011; 2012; 2016) have developed. This leadership will be further consolidated through mentoring a postdoctoral researcher working on a specific case study that supports the hypothesis; staging public impact events alongside Ecobank and the OCR A Level examination board; and organising an academic colloquium in Brazil, and discussion panels in the USA and the UK.

The project will achieve substantial impact among a variety of non-academic users through a combination of means. One of the purposes of the project is to establish the PI as a leader in public engagement in the economic and political history of Africa, and how the deep precolonial history may relate to more contemporary questions of international development and political stabilisation. This will be achieved through a clear and directed impact strategy which has 3 main planks:

1) The directed promotion of the new OCR A level option in African Kingdoms.
:- In 2014 the PI began collaborating with the OCR Examinations Board in developing a new option at A Level, called African kingdoms. There has already been some media coverage of this development in professional teaching magazines, and the option is to be piloted in September 2015:
http://www.voice-online.co.uk/article/africa%E2%80%99s-kingdoms-find-place-level-course

The OCR option involves the study of 5 major kingdoms in West Africa: Benin, Dahomey, Kongo, Oyo, and Songhay. Some of the material developed by the PI for the coursebook involves the study of the history of currencies. Working now more concentratedly on this project, the PI will build on his research through the fellowship to develop a series of summer schools and workshops in conjunction with OCR looking at the economic impact of the history looked at on the option, and its relationship to current questions of development. This will showcase the vital importance of precolonial history to contemporary debates. These workshops and materials will then be taken together by OCR and the PI to important educational fora in order to promote the option. This will include working with focus groups of teachers in key areas of the country to explore methods of teaching and identify necessary resources, and presentations at the Schools History Project and The History Association Conference. This concerted effort in terms of mentoring and training teachers in the delivery of this option will greatly expand its dissemination in schools and create real educational impact.

2) Collaboration with a major African bank, Ecobank, to develop policy papers and collaborative workshops
:- The PI will work with the Ecobank Academy in Lome, Togo, to develop a workshop on Past, Present and Future Perspectives on Money in Africa. The key idea of this workshop is to bring together scholars who work on the history of currencies in Africa with economists and those working in the finance sector in Africa today. Ecobank is the "pan-African bank", working in every country between North Africa and the Rand Zone in the south, with 40% of its market in Francophone countries (http://www.ecobank.com/). By bringing economists and historians together, there will be a major multi-disciplinary dialogue linking practice and theory. The workshop will also lead to a policy paper published by Ecobank, which will be disseminated both in Africa and to policy fora in the UK such as APPGs.

3) Public dissemination and impact through the media
The PI's new research project will lead to the publication of a book by Allen, Lane (aimed for 2018, once the research is completed). Through the PI's established track record of media coverage (see Pathways to Impact), and the liaison with the publicity team of Penguin, this book publication will lead to many opportunities to disseminate the key project findings to a broad audience of the general public. This will occur through print media and radio.