Synopsis
Sponsored by the Alfred Mizzi Foundation. Muslim slaves on early modern Malta were, “flesh-and-blood human beings with some agency, shaped, by the distinctive circumstances and values of their times, sometimes accommodating, sometimes resisting, sometimes suffering, sometimes escaping, sometimes changing things and trying something new” (Natalie Zemon-Davis, 2000). This presentation attempts to analyse aspects such as what slavery smelled and looked like, slaves’ bodies and their material culture, and the fluidity of their faith. It will offer a series of snapshots of the embodied and material culture of slavery, which illuminate the ideas and practices surrounding the complex issues of religion, identity and otherness embodied in slavery.
Speaker: Dr Emanuel Buttigieg
The Smell of Slavery: Aspects of Slavery on Early Modern Malta
Speaker: Dr Emanuel Buttigieg
Merchants Street, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Palazzo Parisio, Pardo Hall, Valletta
The Smell of Slavery: Aspects of Slavery on Early Modern Malta