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TraSIS: Trajectories of Slavery in Islamicate Societies. Three Concepts from Islamic Legal Sources

TraSIS: Trajectories of Slavery in Islamicate Societies. Three Concepts from Islamic Legal Sources

For centuries, slavery in various forms was an integral part of Islamicate societies. Different manifestations of unfreedom are rooted in different legal concepts and have produced varying social realities for the individuals concerned. For the purposes of this project, slavery is an analytical category that includes various forms of dependency, even if the connections between them are not explicitly reflected in their Arabic terms.  Content and aim of the research project Muslim jurists have conceptualised freedom and unfreedom in a range of…

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Can People Sell their Children into Slavery? Cultural Relativism vs. Universality in Islamic Jurisprudence

Can People Sell their Children into Slavery? Cultural Relativism vs. Universality in Islamic Jurisprudence

In Summer 2023, the TraSIS project organised a joint conference with the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS) in the picturesque Swiss lakeside town of Murtensee. Some of our guests generously agreed to contribute a blog post in which they discuss one of the sources they presented on at the conference. In the third post of this series, Jonathan AC Brown, Chair of Islamic Civilization at Georgetown University, explores the sale of non-Muslim children into slavery in Islamic…

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The Blurred Boundaries of Slavery and Freedom in the Early Modern Crimean Khanate

The Blurred Boundaries of Slavery and Freedom in the Early Modern Crimean Khanate

In Summer 2023, the TraSIS project organised a joint conference with the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS) in the picturesque Swiss lakeside town of Murtensee. Some of our guests generously agreed to contribute a blog post in which they discuss one of the sources they presented on at the conference. In the second post of this series, Turkana Allahverdiyeva, a doctoral student at the BCDSS, discusses a case of non-elite household slavery in the early modern Crimean…

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From Muslim Slave to Catholic Surgeon: A Case of Manumission in the Galleys of Spain

From Muslim Slave to Catholic Surgeon: A Case of Manumission in the Galleys of Spain

In Summer 2023, the TraSIS project organised a joint conference with the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS) in the picturesque Swiss lakeside town of Murtensee. Some of our guests generously agreed to contribute a blog post in which they discuss one of the sources they presented on at the conference. In the first post of this series, Teresa Peláez-Domínguez, a doctoral researcher at the University of Valencia, introduces us to the world of galley slavery in the Early…

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TraSIS team: Reflections on the 29th DAVO Congress

TraSIS team: Reflections on the 29th DAVO Congress

The TraSIS team made their way to the charming city of Vienna last week for the 29th annual congress of the DAVO (German Middle East Studies Association), held in conjunction with the fourth annual Turkologentag (European Convention on Turkic, Ottoman and Turkish Studies). Some 800 delegates were in attendance. The congress featured a fascinating mix of papers by Middle Easternists and Turkologists, with a compelling keynote by Professor Edhem Eldem that addressed the progress of the last few decades—as well as the very…

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What Can We Learn about Slavery from a Manual for Judges and Notaries?

What Can We Learn about Slavery from a Manual for Judges and Notaries?

Serena Tolino is Professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies and co-director of the Institute for the Study of the Middle East and Muslim Societies at the University of Bern, where she also leads the project TraSIS.We recommend that readers explore our other blog contributions which are linked here Introduction This month’s blog post focuses on the relevance that shurūṭ manuals written for judges and notaries have for understanding practices related to slavery, and legal practices more generally. Shurūṭ works, or “model…

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Unfortunately, it Ended: Slavery in Islamic Law and Muslim Societies Conference in Murtensee

Unfortunately, it Ended: Slavery in Islamic Law and Muslim Societies Conference in Murtensee

The TraSIS team organised its first project conference last week, in collaboration with the BCDSS (Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies). We were honoured to welcome scholars from more than ten countries to discuss questions related to slavery in Islamic law and Muslim societies. The conference, which took place on the shores of Lake Murten, featured a keynote lecture by Prof. Christian Müller (CNRS, Paris) on ‘New Sources for Muslim Social History? Premodern Legal Documents from a Comparative Perspective’. Over…

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On the “Guile” of Slaves: Thirteen Recommendations of Samawʾal b. Yaḥyā al-Maghribī (d. 570/1175) on the Purchase of Male and Female Slaves

On the “Guile” of Slaves: Thirteen Recommendations of Samawʾal b. Yaḥyā al-Maghribī (d. 570/1175) on the Purchase of Male and Female Slaves

Aurora Magliozzi is a PhD student at the Department of Asian, African and Mediterranean Studies at the University of Naples L’Orientale. She is also an associate researcher at the Institute for the Study of the Middle East and Muslim Societies (ISNO) at the University of Bern. Her research focuses on Arabic erotic literature in the classical and post-classical periods. This is the first guest post on the TraSIS blog. We recommend that readers explore our other blog contributions which are…

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The Sins of the Father: Theodicy, Salvation and the Enslavement of Children in Some Kalām Texts

The Sins of the Father: Theodicy, Salvation and the Enslavement of Children in Some Kalām Texts

Dr Omar Anchassi, Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Bern on the SSC-funded Trajectories of Slavery in Islamicate Societies (TraSIS) project.We recommend that readers explore our other blog contributions which are linked here. Content warning: this blog post discusses issues of a highly sensitive nature, including the suffering of children (this- and otherworldly). Reader discretion is advised. This month’s blog post departs from previous contributions by exploring a series of closely interrelated legal and theological questions in the longue durée, rather…

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TraSIS PI Prof. Serena Tolino presents at Max Planck Institute

TraSIS PI Prof. Serena Tolino presents at Max Planck Institute

Serena Tolino was invited to give a presentation on May 27, 2023 with the title «Intersectionality Matters: New Perspectives on the Study of Islamic Legal Sources» at the Afternoon Talks on Islamic Law, a series of lectures taking place regularly on Thursdays afternoon at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg. The series is hosted by the Research Group on the Law of Islamic Countries, head by Nadjma Yassari. The talk was introduced and moderated by Shéhérazade Elyazidi.  In her…

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