Reparations for the slave trade: rhetoric, law, history and political realities

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Periodical article

Title:	Reparations for the slave trade: rhetoric, law, history and political realities
Author:	Howard-Hassmann, Rhoda E.
Year:	2007
Periodical:	Canadian Journal of African Studies
Volume:	41
Issue:	3
Pages:	427-454
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Africa
Subjects:	slave trade reparations attitudes
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/40380098
Abstract:	This article discusses several problematic aspects of the call for reparations to Africa for the slave trade. The call for reparations is based on questionable interpretations of international law, and questionable interpretations of history. These are debates regarding both the numbers of slaves, and the characteristics of slavery, in the Americas, the Arab world, and Africa itself, which influence consideration of whether reparations are justified. There are also debates regarding both the contribution of the trans-Atlantic slave trade to Western development, and how the trade underdeveloped Africa. Thus the call for reparations is heavily based on a counterfactual approach. Nevertheless, serious discussion of whether the West owes reparations to Africa for the slave trade might deflect the future consequences of political resentment of the West in Africa. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French [Journal abstract]