Unfree Lives: Slaves at the Najahid and Rasulid Courts of Yemen

Author:   Magdalena Moorthy Kloss
Publisher:   Brill
Volume:   16
ISBN:  

9789004692831


Pages:   234
Publication Date:   15 August 2024
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
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Unfree Lives: Slaves at the Najahid and Rasulid Courts of Yemen


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Overview

Unfree Lives illuminates Yemen’s forgotten history of slavery, as well as the transregional dimensions of slave trading in the Red Sea and wider Indian Ocean world. By analyzing Arabic narrative and administrative sources, Magdalena Moorthy Kloss reconstructs the lives of women and men who were trafficked to Yemen as children and then placed in various subaltern positions — from domestic servant to royal concubine, from quarryman to army commander. In this first in-depth study of unfree lives in Yemen, Moorthy Kloss argues that slaves and former slaves made significant contributions to social, economic and political processes in the medieval period. She highlights the gendered nature of slavery through a nuanced examination of the social identities of eunuchs and concubines. Unfree Lives also includes detailed information on slave trading between the Horn of Africa and Yemen in the 13th century, as well as an account of the little-known Najahid dynasty that was founded by Ethiopian slaves.

Full Product Details

Author:   Magdalena Moorthy Kloss
Publisher:   Brill
Imprint:   Brill
Volume:   16
Weight:   0.538kg
ISBN:  

9789004692831


ISBN 10:   9004692835
Pages:   234
Publication Date:   15 August 2024
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Preliminary Remarks List of Maps Introduction 1 Historical Context and Sources  1 The Najahids – a Dynasty of (Former) Slaves  2 The Rasulids 2 The Medieval Slave Trade to Yemen  1 Overview  2 The Unknown Origins of Slave Soldiers in Medieval Yemen  3 Trade Procedures to Rasulid Yemen  4 Import Taxes  5 Transport Charges and Travel Provisions  6 Trade Procedures in Yemen  7 Conclusion 3 Eunuchs  1 Eunuchs in Islamic Foundational Texts  2 The Eunuch Institution in the First Islamic Centuries  3 Terminology  4 Early Lives  5 Digression: Slave Names and the Loss of Origins  6 Beginnings in Yemen  7 Eunuchs in the Rasulid Military and Political Administration  8 Amirs  9 Governors and Representatives  10 Owners of Revenue Estates  11 Envoys  12 Treasurers and Paymasters  13 Supervisors of Mamluks  14 Eunuchs and Rasulid Women  15 Eunuchs as Educators of Royal Children  16 Scholarly and Religious Activities  17 Patronage of Pious Endowments  18 Conclusion 4 Female Slaves  1 Types of Female Slave Labour in Medieval Yemen  2 Concubines’ Biographies in al-Ḥakamī’s Chronicle  3 Rasulid Case Studies  4 Conclusion 5 Low-Ranking Slaves  1 Nūr al-maʿārif as Unique Source of Information on Low-Ranking Slaves  2 Kitchen Service  3 Employment in Palace Storage Facilities  4 Protective Services  5 Stable Duties  6 Craftsmanship and Other Specialized Work  7 Agriculture  8 Mining  9 Conclusion Conclusions Bibliography

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Author Information

Magdalena Moorthy Kloss is an FWF Erwin Schrödinger Fellow at the Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient in Berlin and an associate researcher at the Institute for Social Anthropology, Austrian Academy of Sciences. Her research examines slavery, dependency and social hierarchies in Yemen through an interdisciplinary lens. She has published articles in the journals History and Anthropology and Der Islam, and a chapter in The Palgrave Handbook of Global Slavery throughout History (2023).

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