Cooking at sea. Different forms of labor in the era of the second Slavery

Abstract

This paper deals with various forms of labor in the 19th century. Although Brazil officially banned the slave trade, the first half of the 19th century did not bring a decline of this business. Rather, until at least 1851, large numbers of slaves were brought to Brazil. The structure of the slave trade was based on the labor needed to carry out the abduction of several million people. Slave ship cooks were responsible for feeding the people during their voyages, thus contributing to the infrastructure and reproduction of the slave trade. By using a micro-historical approach to examine the example of slave ship cooks, different forms of forced labor can be shown.