Tracing the African-Asian Diaspora Through Newspaper Ads: Race, Slavery, and Unfreedom in Copenhagen (1759-1854)

Abstract

This project utilises an original collection of primary sources, namely fugitive and work-related ads that describe people of colour (PoC) from one newspaper in Copenhagen, Denmark (KKAPE, 1759-1854). It has three central aims: It examines (1) what opportunities and constraints PoC faced in the bound labour market; (2) how racial slavery was practised; and (3) which factors enabled or constrained PoC in racial trespassing. The project proposes two central claims: (1) While some PoC were subjected to colonial commodification and naming practices characteristic of racial slavery, others were able to participate in the bound labour market in Copenhagen between 1759 and 1854 in diverse ways; (2) the opportunities and constraints faced by PoC were shaped by intersecting identity markers including race, gender, and age, but it seems that maternal heritage in particular determined the possibility of racial trespassing in early modern Copenhagen. This project thus contributes to the literature on global labour history and the lived experiences of PoC in early modern Europe, while adding to the debate on racial slavery in European colonial metropoles.