Central African identities and religiosity in colonial Minas Gerais

This study deals with the import of West Central African slaves and their religious practices to Minas Gerais in the eighteenth century. The captaincy of Minas Gerais in the interior of Brazil developed into the world’s largest gold producing region in the beginning of the eighteenth century. The large-scale mining of gold, and later diamonds, was only possible through massive imports of slaves from Africa to Brazil. The first part of this study discusses the Atlantic slave trade in the southern Atlantic world. The discovery of gold in Minas Gerais led to an increasing demand for slaves in Brazil, which was largely met by supplies from Angola. The study analyzes the formation of Central Africans’ identities both in their homelands and in Brazil. Slave identities or “nations” have often been seen as creations of the slave owners. By interpreting major Central African “nations” such as Angola, Congo, and Benguela as regional identities that were tied to the slaves’ origins in Africa, this study offers a new interpretation of what these identities meant for Central Africans in Minas Gerais. The second part of this study concentrates on the religious universe of Central Africans. Processes of cultural creolization affected West Central African societies after the Portuguese landed in the kingdom of Kongo in the late fifteenth century and led to the development of an Atlantic Creole culture. The spread of Catholicism in West Central Africa affected religious life especially in the kingdom of Kongo, in the city of Luanda, and in the Portuguese colony of Angola. Central African religious specialists were often denounced to the authorities in Angola for organizing healing and divination rituals. Diagnosis in these rituals was often made through spirit possession. Central Africans took these healing and divining methods to Minas Gerais, where numerous African religious specialists enjoyed great prominence. In the Brazilian mining region, it was commonplace that African healers served not only the African slave population, but also free whites. In the eighteenth century, Central African popular healers made a significant contribution to the therapeutic arts practiced in Minas Gerais and elsewhere in Brazil.

The Dark Side of International Business? Stakeholder Approach to Human Trafficking in Finnish Construction and Service Sectors

Human trafficking is not a new phenomenon. It has existed in various forms for ages around the world. Some researchers have even compared it to slavery, calling it the modern form of slavery in the 21st century. This study is particularly interested in the role of work-related human trafficking in Finnish business. In order for something to be called work-related human trafficking, the concepts of forced labour and human trafficking have to overlap. From the economic point of view, human trafficking is governed by the laws of supply and demand. In many countries the global pressure on cutting costs has created two trends: the increased supply of migrant workers and the deregulation of labour markets. These competitive pressures can have an adverse impact on the conditions of employment and, in the worst cases, can lead to forced labour and trafficking. In fact, trafficking has become one of the most profitable illicit industries worldwide, generating tremendous profits due to its low costs and huge profits. Therefore, it is important to investigate the phenomenon from the business point of view. This study is a qualitative research conducted by using theme interviews as a research approach. Altogether 13 interviews have been conducted and some secondary data has been used in order to find out what the role of human trafficking is in Finnish business. The special sectors investigated are the Finnish construction and service sectors. The theory framework used in this study follows the stakeholder approach. The relevant stakeholder groups for this study are: ‘institutions and authorities’, ‘law enforcement’, ‘management’ and ‘employees – potential victims’ of trafficking. With the help of these stakeholder groups, a holistic picture of the phenomenon is formed. It can be concluded that the role of human trafficking is complicated but it does exist in Finnish business. It appears in low-cost business sectors where the demand for cheap labour is high. Thus, often the victims are foreigners who do not know the culture or the Finnish conditions of employment. Especially smaller Finnish companies are at risk of getting involved in human trafficking or related exploitation cases since monitoring is much more scarce in these firms than in larger companies. The risk of human trafficking and exploitation is also higher at the bottom of the complicated subcontracting chains or when using foreign recruitment agencies. Thus, the study believes that active and intensive collaboration between the company’s different stakeholder groups is needed in order to prevent work-related human trafficking from flourishing in Finland.

Quest/ion of Identities in African American Feminist Postmodern Drama: A Study of Selected Plays by Suzan-Lori Parks

Innovative and unconventional, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks belongs to the continuum of African American playwrights who have contributed to the quest/ion – the quest for and question – of identities for African Americans. Her plays are sites in which the quest/ion of identities for African Americans is pursued, raised and enacted. She makes use of both page and stage to emphasize the exigency of reshaping African Americans’ identities through questioning the dominant ideologies and metanarratives, delegitimizing some of the prevailing stereotypes imposed on them, drawing out the complicity of the media in perpetuating racism, evoking slavery, lynching and their aftereffects, rehistoricizing African American history, catalyzing reflections on the various intersections of sex, race, class and gender orientations, and proffering alternative perspectives to help readers think more critically about issues facing African Americans. In my dissertation, I approach three plays by Parks – The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World (1990), Venus (1996) and Fucking A (2000) – from the standpoints of postmodern drama and African American feminism with a focus on the terrains that reflect the quest/ion of identities for African Americans, especially African American women. I argue that postmodern drama and African American feminism provide the ground for Parks to promote the development of a political agenda in order to call into question a number of dominant ideologies and metanarratives with regard to African Americans and draw upon the roles of those metanarratives as a powerful apparatus of racial and sexual oppressions. I also explore how Parks engages with postmodern drama and African American feminism to incorporate her own mininarratives in the dominant discourses. I argue that Parks in these plays uses postmodern drama and African American feminism to encourage reflections on intersectionality in order to reveal the concerns of African Americans, particularly African American women. Her plays challenge the dominant order of hierarchy and patriarchy, while in some cases urging unity and solidarity between African American men and women by showing how unity and solidarity can help them confront race, class and gender oppressions. Furthermore, I discuss how the utilization of postmodern techniques and devices helps Parks to transform the conventional features of playwriting, to create incredulity toward the dominant systems of oppression and to incorporate her mininarratives within the context of dominant discourses.

Ihanteena orjuuteen perustuva kristillinen yhteiskunta – Uskonnollinen ja yhteiskunnallinen orjuuden ja etelävaltioiden puolustus baptistipastori Ebenezer W. Warrenin romaanissa Nellie Norton

Yhdysvalloissa kehittyi noin vuosina 1850–1865 erityinen orjuutta puolustamaan noussut kaunokirjallisuuden lajityyppi. Sen synty oli osa etelävaltioiden elämäntavan ja siihen keskeisesti liittyneen orjuuden taakse organisoitunutta puolustautumista, joka kehittyi erityisesti kolmena Yhdysvaltojen sisällissotaa edeltäneenä vuosikymmenenä, jolloin etelän orjajärjestelmä joutui kovan arvostelun kohteeksi. Orjuuden puolustajien kirjoittama romaanikirjallisuus voidaan nähdä eräänlaisena etelän vastareaktiona Harriet Beecher Stowen suuren suosion saaneelle orjuutta kritisoineelle romaanille Setä Tuomon tupa, joka julkaistiin vuonna 1852. Keskityn tutkielmassani yhteen tämän orjuutta puolustaneen romaanikirjallisuuden edustajaan, baptistipastori Ebenezer W. Warrenin vuonna 1864 julkaisemaan romaaniin Nellie Norton: or Southern Slavery and the Bible. A scriptural refutation of the principal arguments upon which the abolitionists rely. A vindication of southern slavery from the old and new testaments. Romaani sijoittuu julkaisuajankohtansa puolesta lajityyppinsä viimeisimpien edustajien joukkoon. Tutkielmassani tarkastellaan, minkälaisista argumenteista romaanin keinoin esitetty orjuuden puolustus koostuu. Tämän lisäksi tarkastelen myös sitä, millainen kuva romaanissa annetaan etelävaltioiden, ja toisaalta niiden vastapuolena näyttäytyvien pohjoisten osavaltioiden ja Englannin elämäntavasta ja maailmankuvasta. Tutkielmani osoittaa orjuuden puolustuksen rakentuvan Warrenin romaanissa erityisesti uskonnollisista, rasistisista sekä yhteiskunnallisista argumenteista. Romaanissa luodaan näiden kautta voimakas vastakkainasettelu etelän orjayhteiskunnan ja pohjoisen ja Englannin vapaaseen työvoimaan perustuneiden teollistuneiden yhteiskuntien välille. Etelän kirjaimelliset ja konservatiiviset tulkinnat Raamatusta ja sen asemasta moraalin ja yhteiskuntajärjestyksen ylimpänä määrittelijänä asetetaan abolitionistien harhaoppisiksi esitettyjen liberaalimpien ja modernimpien raamatuntulkintojen vastakohdaksi. Vastaavasti etelän orjuuteen perustuvan yhteiskunnan rakenteet ja instituutiot esitetään raamatullisina ja hyveellisinä, siinä missä vapaaseen työvoimaan perustuneet yhteiskunnat esitetään moraalittomina ja raadollisina. Romaanista välittyy erityisesti kuva konservatiivisesta maailmasta, jossa uskonnolliset ja rasistiset ajattelumallit ovat keskeisessä asemassa pyrittäessä puolustamaan ja ylläpitämään orjuuteen perustuvaa eteläistä elämäntapaa.