Stanford Humanities Center
Becca De Los Santos is a senior studying French and History from Redding, California. Her research explores the ambiguities of French abolitionist legislation and how enslaved individuals exercised agency in nineteenth-century Senegal. In her free time, she enjoys making lattes, thrifting for vintage clothing, listening to folk music, and discovering new culinary experiences.
SHC Project
“Poor Souls” and “Dangerous Vagabonds”: the Enslaved Pursuit of Liberation in Post-Abolition Senegal, 1848–1865
Advisors: Fatoumata Seck, Richard Roberts
What is the focus of your current research?
In the 1830s, the abolition of slavery became a pressing matter across the French empire. After a slow march, France’s Second Republic decreed immediate abolition in 1848. In the colony of Senegal, the French colonial administration emancipated enslaved African people in two towns, Saint Louis and Gorée. For the rest of the nineteenth century, the abolition policies of 1848 would be subject to revision in favor of colonial expansion in West Africa and the welfare of the colony’s commercial relationships. I look at the measures that enslaved people took to obtain liberation and those that the French administration took to limit liberation from 1848 to 1865.
What drew you to this topic?
I joined the Senegal Liberations Project as a research assistant in my junior year. I was fascinated by how language played a central role in both the Senegal’s liberation registers and the humanitarian literature that fueled the abolitionist movement. This contributed to my interest in colonial legal history and narratives of enslaved peoples’ resistance within the French-speaking world.
How are you conducting your research?
Over the past summer, I spent time in the archives in Senegal and France. I am drawing from the decrees, court cases, correspondences, censuses, and surveys. In addition, I will be analyzing the Senegalese liberation registers and its 28,930 entries.
What would people be surprised to learn about the topic you are working on?
Many people in America, including at Stanford, are not familiar with West African history, religious traditions, and native customs. The institution of slavery in West Africa differs from slavery in the Americas. Enslaved people played a vital role within the Senegalese economy as free manual laborers, diplomats, merchants, domestics, sailors, and more. I think people will find it surprising how nuanced the spectrum of freedom and “unfreedom” is. How do indenture, apprenticeship, guardianship, concubinage, and marriage contribute to our understandings of what it means to be truly free?
In your view, why is it valuable to study this topic?
In my view, it is valuable to study this topic for two reasons: to give a just amount of attention to those whose narratives are often lost to the past and to develop our judgements of freedom and resistance. To study enslaved people in Africa is to work against the grain of colonial documentation. It is a work of excavation, retracing, and submission to the unknown.
How is your honors thesis impacting you academically and/or personally?
It’s been an absolute pleasure to do this archival work and write something of my own. I never would have imagined that my honors thesis would bring me to West Africa for the first time, lead me to meeting and engaging with brilliant scholars, and be a large part of my decision to pursue graduate studies. Although this thesis has been my biggest time commitment this year, it has also been the most enriching project that I have undertaken at Stanford.
How do you anticipate the fellowship will be able to support your research?
The Humanities Center has provided a wonderful space for me to write, work late at night, fuel up on caffeine, and connect with the other fellows. I am thankful for the opportunity to be a part of an intellectual community that encourages one another, shares ideas, provides thoughtful feedback, and wants to see every member succeed.
