Dynamics of Intermingling Gender and Slavery in Somalia at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

The history of slavery in the Somali country reveals some of the social dynamics that brought women slaves to the crossroads of the intermingling of people from Cushitic groups and Bantu-speaking groups. Yet little has been written about the characteristics of slavery in Somalia at the turn of the twentieth century. This article brings together some data from a civil court register of the town of Brava and from information collected by Italian officers and administrators, in order to sketch out some of the gendered facets of slavery at the turn of the century.