Open research questions in Colonialism, slavery, and trade

What the literature leaves open

• The project faces challenges in understanding the human-environmental interaction of the fifteenth-century AD settlement. The research encounters difficulties in identifying and analyzing the archaeobotanical remains. The paper notes the challenge of interpreting the radiocarbon dates and their significance in understanding the site's occupation.

  The Likpe Kukurantumi Archaeological Project (Ghana): exploring the abandoned earthwork settlement · 2026 · DOI

• further archaeobotanical analyses, - continued excavation and exploration of the earthwork site, - study of the local ecosystem and human management of the environment

  The Likpe Kukurantumi Archaeological Project (Ghana): exploring the abandoned earthwork settlement · 2026 · DOI

• linking the patterns of increased racialization of sailor records in Portugal to wider Atlantic developments, - examining the development of racial categories across empires, - investigating the impact of imperial anxieties on the categorization of Black and African sailors

  “They Do Not Have Physiognomies of Their Own”: Tracking Racialization of Maritime Professions in the Eighteenth-Century Portuguese Empire · 2025 · DOI

• The gap involves the lack of understanding of how the Junta's logbooks became a contested space for defining occupations, racial identities, and legal status. The paper identifies a need to link the patterns of increased racialization of sailor records in Portugal to wider Atlantic developments. The study reveals a gap in the understanding of how racial categories were created and disseminated across empires during this period.

  “They Do Not Have Physiognomies of Their Own”: Tracking Racialization of Maritime Professions in the Eighteenth-Century Portuguese Empire · 2025 · DOI

• The Fante are renowned for their historic engagement with Atlantic slavery in eighteenth-century West Africa but the form and development of their government remain elusive and enigmatic.

  Slavery, Sovereignty, and the Fante State: The Rise of a Ritual Confederacy in Eighteenth-Century Ghana · 2026 · DOI

• Although Gama’s writings and professional life have inspired numerous scholarly works, thus far information about his childhood has been limited to an autobiographical sketch he provided in a letter to a friend.

  Navigating Discourses of Family, Freedom and Enslavement: Reconstructing the Early Life of Luiz Gama, an Afro-Brazilian Abolitionist · 2026 · DOI

• While the role of the United States in the illegal transatlantic slave trade and, specifically, the city of New York has received a sufficient amount of attention from scholars, the role that New Orleans fulfilled in this trade as the second-largest city from which illegal slave vessels departed remains underexplored.

  New Orleans and the Illegal Transatlantic Slave Trade, 1857–1861 · 2026 · DOI

• While claims of external ancestry are widespread in Africa, the Ga case remains relatively understudied.

  ‘We Came from a Faraway Place’ · 2025 · DOI

• While the re-establishment of slavery has become better known, the process by which this return was effected remains understudied.

  The Re-enslavement of Guadeloupe: Criminal Courts in the Re-establishment of Slavery, 1802–1806 · 2024 · DOI

• Yet in contested colonies such as Saint Lucia, the experiences of enslaved people remain little known.

  Centering Slavery in the Age of Abolition: Insights from the Saint Lucia Register of Plantation Slaves, 1815 · 2024 · DOI

• The challenge of interpreting and comparing the two accounts. The need to consider the historical context and the perspectives of the writers. The difficulty of understanding the experiences of enslaved people through written testimonies.

  Another Surinam Witness: John Gabriel Stedman's Careful Testimony · 2026 · DOI

• Further study of the testimonies of Aphra Behn and John Gabriel Stedman. Comparison with other accounts of the Surinam plantation system. Analysis of the implications of the paper's findings for our understanding of colonial slavery and its legacies.

  Another Surinam Witness: John Gabriel Stedman's Careful Testimony · 2026 · DOI

• The complexity of Prince Abdulrahman's story, including his royal birth, military capture, and enslavement. The moral significance of the Futa Jallon Imamate's participation in the slave trade. The need for a full and accurate account of Prince Abdulrahman's life.

  Guardians of a Royal Legacy The Official Royal House of Sori® The Historical Preservation of Prince Abdulrahman Ibrahima ibn Sori · 2026 · DOI

• Further research could explore the implications of the Futa Jallon Imamate's participation in the slave trade for the commemorative meaning of Prince Abdulrahman's story. The Official Royal House of Sori's preservation work could be extended to include other aspects of African American history and the transatlantic slave trade.

  Guardians of a Royal Legacy The Official Royal House of Sori® The Historical Preservation of Prince Abdulrahman Ibrahima ibn Sori · 2026 · DOI

• The paper identifies a gap in understanding the link between slavery and capitalism. The study aims to fill this gap by examining the use of slave labor in the American colonies.

  ACUMULAÇÃO PRIMITIVA DO CAPITAL · 2026 · DOI

• The collection of human remains often occurred at the expense of human dignity, autonomy, and accountability. The paper highlights the challenges of developing context-specific and historically informed ethical and policy responses to human remains collections.

  Bones of Injustice: Historically Changing Ethics, Politics and Practices of Human Remains Collections · 2026 · DOI

• There is a need for context-specific and historically informed ethical and policy responses to human remains collections. The paper identifies a gap in understanding the historical processes of assembling and utilising these collections.

  Bones of Injustice: Historically Changing Ethics, Politics and Practices of Human Remains Collections · 2026 · DOI

• There is a lack of empirical evidence on how historical narratives causally influence racist beliefs. The causal pathways linking historical narratives to racist beliefs are not well understood.

  From Portuguese Colonial Representations to Racist Endorsement: Investigating Correlational and Causal Paths · 2026 · DOI

• Addressing the deep-rooted exclusion faced by descendants of slavery. Implementing reparative justice, including financial compensation, education, and cultural restoration initiatives. Redesigning education funding models to allocate resources based on need and equity.

  Historical Accountability and Reparative Pathways: Addressing the Legacies of the Transatlantic Slave Trade · 2026 · DOI

• The lack of historical accountability and reparative justice for the transatlantic slave trade. The need for a multi-faceted approach to address the deep-rooted exclusion faced by descendants of slavery.

  Historical Accountability and Reparative Pathways: Addressing the Legacies of the Transatlantic Slave Trade · 2026 · DOI

• The study identifies a gap in understanding the impact of the Atlantic slave trade on the Afrocentric personality. The paper highlights the need to explore psychological concepts such as psychodynamics, epigenetics, and trans-generational trauma.

  The Atlantic Slave Trade and the Afrocentric Identityin the United States of Americaand the Caribbean Since the 19th Century · 2026 · DOI

• The study identifies a gap in understanding the economic role of the Atlantic Slave Trade in the start of the Industrial Revolution. The study seeks to uncover the truth behind the end of the slave trade.

  The Economic Role of the Atlantic Slave Trade in the Start of the Industrial Revolution · 2026 · DOI

• The paper identifies the challenge of analyzing the complex interface between distinct concepts. It argues that Sweet's book is limited by its conflation of distinct concepts. The paper highlights the challenge of understanding the historically situated liberty and collective effort in the past and present.

  James Hoke Sweet. Mutiny on the Black Prince. Slavery, Piracy, and the Limits of Liberty in the Revolutionary Atlantic World . Oxford University Press, Oxford [etc.] 2025. xi, 247 pp. Ill. Maps. £26.99. (E-book: € 12.41.) · 2026 · DOI

• The paper identifies a gap in Sweet's book in its failure to analyze the role of nationality, gender, and class solidarity. The book's focus on individual ambition and greed is seen as a flaw. The paper argues that Sweet's work misses the historically situated liberty and collective effort in the past and present.

  James Hoke Sweet. Mutiny on the Black Prince. Slavery, Piracy, and the Limits of Liberty in the Revolutionary Atlantic World . Oxford University Press, Oxford [etc.] 2025. xi, 247 pp. Ill. Maps. £26.99. (E-book: € 12.41.) · 2026 · DOI

• The study identifies a gap in the existing literature, which has largely focused on the dominant narratives and main theatres of the war. The article highlights the need for a more nuanced understanding of the impacts of Anson's voyage on various empires.

  The World Around Anson’s Voyage: Inter-imperial Impacts of the Expedition · 2026 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Colonialism, slavery, and trade

• The Rise of Europe: Atlantic Trade, Institutional Change, and Economic Growth · American Economic Review · 2005 · 1,175 citations
• The Geopolitics of Knowledge and the Colonial Difference · South Atlantic Quarterly · 2002 · 756 citations
• Representing the Colonized: Anthropology's Interlocutors · Critical Inquiry · 1989 · 586 citations
• Notes on the "Post-Colonial" · Social Text · 1992 · 545 citations
• Modern Slavery As A Management Practice: Exploring the Conditions and Capabilities for Human Exploitation · Academy of Management Review · 2012 · 390 citations
• Predatory Value · Social Text · 2018 · 365 citations
• Accumulation, Dispossession, and Debt: The Racial Logic of Global Capitalism—An Introduction · American Quarterly · 2012 · 335 citations
• The Time of Slavery · South Atlantic Quarterly · 2002 · 319 citations
• The Absent Presence: Discourses of Crypto-Colonialism · South Atlantic Quarterly · 2002 · 275 citations
• The Denial of Slavery in Management Studies · Journal of Management Studies · 2003 · 229 citations

Most recent work

• Whiteness as freedom: paradoxes of liberty and slavery in British New York, 1664–1763 · Ethnic and Racial Studies · 2026
• The metamorphoses of illegitimacy in São Jorge Island (Azores, Portugal) 1600–1910 · The History of the Family · 2026
• Under company and state, reconstructing government-owned enslaved families on Bonaire 1758-1863 · The History of the Family · 2026
• From Portuguese Colonial Representations to Racist Endorsement: Investigating Correlational and Causal Paths · International review of social psychology · 2026
• Mothers and Maternal Grandmothers Kept Children Alive During Slavery: Evidence From the Surinamese Slave Registers, 1830–1863 · Demography · 2026
• The Myth of Slavery: Modern Study Shows that Slaves was Treated Much better than what was thought before · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026
• Aspectos do quotidiano no transporte de escravos no século XVII. Do sertão africano à costa americana · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) · 2026
• Ink and Blood: Stories of Abolition · 2026
• Naked Steps Chapter: West Africans and Europeans, Transatlantic Slave Trade Partners · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026
• Another Surinam Witness: John Gabriel Stedman's Careful Testimony · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026

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