Kwasi Konadu, "Many Black Women of this Fortress: Graca, Monica and Adwoa, Three Enslaved Women of Portugal's African Empire" (Hurst, 2022)
Kwasi Konadu's book\xa0Many Black Women of this Fortress: Gra\xe7a, M\xf3nica and Adwoa, Three Enslaved Women of Portugal's African Empire\xa0(Hurst, 2022)\xa0presents rare evidence about the lives of three African women in the sixteenth century--the very period from which we can trace the origins of global empires, slavery, capitalism, modern religious dogma and anti-Black violence. These features of today's world took shape as Portugal built a global empire on African gold and bodies. Forced labor was essential to the world economy of the Atlantic basin, and afflicted many African women and girls who were enslaved and manumitted, baptised and unconvinced.\nWhile some women liaised with European and mixed-race men along the West African coast, others, ordinary yet bold, pushed back against new forms of captivity, racial capitalism, religious orthodoxy and sexual violence, as if they were already self-governing.\xa0Many Black Women of this Fortress\xa0lays bare the insurgent ideas and actions of Gra\xe7a, M\xf3nica and Adwoa, charting how they advocated for themselves and exercised spiritual and female power. Theirs is a collective story, written from obscurity; from the forgotten and overlooked colonial records. By drawing attention to their lives, we dare to grasp the complexities of modernity's gestation.\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices\nSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/gender-studies