I've just read, with amusement, Professor Curtin's statement on this
subject. In fact, what he says is unimportant! The "slave house"
of Goree is not, in the first instance, a matter of historical
record. The numbers of slaves Mr. N'diaye presents to his visitors
are nothing more than decoration. To have a discussion with
him about Goree would take three weeks, as he very well knows.
It isn't possible to comprehend the significance of Goree for
African-Americans if one considers it only a matter of numbers. We
know that all the discussion of the trans-Atlantic slave trade was
misleading precisely because of this obsession with numbers.
David Henige has previously shown that one cannot truly know with
precision, in spite of all the simulations, how many people perished
in this deadly commerce. It is too bad that fruitful research, such
as that undertaken by Orlando Patterson, Joseph C. Miller or
Meillassoux--who consider the political economy, philosophical, and
the cultural dimensions--no longer captures the attention of scholars.
Ralph Austen has been planning to organize a conference on the images
of the slave trade. Hopefully, such a conference will take place.
Statistics make up part of this image, and they are not only the
representations of N'diaye.
I think the stakes underlying the dynamics of the trade are too
important for us to abandon debate with some who, for more than
thirty-five years, have tossed out numbers--each one more improbable
than the last--to reach a final figure, an action which manifestly
embroils them in a strategy of guilt and exoneration.
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Editor's Note:
M. Mbembe's contribution was sent to
H-AFRICA in French. As H-AFRICA is an
English language list, we asked that
it be presented in English. With the
author's permission, the editors have
undertaken this translation and offer
their thanks to Shannon Vance for her
assistance.
mep
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