Manuel Barcia, 'Abolitionism and the Global Suppression of ‘Piracy’ in the Nineteenth Century'

This lecture queries the ways in which abolitionist policies around the world were implemented roughly between the mid-1820s and late 1860s, focusing on how they often supported imperialist endeavors. Expanding well-beyond the Atlantic, it hopes to reveal how transnational Abolitionism often served expansionist agendas, and acted as a back-door for new forms of labour exploitation. The lecture also compares how Abolitionism was used as a shield by politicians, officers, missionaries, and others, while engaging in questionable imperialist practices around the world.