1.
Sarti, Raffaella
From Slaves and Servants to Citizens? Regulating Dependency, Race, and Gender in Revolutionary France and the French West Indies Journal Article
In: International Review of Social History , vol. 67, iss. 1, pp. 65-95, 2021.
@article{nokey,
title = {From Slaves and Servants to Citizens? Regulating Dependency, Race, and Gender in Revolutionary France and the French West Indies},
author = {Raffaella Sarti},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-01-01},
journal = {International Review of Social History },
volume = {67},
issue = {1},
pages = {65-95},
abstract = {A crucial aspect of the regulation of domestic service is the regulation of people's status. Because of its emphasis on freedom and equality, the French Revolution is particularly interesting. “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be based only on considerations of the common good.” These principles of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (26 August 1789) did not seem to leave room for slavery and master/servant hierarchies. Yet, their impact on slaves and servants was ambivalent, as I shall show by focusing on France and its Caribbean colonies. Dependency, race, and gender are crucial in my analysis. After sketching the features of servants, serfs, slaves, and indentured servants at the end of the Ancien Régime, I will analyse how the Revolution affected them, focusing on serfs and servants in metropolitan France, on black colonial slaves, and on female slaves and servants. While I investigate the “French imperial nation-State”, I will also provide some comparison with the American case. The Revolution led to a feminization of dependence both in metropolitan France and in the French Caribbean, making dependence more gendered. It abolished serfdom and slavery, and enfranchised male domestiques. Thus, on the one hand, it was really revolutionary; on the other, colonial slavery was first replaced by bonded labour and then reintroduced. Male domestiques were enfranchised briefly and only on paper; they would be enfranchised when slavery in the French colonies was abolished (1848). Women were excluded: mistresses and maids had to wait until 1944 to become full citizens. This makes it impossible to establish clear-cut distinctions between pre-revolutionary and post-revolutionary times, and in part challenges the difference between metropole and colonies.
},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
A crucial aspect of the regulation of domestic service is the regulation of people's status. Because of its emphasis on freedom and equality, the French Revolution is particularly interesting. “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be based only on considerations of the common good.” These principles of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (26 August 1789) did not seem to leave room for slavery and master/servant hierarchies. Yet, their impact on slaves and servants was ambivalent, as I shall show by focusing on France and its Caribbean colonies. Dependency, race, and gender are crucial in my analysis. After sketching the features of servants, serfs, slaves, and indentured servants at the end of the Ancien Régime, I will analyse how the Revolution affected them, focusing on serfs and servants in metropolitan France, on black colonial slaves, and on female slaves and servants. While I investigate the “French imperial nation-State”, I will also provide some comparison with the American case. The Revolution led to a feminization of dependence both in metropolitan France and in the French Caribbean, making dependence more gendered. It abolished serfdom and slavery, and enfranchised male domestiques. Thus, on the one hand, it was really revolutionary; on the other, colonial slavery was first replaced by bonded labour and then reintroduced. Male domestiques were enfranchised briefly and only on paper; they would be enfranchised when slavery in the French colonies was abolished (1848). Women were excluded: mistresses and maids had to wait until 1944 to become full citizens. This makes it impossible to establish clear-cut distinctions between pre-revolutionary and post-revolutionary times, and in part challenges the difference between metropole and colonies.
2.
Sarti, Raffaella
Le “nom de domestique” est un “mot vague”. Débats parlementaires sur la domesticité pendant la Révolution française Journal Article
In: Mélanges de l’École française de Rome. Italie et Méditerranée modernes et contemporaines, vol. 131, iss. 1, pp. 39-52, 2019.
@article{nokey,
title = {Le “nom de domestique” est un “mot vague”. Débats parlementaires sur la domesticité pendant la Révolution française},
author = {Raffaella Sarti},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-01-01},
urldate = {2019-01-01},
journal = {Mélanges de l’École française de Rome. Italie et Méditerranée modernes et contemporaines},
volume = {131},
issue = {1},
pages = {39-52},
abstract = {The “term domestic servant” is a “vague word”. Today, the term “domestic” appears old-fashioned and rather politically incorrect; however, when we talk about servants we think of people who do a certain job, although encompassing several tasks. Such an idea is the result of a long transformation that has seen the servant turn into a worker (more often a female worker) after being (considered) for millennia the subordinate member within a power relationship and/or a “tool” used by the master to perform any task, according to the definition of Aristotle. The debates that took place during the French Revolution were very important in this respect. My article will analyze these revolutionary debates on the status and definition of domestic workers, showing that they have contributed to transforming domestic service from a condition to a profession, even though such a transformation has never been fully accomplished.
},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
The “term domestic servant” is a “vague word”. Today, the term “domestic” appears old-fashioned and rather politically incorrect; however, when we talk about servants we think of people who do a certain job, although encompassing several tasks. Such an idea is the result of a long transformation that has seen the servant turn into a worker (more often a female worker) after being (considered) for millennia the subordinate member within a power relationship and/or a “tool” used by the master to perform any task, according to the definition of Aristotle. The debates that took place during the French Revolution were very important in this respect. My article will analyze these revolutionary debates on the status and definition of domestic workers, showing that they have contributed to transforming domestic service from a condition to a profession, even though such a transformation has never been fully accomplished.
3.
Lambrecht, Thijs
Harvest Work and Labor Market Regulation in Old Regime Northern France Journal Article
In: pp. 113-131, 2018.
@article{nokey,
title = {Harvest Work and Labor Market Regulation in Old Regime Northern France},
author = {Thijs Lambrecht},
editor = {Thomas Max Safley },
year = {2018},
date = {2018-01-01},
urldate = {2018-01-01},
booktitle = {Labor Before the Industrial Revolution: Work, Technology and Their Ecologies in an Age of Early Capitalism},
pages = {113-131},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
2021
Sarti, Raffaella
From Slaves and Servants to Citizens? Regulating Dependency, Race, and Gender in Revolutionary France and the French West Indies Journal Article
In: International Review of Social History , vol. 67, iss. 1, pp. 65-95, 2021.
Abstract | Tags: abolition, colonialism, dependency, france, gender, race, revolt and revolution, service, slavery
@article{nokey,
title = {From Slaves and Servants to Citizens? Regulating Dependency, Race, and Gender in Revolutionary France and the French West Indies},
author = {Raffaella Sarti},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-01-01},
journal = {International Review of Social History },
volume = {67},
issue = {1},
pages = {65-95},
abstract = {A crucial aspect of the regulation of domestic service is the regulation of people's status. Because of its emphasis on freedom and equality, the French Revolution is particularly interesting. “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be based only on considerations of the common good.” These principles of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (26 August 1789) did not seem to leave room for slavery and master/servant hierarchies. Yet, their impact on slaves and servants was ambivalent, as I shall show by focusing on France and its Caribbean colonies. Dependency, race, and gender are crucial in my analysis. After sketching the features of servants, serfs, slaves, and indentured servants at the end of the Ancien Régime, I will analyse how the Revolution affected them, focusing on serfs and servants in metropolitan France, on black colonial slaves, and on female slaves and servants. While I investigate the “French imperial nation-State”, I will also provide some comparison with the American case. The Revolution led to a feminization of dependence both in metropolitan France and in the French Caribbean, making dependence more gendered. It abolished serfdom and slavery, and enfranchised male domestiques. Thus, on the one hand, it was really revolutionary; on the other, colonial slavery was first replaced by bonded labour and then reintroduced. Male domestiques were enfranchised briefly and only on paper; they would be enfranchised when slavery in the French colonies was abolished (1848). Women were excluded: mistresses and maids had to wait until 1944 to become full citizens. This makes it impossible to establish clear-cut distinctions between pre-revolutionary and post-revolutionary times, and in part challenges the difference between metropole and colonies.
},
keywords = {abolition, colonialism, dependency, france, gender, race, revolt and revolution, service, slavery},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
A crucial aspect of the regulation of domestic service is the regulation of people's status. Because of its emphasis on freedom and equality, the French Revolution is particularly interesting. “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be based only on considerations of the common good.” These principles of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (26 August 1789) did not seem to leave room for slavery and master/servant hierarchies. Yet, their impact on slaves and servants was ambivalent, as I shall show by focusing on France and its Caribbean colonies. Dependency, race, and gender are crucial in my analysis. After sketching the features of servants, serfs, slaves, and indentured servants at the end of the Ancien Régime, I will analyse how the Revolution affected them, focusing on serfs and servants in metropolitan France, on black colonial slaves, and on female slaves and servants. While I investigate the “French imperial nation-State”, I will also provide some comparison with the American case. The Revolution led to a feminization of dependence both in metropolitan France and in the French Caribbean, making dependence more gendered. It abolished serfdom and slavery, and enfranchised male domestiques. Thus, on the one hand, it was really revolutionary; on the other, colonial slavery was first replaced by bonded labour and then reintroduced. Male domestiques were enfranchised briefly and only on paper; they would be enfranchised when slavery in the French colonies was abolished (1848). Women were excluded: mistresses and maids had to wait until 1944 to become full citizens. This makes it impossible to establish clear-cut distinctions between pre-revolutionary and post-revolutionary times, and in part challenges the difference between metropole and colonies.
2019
Sarti, Raffaella
Le “nom de domestique” est un “mot vague”. Débats parlementaires sur la domesticité pendant la Révolution française Journal Article
In: Mélanges de l’École française de Rome. Italie et Méditerranée modernes et contemporaines, vol. 131, iss. 1, pp. 39-52, 2019.
Abstract | Tags: domestic service, france, gender, historical semantics, service
@article{nokey,
title = {Le “nom de domestique” est un “mot vague”. Débats parlementaires sur la domesticité pendant la Révolution française},
author = {Raffaella Sarti},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-01-01},
urldate = {2019-01-01},
journal = {Mélanges de l’École française de Rome. Italie et Méditerranée modernes et contemporaines},
volume = {131},
issue = {1},
pages = {39-52},
abstract = {The “term domestic servant” is a “vague word”. Today, the term “domestic” appears old-fashioned and rather politically incorrect; however, when we talk about servants we think of people who do a certain job, although encompassing several tasks. Such an idea is the result of a long transformation that has seen the servant turn into a worker (more often a female worker) after being (considered) for millennia the subordinate member within a power relationship and/or a “tool” used by the master to perform any task, according to the definition of Aristotle. The debates that took place during the French Revolution were very important in this respect. My article will analyze these revolutionary debates on the status and definition of domestic workers, showing that they have contributed to transforming domestic service from a condition to a profession, even though such a transformation has never been fully accomplished.
},
keywords = {domestic service, france, gender, historical semantics, service},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
The “term domestic servant” is a “vague word”. Today, the term “domestic” appears old-fashioned and rather politically incorrect; however, when we talk about servants we think of people who do a certain job, although encompassing several tasks. Such an idea is the result of a long transformation that has seen the servant turn into a worker (more often a female worker) after being (considered) for millennia the subordinate member within a power relationship and/or a “tool” used by the master to perform any task, according to the definition of Aristotle. The debates that took place during the French Revolution were very important in this respect. My article will analyze these revolutionary debates on the status and definition of domestic workers, showing that they have contributed to transforming domestic service from a condition to a profession, even though such a transformation has never been fully accomplished.
2018
Lambrecht, Thijs
Harvest Work and Labor Market Regulation in Old Regime Northern France Journal Article
In: pp. 113-131, 2018.
Tags: agrarian labour and rural history, early modern history, france, labour markets
@article{nokey,
title = {Harvest Work and Labor Market Regulation in Old Regime Northern France},
author = {Thijs Lambrecht},
editor = {Thomas Max Safley },
year = {2018},
date = {2018-01-01},
urldate = {2018-01-01},
booktitle = {Labor Before the Industrial Revolution: Work, Technology and Their Ecologies in an Age of Early Capitalism},
pages = {113-131},
keywords = {agrarian labour and rural history, early modern history, france, labour markets},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}