What Do We Know and What Should We Do About Slavery?

Slavery is a live issue today, but the people who talk about it as such are not all of a piece. Some insist the world is now plagued by the contemporary equivalent of transatlantic slavery, and call on us to combat &quote;modern slavery&quote;. Others hold that the on-going devaluation and destruction of black life continues the logic of transatlantic slavery. They urge us to address the &quote;afterlives&quote; of racial chattel slavery. These two groupings provide different answers to the questions, &quote;what do we know and what should we do about slavery?&quote; This book reviews what is known about the issues at the heart of each perspective, and argues that the concept of &quote;afterlives&quote; is more helpful than that of &quote;modern slavery&quote; to those seeking to challenge injustice, violence, inequality and oppression in the twenty-first century.