Well Fed but ‘at the Same Time, Well Beaten’: Amelioration in the Seychelles

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the years prior to legal emancipation, British officials enacted a series of laws intended to ameliorate the condition of those held in slavery in their colonies. This article investigates the impact of amelioration on the islands of the Seychelles immediately prior to emancipation. While the legal changes, including the dispatch of a Protector of Slaves to the Seychelles, were limited in terms of effectiveness, their implementation offered people new avenues to protest mistreatment and engage directly with the language of abolition. Reports filed by the protector highlight people’s uncertainty and isolation during the years leading up to emancipation. While there is evidence of resistance through uprisings, desertions, and the filing of formal complaints, people in the Seychelles faced significant challenges as owners used the islands’ distance from colonial oversight to maintain control through violence and patriarchal structures of domination. As remote ‘island laboratories’, however, the islands offer unique insights into the ways in which people managed to leverage British abolitionism to their advantage even on such isolated islands.