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Life after slavery : investigations into self-selection and social mobility
Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2025.
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Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
2025
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| _version_ | 1867613846021079040 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Martin, Lisa-Cheree |
| author2 | Fourie, Johan, 1982- |
| author_browse | Fourie, Johan, 1982- Martin, Lisa-Cheree |
| author_facet | Fourie, Johan, 1982- Martin, Lisa-Cheree |
| author_sort | Martin, Lisa-Cheree |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | Stellenbosch University |
| description |
Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2025. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/132638 |
| institution | Stellenbosch University (South Africa) |
| language | en_ZA |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:42:37.450Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| publisherStr | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| spelling | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/132638 Life after slavery : investigations into self-selection and social mobility Martin, Lisa-Cheree Fourie, Johan, 1982- Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Economics. Slavery -- History -- Western Cape (South Africa) Enslaved persons -- Emancipation -- Western Cape (South Africa) Slavery -- Cape of Good Hope (South Africa) -- History UCTD Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2025. Martin, L. 2025. Life After Slavery: Investigations into Self-Selection and Social Mobility. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University [online]. Available: https://scholar.sun.ac.za/items/42921649-bc07-4f1c-a92b-91d9e7c57006 ENGLISH SUMMARY: Slavery deprived the enslaved of their freedom and dignity. Forced displacement and slave naming practices erased their personal histories and cultures. After the abolition of slavery in the Cape Colony, thousands who had lived in bondage were finally granted freedom, entering Cape society as free men and women in 1838. Despite forming a substantial part of society, their experiences remain largely unexplored. This dissertation examines life after slavery in the Cape Colony. The dissertation begins by analysing the enslaved population at the time of emancipation. Chapter 2 explores the individual characteristics of enslaved people and the factors influencing their assigned valuations. Using a novel dataset containing the names and individual characteristics of those emancipated between 1834 and 1838, I find that valuations correlated with productivity-related attributes, in line with existing literature on slave pricing in the Cape Colony. Chapter 3 investigates the movement of the formerly enslaved away from their owners’ households, focusing on those who relocated to Cape Town. Using Cape Town’s municipal rate rolls for 1842 and 1849, maps illustrate settlement patterns and changes in the city’s social geography. Former slaves typically settled in low-valuation dwellings within congested alleyways and courtyards. This choice reflected a rejection of their enslaved past and the agency they had gained. Chapter 4 examines the labour outcomes of emancipated population of Cape Town, focusing on occupations and estimated incomes. Using individual-level 19th-century records, I explore how skills developed under slavery influenced occupational prospects. The results demonstrate that former slaves who worked as artisans were able to compete with former non-slaves in the labour market, earning a substantial wage premium compared to those who could not. I argue that this is due to the positive perceptions of slave craftsmen within Cape society, as well as a racially integrated working class population. Chapter 5 investigates literacy outcomes at mission stations across the colony. Using the 1849 Census of Cape Colony Missions and slave valuations at emancipation, the chapter examines whether the presence of high-human-capital individuals on nearby farms influenced literacy rates. A logistic regression analysis finds a positive correlation between literacy outcomes and the human capital of enslaved men on surrounding farms. The results highlight the role of the individual in their pursuit of education and decision to select into a mission station. This dissertation sheds light on the experiences of emancipated individuals in the Cape Colony, revealing patterns in their economic, social, and educational trajectories. By examining their housing, labour, and literacy, it deepens our understanding of post-emancipation life in the 19th-century Cape. AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Slawerny het slawe van hul vryheid en waardigheid gestroop. Hul gedwonge geografiese ontworteling het verder gelei tot ‘n verlies van hulle kultuur en persoonlike geskiedenis en identiteit - ‘n proses wat deur praktyke soos slawe-naamgewing versterk is. Met die finale afskaffing van slawerny in die Kaapkolonie in 1838 het duisende slawe as vry mense ‘n aansienlike deel van die Kaapse samelewing gevorm. Hierdie proefskrif fokus op die histories grootliks onontginde post-slawerny lewens van bogenoemde vrygestelde slawe in die Kaapkolonie. In die tweede hoofstuk word die karaktertrekke van die slawebevolking ten tyde van vrystelling op ‘n individuele vlak geanaliseer. Die studie poog om die faktore wat die waardasie van ‘n slaaf met vrystelling bepaal het, te identifiseer. Die analise is gedoen aan die hand van ‘n nuwe datastel van die name en persoonlike karaktertrekke van slawe wat in die jare 1834-1838 vrygestel is. Die studie bevind dat die waardasie van slawe gekorreleer het met eienskappe soos produktiwiteit - wat ooreenstem met die kontemporeere literatuur oor die prysvasstelling van slawe in die tydperk. Hoofstuk drie fokus op die vestigingspatrone van voormalige slawe na vrystelling met spesifieke verwysing na die slawe wat hulle in Kaapstad gevestig het. Die studie bepaal waar hulle hulself gevestig het en hoe dit die sosiale geografie van Kaapstad oor tyd beinvloed het. Die patrone en die verandering daarvan oor tyd in die 1840’s is bepaal met behulp van gekonstrueerde kaarte gebaseer op die tariefrolle van die munisipaliteit van Kaapstad vir 1842 en 1849. Die studie bevind dat voormalige slawe hulle hoofsaaklik in behuising met die laagste waardasies in agterplase en stegies gevestig het. Die studie argumenteer dat voormalige slawe se besluit om in hierdie omstandighede te lewe, neerkom op ‘n duidelike verwerping of distansieering van hul slawe verlede en die premie wat hulle geplaas het op die agentskap wat hulle deur hulle nuwe status verwerf het. In hoofstuk vier word individuelevlak data van die 19de eeu gebruik om die effek van vaardighede wat slawe tydens slawerny verwerf het op die uitkoms van hul postslawerny beroepsuitkomste te ondersoek. Voormalige slawe wat oor die vaardighede beskik het om as vakmanne te werk is beter besoldig as die daarsonder. Die studie argumenteer dat dit die gevolg was van die aansien wat slawe-vakmanne in die Kaapse samelewing geniet het; sowel as die ras geıintegreerde werkersklas bevolking. In hoofstuk vyf word die geletterdheidsuitkomste van voormalige slawe aan verskeie sendingstasies reg oor die Kaapkolonie ondersoek. Die vraag word gestel of die teenwoordigheid van individue met hoe menslike kapitaal op plase in die omgewing enige impak gehad het op die geletterdheidsuitkomste van sendingstasies na die vrystelling van slawe. Deur gebruik te maak van ‘n logistieke regressie analise is bevind dat daar ‘n positiewe korrelasie is tussen geletterdheid by sendingstasies in die Kaapkolonie en die vlak van menslike kapitaal van slawe-mans op nabygelee plase. Die resultate onderstreep die rol van die individu in die soeke na opvoeding en die keuse van ‘n sendingstasie. Doctoral 2025-06-12T07:31:21Z 2025-06-12T07:31:21Z 2025-03 Thesis https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/132638 en_ZA Stellenbosch University xvii, 178 pages : illustrations, maps, includes annexures application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| spellingShingle | Slavery -- History -- Western Cape (South Africa) Enslaved persons -- Emancipation -- Western Cape (South Africa) Slavery -- Cape of Good Hope (South Africa) -- History UCTD Martin, Lisa-Cheree Life after slavery : investigations into self-selection and social mobility |
| title | Life after slavery : investigations into self-selection and social mobility |
| title_full | Life after slavery : investigations into self-selection and social mobility |
| title_fullStr | Life after slavery : investigations into self-selection and social mobility |
| title_full_unstemmed | Life after slavery : investigations into self-selection and social mobility |
| title_short | Life after slavery : investigations into self-selection and social mobility |
| title_sort | life after slavery investigations into self selection and social mobility |
| topic | Slavery -- History -- Western Cape (South Africa) Enslaved persons -- Emancipation -- Western Cape (South Africa) Slavery -- Cape of Good Hope (South Africa) -- History UCTD |
| url | https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/132638 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT martinlisacheree lifeafterslaveryinvestigationsintoselfselectionandsocialmobility |