Walter Hawthorne

Bio: Walter Hawthorne is an academic researcher from Michigan State University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Atlantic slave trade & Ontology (information science). The author has an hindex of 8, co-authored 18 publications receiving 246 citations. Previous affiliations of Walter Hawthorne include Ohio University.

From Africa to Brazil: Culture, Identity, and an Atlantic Slave Trade, 1600-1830

Abstract: From Africa to Brazil traces the flows of enslaved Africans from the broad region of Africa called Upper Guinea to Amazonia, Brazil These two regions, though separated by an ocean, were made one by a slave route Walter Hawthorne considers why planters in Amazonia wanted African slaves, why and how those sent to Amazonia were enslaved, and what their Middle Passage experience was like The book is also concerned with how Africans in diaspora shaped labor regimes, determined the nature of their family lives, and crafted religious beliefs that were similar to those they had known before enslavement It presents the only book-length examination of African slavery in Amazonia and identifies with precision the locations in Africa from where members of a large diaspora in the Americas hailed From Africa to Brazil also proposes new directions for scholarship focused on how immigrant groups created new or recreated old cultures

The production of slaves where there was no state: The Guinea‐Bissau region, 1450–1815

Abstract: (1999). The production of slaves where there was no state: The Guinea‐Bissau region, 1450–1815. Slavery & Abolition: Vol. 20, No. 2, pp. 97-124.

Nourishing a stateless society during the slave trade : The rise of Balanta paddy-rice production in Guinea-Bissau

Abstract: This essay examines the impact of the Atlantic slave trade on stateless societies, focusing on Balanta populations of present-day Guinea-Bissau. It demonstrates that some decentralized groups located on the ‘slaving frontiers’ of states managed not only to survive but also to thrive. In so doing, it shows how Balanta changed their settlement patterns and crop production techniques in response to threats posed by the slave raiding armies of Kaabu. From the mid-seventeenth century, Balanta produced and traded large quantities of paddy rice by organizing workers into age grades.

Redefining African Regions for Linking Open-Source Data

Abstract: In recent years, an increasing number of online archival databases of primary sources related to the history of the African diaspora and slavery have become freely and readily accessible for scholarly and public consumption. This proliferation of digital projects and databases presents a number of challenges related to aggregating data geographically according to the movement of people in and out of Africa across time and space. As a requirement to linking data of open-source digital projects, it has become necessary to delimit the entire continent of precolonial Africa during the era of the slave trade into broad regions and sub-regions that can allow the grouping of data effectively and meaningfully.

The Slave Trade and the Origins of Mistrust in Africa

Abstract: In a recent study, Nunn (2008) examines the long-term impacts of Africa’s slave trade. He finds that the slave trade, which occurred over a period of more than 400 years, had a significant negative effect on long-term economic development. Although the article arguably identifies a negative causal relationship between the slave trade and income today, the analysis is unable to establish the exact causal mechanisms underlying this reduced-form relationship. In this article, we examine one of the channels through which the slave trade may affect economic development today. Combining contemporary individual-level survey data with historical data on slave shipments by ethnic group, we ask whether the slave trade caused a culture of mistrust to develop within Africa. Initially, slaves were captured primarily through state organized raids and warfare, but as the trade progressed, the environment of ubiquitous insecurity caused individuals to turn on others—including friends and family members—and to kidnap, trick, and sell each other into slavery (Sigismund Wilhelm Koelle 1854; P. E. H. Hair 1965; Charles Piot 1996). We hypothesize that in this environment, a culture of mistrust may have evolved, which may persist to this day. We show that current differences in trust levels within Africa can be traced back to the transatlantic and Indian Ocean slave trades. Combining contemporary individual-level survey data with historical data on slave shipments by ethnic group, we find that individuals whose ancestors were heavily raided during the slave trade are less trusting today. Evidence from a variety of identification strategies suggests that the relationship is causal. Examining causal mechanisms, we show that most of the impact of the slave trade is through factors that are internal to the individual, such as cultural norms, beliefs, and values. (JEL J15, N57, Z13)

Ruggedness: The blessing of bad geography in Africa

Abstract: There is controversy about whether geography matters mainly because of its contemporaneous impact on economic outcomes or because of its interaction with historical events Looking at terrain ruggedness, we are able to estimate the importance of these two channels Because rugged terrain hinders trade and most productive activities, it has a negative direct effect on income However, in Africa rugged terrain afforded protection to those being raided during the slave trades Since the slave trades retarded subsequent economic development, in Africa ruggedness has also had a historical indirect positive effect on income Studying all countries worldwide, we find that both effects are significant statistically and that for Africa the indirect positive effect is at least as large as the direct negative effect Looking within Africa, we also provide evidence that the indirect effect operates through the slave trades

The Long-term Effects of Africa's Slave Trades

Abstract: Can part of Africa’s current underdevelopment be explained by its slave trades? To explore this question, I use data from shipping records and historical documents reporting slave ethnicities to construct estimates of the number of slaves exported from each country during Africa’s slave trades. I find a robust negative relationship between the number of slaves exported from a country and current economic performance. To better understand if the relationship is causal, I examine the historical evidence on selection into the slave trades, and use instrumental variables. Together the evidence suggests that the slave trades have had an adverse effect on economic development.

Ruggedness: The Blessing of Bad Geography in Africa

Abstract: We show that geography, through its impact on history, can have important effects on economic development today. The analysis focuses on the historic interaction between ruggedness and Afr...