2026/03/12 by Lucia Dacome · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Colonialism, slavery, and trade #Historical Economic and Social Studies #Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis
paper · doi:10.1093/pastj/gtag014
openalex publication_date 2026/03/12 · openalex created_date 2026/06/26 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/26
Abstract This article examines the entanglement of slavery, medicine, and disability by focusing on the category of ‘inability’ in the context of galley slavery in early modern Tuscany. Considering the medical system of observation and control that was deployed to monitor the health and fitness of enslaved individuals, it brings inability to the forefront as a core feature of the economy of galley slavery and its associated medical apparatus. It suggests that we need to add this category to our vocabulary of early modern disability. Drawing attention to paper technologies, such as lists that were created as material correlates of medical inspections and assessments of enslaved subjects, I investigate how record-keeping practices associated with galley slavery contributed to shaping notions of ability and inability as integral to the system of medical scrutiny aimed at extracting knowledge as well as labour from enslaved individuals. In addition, I explore how the development of such notions intersected with processes of race formation that were at work in the context of galley slavery. By casting light on the notion of inability and the medico-bureaucratic record-keeping apparatus that helped to shape and substantiate it, we can begin to interrogate the entanglements of slavery, disability, labour, and race-making processes in the early modern Mediterranean world.