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"After the abolition of slavery in 1897, Islamic courts in Zanzibar (East Africa) became central institutions where former slaves negotiated socio-economic participation. By using difficult-to-read Islamic court records in Arabic, Elke Stockreiter reassesses the workings of these courts as well as gender and social relations in Zanzibar Town during British colonial rule (1890-1963). She shows how Muslim judges maintained their autonomy within the sphere of family law and describes how these judges helpedadvance the rights of women, ex-slaves and other marginalised groups. As was common in other parts of the Muslim world, women usually had to buy their divorce. Thus, Muslim judges played important roles as litigants, moving up the social hierarchy, with ethnicisation increasingly influencing all factors. Drawing upon these previously unexplored sources, this study investigates how Muslim judges both mediated and generated discourses of inclusion and exclusion based on social status rather than gender"--
List of contents
Introduction; 1. The kadhi's courts colonised; 2. Race and the impartial modern judiciary; 3. The kadhis and gender; 4. Litigants and the kadhi's courts; 5. The kadhi's alienation and autonomy; 6. Marriage, materialism and temporary compliance; 7. Property, debt and inheritance; 8. Bargaining for divorce; 9. The kadhis, ethnicity and the perpetuation of master-slave relations; Conclusion.
About the author
Elke E. Stockreiter is an Assistant Professor of History at American University, Washington, DC. She obtained her Ph.D. from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and previously held a position as an Assistant Professor at the University of Iowa. Her work has been published in peer-reviewed journals, such as the Journal of Eastern African Studies, and anthologies, such as Domestic Violence and the Law in Colonial and Postcolonial Africa (edited by Emily Burrill, Richard Roberts and Elizabeth Thornberry, 2010).
