{"product_id":"people-in-motion-flexible-states-and-porous-boundaries-in-the-history-of-coastal-west-africa-9780299356903","title":"People in Motion: Flexible States and Porous Boundaries in the History of Coastal West Africa","description":"\u003cp\u003eBeginning in the late fifteenth century, more than two million people were taken from areas that lay behind the Bight of Benin, enslaved, and forced into the perilous Middle Passage bound for the New World. While a vast swath of scholarly work on this region has explored the relationships among the transatlantic slave trade's ruling elites and overseas merchants, the practices that shaped the region's political and cultural dynamics, especially those that dealt with other kinds of trade, have yet to be thoroughly examined.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSandra T. Barnes offers a history focused on the Benin Region's patchwork of small states and ports that saw a constant movement of people and goods for centuries. As such, this book widens the lens of scholarship to include people of all social levels behind the political rivalries and dynamic changes that marked the period. Barnes concentrates on protective relationships and the violence people were forced to endure during a fast-moving, tumultuous period of history, examining how they organized their lives and why this mattered. The result is a refreshingly original work that challenges long-held assumptions about West Africa's past, explaining what life was like for people on the coast during the transatlantic slave trade.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Sandra T. Barnes\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Wisconsin Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 07\/14\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSeries:\u003c\/b\u003e Africa and the Diaspora: History, Politics, Culture\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 288\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.19lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.10h x 6.10w x 0.80d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780299356903","brand":"University of Wisconsin Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47937823113353,"sku":"9780299356903","price":89.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0636\/9240\/6921\/files\/img_58a5e3a4-0644-4f15-8b9c-8ca388f22113.jpg?v=1786473750","url":"https:\/\/sonsanddaughtersbooks.com\/products\/people-in-motion-flexible-states-and-porous-boundaries-in-the-history-of-coastal-west-africa-9780299356903","provider":"Sons and Daughters Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}