[Oman-L] Research on 20th century slavery in Oman

[Susan Al Shahri]

Dear Olga,

I am an Omani  living in Salalah, the capital town of Dhofar, in the South 
of Oman. I can generally estimate that over 10% of the population of this 
town are ex-slaves or descendents of slaves. In fact (and sadly), many 
people still call any dark person an 'Abd' (which translates into Slave). 
They are still looked down upon by a large percentage of people.Things are 
slowly changing, but still the influence of slavery is still very strong. I 
do not know much about the history of slavery but if you're looking at their 
'current' situation, I'd be glad to answer any questions you may have. It is 
a very touchy and delicate subject, and having done a lot of 'delicate 
social research' in Salalah,  I will try my best to answer your questions.

Best of Luck,

Susan Al Shahri
>From: Olga Andriyanova <misr_olga at yahoo.co.uk>
>Reply-To: "News and questions about Oman (Sultanate of 
>Oman)"<oman-l at oman.org>
>To: OMAN MAILING LIST <oman-l at oman.org>
>Subject: [Oman-L] Research on 20th century slavery in Oman
>Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2007 12:31:09 +0000 (GMT)
>
>Dear all,
>
>Being a PhD student, I’m actually preparing a
>presentation on the subject of slavery and slave trade
>in Oman during the 18th and 19th centuries. It’s far
>from being the principle subject of my research, but I
>consented to do it. The subject will be presented
>during the seminar on slave trades and slavery in East
>Africa at the University of Paris-I.
>I suppose many questions will be asked especially on
>slavery in the 20th century and notably on the
>destinies and careers of ex-slaves and their
>descendants.
>I understand that the question is quite delicate and
>is not easy to broach.
>As I haven’t yet been to Oman in person (the trip is
>planned this year), I find myself in quite a difficult
>situation. The only information on the 20th century
>slaves I have comes from travel stories, some segments
>of British archives and a couple of sociological
>studies like those by U. Wikan and F. Barth on Sohar.
>The major part of the scarce data I have refers to the
>period before 1970.
>I would be grateful to get any information on
>ex-slaves, their descendants, their integration in the
>society, their actual status as well as on any other
>forms of dependency in Oman during the second part of
>the 20th century. Or if you know any articles
>published on the subject.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Olga Andriyanova
>
>
>
>
>
>
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