‘The Men Seldom Suffer a Woman to Sit Down’: The Historical Development of the Stereotype of the ‘Lazy African’

Abstract

This article studies the historical development of the racist stereotype of the ‘lazy African’ in the early modern period, specifically looking at how Europeans explained the stereotype. Previous research has argued that the stereotype can be explained either by its function as way of justifying labour coercion such as slavery, or as a consequence of an idea of a ‘tropical exuberance’ in West Africa. In this article, it is argued that previous research on this topic largely has missed what perhaps was the most important factor, suggested already by Ester Boserup: that the gendered division of labour present in precolonial West Africa, which was unfamiliar to the European observers in many ways, was crucial for the rise of the stereotype.

Key words:

• West Africa
• work ethic
• stereotype
• slavery
• gender
• division of labour

Note on Contributor

Klas Rönnbäck is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economic History at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. His research interests include the social and economic consequences of colonialism and the slave trade, early modern living standards, trade and globalisation.

Notes

1. Also see Jordan (2003:139), even though Jordan is somewhat undecided as to whether she believes the stereotype was consciously decided for this purpose or not.

2. Anonymous writer (1572), published in Teixeira & Hair (1988:84).

3. Anonymous manuscript, attributed to Louis Moreau de Chambonneau, published in Ritchie (1967:85).