Blood of a bitten ear

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-1-1999

Abstract

Precolonial customary law in the western and central Sudanic regions of Africa allowed a slave, under certain conditions, to change masters through the drawing of blood from the ear of the desired new master or that of his child or dependent. The present study draws upon a hitherto-overlooked anecdote in a travel account to argue that this 'earcutting ceremony' was also present in the eastern, Nile-valley Sudan. © Routledge 1999.

Publication Title

Rethinking History

First Page Number

75

Last Page Number

77

DOI

10.1080/13642529908596332

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