This book, the first in a two-volume study on agency, gender and memory in the legacies of East African slavery, addresses the steps that were taken in modern East Africa to move away from slavery as a social and economic institution. Key actors include the formerly enslaved, former enslavers and colonial elites. By considering these multiple perspectives, the authors reveal the full diversity of the resulting pathways out of slavery.

Several chapters demonstrate the contradictory effects of colonial regulations, including re-enslavement of people who had already achieved emancipation prior to colonial conquest. Running through the chapters are questions about how memories of the slave past have been reproduced or silenced among descendants of enslaved and enslavers. The chapters examine case studies in Somalia, Madagascar, Kenya and Tanzania.