The Oxford Handbook of Commodity History "Migration, Slavery and Commodification", Michael Zeuske's contribution to The Oxford Handbook of Commodity History

This chapter analyses migrations in global history using examples of slave trade/slavery as ‘forced’ or ‘coerced’ migration and their connections to commodification. Taking a longue-durée plateau approach to global history, from 10000 BNC to around 1960, Atlantic slavery (1400–1900), as well as the slaveries and colonial expansions of Europe (1800–1960), are given special consideration. In addition to referencing the commodities produced by and for enslaved people, here enslaved people in particular are treated as ‘talking commodities’, a relatively unaddressed topic. In summary, it is established that without slavery, diverse slavery regimes, slave trade, but above all without enslaved people, many commodities would not have existed. How this applies to commodification in ‘Western’ capitalism as a whole needs to be further researched and debated.