Despite the existence of voluminous scholarly literature on slavery and slave emancipation in East Africa, little attention has been given to the status of former slaves and their struggle to shed the badge of servitude and gain equality and respectability in their societies. In Slavery and Emancipation in Islamic East Africa, Elizabeth McMahon examines the dynamics of the postemancipation period in Pemba Island and how the abolition of slavery in 1897 led to the redefinition of codes of honor (heshima) for both former slaves and former masters. McMahon argues that heshima in nineteenth- century Pemba meant honor and power for the island’s elite. After the abolition of slavery and a reduction in the social status of these elites, the meaning of heshima was reduced to “respectability.” This gradual redefinition of heshima meant that formally marginalized individuals were able to acquire recognition through marriage, education, dress, and religious commitment. Former slaves, McMahon argues, “used the new markers of heshima as a means to show their respectability to the free community, a means of showing they ‘belonged’” (21–22).

One of McMahon’s most important points is the uniqueness of the experience of emancipation in Pemba and how abolition there differed from that of the neighboring island of Unguja (known as Zanzibar) and other parts of East Africa. While most former slaves in Zanzibar and East Africa left their owners in the aftermath of the abolition, the majority of ex-slaves in Pemba remained on the island and sought to assert themselves as members of Pemban society and to reject the prevailing notion that they were aliens. As McMahon puts it, “Slaves on Pemba did not seek to recreate their identities; rather, those who remained on the island accommodated themselves to the social hierarchy of the island” (7). In McMahon’s view the different trajectories of emancipation in Pemba and Unguja can be attributed to several factors, including the demographic composition of the two islands. While former Arab slave owners in Unguja were secluded in their own neighborhoods and were separated from their former African slaves, such residential division did not exist in Pemba, where a great deal of social interaction and intermarriage took place.

McMahon’s study consists of six chapters. The first chapter is an introduction in which the author provides an overview of slavery and abolition in East Africa, the concepts of honor and respectability in the region, and the significance of the court system. As in Muslim societies in other parts of Africa, colonial rule created a dual legal system in which colonial courts coexisted with Islamic courts. Since the latter dealt with personal matters such as marriage, divorce, and child custody, colonial officials, who often considered slavery disputes as personal matters, often referred them to Islamic courts, which provided an important platform for former slaves. Chapter 2, which represents the core of study, explores the notion of reputation at the time of emancipation by focusing on the experience of an enslaved woman named Mzuri Kwao who went to the British vice consul in Pemba seeking protection from her owner who tried to sell her. The proceedings and the outcome of the case illustrate the way in which colonial policies and individual agency transformed social relations in Pemba. Chapter 3 focuses on the court system in Pemba and its transformation in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Chapter 4 continues the discussion of heshima and how the concept changed over time. Chapter 5 deals with changes in power relations as a result of the establishment of colonial rule. In the final chapter the author explores the various strategies used by ex-slaves to establish their own families and the complex dynamics of their relationship with their former masters.

McMahon’s book is based on an extensive range of sources, including the reports of Daniel O'Sullivan-Beare, the British vice consul, and John P. Farler, the slavery commissioner. The author also collected valuable archival material from Rhodes House, the British National Archives, the Friends House Library, and the national archives of Zanzibar and Pemba. Of particular importance are the court records, which shed considerable light on the experience of former slaves and their struggle. The study is also based on significant interviews the author conducted in Pemba.

McMahon’s volume illuminates a number of themes of great interest to scholars working on slavery in Africa and elsewhere. Prominent among these is the continuous struggle of former slaves to shed their servile past and become equal members of the societies that enslaved them. The study also underscores the importance of court records, which allow us to hear the voices, the sentiments, and the aspirations of enslaved people. McMahon has made a major contribution to the literature on slavery and slave emancipation not only in Islamic East Africa, but also in other Muslim societies in Africa.