This book explores themes of emancipation, indenture, child slavery and post-emancipation slavery in West Africa. Following the abolition of slavery in the French colonial empire in 1848 – when Senegal (primarily Saint-Louis and Gorée) was considered part of the French Empire – a critical question emerged: what was to be done with child slaves? This question led to the establishment of the French colonial institution of tutelle (guardianship or wardship) in Senegal. The book's primary objective is to examine the institution of tutelle in Senegal after the 1848 abolition. Moitt argues that tutelle served as a subterfuge to sustain systems of coercive labour and control. Although framed as a mechanism to transition minors from slavery to freedom, tutelle effectively exploited the labour of liberated minors, ensuring the continuity of labour systems crucial to the colonial economy. A key paradox is highlighted: former slaveholders often became guardians of the same children they had once enslaved, thereby formalising the exploitative relationship. The analysis primarily focuses on the economic and administrative dimensions of tutelle, deepening our understanding of how colonial systems adapted to preserve socioeconomic hierarchies even after the formal abolition of slavery.

The structure of the book is not chronological, as one might expect. The first chapter provides context, examining social, political and economic developments in Senegal's coastal towns and their connections to the Senegal River trade, with a focus on the roles of slavery and later guardianship in these changes. The second chapter discusses the evolution of tutelle. It examines slavery, engagement à temps (a form of indentured labour introduced in the 1820s), the 1848 abolition of slavery and the subsequent creation of tutelle. The third chapter focuses on the Conseil de tutelle, exploring the mechanisms through which displaced minors were placed under tutelle and examining the conditions surrounding these placements through the analysis of individual cases. The fourth chapter shifts to the French colonial administration's efforts to enforce legislation aimed at regulating tutelle, including measures such as the Act of 1857 and the Act of 1862. The fifth chapter examines minors' labour conditions, including the types of work they performed, gendered roles, economic and social impacts, colonial and Catholic mission involvement, instances of abuse and their agency and resistance. The sixth chapter discusses a pivotal period when the shortcomings and abuses of the tutelle system were brought to light. It outlines the events and institutional responses. The seventh chapter examines the various institutions operating under the tutelle system and the experiences of minors within these settings. These institutions ranged from prisons and reformatory schools to orphanages, professional schools and colonial military. The final chapter explores the lived experiences of minors in the tutelle system, shedding light on the systemic abuses and challenges they faced both during their guardianship and in their lives afterwards.

The book provides detailed discussions of individual cases, complementing a significant body of research on liberated minors and guardianship in Senegal and across West Africa, as well as contemporary studies on slave descent. It employs a gendered framework, critiques colonial complicity and highlights the ad hoc implementation of colonial policies. Additionally, it explores agency by documenting instances of flight, rebellion and resistance among minors. This work will particularly interest researchers studying similar issues in British West Africa – such as the Gold Coast, Nigeria and Sierra Leone – where comparable policies by the British occasionally triggered local campaigns.

One particularly interesting aspect, for me, is the way Moitt conceptualises both ‘child’ and ‘slavery’ throughout the book. Slavery is viewed almost exclusively in labour terms, so that after its legal abolition, it evolved into other forms of unfree and coercive labour, such as tutelle and indentured servitude. There is no consideration of ‘culture’ or ‘outsider status’. This represents a shortcoming. In the final chapter, Moitt references the work of Ibrahima Thioub and Lotte Pelckmans on descent-based slavery, highlighting how descendants of slaves continue to face outsider-status stigmatisation and various forms of discrimination. However, without incorporating a local perspective – where slavery extends beyond labour exploitation – it becomes difficult to connect this work to the contemporary literature on descent-based slavery.

Although the book explores the exploitation of minors, it could delve deeper into the motivations of guardians, particularly African and mixed-race guardians, and the role local culture played in shaping these dynamics. Furthermore, the book acknowledges the absence of first-hand accounts from victims but does not sufficiently address how this limitation impacts the narrative. Although archival records are critically analysed, the reliance on colonial administrative sources may inadvertently centre the perspectives of colonial authorities – potentially explaining the labour-focused conceptualisation of slavery – rather than local perspectives.