Slavery and House Elves
catlady_de_los_angeles
catlady at wicca.net
Mon Apr 8 05:43:51 UTC 2002
No: HPFGUIDX 37561
Very recently (that means a couple of thousand posts ago!), there was
discussion of whether the House Elves are slaves. Some said they
are not slaves because they do not want to be free. Here is something
relevant from the latest ish of SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN:
http://www.sciam.com/2002/0402issue/0402bales.html
The Social Psychology of Modern Slavery by Kevin Bales
Sci Am April 2002
"Debt bondage is common there [a place in Uttar Pradesh], too. When I
met Baldev in 1997, he was plowing. His master called him "my
halvaha," meaning "my bonded plowman." Two years later I met Baldev
again and learned that because of a windfall from a relative, he had
freed himself from debt. But he had not freed himself from bondage.
He told me:
'After my wife received this money, we paid off our debt and were
free to do whatever we wanted. But I was worried all the time--what
if one of the children got sick? What if our crop failed? What if the
government wanted some money? Since we no longer belonged to the
landlord, we didn't get food every day as before. Finally, I went to
the landlord and asked him to take me back. I didn't have to borrow
any money, but he agreed to let me be his halvaha again. Now I don't
worry so much; I know what to do.'
Lacking any preparation for freedom, Baldev reenrolled in slavery.
Without financial or emotional support, his accidental emancipation
didn't last. Although he may not bequeath any debt to his children,
his family is visibly worse off than unbonded villagers in the same
region."
The article goes on with much other interesting information,
including why a person would put themselves back in slavery (without
even getting paid for selling themselves!) and how to rehabilitate
freed slaves so that they can survive in freedom.
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