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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