Captive Cosmopolitans

“Captive Cosmopolitans greatly expands readers’ understanding of both the South Atlantic slave trade and its maritime labor. . . . Hicks deftly explores how these escravo de ganho operated both within and beyond existing structures as they used their freedom to develop their own networks and opportunities. . . . Recommended.”—CHOICE

“Offers a valuable and fascinating addition to studies on the history of slavery, the slave trade, the Atlantic world, Latin America, and, of course, Black history. . . . Captive Cosmopolitans is an important addition to the literature.”—Hispanic American Historical Review

“This is an excellent study that . . . dialogue[s] with French ethnographer Pierre Fatumbi Verger by shedding new, modern light onto the network of relationships between Bahia and West Africa.”—American Historical Review

“Hicks retells the story of Atlantic commerce from a radically new perspective: enslaved and free Africans who participated in the slave trade that linked Brazil to West Africa. She reveals how Black sailors, petty traders, and healers in this maritime world charted myriad paths through bondage, shaping South Atlantic cultures and economies and playing crucial roles in the development of the modern world.”—James Sidbury, Rice University

“Captive Cosmopolitans is meticulously researched, theoretically bold and innovative, and beautifully written. Hicks explores the Black maritime working worlds of the men and women involved in the South Atlantic slave trade, handling the questions of Black peoples’ investment in slaving with care and complexity.”—Michelle McKinley, University of Oregon School of Law

“Persuasively argued, absorbing, and deeply researched, Captive Cosmopolitans offers a much-needed, major study of Black mariners’ lives, mobility, and influence in the South Atlantic world. Hicks masterfully uncovers the tensions of these sailors’ roles within the transatlantic slave trade, exposing their crucial contributions to both the perpetuation and disruption of Atlantic commerce and culture. This work stands on par with the best scholarship on Atlantic history, reshaping our understanding of slavery, maritime labor, and cosmopolitanism in the early modern era.” — Roquinaldo Ferreira, University of Pennsylvania