The Gift
How Objects of Prestige Shaped the Atlantic Slave Trade and Colonialism

‘A brilliant fusion of social and art history, this gem of a book dazzles with scholarly depth. A testament to dual training, an exquisite narrative captivates, enlightens, and transcends conventional boundaries. A truly enriching, must-read gift.’ Roquinaldo Ferreira, author of Cross-Cultural Exchange in the Atlantic World: Angola and Brazil during the Era of the Slave Trade

‘Following the itinerary and many lives of a silver knife, gifted and re-gifted across the commercial, familial, and political networks linking France to west and west-central Africa in the 18th and 19th century, Araujo crafts a productively speculative account that gives new depths to our understanding of the Atlantic slave trade.’ Cécile Fromont, author of Images on a Mission in Early Modern Kongo and Angola

‘In tracing a ceremonial silver sword and its meanings from France to Central and West Africa and back to Europe, this creative and nuanced book sheds light on gift-giving in the Atlantic slave trade, French connections to multiple African regions, and the depredations of colonial invaders. As it reminds us, material objects have stories to tell!’ Lisa Lindsay, author of Atlantic Bonds: A Nineteenth Century Odyssey from America to Africa

‘… Araujo's combined training as a social and art historian is evident in The Gift, which is painstakingly researched, deeply analyzed, and well written.’ Mary A. Afolabi, Journal of Global Slavery

‘[This] is a splendid book that showcases meticulous historical research. It combines an innovative and convincing argument about the ways that a single material item embodied gift-based manipulations of social hierarchies within the evolving intercultural Atlantic slave trade of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and an earnest call for the decolonization of global museum collections.’ Seth Mallios, The William and Mary Quarterly

‘… Araujo’s book is a superb study of a material object that shows how disparate places in Africa were linked through the slave trade and the vital role of objects of prestige in commercial exchanges. Araujo reminds us of the importance of histories of material culture and studying the provenance of African objects housed in museums. The book should be read widely by historians and museologists.’ Avenel Rolfsen, African Studies Review