ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 examines the impact of the various systems of slavery that existed in the Senegambia region of Africa and their impact on Mandinka dance systems. The chapter introduces indigenous forms of servitude in Africa and provides details that substantiate its distinction from the types of servile systems introduced into the continent of Africa by foreigners. The chapter then explores the transmission of dance throughout Indigenous Servile Systems (ISS) in Africa and the cultural fail-safes that were made systemic to protect the dance process. It examines the impact on dance of slavery introduced by the Arab invasion of North Africa, and later by trade between Berber nomads and sub-Saharan Africans. The transatlantic slave trade is discussed in Chapter 5 as a distinctive system. Its effect on Mandinka dance specifically, and Mande culture generally, in the Senegambia region is discussed. Thus, the instability caused by the transatlantic slave trade is addressed with regard to dance continuity and transmission.
