Editorial Unimagdalena

Description in English: Throughout the Ten Years' War (1868-1878) in Cuba, not only did abolitionist projects and prescriptions emerge from both sides of the colonial conflict, but the condition of the slave was also legislated as that of an asset to be seized. The book by historian María Elena Meneses Muro is the first systematic study of the administration of slaves retained by the captaincy general of the island as part of the policy of expropriation of individuals accused of infidelity. How was the possession of slaves assumed by the administrative structures during the armed conflict? What were the procedural logics in the distribution and modes of employment, and what interests were at work in the intricacies of slave management, are some of the questions that the author explores. The rigorous processing of documentary sources, particularly those extracted from the Seized Goods collection of the National Archive of Cuba, makes it possible to unveil study edges and define problems related to core topics of the process such as the legal status of the expropriated slave and his real condition, the geographical movement and the assigned labor spaces, the sophistication of administrative controls, and even, as a suggestive exhortation, possible margins of action or strategies of expropriated slaves and relatives to interpret and use the legal resources in their favor are identified.