Esta tese examina o papel do Direito na dinâmica que envolveu a reprodução do sistema de escravidão no Brasil e em Cuba no longo século XIX, a partir do nexo fundamental entre o tráfico transatlântico de escravos e a prática da alforria. Se, por um lado, a ordem jurídica abriu espaço para a ações criativas dos sujeitos históricos vitimados pela escravização, permitindo a reclamação de direitos adquiridos em juízo, especialmente em busca da liberdade, por outro, ela foi um dos elementos estruturantes dos respectivos sistemas de escravidão. Apesar das muitas semelhanças e pontos de contato, a configuração assumida pelos respectivos quadros jurídicos divergiu quanto a tópicos essenciais, especialmente no tocante ao reconhecimento legal do direito dos escravos à alforria onerosa, que se verificou precocemente em Cuba, enquanto que, no Brasil, ocorreu apenas em 1871, com a promulgação da Lei do Ventre Livre. O contraponto verificado não conduz a uma nova dicotomia entre uma escravidão mais branda ou severa do que a outra, mas à compreensão dos traços específicos que envolviam a ordenação do cativeiro e o alcance do protagonismo dos escravos naqueles dois espaços. / This thesis analyzes the role of the law in the slave system\'s dynamics in Brazil and Cuba during the long nineteenth century, from the fundamental connection between the transatlantic slave trade and the manumission. The main argument is that, if on the one hand the law created possibilities for the historical subjects victimized by slavery act creatively, seeking freedom in the courts, particularly, on the other, it was part of the structuring elements of those slave systems. Despite the similarities, the configuration assumed by the respective legal frameworks diverged as the essential topics, especially with regard to legal recognition of the right of slaves to the onerous manumission, which occurred early in Cuba, while, in Brazil, only in 1871, with the enactment of the Free Womb Law. The observed counterpoint does not lead to a new dichotomy between a milder and a severe slave system, but the understanding of the specific characters involving the regulation of slavery and the slave agency in those two spaces.

A presente dissertação analisa o debate público em torno do tráfico negreiro e da escravidão, ocorrido na imprensa do Rio de Janeiro entre 1822 (quando foi fundado o Império do Brasil) e 1850 (momento em que o fim do tráfico negreiro foi decretado pela Lei Eusébio de Queirós). O corpus documental, portanto, é formado por todos os periódicos políticos e por alguns panfletos publicados na cidade do Rio de Janeiro durante o período supracitado. Os documentos foram lidos sob as considerações de algumas vertentes da história atlântica, da história social e da história política. Com elas, objetiva-se demonstrar que a imprensa foi um locus privilegiado para o desenvolvimento do debate público a respeito do tráfico negreiro no Império do Brasil. Da mesma forma, pretende-se mostrar como essa instituição dita privada exerceu um papel central na política do contrabando negreiro levada a cabo pelos Regressistas (núcleo duro dos Saquaremas) a partir da segunda metade da década de 1830, servindo como elo entre os estadistas e sua base eleitoral. / The present dissertation analyzes the public debate concerning slavery that took place in Rio de Janeiro via its press, between 1822 (foundation of the Brazilian Empire) and 1850 (the end of the transatlantic slave trade, as imposed by the Eusébio de Queirós law). The sources used in this work encompass all the political newspapers published in Rio de Janeiro during that period, as well as some political pamphlets. The methods developed here are those presented by the Atlantic History approach, along with the Social History and Political History methods. This work conveys the idea that the press was crucial to the Brazilian public debate on the transatlantic slave trade. Moreover, the dissertation demonstrates how an institution generally conceived as private played a central role in the politics of the illegal trade carried out by the Conservatives (also known as Saquaremas) from the second half of the 1830s on, functioning as a link between statesmen and their electoral base.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how the British abolition movement used the Swedish abolitionist Carl Bernhard Wadström's argument against the slave trade. We want to investigate which rhetoric Wadström himself used and which rhetoric abolitionists used when referring to Wadström's arguments. To investigate which rhetoric is used, we have taken support in Aristotle's theories of rhetoric and, above all, his ideas on the three modes of persuasion, ethos, pathos and logos. The source material that forms the basis of the study is Wadström's book Observations on the slave trade and five other types of texts written by abolitionists where Wadström and his arguments against the slave trade are mentioned. The main result we found is that Wadström in his book uses an emotional language to convince his readers of the evil of the slave trade. However, the abolitionists do not use an emotional language in their texts when using Wadström's arguments. Abolitionists used ethos and logos as modes of persuasions to convince that slave trade should be banned.

The present study examines the merchant networks which exported slaves from the Black Sea to Genoa, Venice, and Cairo from the late thirteenth to the late fifteenth century on the basis of both Arabic and Latin sources. It begins with an explanation of features distinctive to slavery in the medieval Mediterranean, the most important of which was its ideological basis in religious rather than racial difference, as well as a comparison between the Christian and Islamic laws governing slavery. In subsequent chapters it covers the variety of roles played by slaves in Mediterranean society, how the use of individual slaves was shaped by their gender and origin, and the processes which led to the enslavement of people within the Black Sea region. The heart of the project is the fourth chapter, an analysis of the commercial networks which conveyed slaves from the ports of the Black Sea to those of the Mediterranean. This chapter profiles individual merchants who dealt in slaves, traces the routes and identifies the logistical challenges of the slave trade, and analyzes the relative importance of various groups of merchants in supplying the Mediterranean demand for slaves. The next chapter explains the process of finding, inspecting, and buying a slave in the marketplace and how it differed from the purchase of other commodities. The final chapter addresses the place of the Black Sea slave trade in the political and religious context of the late medieval crusade movement. Proponents of the crusades argued that Christian merchants, especially the Genoese, were strengthening the sultan of Egypt to the detriment of the crusaders by supplying him with slaves for military service. The validity of these accusations is examined in light of the sources informing the rest of the study.

Indigenous resistance made Caribbean colonization a slow and violent process in the period of 1580-1690. The Caribbean Indians who rejected colonization became targets for enslavement. Slavers captured indigenous people in raids or through trade within indigenous-dominated territories. I conceptualize this space as "Caribana." Geographically, it stretched from Guiana northward throughout islands of the Lesser Antilles. I focus on the Indigenous captives from Caribana who were enslaved in English and Dutch colonies, namely Barbados, Curaçao, and Suriname. I show how colonists justified enslaving indigenous people in the same manner as they justified the trans-Atlantic African slave trade, despite widespread taboos against the former practice and not the latter. These taboos did not prevent Indian slavery, but they influenced the creation of seventeenth-century histories, government reports, and other material for public and European consumption. Indian slavery has thus been written about, then and now, as a limited phenomenon wherein Indians had limited and specific labor roles (i.e. as fishermen or domestic servants). However, sources such as deeds and tax-rolls show that more Indian slaves than assumed contributed a broad range of skills to plantations economies. English Barbados was exceptionally successful because it was geographically separated from the conflicts that created captives in Caribana, but nevertheless extracted Indian slaves from the region. Meanwhile, colonies abutting Caribana, such as Suriname, faced trade sanctions from neighboring Indians and rebellions if they abused the Indian slave trade. From the 1670s-1690s, Colonial governments limited the means of accessing Indian slaves, but once enslaved, they faced the same restrictive "black codes" that allowed the brutal treatment of them as inheritable chattel.

A presente dissertação analisa o debate público em torno do tráfico negreiro e da escravidão, ocorrido na imprensa do Rio de Janeiro entre 1822 (quando foi fundado o Império do Brasil) e 1850 (momento em que o fim do tráfico negreiro foi decretado pela Lei Eusébio de Queirós). O corpus documental, portanto, é formado por todos os periódicos políticos e por alguns panfletos publicados na cidade do Rio de Janeiro durante o período supracitado. Os documentos foram lidos sob as considerações de algumas vertentes da história atlântica, da história social e da história política. Com elas, objetiva-se demonstrar que a imprensa foi um locus privilegiado para o desenvolvimento do debate público a respeito do tráfico negreiro no Império do Brasil. Da mesma forma, pretende-se mostrar como essa instituição dita privada exerceu um papel central na política do contrabando negreiro levada a cabo pelos Regressistas (núcleo duro dos Saquaremas) a partir da segunda metade da década de 1830, servindo como elo entre os estadistas e sua base eleitoral. / The present dissertation analyzes the public debate concerning slavery that took place in Rio de Janeiro via its press, between 1822 (foundation of the Brazilian Empire) and 1850 (the end of the transatlantic slave trade, as imposed by the Eusébio de Queirós law). The sources used in this work encompass all the political newspapers published in Rio de Janeiro during that period, as well as some political pamphlets. The methods developed here are those presented by the Atlantic History approach, along with the Social History and Political History methods. This work conveys the idea that the press was crucial to the Brazilian public debate on the transatlantic slave trade. Moreover, the dissertation demonstrates how an institution generally conceived as private played a central role in the politics of the illegal trade carried out by the Conservatives (also known as Saquaremas) from the second half of the 1830s on, functioning as a link between statesmen and their electoral base.

This dissertation explores the ways marginalized slaves and orphans came together to create new mission communities in western Tanzania. It shows that slave emancipation was a complex process that involved flight to the missions, public declarations, and certification of emancipation. Former slaves joined missions and their descendants became the first-generation Christians, and some worked as teachers, pastors and catechists. The dissertation centers on multiple language communities brought in juxtaposition by the slave trade, wars, and migrations to examine their involvement in the translation of Christian texts into the Kinyamwezi language. It argues that translation of the New Testament, religious texts and songs was a reciprocal process of Africans and European missionaries teaching each other. In so doing, translation became a stimulus for independent interpretation, as Nyamwezi translators acted as independent intellectuals in shaping an African interpretation of Christianity. In remote areas, far from the centers of mission stations, catechists and teachers helped adherents by translating the Bible and religious texts into their own languages, contributing to the growth of African Christianity. In addition to translation, teachers and catechists administered churches in villages, taught catechism, and prepared the young and adults for baptism and confirmation. They established their own schools, and devised teaching methods and ways of obtaining pupils for instruction. Their families not only provided a model of Christian families but also laid the foundation for African Christianity as children were baptized, attended mission schools and became teachers and catechists, and in some cases, nuns and priests. Furthermore, lay women and wives of the Nyamwezi teachers and catechists taught children in Sunday schools, while others accompanied teachers in villages and launched home-visit campaigns to attract more Nyamwezi women to join Christianity. The dissertation further argues that the growth of African Christianity in villages was not entirely the product of European missionary initiatives, but rather in significant measure the result of African cultural and intellectual creativity. The growth of Christianity in the twenty-century western Tanzania gave rise to the revival movement which spread in missions and villages, attracting Christians and pastors into revivalism. Nevertheless, divergent interpretations on the teachings of salvation, sin, and public confession of sins split Christians in the established mission churches into born-again pastors and Christians who supported revivalism and Christians who opposed the movement. This dissertation shows for the first time that lay Christians dissented from the revival movement, preventing born-again pastors and evangelists from holding services in churches. With growing tensions, some Christians seceded from the mainstream churches to form their own churches and installed their own pastors who worked independently from the control of the established churches.

In the first three centuries CE, the sacrament of baptism proved to be a universal tool which united people beyond age, race, or ethnicity as we understand it today. To put it simply, the theological meaning of baptism was reinforced by the sacrament of infant baptism. That is to say that the Christian faith was for all, irrespective of one’s race, age, or social-status. This openness to Christianity changed in the early modern period. In the seventeenth century the Baptists rejected infant baptism, for a more rational faith based on Enlightenment and Romantic assumptions. What the Baptists did not realize was just how embedded the social, political, economic, and other forms of human meaning and understanding were rooted in the sacrament of infant baptism. This thesis is an intellectual and social history on how Baptists contributed to the idea of race in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by their rejection of infant baptism. By the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Southern Baptists created a theology that supported racial superiority in North America. Once radical Protestant groups such as the Baptists rejected the inclusive baptismal theology of Irenaeus Lyon and Origen of Alexandria by leaving the Church of England, the incarnational and communal elements that once united Christianity would lead to racial divisions within Christian denominations in the modern period. Consequently, by rejecting the classical understanding of baptism-salvation, many Baptists looked elsewhere than baptism or religion for their identity and now looked to novel notions of species and race. These innovative explanations of identity outside of baptism led to racial superiority within North American Christendom in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. For the purpose of this study, I shall look at second century CE theologians Irenaeus of Lyons (130-202 CE) and Origen of Alexandria (184-254 CE) and compare their thoughts to the theological interpretation of John Smyth of Nottinghamshire (1570-1612 CE), and how his theological approach indirectly contributed to the idea of racial superiority (i.e. skin color) within early North American Christendom.

To effectively understand and treat complex diseases such as cancer, mathematical and statistical modeling is essential if one wants to represent and characterize the interactions among the different regulatory components that govern the underlying decision making process. Like in any other complex decision making networks, the regulatory power is not evenly distributed among its individual members, but rather concentrated in a few high power "commanders". In biology, such commanders are usually called masters or canalizing genes. Characterizing and detecting such genes are thus highly valuable for the treatment of cancer. Chapter II is devoted to this task, where we present a Bayesian framework to model pathway interactions and then study the behavior of master genes and canalizing genes. We also propose a hypothesis testing procedure to detect a "cut" in pathways, which is useful for discerning drugs' therapeutic effect. In Chapter III, we shift our focus to the understanding of the mechanisms of action (MOA) of cancer drugs. For a new drug, the correct understanding of its MOA is a key step for its application to cancer treatments. Using the Green Fluorescent Protein technology, researchers have been able to track various reporter genes from the same cell population for an extended period of time. Such dynamic gene expression data forms the basis for drug similarity comparisons. In Chapter III, we design an algorithm that can identify mechanistic similarities in drug responses, which leads to the characterization of their respective MOAs. Finally, in the course of drug MOA study, we observe that cells in a hypothetical homogeneous population do not respond to drug treatments in a uniform and synchronous way. Instead, each cell makes a large shift in its gene expression level independently and asynchronously from the others. Hence, to systematically study such behavior, we propose a mathematical model that describes the gene expression dynamics for a population of cells after drug treatments. The application of this model to dose response data proviodes us new insights of the dosing effects. Furthermore, the model is capable of generating useful hypotheses for future experimental design.

The use of the stable isotopes, 18O and 2H, has proven to be a valuable tool in determining the importance of various hydrological controls on the modern water balances of Slave River Delta lakes, NWT, Canada. Samples collected during the 2002 and 2003 field season have shown that delta lakes exhibit highly systematic isotopic variability over the entire delta. The major influences observed to be affecting Slave River Delta lakes include spring snowmelt runoff, flood events from the Slave River, seiche events from Great Slave Lake and thaw season precipitation events. An important component of Slave River Delta lake modern water balances is evaporation, the main controlling factor of water loss in the study lakes, as well as isotopic variability experienced throughout the entire delta during the ice-off season. Flood events from Great Slave Lake and the Slave River play a key role in controlling modern water balances and isotopic compositions of lakes in the delta. Levee height throughout the delta seems to strongly affect local hydrology, with areas having the greatest levee heights also having the most enriched lake water compositions, and areas having the lowest levee heights having the most depleted isotopic signatures. Outer delta and mid-delta lakes experience the greatest amount of flooding during the spring. Lakes that are affected by spring flood events have a more depleted isotopic signature than those lakes in the upper delta. Discrepancies between δ18O- and δ2H-derived E/I ratios have been effectively reconciled by incorporating site-specific information into the mass balance equations, and allowing mixing between Great Slave Lake (GSL) vapour δE, a large body of water adjacent to the delta and advected atmospheric vapour δA. The use of locally derived parameters also ensures a more accurate depiction of local conditions. Good correlation can be observed during July 2003, between mixing of GSL vapour and atmospheric moisture, when the lakes water balances were solely affected by evaporation. The mixing ratios obtained from two of the study lakes suggest that 5 – 16% of ambient atmospheric moisture was derived from Great Slave Lake.