Graduate Colloquium Series: Joowon Yi (POLS) 3/1/2022
"Once a Slave? The Slave Trade and Military Formation under Colonialism"
Meeting ID: 997 7232 4169
Password: JoowonYi
“Once a Slave? The Slave Trade and Military Formation under Colonialism”
Tuesday, March 1, 2022 | 4-5pm
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Meeting ID: 997 7232 4169
Password: JoowonYi
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Joowon Yi
Ph.D. candidate | Department of Political Science
Abstract: How was the colonial military formed? Exploring the cases overlooked from the literature of state formation, Yi argues that colonial powers believed ethnic groups in regions heavily affected by the slave trade were ‘martial races,’ and because of this stereotype, ethnic groups targeted by the slave trade were more likely to be recruited into the colonial military. The paper tests the argument with the ethnicity-level slave trade data and the recruitment records from the Tirailleurs Sénégalais in the colonial French West Africa. Using various specifications, including instrumental variable estimates and spatial lags, an analysis of the ethnicity-level recruitment quota provides evidence consistent with the theory. The findings in this study help us better understand the formation of the indigenous military in the former colonies and the political effects of the slave trade.
The Graduate Colloquium offers graduate students an opportunity to discuss a work-in-progress with faculty and graduate students from different disciplines. By long-standing practice, colloquium presenters provide a draft of their current research, which is made available to members of the Glasscock Center listserv. Each colloquium begins with the presenter’s short (10-15 minute) exposition of the project, after which the floor is open for comments and queries. The format is by design informal, conversational, and interdisciplinary.
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