Project description DEENESFRITPL Domestic slavery and sexual exploitation Unfree people during the late- and post-Roman world contexts were particularly vulnerable to violence and exploitation. In this context, the ERC-funded DOMSLAVE project will explore the motivations and justifications behind the sexual exploitation of domestic slaves. To improve our understanding of slavery and wider society from the 4th to 9th century, the project will also study how the lived experience in the household shaped the content of our historical sources. Specifically, the project will investigate how a common Roman inheritance influenced later practices and explain the similarities and differences found within Muslim, Christian, and Jewish communities across the region. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective The sexual exploitation of the unfree within the households of the late- and post-Roman world profoundly affected wider society in ways that necessitate a large-scale, multi-contextual collaborative investigation.During this transformative period, Christianity established itself as the defining institution of the Latin West and Greek East; complex Islamicate societies emerged in the Near East, North Africa, and Spain; and Jewish communities developed a unique network across the region. As dynamic forces swept across these diverse societies and overturned longstanding customs, beliefs, and practices, the household stood firm as the fundamental unit of social organisation – a microcosm in which identities (male/female, slave/free, adult/child, local/foreign) were formed and reinforced.Unfree people living in these domestic contexts were particularly vulnerable to violence and exploitation. Neither was this incidental to their condition. The shame associated with their sexual use at the hands of those who held power over them helped maintain the institution of domestic slavery and stabilise wider social hierarchies during an era of headlong change, though in ways that are only poorly understood.This research project will reconstruct the motivations and justifications behind the sexual exploitation of domestic slaves, identify how the lived experience in the household shaped the content of our sources, reveal how a common Roman inheritance impacted later practices, and explain the similarities and differences found within Muslim, Christian, and Jewish communities across the region. By approaching the sexual exploitation of slaves as a social practice with its own particular logic and rationale, and by analysing the whole of the greater Mediterranean world as a single, interconnected cultural zone, this project will overcome divides in scholarship to dramatically advance our understanding of slavery and wider society from the 4th to 9th centuries. Fields of science social scienceslawhuman rightshuman rights violationshuman trafficking Keywords Late Antiquity Premodern Slavery Sexual Exploitation Early Medieval Europe Byzantine Empire Medieval Islam Medieval Judaism Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-2020-COG - ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS Call for proposal ERC-2020-COG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant Coordinator UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER Net EU contribution € 1 994 231,00 Address University road LE1 7RH Leicester United Kingdom See on map Region East Midlands (England) Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire Leicester Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00 Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER United Kingdom Net EU contribution € 1 994 231,00 Address University road LE1 7RH Leicester See on map Region East Midlands (England) Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire Leicester Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00