The main research theme is the role played by the Dutch state and society in the Dutch colonial slavery past and its socioeconomic, political, and social conditions. The book will historiographically embed the already existing knowledge on the subject, evaluate how this knowledge came about and describe potential ways to proceed in future. Central questions are: How were (precursors) of the Dutch state involved in the colonial slavery past? What are the afterlives of this past both in the colonized societies and in the Netherlands? How have various stakeholders, such as enslaved people, administrators, and entrepreneurs in the colonized societies responded to slavery? And how can we now create space for recovery and healing from this past?

State and Slavery speaks of colonial slavery, rather than slavery, referring to the forms of slavery that emerged from European colonial expansion from the fifteenth century up until the end of the nineteenth century. The impact Dutch slavery has had on the world and the people in it already started at the earliest enslavement of people in Africa, was intensified during the slavery period, and continued to affect people’s lives thereafter. Thus, colonial slavery has had a major impact on politics, economics, culture, and society. To comprehend the extent of this impact, State and slavery looks at both the period of slavery and slave trade, and its abolition and afterlives in our contemporary society. By exploring such a major time period, State and Slavery manages to also explore other forms of forced labour and exploitation that existed during and after slavery. The book will additionally address former colonized areas in both the Atlantic and Indian Ocean and thereby provide some insights into the differences, similarities, and connections between these areas.