The role of government accounting and taxation in the institutionalization of slavery in Brazil

Abstract

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Modern Slavery in Business: The Sad and Sorry State of a Non-Field

“…The accounting subfield has probably the most substantial literature within business and management on earlier forms of slavery, where accounts from plantations and slave traders have provided a rich resource for understanding the business of historical slavery (Pinto & West, 2017; Rodrigues & Craig, 2018; Tyson et al, 2004). Despite this, the discipline has been surprisingly slow to attend to more contemporary forms of slavery.…”

Accounting as a tool of State governance: The tutelage system of ‘Free Africans’ in Brazil between 1818 and 1864

“…Regarding the emancipation of the 'Free Africans' with the use of accounting information, it is perceived that the information generated by accounting was many times ignored and even altered, to avoid or delay the issuance of letters of emancipation. It should also be highlighted that accounting was only truly used to liberate the 'Free Africans', when there was a change in the institutional logic and the dissemination of the ideology for prohibiting slave trade began in Brazil, which only really occurred in 1850 (Rodrigues and Craig, 2018) when archival records show a great volume of emancipation letters were issued as a result of British pressure and the Eusébio de Queirós Law in favour of abolitionist discourses. In summary, the context of the slavery ideology greatly reduced the possibility of accounting to be used for the emancipation of the 'Free Africans'.…”

“…In every society, ideology ensures the cohesion of the social whole, regulating the relation between individuals and their chores (Rancière, 1973). In Brazil, the ideology of Black slavery was legitimated by diffusing the idea that African slaves were necessary to develop the vast expanse of Brazil (Rodrigues and Craig, 2018). Due to the colour of their skin, 'Free Africans' were visually indistinguishable from African slaves.…”

“…It also imposed penalties on importers (Lei Feijó-Barbacena (1831 Law)). Slave trade in both hemispheres was declared illegal (Rodrigues and Craig, 2018). However, an active ‘politics of slavery’ lobby led by Vasconcelos (see Note 1) encouraged the Brazilian government to repeal some stringent provisions of the 1831 Law (Rodrigues and Craig, 2018).…”

Current Interest in the Theory of Organizational Path Dependence. A Short Update on the Occasion of the 2019 AMR Decade Award

“…Cooke, 2012;Toelstede, 2019). Even rather exotic topics such as slavery in Brazil (Rodrigues & Craig, 2018) and the cadastral system in China (Lin, Kalantari, Rajabifard, & Li, 2015) have been analyzed with reference to path dependence. Last but not least, economics has restarted the still rare endeavor of reflecting its status as a path-dependent discipline (Yalcintas, 2016).…”