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Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health

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01-04-2011 | Original Paper

Clinical Issues in Caring for Former Chattel Slaves

Authors: Rebecca D. Blumhofer, Neha Shah, Michael A. Grodin, Sondra S. Crosby

Published in: Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health | Issue 2/2011

Abstract

Over the centuries, slavery has become embedded into the social fabric of Mauritania with generations of abid and bizan (Mauritanian slaves and slave masters, respectively) born and raised knowing nothing but the institution of chattel slavery. Abid fleeing their station in Mauritania come to the USA with unique psychological needs that will affect all of their interactions with the medical community. This paper aims to assist health professionals and others concerned with the welfare of former chattel slaves in competently serving this vulnerable population. Discussion includes an overview of Mauritanian chattel slavery, deduced sequelae of chattel slavery, preliminary recommendations for mental health and medical treatment protocols, and suggestions for future research. A confidential Institutional Review Board (IRB)-approved case report will be used to illustrate these objectives.

Mauritania ratified the League of Nation’s Slavery Convention of 1926, the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery in 1986, the International Labor Organization’s Forced Labor Convention in 1961, and the ILO’s Abolition of Forced Labor in 1997. Being a member of the United Nations, Mauritania at least nominally proclaims and promises to promote the human rights principles embedded in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Furthermore, Mauritania acceded the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women in 2001, and both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights in 2005.

“‘When a slave runs away,’ says Nasser, ‘he’s losing his roots. Slavery is his reality.’ In such a context, ‘it would take a person of enormous energy, with a built-in quest to find a new life, to stand up and walk away,’ says Robert Pugh, a former US ambassador to Mauritania” (Skinner 43).

Zakat is tithing for the poor prescribed by Islam (Ruf 263).

The online course, Caring for Torture Survivors, provides an extended discussion (with illustrations) on mental and physical sequelae of torture, as well as how mental health, medical, and oral health professionals should approach such sequelae (www.bcrhhr.org).

Experts that may be helpful can be found at the Center for Refugee Health and Human Rights (http://www.bcrhhr.org), Iabolish (http://www.iabolish.org), Free the Slaves (http://www.freetheslaves.net), the Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture (http://survivorsoftorture.org/survivors), the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Georgetown University (http://www3.georgetown.edu/departments/sociology/about), the Program for Survivors of Torture and Severe Trauma: Center for Multi-Cultural Studies (http://ncttp.westside.com/wsContent/default.view?_pagename=VA-Program+for+Survivors), and the UUA Holdeen India Program (http://archive.uua.org/international/holdeen/panditbio.html).

For instance, patients should ideally not be given treatment that is not proven safe and effective. Safety and effectiveness, however, typically require formal research. What happens when the patient population needing treatment cannot give voluntary understanding informed consent? Is it better for therapists to determine best treatment guidelines via formal research without such a stringent form of consent, or for therapists to continue to anecdotally create such guidelines until the high bar of voluntary informed understanding consent can be reached?

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Title: Clinical Issues in Caring for Former Chattel Slaves
Authors: Rebecca D. Blumhofer
Neha Shah
Michael A. Grodin
Sondra S. Crosby
Publication date: 01-04-2011
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health / Issue 2/2011
Print ISSN: 1557-1912
Electronic ISSN: 1557-1920
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-008-9217-4

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Clinical Issues in Caring for Former Chattel Slaves

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