This article explores themes of morality and capitalist exploitation within the context of the East African ivory trade. Through an interdisciplinary lens that incorporates object-based, archival analysis and critical heritage studies, this article traces how morality-tinged, Western-driven narratives concerning the ivory trade mobilize asymmetrical relationships of capitalist exchange in both the past and present. In the late 19th century, the abolitionist movement conflated the East African ivory and slave trades by narrating the forced coercion of Africans made to carry ivory tusks in the interior, only to be sold into slavery upon reaching the coast. This discursively erased histories of active African engagement with mercantile capitalism as well as emerging labor culture among professional porters of the caravan trade. The vilification of “Arab” slave traders through stories of extreme cruelty within the ivory trade was used to justify formal British colonialism in the region, which led to more expansive capitalist integration and extraction. In a circuitous fashion, contemporary Western conservation activists blame African corruption, Islamic extremism, and Asian consumption for rampant elephant and rhino poaching across East Africa, making way for neoliberal appropriation of East African heritage under the guise of moral interventionism. In both cases, moral (and Orientalist) arguments advocating liberation, heritage preservation, and economic development veil processes by which unequal exchange is facilitated and maintained.

中文翻译：

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东非象牙贸易中的西方激进主义和原始积累的面纱

本文探讨了东非象牙贸易背景下的道德和资本主义剥削主题。通过结合基于对象的档案分析和批判性遗产研究的跨学科视角，本文追溯了有关象牙贸易的道德色彩、西方驱动的叙事如何调动了过去和现在资本主义交换的不对称关系。在 19 世纪后期，废奴运动将东非的象牙和奴隶贸易混为一谈，讲述了非洲人被迫在内陆携带象牙，但到达海岸后被卖为奴隶。这从话语上抹去了非洲积极参与商业资本主义的历史，以及在大篷车贸易的专业搬运工中新兴的劳动文化。通过象牙贸易中极端残忍的故事对“阿拉伯”奴隶贩子的诽谤被用来为该地区的正式英国殖民主义辩护，这导致了更广泛的资本主义整合和榨取。当代西方保护活动人士以迂回的方式将东非猖獗的大象和犀牛偷猎归咎于非洲腐败、伊斯兰极端主义和亚洲消费，为新自由主义在道德干预主义的幌子下盗用东非遗产让路。在这两种情况下，提倡解放、遗产保护和经济发展的道德（和东方主义）论点掩盖了促进和维持不平等交换的过程。这导致了更广泛的资本主义整合和榨取。当代西方保护活动人士以迂回的方式将东非猖獗的大象和犀牛偷猎归咎于非洲腐败、伊斯兰极端主义和亚洲消费，为新自由主义在道德干预主义的幌子下盗用东非遗产让路。在这两种情况下，提倡解放、遗产保护和经济发展的道德（和东方主义）论点掩盖了促进和维持不平等交换的过程。这导致了更广泛的资本主义整合和榨取。当代西方保护活动人士以迂回的方式将东非猖獗的大象和犀牛偷猎归咎于非洲腐败、伊斯兰极端主义和亚洲消费，为新自由主义在道德干预主义的幌子下盗用东非遗产让路。在这两种情况下，提倡解放、遗产保护和经济发展的道德（和东方主义）论点掩盖了促进和维持不平等交换的过程。在道德干预主义的幌子下为新自由主义对东非遗产的挪用让路。在这两种情况下，提倡解放、遗产保护和经济发展的道德（和东方主义）论点掩盖了促进和维持不平等交换的过程。在道德干预主义的幌子下为新自由主义对东非遗产的挪用让路。在这两种情况下，提倡解放、遗产保护和经济发展的道德（和东方主义）论点掩盖了促进和维持不平等交换的过程。