Identity, Value, Price: A New Approach of Analysis and Comparaison for the Market of Slaves in Early Modern Naples[Identità, valore, prezzo: nuove proposte di analisi e comparazione sul mercato degli schiavi a Napoli in età moderna]

This article aims at studying the formation process of personal identities of men forced to work at the oar in Naples at the end of the 16th century in comparison with the Kingdom of Valencia at the beginning of the 17th. At that time, Naples and Valencia were two of the most important slave markets as well as trading cities of the Spanish Empire. The research will take into account two types of sources that have remained largely unexplored by historiography to date, and especially a book dating back to 1585 detailing the biographies of 657 slaves. This will make it possible to focus in depth on slaves identities and in particular on the estimation process regarding their price. Who were the slaves? How was their price calculated? What was the relationship between their price and personal 'identity'? What was the difference between their use-value and trading value? In general, what were the negotiation processes underpinning the markets of men and what was the role played by the slaves themselves? These are the main questions the project aims to answer. The idea is that aspects involved in negotiation processes were at the same time economic, social and psychological, insofar as they significantly affected self-perception.