Ma'afa (also spelled Maafa) refers to Afu-Ra-Kan slavery. A kiSwahili term meaning great disaster or terrible occurrence [1], Ma'afa is used to portray, both mutually exclusively and jointly exhaustively the physical, social and Psychological damages and inflictions brought upon All Afu-Ra-Kan Peoples subjected to european-forced enslavement. Other comparable terms referring to the Ma'afa are "African Holocaust", "Holocaust of slavery" and "Atlantic slave trade". While these latter terms offer near parallel meanings to the event of slavery, some argue that use of the words "holocaust" and "trade" both detract from the descriptive impact sought whenever attempting to assert the intricacies of the event with necessary power. "Holocaust"--a hellenic term--remains adherent to a european description, whereas the word "trade" offers a slight, yet significant emphasis on the economic aspect of the event, obviously gainful to europeans only.
References
- Clarke, J.H. Christopher Columbus and the Afrikan Holocaust.