Production Activities in the Household Economies of Plantation Slaves: Barbados and Martinique, Mid-1600s to Mid-1800s

Handler, Jerome S.; Wallman, Diane

doi:10.1007/s10761-014-0265-2

Cited by 18 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 35 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In the seventeenth century, Du Tertre (1667-1671 v3:515-516) observed that many plantations relied significantly on rationing systems but that planters consistently failed to properly nourish the enslaved individuals on their estates. Many planters began a practice of ''free'' Saturdays for enslaved laborers, which provided, in addition to Sundays, a day off from plantation-associated labor to encourage enslaved communities to grow and raise some of their own foodstuffs on household gardens and provision yards (Du Tertre 1667-1671 v3:515-516; for further discussion, see Handler and Wallman 2014;Kelly and Wallman 2014).…”

Section: Ethnohistorical Evidence Of Enslaved Laborer Subsistence Reg...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Enslaved Laborer and Sharecropper Fishing Practices in 18th-19th Century Martinique: A Zooarchaeological and Ethnozoohistorical Study

Wallman¹,

Grouard²

2017

Journal of Ethnobiology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Throughout the modern day Caribbean, artisanal fishing constitutes an important part of domestic subsistence and household economies. Many of the traditional fishing practices on the islands today were established during the Colonial Period, as enslaved Africans and their descendants developed social, economic, and subsistence strategies to persist under the plantation system. The historical record provides little insight into the day-to-day experiences of these enslaved laborers, including their subsistence regimes and practices. Fishing by slaves in the colonial French Antilles is portrayed in the historic literature as a practice reserved primarily for an “elite” group of fisherman held on wealthy plantations. Archaeology provides insight into the pieces of history left out of the written record and offers valuable information regarding the everyday lives of the enslaved peoples and communities underrepresented in this record. This article presents the results of the zooarchaeological analysis of faunal remains recovered from enslaved laborer and sharecropper occupations at Habitation Crève Cœur, an eighteenth–nineteenth century sugar plantation on the island of Martinique. The data reveal that fishing was an important economic activity for the slaves on this plantation and that the practice of fishing was likely more of a communal act than one for a privileged few. Furthermore, analysis indicates that fishing techniques that continue on the island today originated centuries ago, traditions developed by enslaved laborers living under the severe constraints of the oppressive plantation system.

show abstract

Section: Ethnohistorical Evidence Of Enslaved Laborer Subsistence Reg...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Enslaved Laborer and Sharecropper Fishing Practices in 18th-19th Century Martinique: A Zooarchaeological and Ethnozoohistorical Study

Wallman¹,

Grouard²

2017

Journal of Ethnobiology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…contributed just over 50% of the total biomass for the faunal assemblage of the eighteenth‐ to early nineteenth‐century slavery period (Figure ). The significant presence of shellfish taxa, in the laborers’ consumption patterns, served as a response and supplement to the insufficient amounts of beef and pork in their diets, a strategy also identified through archaeological analyses of at least one Martinican plantation site (Handler and Wallman ; Kelly and Wallman ) and supported by historiography (Debien ; Thibault de Chanvalon ).…”

Section: Archaeology Of Foodways Of Enslaved People In the French Carmentioning

confidence: 97%

Mainstreaming African Diasporic Foodways When Academia Is Not Enough

Brunache

2019

Transforming Anthropology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

More than a decade after Britain's bicentennial commemoration of the 1807 Abolition Act to end the Transatlantic Slave Trade, Scotland still struggles to reconcile her colonial past. Unlike in North America, historical archaeology centered on the history and legacy of the transatlantic slave trade is still highly marginalized in British academia. Furthermore, Scotland's roles in slave-based economies is only recently being considered a relevant area of historical studies. This paper emerges from my evolving perspective as a Black American scholar and resident in the United Kingdom, as I strive to create intellectual spaces in and outside of academia. Through civic engagement, I use my work on African diasporic foodways in the French Caribbean to link with a similar material basis of resistance in the British Caribbean and engage British audiences whose connections to Atlantic slavery are yet to be fully recognized. [Atlantic slavery, transatlantic slave trade, Scotland, history, foodways]

show abstract

“…Examining the connections between landscapes’ physical properties and political economy also elucidates material legacies over time. For instance, to clarify differing colonial and postcolonial histories in the Caribbean, Jerome Handler and Diane Wallman () contrast the economic landscapes in Barbados and Martinique. With more land suitable for sugar production, plantation owners in Barbados left little area for slaves to cultivate their own provisions.…”

Section: The Anthropology Of Space In Archaeological Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Archaeologies of the Past and in the Present in 2014: Materialities of Human History

Morehart

2015

AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Research from the past year demonstrates archaeologists' diverse contributions to the anthropological study of human experience and social relationships in time and space. I divide literature published from late 2013 to late 2014 into five themes. First, archaeological research on space focuses on the persistence and materiality of landscapes, the creation and dynamics of communities and cities, and the mobility and migration of people.Second, studies of climate change and environmental interaction stress that organizational relationships and their long-term legacies are fundamental to ecological sustainability. Third, archaeologists offer anthropology the ability to contextualize the causes and the manifestations of violence and conflict through longitudinal cases studies and material analysis. Fourth, work on objects, bodies, and identity emphasizes that social subjectivities are not only variable but are historically connected to material worlds. Finally, fifth, archaeologists engaged with the present offer critical understandings of heritage policies and promote an activism that seeks more ethical practices with descendent communities and within the discipline itself. Despite differences, the recent literature reveals archaeologists' contributions to these significant anthropological topics by studying long-term, historical legacies and the materiality of human relationships. [archaeology, anthropology, materiality, history, year in review] RESUMEN Investigación del año pasado demuestra contribuciones diversas de los arqueólogos al estudio antropológico de la experiencias humana y las relaciones sociales en tiempo y espacio. Divido la literatura publicada desde finales del 2013 a finales del 2014 en cinco temas. Primero, la investigación arqueológica sobre espacio se enfoca en la persistencia y materialidad de los paisajes, la creación y dinámica de comunidades y ciudades, y la movilidad y migración de personas. Segundo, estudios de cambio climático e interacción ambiental enfatizan que las relaciones organizacionales y sus legados de largo plazo son fundamentales para la sostenibilidad ecológica.Tercero, arqueólogos le ofrecen a la antropología la habilidad de contextualizar las causas y las manifestaciones de la violencia y el conflicto a través de estudios de caso longitudinales y análisis material. Cuarto, trabajos sobre objetos, cuerpos, e identidad enfatizan que las subjetividades sociales no son solamente variables, sino que están históricamente conectadas a los mundos materiales. Finalmente, quinto, arqueólogos comprometidos con el presente ofrecen entendimientos críticos de las políticas hereditarias y promueven un activismo que busca prácticas máséticas con comunidades de descendientes y dentro de la disciplina en sí misma. A pesar de las diferencias, la reciente literatura revela las contribuciones de los arqueólogos a estos temas antropológicos significativos al estudiar legados históricos de largo plazo y la materialidad de las relaciones humanas. [arqueología, antropología, materialidad, hi...

show abstract

Production Activities in the Household Economies of Plantation Slaves: Barbados and Martinique, Mid-1600s to Mid-1800s

Cited by 18 publications

References 35 publications

Enslaved Laborer and Sharecropper Fishing Practices in 18th-19th Century Martinique: A Zooarchaeological and Ethnozoohistorical Study

Enslaved Laborer and Sharecropper Fishing Practices in 18th-19th Century Martinique: A Zooarchaeological and Ethnozoohistorical Study

Mainstreaming African Diasporic Foodways When Academia Is Not Enough

Archaeologies of the Past and in the Present in 2014: Materialities of Human History

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About