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Plantations, especially sugar plantations, created slave societies and a racism persisting well into post- slavery periods: so runs a familiar argument that has been used to explain the sweep of Caribbean history. Here one of the most eminent scholars of modern social theory applies this assertion ...

Plantations, especially sugar plantations, created slave societies and a racism persisting well into post- slavery periods: so runs a familiar argument that has been used to explain the sweep of Caribbean history. Here one of the most eminent scholars of modern social theory applies this assertion to a comparative study of most Caribbean islands from the time of the American Revolution to the Spanish American War. Arthur Stinchcombe uses insights from his own much admired Economic Sociology to show why sugar planters needed the help of repressive governments for recruiting disciplined labor. Demonstrating that island-to- island variations on this theme were a function of geography, local political economy, and relation to outside powers, he scrutinizes Caribbean slavery and Caribbean emancipation movements in a world-historical context. Throughout the book, Stinchcombe aims to develop a sociology of freedom that explains a number of complex phenomena, such as how liberty for some individuals may restrict the liberty of others. Thus, the autonomous governments of colonies often produced more oppressive conditions for slaves than did so-called arbitrary governments, which had the power to restrict the whims of the planters. Even after emancipation, freedom was not a clear-cut matter of achieving the ideals of the Enlightenment. Indeed, it was often a route to a social control more efficient than slavery, providing greater flexibility for the planter class and posing less risk of violent rebellion.

A leading authority on Latin American slavery has produced a major and original work on the subject. Covering not only Spanish but also Portuguese and French regions, and encompassing the latest research on the plantation system as well as on mining and the urban experience, the book brings together ...

A leading authority on Latin American slavery has produced a major and original work on the subject. Covering not only Spanish but also Portuguese and French regions, and encompassing the latest research on the plantation system as well as on mining and the urban experience, the book brings together the recent findings on demography, the slave trade, the construction of the slave community and Afro-American culture. The book also sheds new light on the processes of accommodation and rebellion and the experience of emancipation. Klein first traces the evolution of slavery and forced labor systems in Europe, Africa, and America, and then depicts the life and culture which some twelve million slaves transported from Africa over five centuries experiences in the Latin American and Caribbean regions. Particular emphasis is on the evolution of the sugar plantation economy, the single largest user of African slave labor. The book examines attempts of the African and American-born slaves to create a viable and autonomous culture, including their adaptation of European languages, religions, and even kinship systems to their own needs. Klein also describes the type and intensity of slave rebellions. Finally the book considers the important and differing role of the "free colored" under slavery, noting the unique situation of the Brazilian free colored as well as the unusual mobility of the free colored in the French West Indies. The book concludes with a look at the post-emancipation integration patterns in the different societies, analyzing the relative success of the ex-slaves in obtaining control over land and escaping from the old plantation regimes.

Keith Sandiford's study examines the importance of sugar as a central metaphor in the work of six influential authors of the colonial West Indies. Sugar, he argues, became a focus for cultural desires as well as a hard fact of the Caribbean's political economy. Sandiford defines this metaphorical ...

Keith Sandiford's study examines the importance of sugar as a central metaphor in the work of six influential authors of the colonial West Indies. Sugar, he argues, became a focus for cultural desires as well as a hard fact of the Caribbean's political economy. Sandiford defines this metaphorical turn as a trope of "negotiation" that organizes the structure and content of the narratives. Based on extensive historical knowledge of the period and recent postcolonial theory, this book suggests the possibilities negotiation offers in the continuing recovery of West Indian intellectual history.