"In this paper the process of creolisation will be considered through analysis of the wills and testaments of African, black and mixed-race women in nineteenth-century Salvador da Bahia, Brazil. As primary sources these will and testaments provide evidence concerning material, social and cultural markers of creolisation." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR];
Centering Women consists of somewhat altered versions of the author's previously published articles, with an introduction and "summation" that argue for a post-nationalist history of gender in the Caribbean
Examines changes in enslaved women's working lives as planters sought to increase birth rates to replenish declining laboring populations. Establishes that enslaved women in Jamaica experienced a considerable shift in their work responsibilities and their subjection to discipline as slaveholders sought to capitalize on their abilities to reproduce. Enslaved women's reproductive capabilities were pivotal for slavery and the plantation economy's survival once legal supplies from Africa were discontinued.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Journal Title Details:
42 (1): 131-153
Notes:
The passing of the British Abolition Act in 1807 owed much to the activism of women, enslaved and free, who employed diverse strategies to agitate for the ending of what was arguably the greatest crime against humanity. Reflects on women's role in Caribbean development and the struggles they faced in the process.
