General History of the Caribbean

Titles in the series

General History
Volume II
Vo lume T Autochth o no us Societi es

New Societi es: Th e Caribbea n in th e Lo ng Six teenth Century

of the
Vo lume III Slave Societi es o f th e Ca ribbea n

Vo lume IV Th e Lo ng N ineteenth Century: N ineteenth-Century Transfo rmati o ns

Vo lume V

Vo lume VI
The Ca ribbea n in the Twen tieth Century

M eth odo logy and Histo ri ograph y o f th e Ca ribbea n

Caribbean
VolUlne VI
Methodology and Historiography
of the Caribbean

Editor: B. W Higman

UNESCO Publishing
 F
The designations employed and the p resent:ltion of material
2175 CO TE TS
througholll this publication do not imply the expression G46
of any opinion whatsoever o n the part o f the UNESCO Secretariat 1997
concern ing the lega l status of any country, terri tory, city o r v.6
area or of its au th orities, o r the delimitations
of its frontiers or boundaries.

Preface Federico Mayor, Director-General of UNESCO vii

Th e autho rs are responsible for the choice and th e presentation
o f th e facts contained in this book and for the opinions S(on Description of the Project Prof essor Sir Roy Augier . x
expressed th erein, w hich are not necessa ril y those of UNESCO
and do not comnli t the Organization.
List o f Contributo rs x iii

Copyright text UNESCO 1999

Abbreviatio ns xv ii
Copyright illustrations UNESCO 1999

Introduction B. W. Higman 1
All rights reserved. No reproduc ti on, copy or transmission of
this publication may be made wi thout w ritlen permission . The d evelopment o f histo ri ca l disciplines in th e Ca ribbea n
1
No I""agraph of th is publication may be reprodu ced, copied or B. W. Higman 3
lransmitlecl save with wrilten permission or in accordance w ith
th e provisions of th e Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, Linguisti cs and th e o ral traditi on
2
o r uncleI' the terms of any licence permitling li m ited copy ing isslIt!d 19
by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 TOllenham o un iload ,
Mervyn C. Alleyne
Lo ndon WI P 9HE.
3 D ocumentary ev idence
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this
David Buisseret . 46
public,nion may be liable to crim inal prosecution and civil
claims for damages.
4 Econom ic interpreta ti ons of Caribbean history
First published 1999 Hilary McD. Beckles . 63

Published jo imly by 5 Gender in Ca ribbea n history

NESCO P BU SHI NG/ MACM ILLAN EDUCATION LTD j ea.n Stubbs. 95
London and Oxford
Compallies and represelltCiIil'es tbrollgholltthe ulor/d. 6 Ideology in Ca ribbea n history
Laennec Hu rbon 136
UNESCO ISBN 92-3-103360-3
Macm ill an ISBN 0-333-724607 Ilbk
7 Natio nalism and imperi alism in Ca ribbea n history
0-333-724615 Pbk
j ames Millette. 162
Printed in Hong Kong
8 Race, ethnicity and class in Ca ribbea n history
Franklin W. Knight. 200
A cata logue record for this book is avai lable from th e British Library.
9 Slave ry and ema ncipa ti o n in Caribbean histoty
C'<wer ackJlowledgement ( 233
Francisco A. Scarano
The cover photograph is taken fr m the centre ranel of the triptych /1/ tbe Beal/ti/II/ Caribbeal1 painted by
Co lin Garland in 1974. It is reproduced courte,y of the artist and The Nat iona l Commercial Bank (Jamaica). 10 Labour m ovements in Ca ribbea n history
Photograph © Denis Valentine. 283
Kusha Haraksingh

11 Regional histori es
Bridge/ Brereton 308

12 Historiography of Cuba
Fe Iglesias Garcia. 343

13 Historiography of the Dominican Republic

Roberto Cassa . 388

v
 Contents

14 Histo ri ograph y o f Puerto Ri co

Fernando Pico . 417

15 Historiograph y o f Haiti PR EF A CE
Michel-Rolph Trou illot 451
FED ERI CO MAYOR
16 Histo riography o f Jamaica Director-General of UNESCO
Howard j ohnson . 478

17 Histo ri ograph y o f th e Leeward I slands and th e Virg in I slands

MCl1I5aret D, Rouse:!ones 531
18 Histo ri ograph y o f Barbad os, th e Windward I slands, Trinid ad and Tobago,
and G u ya na
\,Voodville Ma rshall a nd Bridget Brereton , 544

19 Histo ri ograph y o f Suriname and th e etherl ands Antill es ow sho uld th Ca ri bbea n b e defin ed? [t is here un derstood as enco m pass ing

20
Gert Ooslindie a nd Rosemarijn Hoefle ,

Histo ri ograph y o f th e French Antilles and French G u ya na

Ann e Perolin-Dwnol1 a nd SelI5e Mam-La m -Fouck ,
604

631
H no t o nl y th e islands but also th e coastal p art o f South Am eri ca , fro m
Colo mbi a to th e G u ya nas and th e ri ve rin e zones of Central Am eri ca , insofa r
as th ese p arts of th e m ainl and we re th e ho m es o f p eople en gaged from tim e to tim e
in ac tiviti es w hi ch linked th eir lives w ith th ose o f p eo pl e in th e islands, D es pite th e
21 Histori ograph y o f th e B ahamas, Turks and Ca icos [slands, Caym an va ri eti es o f lan guages and custo m s resulting fro m th e co n vergen ce there - b y cho ice
I slands a nd Bel i ze o r co n straint - of p eopl es of d i ve rse cultures , th e Ca ri bbea n has m an y c ultural co m -
Michael Craton 665 m o nalities d eri v ing fro m th e shared history and ex p eri ence o f its inh abitants. [n thi s
region , endowed w ith exceptio nally beauti ful landscapes and still und iscovered ocea n
22 M odes of disseminati o n
B , W. Hig ma n resources , th ere g rew up fro m th e six tee n th century o n wa rd s a co m p letel y new
687
society, w hich has in o ur own tim e d istin guished itsel f b y pro du cing a relati ve l y large
Bibliograph y 709 number o f intern atio nall y recognized pe rsonalities in man y fi elds - p oe ts, nove lists,

Index, painters, d ance rs, des igners, musicians, sp o rtsmen , jurists, historia ns, p o li tician s,
926
In seeking to p ro m o te the preser va ti on o f cultural id entities and g rea ter under-
standin g am o ng peo pl es thro ug h th e exchange o f cultural info rm ati o n , UNESCO has
fo und it impo rtant to fac ilitate th e writin g o f a new histor y o f thi s reg io n , I ca ll thi s
history 'new' beca use until quite recentl y aribbea n histori es we re m o re about
expl o its o f Euro pea n nati o n states in th e Ca ribbea n - histo ri es o f w ar and trade in th e
islands and th e mainland, Such histo ri es o f th e indi vidu al islands as we re I ubli shed
b efo re thi s tim e tended to b e w ritten fro m th e stand point o f res ident Euro pea ns, It
was th e movem en t fo r p o litica l au to no m y, and th e broa d ening o f histori ograph y in
th e Euro pea n and Am eri ca n unive rsities in the first hal f of the century , th at led
initiall y to changes o f em p hasis in th e stud y o f th e histo ry o f sing le islands, and later
to hi stori es o f to pics w hich linked th e island s, no tabl y th e suga r industry , slavery ,
slave laws and Asian immig ratio n,
In th e establi shed universities o f H av ana and Pu erto Ri co and in new o nes
such as th e University o f th e W es t Indies , d ep artm ents o f Ca ribb ea n studi es we re
o p ened w ith t he aim o f und ertakin g teaching and resea rch o n Ca ribbea n literature,
histor y, c ulture and soc iety , th e b tter to understand fo rces th at had shap ed th e
regio n and to identi fy th e m an y elem ents w hi ch co nstitute Ca ribb ea n c ulture, T he
m ain findings o f th e sc ho lars sin ce th en are refl ected in th e six volumes o f thi s

vi vii
 Preface
histo ry, thereby presenting a mo re regio nal acco unt tha n before of the Ca ribbea n past
and of the people who have constituted Ca ribbea n society.
Thi ' history traces th e d evelopme nt o f the reg io n sta rtin g with the autochtho-
n us peoples of the Ca ribbea n. This includes the hunte rs a nd the ga the re rs as well as
the inc ipie nt cultivato rs associated with the beginnings of village life. Situated as they
we re at what had become the gateway to the New World , these populations were the
first to be e nslaved . The inhab itants o f the Greater Antilles were d ecimated by acts o f
excess ive inhuma nity and disease. Th e Caribs survived lo nge r thro ugh the ir well-
ho ne d fi ghting s kill s, but th e ir numbe rs dwindled neverthe less and in the e ighteenth
century those who still res isted were tra nspo rted to the coast o f Be li ze where th ey
estab lished communiti es th at exist to this day a nd from where they now re turn to
teach the ir native lang uage - 'Ga rifuna ' - to th e few Caribs who re ma in in Do minica
a nd in St Vincent. The sto ry o f these ea rl y societies is told in the first two volumes.
Volume III o f this histo ry (The Slave Societies) will constitute a centra l po int of
re fe re nce. In exa mining the crea tio n of new societies, full account is taken of s lave ry,
the te rribl e to ll of human life a nd suffe ring it exacte d and it pe rva sive impa ct o n the
psyc he o f th e Caribbean peo pl e, bo th white and black. Hes istan ce to slavery too k
ma ny forms , of which marro n'nage in Haiti , Jam aica a nd Suriname, whe re th e
numbe rs were large, has rece ived the most atte ntion . Hevolts a nd re be llio ns persisted
thro ug ho ut the regio n from the seventee nth century, although the best known is
unde r tandably that which led to Haiti 's inde pe nde nce a t the beginning o f the nine-
teenth ce ntury. The abolitio n of th e British slave trad e le ft slave ry itself intact, until it
g rad ua ll y succumbed in the decades o f the nine teenth century , first to the creed of
the French Revolutio n, the n to the combinatio n o f slave rebe llio ns in the islands a nd
the determined pro testatio ns of huma nita ri ans and free trade rs in Europe.
By the middl e of th e nin e teenth century the disputes between estate owners
a nd the e ma ncipated fie ld labourers, re fe rred to in Vo lumes I and IV, opened the way
fo r the influx of people fro m Asia , predo mina ntl y fro m India , thus adding a new
e le me nt to the Creole socie ti es which had gradually been fo rme d since the sixteenth
century. To avoid thi s suppl y o f new labo ur for suga r esta tes becoming the resto ra-
tion o f slavery in a new gu ise, the recruitme nt of the labo ure rs a nd the ir condition o f
work in the islands were regula te d by law. Neve rthe less , the constra ints of inde nture
a nd th e indig nities atte ndant o n be ing estate labo ure rs affec ted the way in which
Creole societies developed in the twe ntieth century. Undo ubted ly, slave ry and inde n-
ture have influ e nced the soc ial and eco nomic re latio ns of societies in the c ircum-
Ca ribbea n in ways productive o f e thnic a nd class conflict. Ye t they have no t only
been the sources o f cru e lty and inju stice , o f ac ts reme mbered a nd resente d , By per-
s iste nt res istance to these o ppress ive regimes, these societies have a lso e ndowed
themselves with the dignity and self-confide nce of free me n,
During the latte r part of the nineteenth century, the impulse towards autonomy
which was felt by some of the propertied a nd edu ca ted e lites was frustrated by inte r-
national , political a nd econo mic c ircumsta nces o utside their contro l. The production
of sugar from ca ne continued to dominate the Ca ribbea n econo mi es, with o il , mine r-
a ls and tourism becoming impo rta nt ite ms in the twentieth century. The influx of
viii
Preface
American ca pita l a nd the grad ua l diminution of European inte rests in the Caribbea n
led to the expa nsion o f American influe nce in the region from the turn o f the ce ntury
o nwards, notab ly in uba, Ha iti a nd Sa nto Domingo. This was the context in which
the move me nt · for se lf-d ete rminati o n wo rk ed , complica ted everyw here by racial
prejudice a nd disparities in the owne rship of property.
In the years fo ll ow ing the Second World Wa r, exa mine d in Volume V, the
isla nds and th e ir immed iate mainl a nd ne ig hbo urs have so ug ht a variety of solutio ns
to the pro ble ms which arise from soc ieties asse rtin g po litica l a utono my w hil e
possess ing econo mies dependent o n overseas ma rk e ts where their goods are pro-
tected from co mpe titio n . Pue rto Rico became the 'Estad o Libre ', a Commo nwea lth ;
the French-speaking isla nds became departments of France; the Dutch-speaking
isla nds, prior to the independe nce of Suri name , a ll became pa rt of the Kingdom of
the Ne the rl a nds; th e English isla nds first flirted w ith a Federation , then beca me
independe nt states sepa rate ly; other states, following periods o f milita ry dictator ' hip,
have pursued the path of socia list revolution. Curre ntl y, both in the is lands a nd o n
the contine nt, there is a growing te nde ncy fo r policy to be g uide d by regio na lism, by
the impul se towards association and co-ope ratio n , towards the fo rmatio n of trading
blocs, initiall y pro mpted b y geog raphi ca l propinquity.
These subregio ns have rece ntl y beg un concerte d efforts towa rds recogni zi ng
a nd con firmin g that the ir mutu a l inte rest w ill be served by closer association. It is
the re fo re app ropriate that the tw o UNESCO projects of the General History of the
Caribbean a nd the Gene/-al His/olY of Latin America a re being unde rtaken simultane-
o usly. The two hi stori es sho uld be read toge the r as distinct parts o f a unified whole,
as a n e le me nt in NESCO's contributio n to regiona l development thro ug h mutual
unde rsta nding a nd cultura l integratio n . Every effort w ill be made for both histori es to
reach as wide a public as possible in the majo r la ng uages o f the regio n , throu gh the
unive rsiti es, thro ug h the sc hools by mea ns of spec iall y ad a pte d versions (textbooks
and childre n's books) , and e ventuall y thro ugh radi o and te levisio n, plays and films .
I wish , in conclusio n, to exte nd my sincere tha nks to the Cha irman , Ha ppo rte ur
and me mbe rs of the Internatio nal Scientific Committee and to the ed itors and authors
of the va ri o us volumes who have come togethe r to participate in thi s s ignifi ca nt
e nte rprise. My thanks a lso go to the gove rnme nts a nd uni ve rsities which have
suppo rted the projec;t a nd to the Association of a ribbea n Historia ns, so ma ny of
whose members have contributed ge ne ro usly to the creatio n of this work ,
ix

DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT
Prqfessor Sir Roy Augier
Chairman o f th e Drafting Committee fo r
th e General Histo ry o f th e Ca ribbea n
T
he dec isio n to commissio n a U ESCO General Histo ry o f th e Ca ribbea n , taken
b y th e twenty- first sessio n o f th e General Conference o f UNESCO (980), w as
an instance o f t he change in c ultural p o licy whi ch resulted in a shift in empha-
sis fro m th e 'commo n heritage o f all mankind ' to ackn o wl edg ing th e 'di ve rsity o f c ul-
tures' and commiss io ning th e histo ri es o f Afri ca , Ce ntral Asi a, Latin Am eri ca and th e
Caribbean , as w ell as a revi sio n o f the HistolY of Mankind. In all th ese cases, th e brief
o f th e Director-Ge nera l was fo r a histo ry o b ser ved fro m insid e th e regio n n o t fro m
th e outsid e, as if fro m th e p o rts and ca pitals o f Euro pean co lo nizers. Cultural identity,
unity in diversity, and th erefo re th e c ultural heritages o f th e regio n s, w e re to info rm
th e th em es chosen fo r th e histo ry, g i ving pro minence to th ose g roups, p erson s and
c ultures hitherto eith er exclud ed fro m histo ri ca l narratives, o r treated m o re as o bj ects
th an as actors in th e descriptio n o f events.
B y D ecember 1981, wh en th e W o rking G ro up fo r th e Prepar ati o n o f a General
Hi sto ry o f th e Ca ribb ea n m et in Pari s, th e id eas and aims expressed b y th e UNESCO
General Conferences o f 1978 and 1980 w ere w ide ly shared b y th e twenty sch o lars,
Ca ribbea n and Euro p ea n , w h o m th e Directo r-General had invited in th eir p ersonal
capacity to brea k ground fo r th e project . Th e as pirati o n s of th e gro und-breakers
mbraced geograph y , anthro po logy, archaeology, ethn ograph y, demograph y, society,
relig io n , po litiCS , ethni c ity, culture, ritu als, c usto m s, soc io- ling uisti cs, music , d ance ,
festivals, o ral traditio n , histo ri ograph y and ca rtograph y. On e is tempted to co nc lud e
etcetera, and ri ghtl y so, beca use th eir SUCCessors no ti ced th at , in 198 1, th e W o rkin g
Gro up had overl oo ked gender and th e en viro nment. Th e inclusiven ess o f their visio n
o f th e hi to ry o f th e Ca ribbea n w as , n o d o ubt, du e to th e d esire o f th e tw enty scho l-
ars that th e history o f its peopl e and th eir habitat sh o uld be written as if o b se rved
fro m inside the regio n .
H ow was thi s vi sio n to be m ad e co ncrete in a few volumes, limited to twenty
chapters each' H ow, within that general framew o rk , to dea l adequatel y with the wid e
diversity o f size, ances try, religio n , lang uage, custo m , p o litics' H ow to set the chro no-
logica l limits ( 0 volumes w ith ut cutting o ff th em es artifi Ciall y' H ow to integrate th e
m ateri al into a Ca ribb ea n narrative and avoid writin g histo ry as m erel y summary
accounts o f th e large r islands'
Th e task w as g i ve n to th e Drafting Committee whi ch first m et in Kin gsto n in
April 1983. Of its nineteen m embers, twelve w ere fro m th e Ca ribbea n and se ven fro m
Afri ca , Indi a, Euro pe and th e Am eri cas. A t fir ·t , th e Committee use d the tex t o f th e
x
Description of the Proj ect
Rep o rt o f th e W o rking G ro up (1 981) to elicit th e th emes signifi ca nt fo r Ca ribbea n
histo ry. But in th e discu ssio n whi ch fo llo w ed , the form o f o rga ni za ti o n pro p ose d b y
th e W o rkin g G ro up w as abando ned and repl aced by fi ve th em es whi h w o uldm a ~ e
fo r a co herent histo ry o f th e Ca ribbea n regio n whil e being co nsonant with th e
U ESCO guidelines.
Th ese w ere Autochtho no us Societi es , New Soc ieti es: Th e Lo ng Si x teenth
Ce ntury, Sl ave Societi es , Th e Lo ng' N inetee nth Century , Th e Caribbea n in th e
Twentieth Century, and th ey beca m e, with slig ht elab ora ti o n , th e titl es fo r th e first
five vo lumes o f th e histo ry. Th e Drafting Committee also p ro mised to co nsider adding
an annexe containing m aps and statisti cs , and thi s in tim e beca m e th e six th vo lum e,
M ethodo logy and Histo ri ograph y o f th e Caribbean .
Volume I- A utochthonous Societies
Thi s vo lum e relates th e history of th e o ri g ins o f th e ea rli est Ca ribb ea n p eoples , and
analyses th eir vari o us po litical , social , cultural and econo mic o rga niza ti o ns over tim e,
in and aro und th e Ca ribbea n reg io n.
Volume IJ - New Societies: Tbe Caribbean in tbe Long Six teentb Ce nt~IIY
Th e subject o f thi s vo lume is th e evolutio n o f Ca ribbea n society throu g h th e intrusio n
o f Euro pea ns, and it exa mines th e dram ati c changes in p o liti cs , soc iety and c ulture
whi ch occurred until 1680. Th ese changes are studi ed in conjunctio n with th e rapidl y
dwindlin g presence o f th e Am erindi ans and th e increas ing numbers o f Sp anish
English , French and Dutch settl ers.
Volume IIJ- Slave Societies of tbe Caribbean
Th e slave societi es w ere m o re th an soc ieti es with enslave d Afri ca ns, so thi s volume
exa min es t he d em ographic and econo mic as well as social and cultural asp ects o f all
th ose communities whi ch resulted fro m th e establi shment o f th e Caribbea n slave
systems.
Volume IV- The Long Nineteentb CentulY: Nineteentb-Century Transformations
Emphas izing th em es rath er th an chro no logy, thi s volume covers th e p eri o d f ro m th e
end o f slavery (a lth o ug h thi s vari es in tim e fro m territo ry to terri tory) to th e tw entieth
ce ntury. Its m ajo r th em es are d ependent lab o ur g ro ups, es p ec ially emigrants fro m
Asia , th e dev elo pment and diversifica ti o n o f local econo mies , and th e emerge nce
thro ug ho ut th e regio n o f va ry ing d egrees o f nati o nal co nsc io usness as we ll as fo rms
o f government.
Volume V- Tbe Caribbean in tbe Twentieth CenttllY
Th e prev alence and persistence o f th e pl antati o n , th e ub iquity o f underemploym ent,
th e vulnerability o f d ependent Ca ribbea n econo mies , po pul ar and lab o ur protests,
d ecolo ni za ti o n and neo-colo nialism are all co nsidered in thi s vo lume. It also expl o res
th e effec ts o f migrati o n , mass communica ti o ns and m o d erni zatio n o n th e cultures o f
loca l societies.
Volume VI - Metbodology and Historiography of tbe Caribbean
Thi s volume has three secti o ns. Th e first exa mines sources o f histo ri cal evidence and
th e techniqu es use d to stud y th em fo r th e purpose o f writin g Caribbea n history. In
xi
 Description of the Project
the second , the histo riogra ph y of the reg io n is trea ted thematica lly, tracing the
changes in the inte rpre tatio n of the past. The third is devoted to the histo riography of
particular te rritories a nd histo ry-w riting in all its branches
At its first meeting, the Draftin g Committee also made three decis io ns which sho uld
I e no ticed he re: it appointed edito rs fo r the five volumes a nd the pro posed annexe; it
decid ed that since it had pro vide d in some de ta il the co nte nts o f Vo lumes IT a nd III
the editors could compl e te work o n the conte nts o f the ir volumes a nd name th~
a uth o rs by th e e nd of 1983 ; it ackn ow le dged tha t the conte nts o f Vo lume I needed
deta ile d e laboration a nd agreed that the ed ito r sho uld have the he lp of a workshop
of specia lists to provide the details. Nevertheless , the Committee proposed that
Volumes I, II and III sho uld be publishe d first a nd togethe r and set Jul y 1986 as the
date for the fin a l submissio n of manuscripts to U ESCO.
Provis io nal ca le nda rs fo r producing histo ries in seve ral volumes and with
chap te rs from scores o f a utho rs are no t dates that a re like ly to be met. As has been
the case with o the r multi-volume histo ries, inviting the most compe te nt historia ns to
be ed ito rs and a uthors has a lso mea nt taking the risk that the publi ca tio n o f the work
wi ll be lo ng-de layed , sin ce such pe rsons no rma ll y have ma ny o the r commitme nts.
The estimates made in April o f 1983 were soo n Wild ly o ut. The fir t meeting of the
Bureau o f th e Draftin g Committee sche dule d fo r Septe mbe r 1984 was he ld in Ma y
1985. The new date proposed for the submission of ma nuscripts o f Volumes I, II a nd
ITI was December 1987. Volume III , w hi ch was published in 1997 , was submitted in
1992 .
When the General History of the Caribbea n was first proposed , the re were just
e no ug h histori a ns who had resea rc he d the ir topics across the barrie rs o f lang uage.
ince the n the existe nce of the Association of Caribbea n Histo rians has made poss ibl e
a s ubstantia l increase of o ur compara tive kn owle dge of the regio n's past. At its
meetings, pap e rs on simila r to pics a nd re lated th e mes pe rtaining to diffe re nt te rrito-
ri es, a re presented in the languages of th e Ca ribbea n , thu g iving histo ria ns access to
th e results of resea rch done across the barriers of la ng uage. To that exte nt these s ix
volumes ca n be sa id to be a work in progress ,·a ma rke r toward a fully integra ted
Ca ribbea n histo ly.
xii
LI ST OF CO TRIBUTORS
MERVYN C. ALLEYNE (Trinidad and Tobago) is Professo r Emeritus of Socio-
LinguistiCS at th e Unive rsity of the West Indies , Mona campus , Ja ma ica. Hi s
publi ca tions includ e Co mparative AfrO-American (1980) , Studies in
Saramaccan Language Structure (1987), Roots of jamaican Culture (1988)
and Syntaxe histo1"ique cl-eoLe (1997).
HILARY McD. BECKLES (Ba rba dos) is Professo r o f History and Pro-Vi ce-
Chance ll o r for Und e rgraduate Studies at th e Unive rs ity o f th e West Indies,
Mo na ca mpu s, Jamai ca. In 1994 he rece ive d th e Vice-Chancellor's inaugural
Award for Exce ll e nce in Research. He has publishe d seve ral books, including
Natural RebeLs (1989) , White Servitude and BLack Slavery in Barbados,
1627-1713 (989) , A History of Barbados (990) and The Development of
West Indies Cricket (1998).
BRIDGET BRERETON (Trinidad and To bago), is Pro fesso r o f Histo ry at th e
University o f th e West Indies, St Augustine ca mpu s, Trinidad a nd Tobago
and De puty Prin cipal o f the St Augustine ca mpus of the Unive rs ity of
the West Indi es . She won the Vice-C han ce ll o r's Awa rd for Excellence in
Tea ching, Resea rch and Administration in 1996, and serve d as Pres id e nt of
the Association of Ca ribbea n Histori ans 1994-7. Among he r publi ca tions are
Race Relations in Colonial Trinidad, 1870-1900 (1979), A Hist01'Y of Modern
T1"inidad, 1 78~ 1 962 (1981) and Law, justice and Empire (997).
DAVID BUlSSERET (USA) was form e rl y Pro fesso r of Hi story at th e Unive rs ity o f
the West Indi es, Mona campus, J ama ica and is now Je nkins and Virginia
Garrett Professor of History at the University of Texas, Arlingto n. His publica-
tions on the Caribbean include Histo1"ic jamaicaji-om the Air 0969, with Jack
Tyndale-Biscoe), Port Royal, jamaica 0975 , with Mi cha e l Pawso n) a nd
Histo1"ic ArchitectU1-e of the Caribbean (980).
ROBERTO CASSA (Dominican Republi c) is Professor of Histo ry at th e
Un ive rsid ad Aut6 no ma de Santo Domin go a nd a me mbe r of the Aca de mia
Do mini ca na d e la Histori a . His books include Los lainos de La EspaiioLa
(1974), His/aria social y economica de La Republica Dominicana (1977-80),
Capitalismo y dictadura (982) , Los doce anos (1966) , Movimiento obrero y
lucha socialista en La Republica Dominicana (990), Los indios de Las Antillas
(1992) and La Republica Dominicana (1997).
xiii
 Lis! of Con !ributors
MICHAEL CRATON (Canada) is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Among hi s publications a re A History 0./ the
Bahamas (963) , A jamaican Plantation 0970, with J ames Walvin) , Sinews
0./ Empil'e (974) , Seal'ching./or the Invisible Man (978) , Testing the Chains
(982) and Islanders in the Stream 0992-8) , with Gail Saunders. He is
curre ntly writing the officia l hi sto ry of the Cayman Islands and Islanders.
KUSHA IiARAKSINGH (Trinid ad a nd Tobago) teaches in the Department of
History, nivers ity of the West Indi es, St Augustine campus, Trinidad a nd
Tobago, is a former Head of that Department, and a Barrister of Lincoln 's
Inn. He has published on the Indian diaspora , plantation labour syste ms, a nd
law and soc ial change.
B. W. HIGMAN (Austra li a) wa formerly Professor o f Hi sto ry at the Unive rsity
of the West Indi es , Mona camp us , Jamaica and is now William Keith
Hancock Professor of History at the Australian Nationa l Un iversity. His books
includ e Slave Population and Economy in jamaica, 1807-1834 (976),
SLave PopuLations 0./ the British Caribbean, 1807-1834 (984) , j amaica
Surveyed (988), MontpeLier, jamaica (1998) and Writing West Indian
Histories (999).
ROSEMARIJN HOEFTE (The Nethe rlands) is Deputy Head of the Department of
Caribbean tudi es, Royal Institute of Linguistics and Anthropology, Leiden,
and Associate Edi to r of New West Indian Guide. Her publications include
papers o n aspects o f the histo ry of Suriname a nd the Netherlands Antilles,
and a book In PLace 0./ SlavelY (998) o n the socia l history of British Indi a n
and Javanese labourers in Suriname.
LAiiNNEC HURDON (Ha iti) is Director of Research , Sociology Section, Centre
ationa l de la Reche rche Scientifique , Paris. He has w rked intens ive ly on
the socio logy of religion in the Caribbean, publishing Dietl dans Le vaudou
haitien (972), Cultures et pouvoirs dans La Carai'be (975), CuLture et
dictature en Haiti (979) , Comprendre Hai'ti (987) , Le barbare imaginaire,
sorciers, zombies et cannibaLes (988) and Le phenomene religieux dans La
Caribe ./rancophone (989).
FE IGLESIAS GARCIA (C uba) is a research scho la r at the Institute of Socia l
Sciences of the Academy of c iences , Havana , Cuba. he holds degrees in
sociology as well as hi sto ry, a nd ha s publi hed widely o n th e soc ial and
economic history of nineteenth-century Cuba , particularly the hi tory of
sugar.
HOWARD JOHNSON (Jamaica) taught at the Unive rsity of th e West Indies, Mona
camp us, Jamaica , a nd the Co llege of the Bahamas before taking up his
current position of Professor of Black American Studies and History at
the Unive rs ity of Delaware, Newark , USA. Among his publications a re
xiv
Lis! of Con! ribLl !OI'S
The Bahamasji'om SlavelY to Servitude (996) and Tbe White Minority in tbe
Caribbean 0998, co-edited wi th Karl Watson).
FRANKLIN W. KNIGHT (Jamaica) is Leonard a nd Helen R. Stu lm an Professor of
History at The Johns Hopkins nivers ity, Baltimore , Maryland , USA , and
President of the Latin American Stud ies Association. His numerous publica-
tions include Slave Society in Cuba during the Nineteenth Centwy (970) , Tbe
African Dimension 0./ Latin American Societies (1974) , Tbe Caribbean 0978,
1990) and The Modern Cal'ibbean 0989, co-edited with Co lin A. Palmer). He
ed ited Volume III of th e UNESCO GeneraL Hist01Y q/ the Caribbean.
SERGE MAM-LAM-FoucK (French Guyana) is Maitre de conferences a l'Univers ite
des Antilles et de la Guyane , in French Guyana. His principal publications
are Histoire de la societe guyanaise (987) , Histoire de La Guyane contempor-
aine, 1940-1982 (992) , l-listoire generaLe de La Guyane./ranfaise (996),
D 'Chimbo, du aimineL au heros (997) and L'esclavage en Guyane./rancaise
(998)
WOODVILLE MARSHALL (Barbados) is Pro-Vice-Chancellor and, since 1977,
Professor of History, at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill campus ,
Barbados. He was the Founding President of the Association of Caribbean
Historians in 1974 and Ed itor of the journal of Caribbean History from
1981-90. He has published wide ly o n the post-emancipation period and
produced an edition of Tbe CoLtburst j ourncli (977).
JAMES MILLETIE (Trinidad and Tobago) taught for many years at the University
of the West Indies, St Augustine campus, Trinidad and Tobago, and is now a
member of the African American Stud ies Department at Oberlin Co ll ege,
Oberlin,Ohi , USA. His first book, Tbe Genesis o./Crown CoLony Government
was publi hed in 1970, a nd h e edited Freedom Road (980). He has spoken
and written in a variety of contexts , dealing particularly with Caribbean
constituti o nal histo ry , labour history, a nd the development of nationalist,
a nti -colonia l a nd anti-imperial movements.
GERT OOSTlNDlE (The Net herlands) directs the Department of Caribbean
Studies at the Royal Institute of Linguistics and Anthropology in Leiden , ho lds
a chair as Professor of Caribbean Studies at Utrecht University , and is
Managing Editor of the New West Indian Guide. Among his more recent
books a re Etnicidad como estrategia en America Latina y eL Caribe 0996 ,
with Michiel Baud et aL.) , Het Paradijs overzee (997) , Ki sorto di Reino?
Wbat kind 0./ Kingdom? 0998, with Peter Verton), Dromen en Littekens van
de Curafaose revoLte, 3 0 mei 1969(999) and Curafao mei 1969(999).
ANNE PEROTlN-DuMON (France) holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of
Paris, o rbonne, France. Following a career at the French Ministry of Culture as
curator of arch ives, she taught at Kent State University and the Un iversity of
xv
 List of Contributors

Virginia (USA). At present, she is Professor of HistOlY at the Catholic Un iversity ABBR EVIATIO S
of Ch il e, Sa ntiago, and a contributing editor of the Handbook of Latin
American Studies (History of the Caribbean and the Guyanas). Her many
publications include Etre patriote sous fes tropiques: La Guadeloupe, la colonisa-
tion et la revolution 178~1794 (985) , La ville aux iles, fa ville dans L'ile:
Basseterre et POinte-it-Pitre, Guadeloupe 1650-1820 (1999).
FERNANDO PICO (P ue rto Rico) is Professor of History at the Unive r ity of Puerto ACIJ African-Caribbean Institute of Jamaica
Rico in RIo Piedras, a nd served as President of the Assoc iation of Ca ribbean AGI Archivo Ge ne ra l de Indias
Historians 1990-4. His books include Libertad y servidwnbl'e en el Puerto API Agency for Public Info rmation
Rico del siglo 19(979), Los gal/os peleados (1983), Historia general de Puerto BGCSE Bahamas Gene ra l CertifIcate of Secondary Education
Rico (986), 1898: La guerra despues de la guerra (1987), El dia menos BlSRA Belizean Institute for Socia l and Resea rch Activities
pensado (1994), and Historia general del Occidente Eumpeo, siglos 5 a l 15 CEREP Centro de Estudios de la Rea lidad Puertorriquena
(1998). He is a Jesuit priest. CGHIA Centre de Genea logie et d 'Histoire des Isles d 'Amerique
CXC Caribbean Examinations Council
MARGARET D . R OUSE-JONES (Trinid ad and Tobago) is Camp us Librarian at the DAWN Developme nt Alternatives for Women in a New Era
Un ive rs ity of the West Indi es, St Augustine campus, Trinidad and Tobago, EPICA Ecumenica l Program for Inte ramerican Comm unication and Action
a nd holds a Ph.D. in History from The Johns Hopkins Un iversity . She has GCE Genera l CertifI cate of Education
published indexes to the co nfe rence papers of the Association of Ca ribbean GHC Genea logie et Histoire de la Cara'ibe
Historians and to the Journal of Caribbean History, and organ ized several ICTA Imperial College of Trop ica l Agriculture
a rchival collections including the papers of Eric Williams. INSTRAW Institute for Training and Research for the Advancement of Women
ISER Institute of Social and Economic Resea rch
FRANCISO A. SCARANO (P uerto Rico) taught at universities in Puerto Rico before
JIS Jamaican Information Service
becoming Professor of History a nd Director, Latin American a nd Iberian
JLP Jamaica Labour Party
Stud ies Program, in the niversity of Wisconsin-Madison , USA. He has pub- Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- e n Yolke nkunde
KITLY
lished Inmigraci6n y clases sociales en el Puerto Rico del siglo XIX (1981), Progressive Liberal Party
PLP
Sugar and StavelY in Puerto Rico (1984), Puerto Rico: cinco siglos de bistoria Peoples' National Movement
PNM
(1993) and man y a rticl es. PNP Peoples' Nationa l Party
JEAN STUBBS(UK) is Professor of Caribbean Studies a t the Univers ity of North PPP Peoples' Progressive Party
London, a nd served as Chair of the Society for Ca ribbea n Studies (UK) PUP Peoples' United Party
SEAl) Sociedad Economica d e Amigos del Pais
1993-5. Her books includ e Tobacco on the PeripbelY (1985), Cuba: The Test
SPEAR Society for the Promotion of Education and Research
of Time (989) , AFROCUBA (1993, co-ed ited with Pedro Perez Sa rdu y) and
TUC Trades Union Congress
Cuba: An Annotated Bibliography (996) .
UCWl University College of th e West Indies
MICHEL-R oLPH TROUILLOT (Ha iti) is Professor of Anthropology at the University UW1 University of the West Indies
of Chicago, USA. He writes on socia l theory , Caribbean slave societies and WAND Women and Development Studies
the e me rgence of peasantries. Among his books are Ti dif boule sou Istoua WLL Workers' Liberation Leag ue
Ayiti (977), a history of the St Domingue/ Haiti slave revolution and the first
no n-fiction book in Haitian creo le, Peasants and Capital (988), Haiti: State
Against Nation (1990) and Silencing the Past (1995).
TRANSlATORS Drafts of Chapters 6 and 20 were translated from the French by
IHERST School of Languages (Trinidad), Language Training Centre
(Jamaica) , Patricia Loguidice and Cynthia Moulton Cumberbatch, and drafts
of Chapters 12, 13 and 14 from the Spa nis h by IHERST Schoo l of Languages
(Trinidad), Annette Insanally a nd Andrew Hurl ey.

xvi xvii
 e
Plates

PL ATES Plate 30 Elsa V. Goveia

Pl ate 31Jacket of Goveia 's Slaue Society (965)
Plate 32 Douglas Hall
Plate 33 eville Hall
Plate 34 Johannes Hartog
Plate 35 Albert Helman (Lou Lichtve ld)
Plate 1 Teblni, Saramaka historian of First-Time, Suri name (born c.1898) Plate 36 Hany Hoetink
Plate 2 Adina Henry , performance storyte ll er, Kingston , Jamaica (c.1980) Plate 37 Eugenio Marla de Hostos
Plate 3 Woodcut from the Columbu s letter (Flore nce, 1493) Plate 38 Laennec Hurbon
Plate 4 German woodcut of about 1500, showing Portuguese vesse ls and Plate 39 C. L. R. James
Amerindia ns Plate 40 Juan Isidro Jime nes Grullon
Plate 5 Map of the North Atlantic from the Miller Atlas , c.1519 Plate 41 Franklin W. Knight
Plate 6 Woodcut from Oviedo's Natural History (547) , showing Plate 42 Anton de Kom
Amerindian culti vatio n Plate 43 Title page of de Kom 's Wij slaven en Su.riname (934)
Plate 7 Map from the atlas of Guillaume Le Testu , 1556 Pl ate 44 Bartolome de Las Casas
Plate 8 Amerindia ns making a canoe , from Theodor de Bry, Americae Plate 45 Keith Laurence
(Frankfort, 1590-1634) Plate 46 Rudolf A.]. van Lier
Plate 9 How Indians made marriage a lliances , from the Drake Manuscript Plate 47 Edward Long
Plate 10 Plan of coffee works from P.]. Laborie, The Coffee Planter oj Saint Plate 48 Americo Lugo
Domingo (London, 1798) Plate 49 Gregorio Luperon
Plate 11 Jamaican village sce ne, photograph by Adolpe Duperly, c.1900 Plate 50 Thomas Madiou
Plate 12 Jacques Adela'ide-Merlande Plate 51 Woodville Marshall
Plate 13 Alex Beaubrun Ardouin Plate 52 Peter Martyr
Plate 14 Roy Augier Plate 53 Lucille Mathurin Mair
Plate 15 Pedro Francisco Bono Plate 54 Mary Noel Menezes RSM
Plate 16 Juan Bosch Plate 55 Sidney W. Mintz
Plate 17 Kamau Brathwaite Plate 56 Patricia Mohammed
Plate 18 Sa lvado r Brau Plate 57 Antonio del Monte y Tejada
Plate 19 Title page from Brau 's La Colonizaci6n de Puerto Rico (first pub Plate 58 Fernando Ortiz
lished 1907) Plate 59 Title page of Ortiz's Contrapunteo cubano (940)
Plate 20 Bridget BreI' ton Plate 60 Richard Pares
Plate 21 Ca rl Campbell Plate 61 Manuel Arturo Pefla Batlle
Plate 22 Michael Craton Plate 62 Frontispiece and title page of Cha rl es de Rochefort' Histoil'e
Plate 23 Isaac Dookhan naturelle et morale (658)
Plate 24 Frontispiece a nd title page from Jean Bapti te Du Tertre's Histoire Plate 63 Abbe Guillaume T. Raynal
generale (667) Plate 64 Rhoda E. Reddock
Plate 25 Bryan Edwards Plate 65 Walter Rodney
Plate 26 Pieter C. Emmer Plate 66 Emilio Rod riguez Demorizi
Plate 27 Roger Gaillard Plate 67 James Rodway
Plate 28 Jose Gabriel Garcia Plate 68 Jose Antonio Saco
Plate 29 Corne lis Ch . Goslinga Plate 69 Verene A. Shepherd
Plate 70 Richard B. Sheridan

xviii xix
 Plates

Plate 71 Blanca Silvestrini A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Plate 72 Title page of Silvestrini 's Violencia y criminalidad (980)
Plate 73 Henock Trouillot
Plate 74 Fray Cipri a no de Utrera
Plate 75 Eric Williams
Plate 76 Title page of Williams ' Capitalism and Slavery (944)
The authors and publishers wish to acknowledge , with thanks , the following
Plate 77 David Mclean a nd his street art, Kingston , Jamaica (c. 1970)
photographic sou rces:
Plate 78 Cover of Coll azo 's Petroglifos (992)
Plate 79 Page from Sir Arthur Lewis, writer Guy Ellis, artist Lisa Bhajan Bibliotheque ationa le de France, Plate 5
(990) Roberto Cassa , Plates 15, 28, 40, 48, 49,57, 61 a nd 74
Plate 80 St Martin Museum/ Musee, Marigot, St Martin The Consortium, OWl, Plate 39
Plate 81 SIMARTN Museum, Philipsburg, St Maarten Department of History, OWl, Mona , Plates 22 and 33
Plate 82 'Lavi Donmnik', Old Mill Museum, Canefield , Dominica Mrs Isaac Dookhan, Plate 23
Plate 83 Estate Whim Plantation Museum, St Croix Encic!opedia Dominicana, San Juan, Plates 16, 37 and 66
Plate 84 Hamilton Heritage Ce ntre , Nevis Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbl1ttel , Plate 4
Plate 85 Maximo G6mez mo nume nt, Havana , Cuba B.W. Higman, Plates 80 and 81
Plate 86 Le marron de St Domingue ('The Unknown Maroon '), Port a u Instituto Cubana del Libro, Plate 58
Prince, Haiti KITLV, Plates 29, 34, 35, 36 , 42 and 46
Plate 87 1763 monument, Georgetown , Guyana Library of Congress, Plate 8
Library of The UWI, Mona, Plates 13, 18, 19, 24, 43,44, 50 , 53, 59 , 62,63,
67 , 68 and 76
Ms Janice Mayers , Plate 12
Mrs Jacq ue line Mintz, Plate 55
National Library of Jamaica, Plates 10, 11 , 30,47 and 52
Organization of American States, Plate 84
Oxford Unive rsity Press, Plate 60
Pierpont Morgan Library/ Art Resou rce, New York , Plate 9
The Press, UWl , Plate 70
Richard Price and The Johns Hopkins University Press, Plate 1
Service Historique de l'Armee de Terre , Vincennes, Plate 7
Laura Tanna , Plates 2 and 77
Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Plates 27 and 73
World Literature Today, Unive rsity of Oklahoma , Plate 17
Yale Uni ve rsity Press, Plate 31
The publishers have made eve ry effort to trace the copyrig ht ho lders , but if
they ha ve inadve rte ntly overlooked a ny, they will be pleased to make the
necessary arra ngeme nts at the first opportunity.
Plate 1 is taken from Richard Price , First-Time: The Historical Vision of an
AfrO-American People, p. 37 ; Plate 23 from Marilyn F. Krigger, Isaac
Dookhan: A Scholar'S Life and Works (St Thomas , USVl: Univers ity of the
Virgin Islands), 1992; Plate 54 from M.N.Menezes, RSM , Scenes from the
History of the Portuguese in Guyana.
xx xxi
 z z I N TR O D UC TI O
o
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LO
B . W H igman

:5:

T
he prin cipa l objective o f thi s vo lum e of th e Geneml History oj the
0
co Cm'ibbean is to prov ide a s urvey of th e deve lo pm e nt of hi sto ri ca l
'N unde rsta nding in th e regio n . It a lso see ks to po int to th e future ,
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setting o ut new age nd a a nd re fl ecting o n th e po te nt ia l o f new me th ods a nd
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inte rpre tatio ns . The volum e is divided between meth odo logy a nd hi sto riogra-
(.) rn ro ph y but the two the mes co nsta ntl y overl a p a nd inte rlink .
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i=: c ::J Me th od o logy is co nce rn e d bo th w ith th e technica l co nce rns of hi sto r-
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ia ns a nd th e th eo re tica l fra meworks th ey e mp loy to interp re t a nd co mmuni-
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:5: <:(
historians ide nti fy and access histo rica l ev ide nce, the mea ns they use to inte r-
0 roga te th ese data , a nd the tools ap plied to a na lysis. Suc h technica l criti c ism
r-.
and analysis occurs, o r sho uld occur, prio r to inte rpretatio n and the construc-
ro tio n of narratives. The theo retica l frameworks e mpl oyed by hi sto ri ans eme rge
.0 most cl ea rl y in th e process o f inte pre tati o n a nd the w riting of histo ries .
rn
ro E
OlE o Hi sto ri og ra ph y is used to re fe r to th e histo ry of histo ri ca l w ritin g . At
.!:ro o tim es the wo rd is used mo re broadly, to cove r th e histo ry of histo ri ca l know-
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past a nd the broade r issues of methodo logy. In this vo lume, historiogra phy is
unde rstood to focus o n th e w ritte n produ cts of hi sto ri ca l thinking , but w ith
constant refere nce to the larger sphe re o f soc ial me mo ly. Th e stud y of histo r-
rn iograph y is principa ll y co ncerne d w ith th e ways in w hic h kn ow ledge of th e
\)
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c past h as cha nged ove r time , th e socia l recog n itio n a nd sta tu s o f hi sto ri a ns ,
ro
E cha nges in s ubj ect matte r a nd source mate ri a ls, the phil oso phi es a nd
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Th e re a re seve ra l poss ib le ways of o rga ni zing th e stu dy of Ca ri bbea n
(.) l.i..J
li:: histo riogra ph y a nd hi sto rica l me th odo logy, each w ith its peculiar ad va ntages
G a a nd d isadva ntages . A chro no logica ll y o rde red account has ma ny attractio ns,
~ :5: pe rmittin g th e co mparison of diffe re nt te rrito ri es in pa rti cul a r pe ri ods a nd
z 0
en holding the larger context constant. The majo r d isadva ntage of this a pproach
is ling uistic, re fl ectin g th e continuing limi ta ti o ns o f Ca ribbea n hi sto ri a ns in

xxii 1
 General History of the Caribbean
their ability to cope eq ually with materials in Spanish, English , French , Dutch
and Danish . A second a lte rn ative is to study territori es individu a ll y or in
groups, controlling mo re effective ly the e nviro nme nta l and political contexts,
a nd taking adva ntage of loca l experti se. This approach does not co mpl ete ly
remove the langu age diffIculty, howeve r, and ma inta in s the fragmentation
which has been a defining characteristic of th e modern Ca ribbea n expe ri-
e nce. Thirdly, a th e mati c app roac h co uld be take n. The la ngu age probl em
rema ins important in this case, a lo ng with the diffIculty of id e ntifying a set of
the mes which offers truly comp re he ns ive coverage at the sa me time as pro-
viding ro ug hly eq ua l treatment of the diffe re nt territories.
The stru cture of the present volume rep rese nts a comb inatio n of the
second and third approac hes o utlined above, the territorial a nd the thematic.
Ten chapte rs (12-21) deal with the histo ri ograph ies o f individual te rritories
o r g ro upings of territories, providing a comp re he nsive acco unt of deve lop-
me nts throu gho ut th e reg ion as defined for th e purposes of the UNESCO
General History. Another chapte r (11) studies the history of regio nal histories,
those works which have treate d the Ca ribbea n as a reg io n, most of th em
dealing with the lo ng te rm . Thematic studi es occ upy seve n c hapters (4-10),
taking up the treatment of p articul ar e le me nts in Ca ribbea n history: economic
inte rpreta tio ns; gender; id eology; natio nalism a nd impe ria lism; race , ethni city
a nd class; slave ry a nd emanc ipa ti on ; a nd labour movements. The develop-
me nt of me th odo logy is important in a ll of these chapte rs, but is addressed
mo re directly, in its mode rn inca rn ation, in the chapte rs (2-3) dealing partic-
ularly with linguisti c and th e ora l tradition , and with documentary evide nce .
The first chapte r provides a broad background to the conte nts of the volume
as a whole, while the fin al c hapte r dea ls particularly with the differe nt modes
o f co mmunicatio n that have been e mpl oyed in ma king known the findings
of Ca ribbean historians.
The cha pte rs conta in ed in this volume were compl eted a t diffe re nt
dates. The first to be submitted was rece ived in 1990 a nd the last in 1998.
Originally, 26 cha pte rs were planned. Missing from the volume a re proposed
c hapte rs dealing with exp ress ive cu lture as historica l ev ide n ce, mate rial
culture as historica l evidence, soc ia l scie nce hi story, and res ista nce and revo-
lution in Caribbean history. The pl a nning and initial ed iting of the volume
was ca rried out in collaborati o n with Jean Casimir. Unfo rtunate ly , he was
unabl e to continue as co-editor, but his co ntributi o ns are gratefully acknow-
le dged . Gregory Bowen of the Australian National University provided valu-
ab le assistance with many aspects of the proj ect in its late r stages and hi s
meticulous a pproach is greatly apprec iated. Chapters 6 a nd 20 have been
translated from the ir authors ' French , and Chapters 12, 13 and 14 fro m
Spanish.
2 3
1
TH E DEVELOPME T OF HI STORICA L DISCIPLI ES
IN THE CARIBBEA N
B. W. Higman
T
HE id ea of histo ry as a 'disc ipline ' belongs almost excl USive ly to
Western culture of the nineteenth a nd twe ntie th centuries. It was in
this rece nt period that authority was accorded to re presentations o f
th e past produ ced by professionals working in institutionalized acade mies.
The a uthority of s uch mod e rn accounts was ha rd won , and rema ins co n-
tested within the aca demy as well as in the wider inte llectual world. In the
Caribbean , a reg io n crea ted in its modern creole inca rnatio n by Europea n
ca rrie rs of Western culture in interactio n with African and Asian peoples, dis-
ciplinary histo ry was a re lative latecome r, with the aca d e my ge ne ra lly
becomin g a s ig nifi ca nt feature of loca l life o nl y in the seco nd half of the
twentieth ce ntury.
For most o f th e hi story of the Ca ribbea n since Columbus , re prese nta-
tions of the past were the work of oral hi sto rians or o f an e lite possessed of
the reso urces needed to publish written acco unti)whe reas the o ral hi sto r-
ian s were roote d in their regio n , the writers a nd publish e rs o f printed
accounts were very ofte n phys ica lly loca ted in , a nd id eo log ica ll y o ri e nte d
to, the metropolita n ce ntres of imp eria l co ntr<zIjI n spite of the obv io us
haza rds of th e la tte r as so urces for understanding reg io na l rea liti es ,
howeve r, it is th e written rathe r than the o ral representations that have
been privil eged in the lo ng te rm a nd it is these written (printed , published)
narratives th at fo rm tl.l e e se nti a l co re of m od e rn disciplinary debate. It is
th e written na rratives which, in turn , h ave become the primary focus of
hi sto ri es of histo ri ca l acco unts o r ' hi st ri og raphy ', the hi sto ry of history-
writing. Similarl y, 'diSCiplinary' ana lyses of histo ri ca l method have emerged
a lo ng w ith aca d e mi c professionalization a nd naturally find their focus in
th e use of documentary so urces a nd in w ritte n modes of na rrat ive pro-
du cti o n. The reaso ns for this foc us , a nd the historica l developme nt of a tra-
dition of hi sto ry-w ritin g in a nd abo ut the Caribbea n , a re core concerns of
this vol"ume.