Sugar Plantation Guides and the Transnational History of the Plantation Complex, 1750 - 1910
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Edinburgh
Department Name: College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sci
Abstract
This research will identify changes in the sugar plantation as it spread globally, including its geographical shift, the end of dependence on enslaved labour and evolving cultivation and production methods. It will also search for continuities in the sugar plantation's logic and functioning over time. Key research questions include:
How did approaches to sugar production change over time?
How did authors write about the sources, organisation and productivity of plantation labour?
How did changing/consistent approaches to plantation labour and sugar production relate to one another?
These questions will guide me in analysing the role of written knowledge of sugar production in the global, trans-imperial spread of the plantation complex.
My research builds on the work of scholars who reveal a historical continuum from the colonisation of the 'New World', to plantation slavery, to modern capitalism with its excesses and harms. Their work underpins my understanding of the plantation economy's functioning, legacy and its key role in globalisation, capitalism and the developmental disparity between global north and south. My research will provide new insights into the plantation complex's history using an under-studied collection of primary sources.
My research will use English and Dutch plantation guides. These guides convey knowledge of plantation management to ensure efficiency in sugar production. I will analyse these guides to explore change and continuity in the plantation complex over time, relating to two major themes: sugar cultivation and manufacturing techniques, and plantation labour. I will structure the research thematically within a chronological framework, rather than a guide-by-guide analysis. I will supplement this with the papers of plantation guide authors. I anticipate dividing the dissertation into three sections:
Pre-emancipation Caribbean guides (approx. 1750 - 1820). Potential themes include the agro-industrial plantation's idealised functioning, planters' preoccupation with enslaved labourers' productivity and reproduction, and ameliorationism.
Post-emancipation Caribbean guides (approx. 1830 - 1850). Pertinent themes include the transition from enslaved to 'free' labour, the consequent decline in plantation productivity and mechanical and chemical scientific knowledge of sugar production.
Extra-Caribbean plantation guides (approx. 1794 - 1910). This section will form the research's main part. These guides are increasingly transnational in scope, often referencing two or more sugar-producing locations (including Bengal, Australia, the Dutch East Indies, Ceylon and Natal) for a global audience of sugar producers.
The specific function and utility of plantation guides as a resource ensure my work's originality. Although some guides have been subject to focused studies, and others are referenced elsewhere, they have not been studied together as a united body of primary sources. The genre's specificity lends sufficient focus to examine the plantation globally, in a manageable and defined project, rather than being restricted to localised case studies. Furthermore, written by economically-minded men responding to the contingencies of their time, plantation guides are uniquely valuable sources in understanding the logic of plantation management, particularly its connection to labour exploitation and imperial expansion and the technology and labour of sugar production. While historians have studied the plantation's functioning on local and global scales, they have neglected the role of written knowledge in the development and global spread of the plantation complex. My dissertation will address this gap. My research lies at the intersection of the histories of plantations, technology, slavery, labour and knowledge production and circulation. It will draw these diverse strands of historiographical enquiry together using a unique collection of primary sources.
How did approaches to sugar production change over time?
How did authors write about the sources, organisation and productivity of plantation labour?
How did changing/consistent approaches to plantation labour and sugar production relate to one another?
These questions will guide me in analysing the role of written knowledge of sugar production in the global, trans-imperial spread of the plantation complex.
My research builds on the work of scholars who reveal a historical continuum from the colonisation of the 'New World', to plantation slavery, to modern capitalism with its excesses and harms. Their work underpins my understanding of the plantation economy's functioning, legacy and its key role in globalisation, capitalism and the developmental disparity between global north and south. My research will provide new insights into the plantation complex's history using an under-studied collection of primary sources.
My research will use English and Dutch plantation guides. These guides convey knowledge of plantation management to ensure efficiency in sugar production. I will analyse these guides to explore change and continuity in the plantation complex over time, relating to two major themes: sugar cultivation and manufacturing techniques, and plantation labour. I will structure the research thematically within a chronological framework, rather than a guide-by-guide analysis. I will supplement this with the papers of plantation guide authors. I anticipate dividing the dissertation into three sections:
Pre-emancipation Caribbean guides (approx. 1750 - 1820). Potential themes include the agro-industrial plantation's idealised functioning, planters' preoccupation with enslaved labourers' productivity and reproduction, and ameliorationism.
Post-emancipation Caribbean guides (approx. 1830 - 1850). Pertinent themes include the transition from enslaved to 'free' labour, the consequent decline in plantation productivity and mechanical and chemical scientific knowledge of sugar production.
Extra-Caribbean plantation guides (approx. 1794 - 1910). This section will form the research's main part. These guides are increasingly transnational in scope, often referencing two or more sugar-producing locations (including Bengal, Australia, the Dutch East Indies, Ceylon and Natal) for a global audience of sugar producers.
The specific function and utility of plantation guides as a resource ensure my work's originality. Although some guides have been subject to focused studies, and others are referenced elsewhere, they have not been studied together as a united body of primary sources. The genre's specificity lends sufficient focus to examine the plantation globally, in a manageable and defined project, rather than being restricted to localised case studies. Furthermore, written by economically-minded men responding to the contingencies of their time, plantation guides are uniquely valuable sources in understanding the logic of plantation management, particularly its connection to labour exploitation and imperial expansion and the technology and labour of sugar production. While historians have studied the plantation's functioning on local and global scales, they have neglected the role of written knowledge in the development and global spread of the plantation complex. My dissertation will address this gap. My research lies at the intersection of the histories of plantations, technology, slavery, labour and knowledge production and circulation. It will draw these diverse strands of historiographical enquiry together using a unique collection of primary sources.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Diana Paton (Primary Supervisor) | |
| Lily King (Student) |