Struggles of a Sugar Society: Surveying Plantation-Era Montserrat, 1650–1850

A major obstacle to understanding Montserrat's sugar industry and the often-contentious social dynamics that accompanied it has been the absence of a comprehensive study of the small Caribbean island's plantation-era cultural landscape. We employ a multi-scalar approach, combining archival...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of historical archaeology 2015-06, Vol.19 (2), p.356-383
Main Authors: Ryzewski, Krysta, Cherry, John F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anarchism
Archaeological collections
Archaeology
Caribbean
Montserrat
Plantations
Social Sciences
Society
Sugar industry
Survey data
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Summary:A major obstacle to understanding Montserrat's sugar industry and the often-contentious social dynamics that accompanied it has been the absence of a comprehensive study of the small Caribbean island's plantation-era cultural landscape. We employ a multi-scalar approach, combining archival research and archaeological survey data, to trace the island's shifting socio-cultural composition and fluctuating sugar industry over the course of two centuries (ca. 1650–1850). Adopting an island-wide perspective on the interpretation of Montserrat's plantation-era remains, we expand the breadth and depth of understandings about the island's sugar society through comparative, multi-sited analyses. Our findings underscore the importance of extending Caribbean plantation studies beyond individual estates.
ISSN:1092-7697
1573-7748
DOI:10.1007/s10761-015-0292-7