Power, Place, and Movement: Local Networks and the Movement of Enslaved Laborers between Coffee and Sugar Estates in Dominica

Summary

This is a paper/report submission presented at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In the summer of 2011, preliminary archaeological and archival research took place at what was thought to be “Valley Estate,” a coffee plantation in Dominica. This paper will provide an introduction to Cottage Estate and the archaeological work that was completed in 2011, and will discuss noteworthy archival findings about internal social and economic networks in Dominica. In particular, we will explore the reasons behind and significance of the movement of large numbers of enslaved laborers between Dominican estates in the opening decades of the 19th century. We will consider the role environmental factors played in the movement of people within the colony following the end of the slave trade, what this movement of people says about local power structures and networks of local agents, and what these findings reveal about the relationship between sugar and coffee, the two most significant cash crops of the British West Indian colonies.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• 2020 SHA General Sessions   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2020

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 766