AGEX 1003/AGRI 0202: Social & Political Dimensions of Plantation Society PDF

AGEX 1003: Development of Caribbean Agriculture/ AGRI 0202: Sociology of Agriculture Social & Political Dimensions of Plantation Society  ▪ Explain the evolution of agriculture starting with the Plantation System and continuing into the Peasantry System...

AGEX 1003: Development of Caribbean Agriculture/ AGRI 0202: Sociology of Agriculture Social & Political Dimensions of Plantation Society  ▪ Explain the evolution of agriculture starting with the Plantation System and continuing into the Peasantry System and finally into small-scale farming. ▪ Describe the characteristics of the Plantation System as an economic unit and as a social unit ▪ Describe the movement of labour-- across the West Indies Overview after emancipation and its impact on the current demographic characteristic of the region ▪ Explain the various types of cropping systems introduced for survival of the farming community ▪ Describe the characteristics of small-scale farming and the development of large commercial farm.  ▪Covers large areas of land ▪Numerous unskilled workers A Common ▪Centralized decision making Plantation ▪Authoritarian Management style ▪Workers and decision makers are separated by Social and Cultural differences A Plantation as a Community  A plantation is: ▪A particular class of society with distinguishing Defining a characteristics of: Plantation oSocial structure oPolitical organization oLaws of motion governing social change  ▪The plantation first brought Europeans, then Africans as slaves, later, Portuguese, Germans, Demographic Chinese then East Indians as indentured labourers Characteristics ▪Cultural plurality is a common feature of all of the plantations Plantation ▪Today, Africans, East Indians and White people make Economies up the population of the new world ▪The Indigenous Indians did not survive the European conquest  ▪Ordering of social status is correlated with Social occupational status and rank in the Authority structure of the plantation Organization ▪There were few Europeans (owners) and a large and Structure number Africans (forced labourers) in Plantation ▪Africans were taken from the West Coast of Africa, Society in which many tribes existed, therefore, many of them did not speak the same languages Social Organization ▪The plantation was a “Total Institution” and Structure oThere were well-defined boundaries and a in Plantation hierarchical structure Society  European Planters stood at the top of the hierarchy Social Organization and Structure An intermediate groups of in Plantation skilled white people existed Society cont’d Among the black people, there emerged a group of racial and cultural half-castes resulting from the exploits of white males (This group were more privileged and worked as house servants)  ▪The master (white owner) was the centre of social Social life for all within the community, making all Organization decisions and Structure ▪Slaves were herded together in undifferentiated in Plantation mass in compounds similar to a village Society ▪Due to multiple languages, slaves had to develop a cont’d common language to communicate.  ▪The existence of a class-caste system, is based on differences in the racial origins of plantations workers on one hand, and owner on the other Race, Caste ▪In the new world, race became the moral and Class justification of slavery ▪Racial characteristics determined the caste line that separated masters from slaves  ▪Since emancipation, Blacks were offered some educational opportunities, which changed the class structure of these societies Race, Caste ▪In the United States, an individual is socially defined and Class as black if there is an identifiable trace of negro cont’d ancestry ▪In Brazil and the West Indies, an individual is defined as black when his black ancestry is evident from physical and social appearance  ▪Social Race is determined by: oManner of speech oEducation Determination oIncome of Race oOccupation oFamily ▪Physical Race is determined by ancestry  ▪The nature of present-day plantation societies can Political be linked directly with the plantation Organization ▪Political power is based upon principles of authority and and control (Laws) Distribution of ▪The plantation is best defined in terms of the Power authority of the planter ▪The power of the planted is centralized  ▪All plantation societies share: oConcentration of power among a small planter class Political oHighly centralized political administrative structure (Government) Organization and ▪Local government can only emerge if there is adequate social organization at the local level Distribution of ▪Plantation societies avoided this by creating loose Power and weak local communities cont’d oStrong community organizations tends only to emerge in situations where smaller units of people are bound firmly together. Political ▪“One is tempted to generalize Organization that wherever the plantation and and salve system were present, the rural community could not Distribution of become an efficient and cohesive Power unit”- Charles Wagley cont’d  ▪Plantation society is a plural society; it consists of different racial and cultural groups which were Plantation brought together only in the realm of economic Society: activity A Synthesis ▪The plantation manager is the immediate embodiment of the super-ordinate group and the plantation worker is the sub-ordinate group Video: The Price of ▪WATCH video on MyeLearning Memory  ▪“The Price of Memory” is a poetic documentary exploring the legacy of slavery in Jamaica and the movement of slavery reparations. In the 1960s, a group of Rastas petitioned the Queen Elizabeth II for reparations, starting an ongoing demand that spans decades. When the Queen visited Jamaica in 2002 to The Price of celebrate her Golden Jubilee celebrations, she was again petitioned by a small group of Rastafarians for Memory reparations for her family's participation in slavery. ▪Having received no response from the Queen, another group files a lawsuit against her. While their actions unfold, there is growing movement for slavery reparation internationally.  ▪Eventually, the debate for reparations reaches the Jamaican parliament where it spurs further government action ▪Interwoven between these actions are the filmmaker’s own memories of first consciously encountering the legacy of slavery while growing up in Jamaica. The Price of ▪She visits the ruins of former plantations scattered Memory across the island and travels to England, where great cont’d profits were made from Caribbean slavery, and finds official forgetfulness. ▪Featured are activists Ras Lion, a mystic Rasta farmer whose great-grandmother told him stories about slavery and Michael Lorne, the attorney who brought the lawsuit.  ▪A Common Plantation oCovers large areas of land oNumerous unskilled workers oCentralized decision making Summary oAuthoritarian Management style oWorkers and decision makers are separated by Social and Cultural differences ▪Plural society  ▪Beckford, G.L. (1972). Plantations in Third World Economy In Persistent Poverty: Underdevelopment in Plantations Economies of the Third World READINGS ▪Beckford, G.L. (2001). Plantation Society: Toward a General Theory of Caribbean Society In Caribbean Sociology: Introductory Readings  ▪Q1. In what ways did the plantation system influence the culture, language, and traditions of enslaved and indentured workers in the Caribbean? Questions to Consider ▪Q2. How do you think the legacy of the plantation system affects contemporary social relationships and identities in the Caribbean?  ▪Q3. What were the economic benefits of the plantation system for European colonizers, and how did this compare to the economic costs for the local Questions to populations? Consider cont’d ▪Q4. In what ways did the plantation system consolidate power in the hands of a few elites, both locally and internationally?