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Conclusion to Part IV

from Part IV - Cultivating Knowledge

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 September 2023

April G. Shelford
Affiliation:
American University, Washington DC
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Summary

The Conclusion to Part IV briefly summarizes the findings of the chapters on agricultural Enlightenment in the French Caribbean, characterizing it as, in James Livesey’s terms, a “knowledge culture.” It then underscores the absence of the enslaved’s expertise and knowledge in Caribbean agricultural literature. In the words of Beth Fowkes Tobin, these author-practitioners constructed two classes in their writings: “the managerial class—the planter and his agents—who possess knowledge about technology and labor and yet do not labor physically, and the laboring class—the slaves—who are described as having no knowledge of their own.” The enslaved also possessed considerable skill in cultivating their own food on provision grounds – indeed, their surpluses stocked colonial markets. But their horticultural knowledge went unmentioned. We can hardly be surprised, then, that Guisan and Poyen de Sainte-Marie obliged the planter to look to the enslaved’s happiness without requiring him to ask them in what that consisted.

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Chapter
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A Caribbean Enlightenment
Intellectual Life in the British and French Colonial Worlds, 1750–1792
, pp. 323 - 324
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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  • Conclusion to Part IV
  • April G. Shelford, American University, Washington DC
  • Book: A Caribbean Enlightenment
  • Online publication: 14 September 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009360821.025
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  • Conclusion to Part IV
  • April G. Shelford, American University, Washington DC
  • Book: A Caribbean Enlightenment
  • Online publication: 14 September 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009360821.025
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Conclusion to Part IV
  • April G. Shelford, American University, Washington DC
  • Book: A Caribbean Enlightenment
  • Online publication: 14 September 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009360821.025
Available formats
×