Social Control in Slave Plantation Societies: A Comparison of St. Domingue and Cuba [Paperback]

Gwendolyn Midlo Hall (Author), Gwendolyn M. Hall (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0807120839 | ISBN-13: 978-0807120835 | Publication Date: June 1, 1996

First published in 1971, Gwendolyn Midlo Hall's comparison of two developing sugar plantation systems-St. Domingue's (Haiti) in the eighteenth century and Cuba's in the nineteenth century-changed the focus in comparative slavery studies. Hall establishes that slavery and race relations in any given time and place were determined by strategic needs, the raison d'etre of the colony, evolving economic and demographic factors, and above all, by the need to preserve social order in colonies where the slave population was large, active, competent, resourceful, and independent minded. She delineates a pattern of racism rising and entrenching itself as a matter of public policy, as a means of bolstering the exploitative system, a pattern that recurred throughout the hemisphere.

Product Details

• Paperback: 184 pages
• Publisher: Louisiana State University Press (June 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807120839
• ISBN-13: 978-0807120835
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,255,943 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #57 in Books > History > Americas > Caribbean & West Indies > Dominican Republic

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars good survey, June 29, 2011

By 

landon yarrington - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Social Control in Slave Plantation Societies: A Comparison of St. Domingue and Cuba (Paperback)

a key premise is the "myth" of spanish slavery being more "humane" than northern european forms; if that's the case, then what differences can we expect to see in the mechanisms of social control? hall's book is a good synthesis of the literary record dealing with slavery in cuba and st. domingue (haiti). although it deals primarily with these two island societies, it is really a commentary on french and spanish slave systems throughout the caribbean region. hall samples a great deal from french laws pertaining to st. domingue, specifically from leogane, port-de-paix, port-au-prince, and cap-haitien, but also draws from sources in martinique and guadeloupe. moreau de saint-méry's massive work on hispaniola figures prominently in the text. she uses this same methodology for the cuban/spanish side, borrowing frequently from codes from other spanish colonies. this is a good effort at making a more robust archive for these two societies, but without much explanation on the different types of plantation economy in the areas from which she is drawing (i.e., sugar plantations vs. tobacco or coffee ones, which would impact time in the field, etc.), there's much more she could do to make a stronger comparison. the book was written when studies in comparative slavery were gaining currency among historians, that is, during a shift away from seeing the plantation as the chief interpretive analytic type and toward other institutional similarities.