“Insolent, quarrelsome, noisey and troublesome”: women’s street fights and noise in St Barthélemy in 1835

Abstract

ABSTRACT Like many port cities in the 19th century Caribbean, the free port of Gustavia in the Swedish-Caribbean colony of St Barthélemy had a high ratio of women to men, many of whom were enslaved women or free women of colour, disenfranchised under Swedish colonial law. They were present in public life, and can be seen in many cases of breaking ‘vägfrid’ or participating in public fights, verbally or physically. Sexual honour was a frequent point of conflict in these fights, which could be directed to not just individuals, but entire households. When we examine these cases more closely, we can see how what might at first seem to be random arguments were often embedded in interpersonal relationships, where the street became the meeting place for people, but also an area of conflict between houses. Noise was a frequent consideration in these cases, especially the racialized noise of Black women, as Caribbean homes were very open and led to noise spreading quite easily. In this way, what were at first private disputes easily became public disturbances and colonial courts worked to discipline and control noise from Black women.