Scholarship or solidarity? The post-emancipation era in the Caribbean reconsidered

Abstract

[First paragraph]From a reading of Michael Craton's (1994) recent contribution to this journal on slave emancipation in the Bahamas, one is struck by two things. First, we have come a long way in the historical study of slavery compared with the analysis of the post-emancipation period. Over the past thirty years we have amassed a mountain of materials covering virtually all aspects of the system of slavery. As a consequence we have been able to reach a large degree of consensus on slavery in the U.S. South, the Caribbean, and Brazil. Of course, certain differences of interpretation remain. For example, we still have not solved all the riddles on issues such as the demographic decline of the slave populations in the tropical regions of the New World or the survival of African norms and values in these parts.