Maroon Communities Research Articles

Does endemic mammal conservation in Jamaica conflict with maintaining biocultural heritage?

AbstractUnderstanding human–wildlife interactions within biocultural systems is essential to support evidence‐based conservation and Indigenous cultural integrity, and to identify inclusive “win‐win” options for coexistence with threatened species. Jamaica's Blue and John Crow Mountains contain a population of the Endangered Jamaican hutia or coney (Geocapromys brownii), one of the last surviving Caribbean mammals, as well as Maroon communities that practice hunting as a traditional cultural activity. An interview survey was conducted in two Maroon communities within this conservation‐priority landscape to understand local knowledge and attitudes toward coneys, and the cultural importance and dynamics of interactions with coneys. Experience of coney consumption is relatively widespread through small‐scale local trade in hunted animals, but few respondents consider hunting to be of cultural or economic importance, very few people specifically hunt coneys, and most respondents support coney conservation. Conversely, crop damage caused by coneys is considered a substantial problem and is associated with decreased conservation support. Although we estimate that almost 530 coneys were killed during the previous year by our respondent sample, local perceptions suggest that hunting may not be having a negative impact on the coney population, and coney conservation can hopefully be integrated equitably with Maroon cultural values and needs.

Beatriz Nascimento and the Erotics of the Quilombo in Times of Peril

In October 2018, the election of an extreme right-wing politician as president of Brazil laid bare the histories of antidemocratic practices that guided the policies and rhetoric of the newly elected government. Black, poor, Indigenous, Northeastern, and LGBTQIA+ people were positioned as threats to the stability of the nuclear family and public safety that the government claimed it would protect. The subsequent COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 also put into stark view the antidemocratic practices and the blatant disregard for life in Brazil, which was particularly acute for people who had been marked as a threat. “Beatriz Nascimento and the Erotics of the Quilombo in Times of Peril” revisits the work of Beatriz Nascimento, a Black Brazilian thinker and scholar who lived through the repressive and antidemocratic period of the military dictatorship (1964–1985). Nascimento’s work offers perspective to the current extreme right-wing project and underscores the significance of Black scholars’ interventions when the lives of marginalized people are at stake. Specifically, her concept of the quilombo (maroon communities) uncovers the histories, relations of power, and the possibilities of social relations for Brazilians living in precarity that antidemocratic governments have attempted to diminish and erase.

The Mystery of Black Rice: Food, Medicinal, and Spiritual Uses of Oryza glaberrima by Maroon Communities in Suriname and French Guiana

AbstractDuring plantation slavery, African rice (Oryza glaberrima Steud.) was widely cultivated in the Americas but was soon replaced by Asian rice (Oryza sativa L.). Maroons, descendants of Africans who escaped slavery in Suriname and French Guiana, continue to cultivate African rice. Genomic research linked this rice to an O. glaberrima variety in the Ivory Coast. Based on interviews with 99 Maroon farmers, of whom 23 cultivate black rice, we describe its diverse uses as (ceremonial) food, offerings, spiritual medicine, and its role during funerals. Maroon oral history accounts on the origin of black rice differ among and within communities: enslaved women brought it from Africa or took it from the plantations where they worked; escaped slaves found it in the savanna; or ancestors encountered it in interior swamps. These multiple and sometimes contradictory accounts of the origins of black rice are related to the diverse ethnic and geographical backgrounds of the Africans brought as slaves to Suriname and their different histories with the crop after marronage. Various characteristics of black rice, including its ability to compete with weeds and grow on poor soils, its shattering seeds, and its visibility to birds explain how this African domesticate survived in the wild in the Amazonian forest. The migration of Maroons to cities, their engagement in gold mining, and their evangelization may lead to the loss of black rice knowledge and practices.

Dénètem Touam Bona, Fugitive, where are you running?

Fugitive, Where are you Running? is a collection of essays, most of which were previously published in French, by writer, philosopher and curator Dénètem Touam Bona. The author's inclination to straddle geographic and conceptual lines is reflected in the scope, exuberance and poetic verve of the volume. The first three chapters ('Return of the Maroni', 'The Art of the Fugue', 'Manhunt') lay the conceptual foundation by foregrounding categories of marronage, fugitivity and fugue. The fugitive slave is presented as the figure that haunts the establishment of capitalist modernity and the only possible 'line of flight' from it. The fugue is the art of subtle evasion from the prisons of racialised capitalism and an alternative to the triumphalist politics of armed liberation struggles. Touam Bona proposes an impressionistic, rhapsodic and allegorical travel through the various incarnations of the maroon community - with its spontaneous and horizontal modes of organisation and accretion - and capitalism's death drive to surveil and suppress them. The following two chapters track the iterations and repression of fugitivity in the present, by engaging with technologies of migrant surveillance at the border ('Heroic Land', which mixes critique and fiction) and the space of Mayotte, a French department in the heart of the Indian Ocean, increasingly securitised and excised from the histories of flux that characterise this region ('The Impossibility of an Island'). The sixth chapter ('Cosmo-poetics of the Refuge') returns to the book's central theme of the maroon rebellion, connecting it to Afro-diasporic spirituality and performance. The final extended chapter ('Liana Dreaming') turns to environmental concerns, by foregrounding the figure of the liana as the point of resistance to colonial penetration and weapon of maroon resistance. In Caribbean cultures, the liana and the vine bring together collective bodies and communities. Against colonial tropes of taming, erasure and penetration, the power of the forest itself generates plant-induced visions of unsubmission.

Between Maroon Tradition and State Law in Jamaica: A Case Study of Challenges to Environmental Governance in a UNESCO World Heritage Site

In the quest for effective environmental governance, the integration of legal and cultural pluralism within conservation strategies emerges as a critical factor, especially in regions marked by rich ethnic diversity and complex historical legacies. This paper explores the symbiotic relationship between state conservation efforts and the engagement of local communities, with a particular focus on the Indigenous Maroon communities in the Blue and John Crow Mountains (BJCMs) of Jamaica. It underscores the imperative of aligning conservation objectives with the aspirations and traditional practices of these communities to foster sustainable ecosystems and safeguard Indigenous autonomy. Central to this discourse is the development of collaborative frameworks that respect and incorporate the legal and cultural dimensions of pluralism, thereby facilitating a co-managed approach to environmental stewardship. This study emphasizes the role of collaboration and trust as pivotal elements in cultivating a mutual understanding of the interdependencies between state law and Indigenous law. This research advocates for a reciprocal exchange of knowledge between the state and community members, aiming to empower the latter with the resources necessary for effective environmental protection while respecting their legal autonomy. This approach not only enhances conservation initiatives overall, but also ensures that these efforts are informed by the rich cultural heritage and traditional ecological knowledge of the Maroon communities. By examining the conservation practices and governance challenges faced by the Maroons in the BJCMs, this paper reveals the nuanced dynamics of implementing state-led conservation laws in areas characterized by cultural and legal pluralism. The findings highlight the necessity for state regulatory frameworks to enable collaborative governance models that complement, rather than undermine, the traditional governance structures of the Maroons. This research contributes to the broader discourse on environmental governance by illustrating the potential of culturally informed conservation strategies to address environmental threats while respecting and reinforcing the social fabric of Indigenous communities.

Rebuilding life after slavery. Manumission, emancipation, and family networks in European empires, 1750–1900

Wherever and whenever systems of slavery existed, enslaved people struggled to attain freedom. Spanning various imperial contexts from 1750 to 1920, this special issue convenes a team of scholars to investigate the aftermath of emancipation. What did freedom from slavery entail in deeply unequal colonial societies? This issue explores diverse experiences, from maroon communities in the Caribbean wilderness to the forced resettlement of freed slaves in European colonies in Africa, and the legal emancipation of slaves in segregated colonial port cities in Asia. Enslaved people encountered ‘freedom’ with its attendant threats and opportunities in myriad ways. Building on the rich historiographical tradition of slavery studies, this special issue aims to broaden the scope of historical research from the slave trade and the lives of enslaved individuals to their post-emancipation existence. However, even recent literature often treats freedom after abolition and manumission as distinct phenomena, representing different legal paths to freedom—one associated with the early modern period and the other with the nineteenth century. This special issue re-evaluates this presupposition by foregrounding the post-emancipation life events of formerly enslaved individuals. It questions whether and how these different transitions from slave status to freedom can and should be structurally compared in slavery studies. By tapping into previously unexplored sources, re-examining older datasets with fresh perspectives, and employing record linkage to uncover forgotten slave histories, the authors seek to assess the living conditions of formerly enslaved people and their direct descendants after emancipation. In doing so, we aim to explore how past experiences of enslavement influenced future life choices and opportunities, thereby questioning the so-called afterlives of slavery.

What Cecilia Knew

Abstract This article explores how, in 1784 New Orleans, Cecilia Conway—a recaptured maroon woman—asserted that she was pregnant and thereby leveraged the power of her reproductive labor. Her claims about her body briefly slowed down the system of capital punishment activated in response to her marronage by altering the trajectory of the state-sanctioned sexual violence inflicted on her. The conversations between Cecilia and the prison’s authorities that this article unearths constitute an original archive of Cecilia’s assertions while accounting for their heavily mediated and yet remarkable presence. By centering the details of Cecilia’s life, this article helps recast the threat of marronage in colonial Louisiana from simply one of male-led armed rebellion to one of reproduction, thorny kinship networks, and a potential maroon society.

Creative-Relational Inquiry: Institutional Threat, Fortitude, and Flying Like a Brick

Creative-relational inquiry has what is called a “center,” the Center for Creative-Relational Inquiry (CCRI, Sea~cry), at the University of Edinburgh. We are two of the center’s co-directors. Sea~cry is an institution within an institution. It had its 5-year university review in 2022. The experience and (successful) outcome of that review process has left us troubled. Our concern prompts us to write. We respond to sirens. We respond to sirens by turning again to writing, to writing together, with other, by turning again to “downlow lowdown maroon community” of creative-relational inquiry.

Covert cultivars and clandestine communities: rice and the making of an Afrodescendant peasantry in Maranhão, Brazil

ABSTRACT Rice is a keystone crop of the peasant farming system of Maranhão, Brazil. Its origins can be traced to the food fields of fugitive slave communities that proliferated throughout the Amazonic frontier during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Maranhão was the setting for a rice plantation economy, which knowingly exploited enslaved West African rice growers. Plantation runaways carried rice to maroon (quilombo) communities where the esteemed dietary staple was planted. Oral histories commemorate the role of enslaved African and Afrodescendant women in quilombo rice transfers and the subsistence practices that shaped the rice-based peasant farming systems of the African Diaspora.

The Traditional Law of the Maroon Community of Baú

The Traditional Law of the Maroon Community of Baú

Incorporating diverse voices in geoconservation in Portland, Jamaica

Abstract Sites of geological relevance in East Portland are representative of the geological history of Jamaica and are important to elucidate Caribbean geotectonic evolution. Geological significance overlaps with natural and cultural heritage of international relevance, especially related to Maroon communities. In this region, the Jamaican highest peak rises steeply from sea level; the ocean is the focus of important conservation efforts. This study employs an interpretative phenomenological analysis to explore place attachment as experienced by East Portland residents. We engaged in conversations with 16 diverse community members through interviews and a focus group. Two dimensions of place attachment emerged: place identity and place dependence, showing that East Portland is home to people who depend on, identify with and are committed to protecting nature. We present an approach to mapping place attachment, which resulted in an important tool of analysis when overlapping with layers of information like geoheritage. The geological significance, natural and cultural richness and the connections the locals have with nature make East Portland an ideal prototype for geoconservation. This study also reveals that attachment to a place does not necessarily correspond to attachment to geoscientific significance; for common meanings to emerge, geoscientists and locals must collaborate.

Favela Heritage Practices: Women Warriors’ Struggles for Political Memory and Social Justice in Rio de Janeiro

ABSTRACT This article discusses everyday spatial heritage practices in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas. It focusses on the experiences of faveladas, Black and poor women residents of the favelas, as they build their houses and struggle for political memory in the city. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and photowalks conducted in 2011–2013 and 2018 with residents of the favelas of Pavão-Pavãozinho and Cantagalo (PPG), this article documents the insurgent heritage practices of ‘women warriors’ and analyses the ways in which these practices typify means of resistance to urban coloniality. I draw on theories by the Afro-Brazilian feminist scholars and activists Beatriz Nascimento on quilombos (maroon communities) and Lélia Gonzalez on ‘Amefricanity’, who recourse to black and indigenous women’s Southern Atlantic experiences of oppression and forced migration and of resistance, to suggest the notion of ‘Amefrican’ heritage practices. The women warriors’ spatial practices and resistance encompass curated favela heritage. They challenge prejudice against the favelas and Afro-Brazilians, thereby sustaining ‘Amefrican’ heritage practices and shaping Rio de Janeiro’s cultural heritage and future, especially against contemporary processes of urban coloniality.

The role of crop diversity in escape agriculture; rice cultivation among Maroon communities in Suriname

Societal Impact StatementAgricultural techniques are inherently connected to social organization. Under colonialism, broadly understood as foreign powers suppressing (parts of) a local population, escape agriculture offers a way to avoid despotism by producing food and other produce in independent and sustainable ways. Crop diversity plays an important role in escape agriculture, demonstrated here by the variation of rice varieties on Maroon farms in Suriname. Histories of Maroon agricultural practices, and similarly marginalized groups in (formerly) colonized regions, are informative for current interventions in agriculture. Agronomic support to marginalized groups will only be successful when addressing historically grown social disengagement.SummaryRationale: Food is essential for successfulmarronageand produced by means of escape agriculture. Today, communities in the interior of Suriname continue to farm by following practices of escape agriculture. Our study traces the historical development of these farming practices, in particular the extensive cultivation of rice. Our aim is to show that the diversity of rice varieties used in their fields reveals the sophisticated farming techniques and social significance of escape agriculture.Methods: We visited about 60 farm plots upstream the main rivers of Suriname where we interviewed the person in charge about the rice varieties grown in their fields. We asked about origin, names, and characteristics of each rice variety. We also screened historical sources, primary and secondary, as well as anthropological accounts of these communities for historical evidence of rice cultivation and varietal diversity.Results: Plots were farmed primarily by women and contained a broad range of different rice varieties. Naming and origin stories show a clear reference to the escape from plantations and the leading role of women in farming and food security. In some fields, a small patch was reserved for a rice type with very dark grains, used mostly for ritual purposes. Results also show adoption of more recently introduced rice varieties.Conclusion: Rice plays a key role in escape agriculture as practiced by Maroon communities in Suriname. Rice varieties are used as agricultural markers of difference.

Modernity and Counternarrative in Marcelo D’Salete’s Angola Janga and Gayl Jones’s Palmares: Prelude to an Interview with Marcelo D’Salete

ABSTRACT This short article offers some remarks to contextualize the interview that follows with Marcelo D’Salete, a Brazilian graphic novelist known for his works on the history of slavery and Black resistance in Brazil. The article focuses on D’Salete’s great work Angola Janga (2017), about the famous maroon community in seventeenth-century Brazil known to the Portuguese as Palmares, and discusses this work in relation to the six-volume Palmares (2020) by the U.S. writer Gayl Jones.

“Redesigning the Past”: Interview with Marcelo D’Salete

ABSTRACT In this interview, Miguel Valerio (a scholar of Afrodiasporic culture in colonial Latin America and early modern Iberia) engages in a conversation with Marcelo D’Salete, a well-known graphic novelist whose works center on the experiences of Black people in Brazil. The range of topics they discuss include Palmares, the seventeenth-century maroon community that is at the center of D’Salete’s Angola Janga (2017); the history, future, and present of Black struggles in Brazil; the ability of comics and other art forms to re-desenhar (meaning both “redraw” and “redesign”) the past; Afro-pessimism and the central role of slavery in the formation of modernity; and the importance of Black joy.

Maroon Women in Suriname and French Guiana: Rice, Slavery, Memory

ABSTRACT Given the few written documents left behind by those who escaped slavery, the analysis of African agency in the transfer of crops and knowledge in the successful establishment of Maroon communities benefits from other disciplines, such as oral history, ethnobotany and linguistics. In this article, we report the way stories of enslaved women, who escaped in the early periods of slave rebellion in Suriname, live on in the names of specific rice varieties. Such stories pay tribute to the crucial role women played in ensuring food security for their runaway communities. We combined information from ethnobotanical surveys, Maroon oral history, archival documents and published accounts to show how Maroon farmers today safeguard their agricultural diversity and cultural heritage by planting rice varieties that still carry the names of their female ancestors. We focus on a selected number of rice varieties named after the Saamaka ancestors Seei, Yaya and Paanza, Tjowa of the Matawai, Sapali, Ana and Baapa of the Ndyuka, and describe the stories attached to them.

Mamá Osa in the Mountains: African Ascendientes' Embodiments of Fugitivity and Freedom in the Americas

Abstract: Women who are multiply marginalized find innovative ways to conjure prestige and assert their dignity within oppressive societies. In this essay, I apply a Mami-informed de/colonial approach to analyze the life of one such woman: my grandmother Rosa. In 1936, Rosa (Mamá Osa) moved to the sierras of Sánchez, Samaná, Dominican Republic to resist the anti-Black patriarchy she experienced. By sharing my grandmother's story, I underscore the value of multiply marginalized women being in community with one another as a counterpoint to the liberal goal of integration. I draw parallels between the oral history of her decision to start a new life in the mountains and the written accounts of the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century maroon communities of the Americas. I also examine Dominican feminist writings during my grandmother's era to contextualize her life narrative. In making explicit how past Dominican feminist and pedagogical discourse were inaccessible and marginalizing to freedom-seeking women like my grandmother, I urge scholars who trace knowledge systems around the world to continue to examine the sources of feminist thought.

Local African responses to the early slave trade trade in Upper Guinea, sixteenth to seventeenth centuries

When Portuguese mariners reached the Senegambian coast shortly before 1450, they quickly engaged in taking small numbers of captives back to Lis-bon. In Senegambian societies, varied forms of limited or temporary servile status existed before this first contact, and the interior was connected to the older trans-Saharan slave trade. By the 1580s several thousand Africans a year were being pur-chased and taken either to the Cape Verde Islands, to Europe or, increasingly, to the Americas. Africans responded rapidly but variously to the development of this slave trade. They protected themselves by moving into remote or geographically protect-ed areas; and they learned to defend themselves and to turn the tables by capturing their aggressors. Some, such as the Bijogo, actively entered the slave trade, even cap-turing Portuguese. Finally, several communities of escaped slaves were established, with at least the tacit support of local Africans. These Maroon communities were composed at least partly of captives who had escaped from the Portuguese.

Aluminium in Suriname (1898–2020): An Industry Came and Went, but its Impacts on the Maroon Communities Remain

Aluminium in Suriname (1898–2020): An Industry Came and Went, but its Impacts on the Maroon Communities Remain

Ecological Stereotypes: Perceptions of Indigenous and Maroon Communities in Late Colonial Suriname

The colonial historiography of Suriname has often portrayed the Indigenous and Maroon inhabitants of the Surinamese Amazon in stereotypical ways, according to which the former would be stewards of the rainforest whereas the latter would have a destructive relationship to nature. Such stereotypes have persisted in conservationist discourse and in the Surinamese nationalist literature of the first half of the twentieth century. As such, they were at the basis of the Surinamese national project prior to independence, and justified dispossessing Maroon populations of their ancestral lands. The alleged ecological differences between the two populations can, however, not be sustained within our current understanding of Amazonian history.