Rural Hamlets Research Articles

The World the Abolitionists Made: Reconsidering the Domestic Slave Trade

Steven Deyle. Carry Me Back: The Domestic Slave Trade in American Life. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. x + 398 pp. Illustrations, maps, bibliography, and index. $29.95. Nineteenth-century abolitionists saw the buying and selling of human beings as the essence of slavery. They believed the practices characteristic of the domestic slave trade—the exchange of human beings for cash, the separation of families, and the poking and prodding of people as if they were livestock—revealed the entire southern regime as founded on cruelty and dehumanization. They knew the domestic slave trade was harder to defend than slavery itself, and they believed that slavery would collapse without the market in human beings. For all these reasons, Steven Deyle shows, abolitionists of the 1830s and 1840s made the domestic slave trade the centerpiece of their campaign against slavery. Like the abolitionists, Deyle sees the domestic slave trade as the keystone of the antebellum South and, like them, he argues that the "painful" story of the domestic slave trade must brought to light "before we can truly understand southern slavery and antebellum American life" (p. 14). In the first three chapters of Carry Me Back: The Domestic Slave Trade in American Life, Deyle examines the political and economic implications of the domestic slave trade from its origins in the late eighteenth century through the onset of the Civil War. Then, in a series of thematic chapters, he explores the trade as part of a "market revolution" and from the perspectives of abolitionists, slaveowners, and enslaved people themselves. Supplementing other recent scholarship that has argued for the slave trade's looming importance in the antebellum South, Carry Me Back is particularly valuable for its kaleidoscopic examination of its subject.1 The scope of Deyle's book and his deep research in personal papers, newspapers, and published sources make Carry Me Back an important synthesis that deserves wide readership and a touchstone in the growing literature on internal slave trades, forced migrations, and the commodification of human beings. [End Page 518] In critical respects, however, the book's close alignment with the abolitionist worldview diminishes its impact and originality. The problem is not that Carry Me Back is generically "neo-abolitionist" but, rather, that it swallows too uncritically the abolitionists' worldview. The book has a tendency to coast on abolitionist logic, rather than striking out in new interpretive directions. Echoing the abolitionists' penchant for polemic, Deyle too often asserts the slave trade's importance without proving it, and he offers a definition of the slave trade that is more tendentious than illuminating. Indeed, his wholehearted adoption of the abolitionists' perspective seems to preclude a critical analysis of abolitionist views on the slave trade or slavery itself. Thus, even as Carry Me Back's abolitionist perspective gives it an organizing principle and a moral compass, it also imposes limitations on Deyle's analysis and conclusions. One of the book's most important arguments is that the slave trade was "a regular part of everyday life" in the South. Whereas historians of the slave trade typically have focused on professional slave traders and interstate trading routes, Deyle emphasizes that many more people were instrumental in the buying and selling of human beings.2 In its heyday, the slave trade was characterized not just by large urban slave markets or overland slave coffles, but also by routine exchanges in front of courthouses, in rural hamlets, and on farms and plantations. Deyle estimates that more than two-thirds of the slave sales between 1820 and 1860 involved local transactions rather than interstate ones. Among the crucial participants were local traders, who rarely went on interstate trips but trolled for slaves to buy and sell in the same vicinity, and slaveowners, who did not consider themselves traders but who sold and speculated nonetheless. Vast numbers of local sales also occurred at public auctions, where agents of the state sold off the slaves of owners...

The OxyContin Epidemic and Crime Panic in Rural Kentucky

During the late 1990s in the United States, rural Kentucky (and rural pockets of nearby states) witnessed the emergence of a new pharmaceutical drug of abuse. The powerful oxycodone OxyContin, first manufactured in 1996 and designed for time-release pain relief, found a ready population in rural hamlets and mountain communities. Intended for patients in pain associated with terminal disease, it became a drug of abuse as it was overprescribed and trafficked within newly developed black markets. This paper describes the takeoff of this new drug of abuse, its antecedents, its effects on rural communities, and coordinated efforts at containing it. Following the trends in use and abuse, this paper presents evidence of an epidemic created in part by organizations in both the private and the public sectors. The paper also describes the much publicized and alleged relationship between OxyContin use and increasing crime rates in Kentucky (and the surrounding Appalachian region). This paper shows that this drug-crime connection, propagated by media and government sources, has been socially constructed and bears little resemblance to empirical reality.

“Yes” to Abortion but “No” to Sexual Rights: The Paradoxical Reality of Married Women in Rural Tamil Nadu, India

This study in rural Tamil Nadu, India, explored the reasons why many married women in India undergo induced abortions rather than use reversible contraception to space or limit births in terms of women's sexual and reproductive rights within marriage, and in the context of gender relations between couples more generally. It is based on in-depth interviews with two generations of ever-married women, some of whom had had abortions and others who had not, from 98 rural hamlets. The respondents were 66 women and 44 of their husbands. Non-consensual sex, sexual violence and women's inability to refuse their husband's sexual demands appeared to underlie the need for abortion in both younger and older women. Many men seemed to believe that sex within marriage was their right, and that women had no say in the matter. The findings raise questions about the presumed association between legal abortion and the enjoyment of reproductive and sexual rights. A large number of women who had abortions in this study were denied their sexual rights but were permitted, even forced, to terminate their pregnancies for reasons unrelated to their right to choose abortion. The study brings home the need for activism to promote women's sexual rights and a campaign against sexual violence in marriage.

Nitrogen flows due to human activities in the Cianjur–Cisokan watershed area in the middle Citarum drainage basin, West Java, Indonesia: a case study at hamlet scale

This paper demonstrates a methodology to estimate nitrogen flow due to human activities in three rural hamlets located at different elevations in the Cianjur–Cisokan watershed area, West Java, Indonesia. The rural ecosystem in each hamlet was divided into several components and material transfers between components due to human activities were estimated, mainly by interview, and converted to nitrogen. Then a component model of nitrogen flow in each hamlet was constructed. Nitrogen balances of the three hamlets were positive: 87–267 kg N ha −1 per year. Two indices, NSENO (nitrogen surplus per unit edible nitrogen output) and NSEEO (nitrogen surplus per unit edible energy output), were newly proposed. These indices showed that nitrogen surplus of the hamlet with the lowest elevation where paddy fields are dominant was the least when producing crops with the same nutritional value as those grown in other hamlets. Application of unused local resources, mud and human excrement, can reduce nitrogen surplus by 49–96 kg N ha −1 per year and can provide subsidy of US$ 310–370 per year.

西ジャワ農村地域における地形条件と土地利用

Relationships between land use and topographic conditions of rural landscape in West Java, Indonesia were analyzed at regional-scale. Land use was significantly correlated with landform units. The land use pattern changed along elevation primarily, and was also affected by slope. In addition, hamlet-scale analysis of landscape structure was also conducted in 3 typical rural hamlets based on field survey data The most diverse land use type was observed in the middle-elevation hamlets despite its topographic condition being similar to the highest-elevation hamlet that had a low variety of land use. In spite of simple topographic conditions, diverse land use type was also observed in the lowest-elevation hamlet.

A prospective study of rural drinking water quality and acute gastrointestinal illness.

BackgroundThis study examined the relationship between the bacteriological contamination of drinking water from private wells and acute gastrointestinal illness (AGII), using current government standards for safe drinking water.MethodsA prospective cohort study was conducted using 235 households (647 individuals) randomly selected from four rural hamlets. Data were collected by means of a self-administered questionnaire, a self-report diary of symptoms and two drinking water samples.ResultsTwenty percent of households sampled, had indicator bacteria (total coliform or Escherichia coli (E. coli)) above the current Canadian and United States standards for safe drinking water. No statistically significant associations between indicator bacteria and AGII were observed. The odds ratio (OR) for individuals exposed to E. coli above the current standards was 1.52 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.33–6.92), compared to individuals with levels below current standards. The odds ratio estimate for individuals exposed to total coliforms above the current standards was 0.39 (95% CI, 0.10–1.50).ConclusionsThis study observed a high prevalence of bacteriological contamination of private wells in the rural hamlets studied. Individual exposure to contaminated water defined by current standards may be associated with an increased risk of AGII.

Building Communities with Transportation

Important change is sweeping across villages, towns, and cities worldwide. It is taking place in rural hamlets, middle burgs, and huge metropolises. While some people are just going from foot to mechanical transport for the first time in their civilization’s history, others are learning to return to their feet and to build with proper scale and proportion. We will focus on the early steps of returning towns and people to sensible, smart growth and sustainable people-focused transportation and land use practices. I will reflect on what is occurring in both urban and suburban places.

Introduction

Farmers still count for a lot in France, despite their shrinking numbers. Scarcely four per cent of the workforce now earns a living in agriculture. Yet, every politician knows that the country has a huge stake in farming— France is second only to the United States as an agricultural exporter—and that farmer unions wield clout. Farmers have cultural leverage as well. Rolling fields and rural hamlets still figure prominently in most people’s mental image of what makes France French and its social fabric whole.

Blood retinol and β-carotene levels in rural Guatemalan preschool children

Plasma retinol and beta-carotene levels were measured in 502 preschool Guatemalan children from five rural hamlets. Their ages ranged from 6 to 78 months (mean: 42.9 +/- 19.2 months); 45% males and 55% females. The mean retinol value in the whole group was 0.9 +/- 0.4 mumol/l (range: 0.1 to 8.4 mumol/l). There was no significant difference between sexes in retinol mean values nor in the incidence of retinol values less than 0.7 mumol/l (22% in males, 18% in females). When grouped by age and community, significant low retinol mean values were found in two hamlets in the youngest age group (12 to 23 months) as compared to the other age-groups (p < 0.05). In the other two hamlets, there were no significant differences among retinol means by age-group. The highest prevalence of deficient retinol values by age-group was in the 12 to 23 months group (40%), and decreased as age increased. The mean value for beta-carotene in the whole group was 0.13 +/- 0.18 mumol/l (range: 0.01 to 2.23 mumol/l). There were no significant differences in beta-carotene means between sexes in the whole group. Stratifying the beta-carotene data by age-groups and community, values were significantly higher in the 48-59 months and 72-83 months groups, as compared with the other age groups in two of the communities (p < 0.05). Significant differences across communities for beta-carotene were found only in the 12 to 23 months group.

Modernization and Change in Mexico: La Zacualpa Rubber Plantation, 1890-1920

D U RING the latter part of the nineteenth century, Latin America entered a period of transition, as capitalist development jostled isolated rural hamlets and their inhabitants out of their traditional ways. Mexico, under the leadership of Porfirio Diaz, pursued the liberal vision of a modernizing society fashioned in the image of a European state like France or England. To transform Mexico from its colonial past, however, required a massive infusion of capital and technology into the Porfiriato's stable political environment. Equally important, the products of capitalistic agriculture, destined for international markets, required a ready source of cheap labor. The first portion of this essay will examine the process of development by focusing on the creation of a rubber plantation called La Zacualpa, located in the coastal jungle of the Soconusco department in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas. Events here in the last years of the Porfiriato illustrate the necessity of capital formation, the dimensions of available land and labor, and the advent of technology, all prerequisites for a successful entrepreneurial project. This portion of the essay will also advance the hypothesis that labor conditions, at least on this tropical plantation, were not as coercive as has been traditionally supposed.'

Chronological Research at Copan:Methods and implications

AbstractAs a consequence of long-term archaeological research at Copan, 1,425 archaeological sites containing 4,507 structures have been located and mapped over an area of 135 km2. As part of the PAC II research, 200 archaeological sites representing a 15% stratified random sample of all valley sites were test excavated from 1983–1989. From these excavations, 2,150 obsidian hydration dates were processed, representing the largest number of chronometric dates from controlled contexts currently available from any southern Lowland Maya site. Based on this chronological research, there appears to be an excellent fit with various other available chronological techniques for all time phases except the ending date of the important Coner ceramic phase, which now appears to have extended to A.D. 1250. This more detailed Copan chronology suggests that the political collapse of the Main Group and immediate vicinity was quite sudden, taking place c. A.D. 800–830. Beyond that, however, the chronometric data provide evidence that some of the secondary elite, or lineage heads, and large numbers of rural commoners continued to reside within the valley in reduced courtyard groups or small rural hamlets for about 400 years following the decentralization of the Copan polity.

Trends of Residential Location in a Small Local City

The purpose of this study is to investigate the actual condition of the residential mobility and its location in a small city region, where the circumstances are comparatively hard for human settlement.A case study was done in the Shinjo City area, Yamagata Prefecture. The area is characterized by heavy snowfalls and inactive industries. In this paper, the data of “Jumin-kihon-daicho” (the basic municipal register of inhabitants) are used, and the state of residential mobility and the change of residential districts are discussed.The results are summarized as follows:The movement of finding jobs, school attendance, transference, marriage etc.. Moreover, there are the different types of movements, such as intra-urban mobility accompanied by the renewal of housing or change of rental housing, retirement movement to the central area of the prefecture, migration from rural hamlets or towns to the urban district, and intra-rural change of housing location. These types of movement may be affected by the place utilities of each residential districts.The number of households in each residential district is decreasing in the old urban district and increasing in the new urban district, in the last ten years. This trend is mainly contributed by the direct movement of households between two districts.There are changes not only in the quantity but also in the quality of inhabitants of the urban districts. The short distance movements, affected by the place utility, may have strong relations with the change of residential quality than other types of movements.

Ladino-Indian Relations in the Highlands of Chiapas, Mexico

relations between a dominant ladino group and a subordinate Indian group are studied by means of questionnaires and interviews. The study reveals a permeable barrier based on cultural rather than racial criteria. Specifc findings deal with social distance, stereotypes, actual contact, perception of change, and acculturation. JN ANOTHER paper, we have described in qualitative terms the system of ethnic relations between Indians and ladinos (members of a predominantly Hispanic culture with varying degrees of white and Indian racial characteristics) in and around the town of San Cristobal, Chiapas.' The present report summarizes the results of two quantitative studies conducted in the same area during the summer of 1959. One of the studies was done among the ladinos in San Cristobal by means of questionnaires. The other consisted of oral interviews given to a sample of Zinacanteco Indians in three rural hamlets.2 * The study is part of the Mexican Cultural Change Project supported by the National Institute of Mental Health and directed by Professor E. Z. Vogt of Harvard. We gratefully acknowledge the help of many persons at various stages of our study. Aside from our many respondents, we should like to mention G. W. Allport and E. Z. Vogt of Harvard, A. Villa Rojas and F. Montes Sanchez of the Instituto Nacional Indigenista, P. Moscozo Pastrana, F. Blom, L. Velasco Robles, J. Ochoa, J. F. Salazar, M. de Baroco, D. de la Torre Perez and J. Rodriguez Gutierrez. I See: Benjamin N. Colby and Pierre L. van den Berghe, Ethnic Relations in Southeastern Mexico, The American Anthropologist (in press 1961). 2 Some 20,000 hispanicized but genetically mixed ladinos live among some 125,000 Indians belonging to This content downloaded from 207.46.13.114 on Thu, 26 May 2016 06:20:38 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms

Fifty Years of Malaria Control in the Panama Area

Summary The efforts to control malaria in the vicinity of the Panama Canal during a half century were progressively more successful as new methods developed. Sanitary engineering works of a permanent type have controlled mosquito breeding in the vicinity of communities in the Canal Zone. A battery of chemicals are in use for destroying mosquitoes in all phases of their life cycle and new drugs for effectively attacking the malaria parasite in the human carrier and patient are now at our disposal. Malaria has been reduced to an uncommon disease in the Canal Zone and urban communities of the Republic of Panama enjoy a considerable degree of freedom from infection, but rural communities and hamlets continue to lose much of their economic production potential due to malaria. Aggressive antimalaria programs temporarily reduce the disease but eradication has not been achieved in Panama. Temporary inactivity of malaria in a community may delude the inhabitants but the disease is unlikely to remain quiescent for long. Continuing and unremittent application of control measures by the individual and the community aimed at reducing the vector and treating the carriers is the solution to this problem in the Panama area. Once initiated, the control should be integrated into the community functions and become a permanent part of the community routine.

Chinese Cities: Origins and Functions

U URBAN development in China appears to be almost as old as China itself. This may appear anomalous in view of the fact that modern China is overwhelmingly rural and agrarian in character with at least three quarters of its population engaged in agriculture and dwelling in rural hamlets and villages. The beginnings of town building and urban life in China appear to coincide with the Bronze Age and are associated with the second, or Shang, Dynasty. Sometime during the second millennium B.C. there developed among the bronze-using groups in North China the habit of living in clustered settlements composed of rectangular timbered houses forming quandrangular towns defended by ramparts of tamped earth. The Bronze Age civilization did not immediately replace the earlier Neolithic culture in North China, for there was a long period during which the former was restricted to a small warlike, aristocratic, ruling class occupying a number of small, scattered, autonomous city states which existed like islands in a sea of Neolithic barbarism.1 These town dwellers were the rulers, fighters, landlords and priests all in one. Shang society thus consisted of two very contrasting groups, one urban and the other rural.