Reproducing the British Caribbean : sex, gender, and population politics after slavery / Juanita De Barros.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

De Barros, Juanita.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Population.

Social policy.

Caribbean Area--Economic policy.

Caribbean Area.

Economic policy.

Caribbean Area--Social policy.

Caribbean Area--Population.

Physical Description:

xii, 279 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Chapel Hill, NC : University of North Carolina Press, 2014.

Summary:

This innovative book traces the history of ideas and policymaking concerning population growth and infant and maternal welfare in Caribbean colonies wrestling with the aftermath of slavery. Focusing on Jamaica, Guyana, and Barbados from the nineteenth century through the 1930s, when violent labor protests swept the region, Juanita De Barros takes a comparative approach in analyzing the struggles among former slaves and masters attempting to determine the course of their societies after emancipation. Invested in the success of the "great experiment" of slave emancipation, colonial officials developed new social welfare and health policies. Concerns about the health and size of ex-slave populations were expressed throughout the colonial world during this period. In the Caribbean, an emergent black middle class, rapidly increasing immigration, and new attitudes toward medicine and society were crucial factors. While hemispheric and diasporic trends influenced the new policies, De Barros shows that local physicians, philanthropists, midwives, and the impoverished mothers who were the targets official concern helped shape and implement efforts to ensure the health and reproduction of Caribbean populations in the decades before independence. Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction

Slavery, emancipation, and reproducing the race

Population anxieties and infant mortality

Grannies, midwives, and colonial encounters

Infant welfare, maternal education, and uplifting the race

International public health and Caribbean child-saving

Conclusion. social welfare policies and population questions in the 1930s.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 231-262) and index.

ISBN:

9781469616056

146961605X

OCLC:

873233662