santo domingo/saint-domingue/cuba: five hundred years of slavery and transculturation in the...

Santo Domingo/Saint-Domingue/Cuba: Five Hundred Years of Slavery and Transculturation inthe AmericasAuthor(s): Thomas NeunerSource: Social History, Vol. 31, No. 1 (Feb., 2006), pp. 79-83Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4287298 .

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Social History Vol. 3 No. i February 2006 I Rout&edge Taylor & Francis Group

CONFERENCE REPORT

Thomas Neuner

Santo Domingo/Saint-Domingue/ Cuba: five hundred years of slavery

and transculturation in the Americas

On 14-16 December 2004, a conference on slavery and transculturation was held at the

University of Cologne organized by Michael Zeuske (University of Cologne) and Rebecca Scott (University of Michigan). Numerous scholars working in the international field of Atlantic and especially Caribbean slavery and post-emancipation, which has gained importance during the last decade, participated in the conference supported by the Deutsche

Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation). Michael Zeuske and Rebecca Scott

opened up new perspectives on slaves. Their work is based on anthropological concepts which see the slave as legal subject and agent, and on information about experiences and memories of slaves and their children, gained through micro- and ethno-historical methods. Their working method is based on the combination of material from archives and oral reports, comparison, cultural transfer and relations in the difficult field between the Atlantic area (macro) and the individual life stories in different forms of slavery (micro).

The programme of what is now the sixth conference organized by Zeuske and Scott shows

clearly that international academic co-operation has grown tremendously over the years. Among the large number of scholars, commentators and moderators were Alejandro de la

Fuente, Olga Portuondo Zuniiga, Javier Lavifia, Neil Safier, Norbert Finzsch, Clarence J. Munford, Julius S. Scott, Martha Jones, Wolfgang Gabbert, Silke Hensel, Claus Fuellberg- Stolberg, Christopher Schmidt-Nowara, Jochen Kemner, Ada Ferrer, Dale W. Tomich, Gloria Garcia Rodriguez, Jean Hebrard, Myriam Cottias, Manuel Barcia, Fe Iglesias, Ulrike

Schmieder, Orlando Garcia Martinez, Reinaldo Funes Monzote, Felix I. Telleria Bernal and Luis Miguel Garcia Mora.

The first paper, for the opening of the conference, was given by the historian Clarence J. Munford, who finished his Ph.D. in Leipzig during the I96os and taught in Nigeria for many years (he is now emeritus professor, University of Guelph, Canada). He is well known for his works on slavery and the slave trade between the African continent and the French Caribbean. Munford is not only a scholar but also an activist who, together with Stokeley Carmichael and

Social History ISSN 0307-1022 print/ISSN 1470-1200 online © 2006 Taylor & Francis

http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals DOI: I. Io80/o3071020500424540



other representatives of black intellectuals, fought for civil rights. Today he demands

reparation for African Americans. In his impressive paper, Munford declared that the racial

polarization and dominance of white people are basic problems of western civilization. The

year 144I stands as a symbolic date for the beginning of slavery and the mass deportation of millions of Africans by European people. To Munford, racial slavery cannot be separated from the development of capitalist systems. While the Atlantic slave trade led to the breakdown of traditional West African social structures, the work done by black slaves between I518 and 1888 created the material conditions for white society's wealth in the United States and the dominant position of European civilization in a global context. Right from the beginning, adjustment and transcultural action by the suppressed people were a part of slavery and forced

emigration, as was their resistance, which culminated in the slave revolution in Saint-

Domingue in 179I and the foundation of the first black state in the US in 1804. Even after the abolition of the inhuman working regime, the consequences of Atlantic slavery, in the form of

racism, led to misdevelopments in American post-emancipation societies which have lasted until the present day.

After this vivid introduction to the topic, the main focus of the morning session was on forms of slavery. The first paper, about the survival of the century-old Iberian law culture in Cuban slave society of the nineteenth century, delivered by Alejandro de la Fuente

(Pittsburgh University), triggered a discussion about methodological problems of the micro-historical approach which claims to raise questions of general interest and to reconstruct macro-phenomena from a micro-perspective. It is beyond doubt that close studies of legal sources have led to a new view of the social and cultural history of slavery. Adding his voice to the Tannenbaum debate about the 'mildness' of Ibero-American

slavery, de la Fuente presented the idea of a higher permeability of the border between

slavery and freedom in Cuba, with the result that Castilian law codes dating back to the thirteenth century have not granted well-being to the slaves, but have allowed them to demand rights from their lords, concerning a change of master (pedir papeles) or buying freedom (coartacion). The slaves had to know the existing law and have access to the courts

(or have alliances which made this possible) in order to make use of their rights and to transform their masters' duties into personal rights. The slaveholder almost appears as a victim himself, who could be forced by his slave to set him free for a fixed price or sell him to another slaveholder. Micro-historians are often unable to provide statistically significant data. The question thus remains whether sixty extraordinary documents can give proper evidence of the reality of this lower part of society; or if the life of hundreds of thousands of slaves who lived on distant plantations and who never even heard about their

rights, or heard about them but did not have access to legal advice, or made complaints which were dismissed, can provide better evidence. Micro-history often emphasizes the

qualitative value of these sixty 'extraordinary documents', but only further research will be able to determine whether these practices were common in certain regions or time-frames, or whether any pattern can be discovered.

The debate was continued with a report from Gloria Garcia Rodriguez (University of

Havana) on the struggle for survival of the slaves: some slowed down their working process, while others interrupted or even abandoned their work; others tried to flee - temporarily or

permanently. Slaves who complained - no matter whether their rebellion was justified or not -

were punished very severely, even though the legal situation improved during the nineteenth

Social History 80 VOL. 31 : NO. I



Slavery and transculturation in the Americas

century. In her discussion, Garcia showed scepticism towards the term 'resistance' because it is used in an inflationary and careless way today, and some historians tend to interpret every working break as an act of resistance. This does not mean that the figure of a slave as legal subject and agent has become meaningless - quite the contrary if one bears in mind that, hardly ten years ago, scholars saw the slave only in a passive role. Olga Portuondo Zuniiga (University of Santiago de Cuba) spoke about slavery in the eastern part of Cuba and the discussions of Creole elites in the context of economic changes during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

A very different aspect was presented by Javier Lavifia (University of Barcelona) who discussed the failed attempts of Christianization among black slaves in Santo Domingo during the seventeenth century. The Christianization had only superficial results, because the slaves and their descendants managed to preserve and develop the religions and rituals of their African origin in the new environment, even though the government prohibited them. The role of religious brotherhoods among blacks, depending on their background (cofradias, cabildos de nacion), which came to Santo Domingo from Seville in the sixteenth century, remains to be examined.

The following panel contained transnational questions reaching beyond the Gulf of Mexico. Clarence J. Munford presented a paper on the breakdown of the then most productive plantation economy in Saint-Domingue, discussing the ethnic-nationalist revolution of the black freedom fighters. After the French Revolution, the island faced a conflict between free blacks, poor whites and members of the colonial aristocracy. It culminated in a racial revolution in August 1791 which shocked the western world and progressed the resistance

against slavery. The maritime aspect of the revolution in Saint-Domingue and its consequences in the wider Caribbean area were discussed by Julius Scott (University of Michigan): Britain tried to control the Corsair ships from Haiti, with the tricolore on their masts, and the waterways of the Caribbean sea, to prevent the revolution spreading to Jamaica. Some of the southern ports in the US feared that their black population might become infected with revolutionary thought. The mobility of the black rebels was in evidence from the eastern coast of Cuba to the coastal towns of the General Captaincy of Caracas, and was immensely disruptive to the slave trade.

Ada Ferrer (New York University) presented an interesting paper on news, pictures and stories about the Haitian Revolution, which are present in Cuban society. French troops who regularly visited Cuban ports reported the power and strength of former slaves in Saint- Domingue, and also of officers from the Creole elite of the island, who fought against France in Saint-Domingue from 1793-5 and were temporarily allies ofToussaint Louverture's troops. It was not only the social elite but also free blacks and slaves who knew the names of powerful black generals. They were able to read about their military triumph and the Haitian declaration of independence in the Spanish government's newspaper Gaceta de Madrid, which was available then. Manuel Barcia (University of Essex) pointed to the influence of the Haitian Revolution on the lower classes in the Americas. He stated that free coloured people, notably in Brazil, Louisiana, Florida and Cuba, served to spread the Haitian idea of revolution or rebellion; and that in many rebellions the slaves did not take leading positions. Perhaps the abolitionism debate and other internal aspects were more important for the slave rebellion in the British Caribbean than inspiration from outside. Barcia claimed that many of the slaves who took part in the rebellions in Brazil and Cuba during the I82oS were possibly not influenced by Haitian

February 2oo6



role models, but that they had been born in Africa and were therefore descendants of the

powerful Yoruba empire whose culture (Islamic and other influences) and western techniques of defence had had their impact on them.

This claim triggered a lively discussion. Michael Zeuske emphasized the influence of the revolution in Saint-Domingue on Humboldt's interest in slavery. Humboldt's diary fragments, unknown until the present day and written during Humboldt's second stay in Cuba, mark the

beginning of the comparative history of slavery in the Americas. The diary notes, which can be dated back to the time of the proclamation of the state of Haiti, contain information about slaves and revolution which formed the basis for his later 'Essai politique' on Cuba. The diary contains a comparative analysis of the consequences of the revolution in Saint-Domingue on other slave societies as well as a positive judgement of the slave revolution. The information used by Humboldt allows further statements on the circulation of ideas in the Caribbean around i800.

Rebecca Scott analysed the intersections between Cuban and Louisiana history in the last third of the nineteenth century, using the example of relations between freedom fighters in Cuba and New Orleans. While black human rights were curtailed during the I87os in

Louisiana, solidarity for Cubans fighting Spain and slavery (1868-98) grew among the coloured

population. Afro-American groups of volunteers reached Cuba only after the end of the

'Spanish-American war' and then changed into occupying forces. The transfer of ideas and

people inspired both the black struggle for civil rights in Louisiana and the Cuban rebel leaders, Gomez and Maceo, who also lived in New Orleans for a while and obtained weapons and

money from there. Jochen Kemner (University of Bielefeld) described the situation of more than I0,000 former slaves and wealthy free blacks who migrated from Saint-Domingue to the

region around Santiago de Cuba. He tried to analyse their social status by examining distinctive forms of address in notarial files.

Martha Jones (Michigan University) examined the fatal relation between slavery and law,

highlighting a group of young blacks from Saint-Domingue who had already attained freedom in 1794 and who were brought to New York and later Baltimore and New Orleans

by an escaping slaveholder. After the change from the French law system to the Anglo- American one, the black people's status also changed. The white immigrant slaveholder

managed to maintain her right over the slaves and their sale, despite conflicts with abolitional

societies, even in court. Borders and the failure of the law were also the topic of a study by Myriam Cottias (EHESS, Paris) of the truth committees which were introduced with the final abolition of slavery, at a regional level, in the French Caribbean (I848-52). Organized like their role models, French labour courts, the commissions did not manage to reconcile social

opposition, despite their egalitarian rhetoric. The free slaves demanded their right to land, their hut and a salary - without effect. To the plantation owners, their right of property was untouchable. They even succeeded in reinventing the working regime by devising new,

illegal contracts with the freed slaves. Attempts at reconciliation had to fail, since a citizen's

status was connected to race and the concept of transracial citizenship which was invented by Antonio Maceo and Jose Marti did not exist at that time.

Jean Hebrard (EHESS, Paris) discussed practices of naming in Bahia, following on from

Zeuske's work on slave names in Cuba. Brazilian administrative sources equally stigmatized blacks: the number of first names marked the bearer's status in the social hierarchy. While

some African names can be traced in Cuban civil registers, in Bahia no names from Africa were

Social History 82 VOL. 31 : NO. I



Slavery and transculturation in the Americas

found. Only in church books, which allowed one first name for each person, the remark 'African' following the name is sometimes found.

In the panel 'Caribbean models: Saint-Domingue/Haiti and the consequences for the

development of slavery in the Americas', Christopher Schmidt-Nowara (Fordham University, New York) talked about the relationship between Spanish colonial power and Haiti and Santo

Domingo in the nineteenth century. He highlighted the conflicts surrounding the remains of

Christopher Columbus in Santo Domingo. Spain tried to legitimate its rule in the Caribbean

by adapting the role of defenders of civilization against the black slave general Touissant Louverture and an imagined Haitian invasion in Cuba. Claus Fuellberg-Stolberg (Hanover University) talked about the 'sugar boom', demography and work discipline in Barbados and

Jamaica during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and the socio-economic process of transformation in the British Caribbean after the abolition of the slave trade in 1807.

The conference concluded with three papers which, once more, focused on Cuba. Based on documentation in the provincial archives in Cienfuegos, Orlando Garcia Martinez (University of Cienfuegos) described the economic and social history of the region, from the rise of slavery to the birth of the post-emancipation society (I819-79). The ecological consequences of the Cuban plantation economy were discussed by Reinaldo Funes Monzote (Fundacion Antonio Nufiez Jimenez, Havana). Because of expanding sugar and coffee plantations and a rising need for fossil fuels, large areas were deforested during the nineteenth century. The development of a plantation economy in Cuba took place at the same time as the beginning of the industrial

age, therefore modem technologies (steam engine, railway) were used. The changes in nature and environment through slavery economics present a largely unexplored field of research for environmental history.

The difficulties in combining archival sources with oral reports of the slave descendants became clear in the contribution by Felix I. Telleria Beral (UNEAC Cienfuegos). His

grandparents participated in the war of independence in 1895. Using his own family as an

example, Bemal talked about areas of silence, taboos and secrets within an African-American

family. During the whole conference, changing perspectives of micro- and macroscopic approaches had produced a multi-faceted portrait of slavery. Files of religious brotherhoods were particularly emphasized as they constitute a rather unexplored area of research. It is likely that the combination of these files with other known materials could offer new insights. The controversial role of Islam in slave culture also constitutes a largely unexplored field. The conference impressively demonstrated that the Haitian Revolution was not only one of the most radical changes of modern times, but that it also forms a relatively unknown topic in

historiography. The studies by Ada Ferrer and Julius Scott, as well as Humboldt's rediscovered

diary fragments, question the prevalent opinion that contemporary witnesses were only confused and therefore silent about the Haitian Revolution. The polyphonic discussion served further to intensify the transatlantic debate about two hundred years of revolution in Haiti and

provided constructive and valuable suggestions. University of Cologne

February 2006 83



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