Shadows of the Plantation? A Social History of Suriname’s Bauxite Town Moengo

Abstract

This article explores the social history of Suriname’s first bauxite town, Moengo, founded in the late 1910s. It recounts the rise of a new industry that drew workers away from the plantations and urban artisanal occupations to work in a massive, highly organized and orchestrated organization-cum-social community. Using oral narratives about life in Moengo, as well as census and other statistical data, this contribution asks whether everyday life in the mining enclave echoed features of the plantation.

Keywords

• Suriname
• Marowijne
• bauxite
• aluminium industry
• social history
• employees
• labour relations
• gender relations
• race relations