NWIG (Dec 2008)
Experiments in indenture: Barbados and the segmentation of migrant labor in the Caribbean 1863-1865
Abstract
Focuses on indentured and other labour migration from Barbados to other parts of the Caribbean starting in 1863. Within the context of the sugar estate-dominated agriculture of Barbados, as well as its high population density, the author describes the policies and decisions of the governors and local assemblies regarding emigration. He points out how the sugar industry's need for labourers remained dominant in the policies, but that the drought in 1863 caused privations and unrest among the labourers, resulting in more flexibility regarding allowance of indentured emigration schemes and recruitment, such as toward St Croix and Antigua, and later toward British Guiana, and to a smaller degree Jamaica. He discusses how this led to rivalries regarding labour immigrants between colonies, and further attempts at restrictions on labour emigration and recruitment in Barbados.
