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Simplicity, Equality, and Slavery: An Archaeology of Quakerism in the British Virgin Islands, 1740-1780

Online ISBN:
9781683400288
Print ISBN:
9781683400110
Publisher:
University Press of Florida
Book

Simplicity, Equality, and Slavery: An Archaeology of Quakerism in the British Virgin Islands, 1740-1780

John M. Chenoweth
John M. Chenoweth
University of Michigan-Dearborn
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Published:
28 March 2017
Online ISBN:
9781683400288
Print ISBN:
9781683400110
Publisher:
University Press of Florida

Abstract

How do both a religious community and a religion change when their members must face contradictions between their ideals and the society in which they live? This question is answered here by using archaeological and archival information to trace the life of a group of Quakers (members of the Religious Society of Friends) residing in the British Virgin Islands between 1741 and 1763. A group of mostly poor, white planters formed this unique community inspired by the ideals of equality, simplicity, and peace. However, these ideals were enacted in a slave society, with all or nearly all the members holding enslaved people themselves, attempting to improve their lot through the violent appropriation of labor from others on plantations. Combining archival and archaeological evidence, the book shows how modern expectations of “Quakerly” behavior are not met in this community. Instead, we find Quakerism being negotiated in creative ways that fit within a slavery-based economy and society: through foods, relationships with other planters and the enslaved people themselves, and social advancement. Community is often conceived as something every member shares equally, but the historical archaeology approach and anthropological analysis of this volume shows how social groups like religions are full of conflicting perspectives and goals—in this case, conflicts which led to the group’s end after one generation. By examining how one small group interpreted Quakerism’s ideals in the contrasting environment of the eighteenth-century Caribbean, we learn what a religion is and how it matters in the daily lives of its members.

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