When Curaçao came under Dutch control in 1634; the small island off South America’s northern coast was isolated and sleepy. The introduction of increased trade (both legal and illegal) led to a dramatic transformation; and Curaçao emerged as a major hub within Caribbean and wider Atlantic networks. It would also become the commercial and administrative seat of the Dutch West India Company in the Americas.The island’s main city; Willemstad; had a non-Dutch majority composed largely of free blacks; urban slaves; and Sephardic Jews; who communicated across ethnic divisions in a new creole language called Papiamentu. For Linda M. Rupert; the emergence of this creole language was one of the two defining phenomena that gave shape to early modern Curaçao. The other was smuggling. Both developments; she argues; were informal adaptations to life in a place that was at once polyglot and regimented. They were the sort of improvisations that occurred wherever expanding European empires thrust different peoples together.Creolization and Contraband uses the history of Curaçao to develop the first book-length analysis of the relationship between illicit interimperial trade and processes of social; cultural; and linguistic exchange in the early modern world. Rupert argues that by breaking through multiple barriers; smuggling opened particularly rich opportunities for cross-cultural and interethnic interaction. Far from marginal; these extra-official exchanges were the very building blocks of colonial society.
#4445020 in Books University of Georgia Press 2001-04-23Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 .94 x 6.28 x 9.30l; #File Name: 0820322687328 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Fight Against Fear tells an important story of the various ...By Stephen HorblittFight Against Fear tells an important story of the various actions; reactions; and positions of Jewish Americans in the South. It sheds light on an important; yet neglected aspect of the Civil Rights movement. Also; it provides vivid insight into the choices people face and make when under threat ; hovering between mere tolerance and exclusion and even physical danger. It is a story; in some cases of courageous activism in some cases; behind the scenes quiet diplomacy; and in others the triumph of fear and in a few cases identification with and support of racial oppression. Students of the Civil Rights movement and those who study behavior in conflict situations should have this book in their library!4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Beyond the Black/White ParadigmBy A CustomerEvery University and college library in the United States should have a copy of this important book. Building off of the pioneering work of scholars such as Leonard Dinnerstein and Mark Bauman; Clive Webb's _Fight Against Fear_ is a major contribution to our understanding of both Jewish history and race relations in the United States. His footnotes and bibliography reveal an immense amount of research. He has visited at least twenty archives in numerous states. His analysis is as impressive as his research. Throughout the text; he portrays Jews in the South in all of their complexity. Some were outright racists who defended segregation vociferously. Others were brave citizens who fought for black civil rights even in the face of terrorism and personal danger. Still others negotiated a delicate balance between both extremes because of their uncertain place within the Southern social order. Southern Jewish life during the Civil Rights movement has never been so fully and so richly portrayed. This nuanced portrait also helps expand our understanding of race in the United States. Historians of the American South have longed envisioned their region in black and white. Professor Webb reveals that ethnicity among "whites" is an important category of analysis below the Mason-Dixon line. Those interested in Jewish history; the American South; and race relations in the twentieth century will want to buy this book.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Beyond the Black/White ParadigmBy A CustomerEvery University and college library in the United States should have a copy of this important book. Building off of the pioneering work of scholars such as Leonard Dinnerstein and Mark Bauman; Clive Webb's _Fight Against Fear_ is a major contribution to our understanding of both Jewish history and race relations in the United States. His footnotes and bibliography reveal an immense amount of research. He has visited at least twenty archives in numerous states. His analysis is as impressive as his research. Throughout the text; he portrays Jews in the South in all of their complexity. Some were outright racists who defended segregation vociferously. Others were brave citizens who fought for black civil rights even in the face of terrorism and personal danger. Still others negotiated a delicate balance between both extremes because of their uncertain place within the Southern social order. Southern Jewish life during the Civil Rights movement has never been so fully and so richly portrayed. This nuanced portrait also helps expand our understanding of race in the United States. Historians of the American South have longed envisioned their region in black and white. Professor Webb reveals that ethnicity among "whites" is an important category of analysis below the Mason-Dixon line. Those interested in Jewish history; the American South; and race relations in the twentieth century will want to buy this book.
