Reconstructing the Landscapes of Slavery
A Visual History of the Plantation in the Nineteenth-Century Atlantic World
By Carlos Venegas Fornias, Dale W. Tomich, Rafael de Bivar Marquese, Reinaldo Funes Monzote | Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
About the book
Assessing a unique collection of more than eighty images, this innovative study of visual culture reveals the productive organization of plantation landscapes in the nineteenth-century Atlantic world. These landscapes—from cotton fields in the Lower Mississippi Valley to sugar plantations in western Cuba and coffee plantations in Brazil’s Paraíba Valley—demonstrate how the restructuring of the capitalist world economy led to the formation of new zones of commodity production. By extension, these environments radically transformed slave labor and the role such labor played in the expansion of the global economy.
Artists and mapmakers documented in surprising detail how the physical organization of the landscape itself made possible the increased exploitation of enslaved labor. Reading these images today, one sees how technologies combined with evolving conceptions of plantation management that reduced enslaved workers to black bodies. Planter control of enslaved people’s lives and labor maximized the production of each crop in a calculated system of production. Nature, too, was affected: the massive increase in the scale of production and new systems of cultivation increased the land’s output. Responding to world economic conditions, the replication of slave-based commodity production became integral to the creation of mass markets for cotton, sugar, and coffee, which remain at the center of contemporary life.
Editions of Reconstructing the Landscapes of Slavery
- Hardcover
- ISBN 9781469663111
- Paperback
- ISBN 9781469663128
- EBook
- ISBN 9798890860446
- EBook
- ISBN 9781469663142
- EBook
- ISBN 9798890860453
- EBook
- ISBN 9781469663135
Read an Excerpt
Assessing a unique collection of more than eighty images, this innovative study of visual culture reveals the productive organization of plantation landscapes in the nineteenth-century Atlantic world. These landscapes—from cotton fields in the Lower Mississippi Valley to sugar plantations in western Cuba and coffee plantations in Brazil’s Paraíba Valley—demonstrate how the restructuring of the capitalist world economy led to the formation of new zones of commodity production. By extension, these environments radically transformed slave labor and the role such labor played in the expansion of the global economy.
Artists and mapmakers documented in surprising detail how the physical organization of the landscape itself made possible the increased exploitation of enslaved labor. Reading these images today, one sees how technologies combined with evolving conceptions of plantation management that reduced enslaved workers to black bodies. Planter control of enslaved people’s lives and labor maximized the production of each crop in a calculated system of production. Nature, too, was affected: the massive increase in the scale of production and new systems of cultivation increased the land’s output. Responding to world economic conditions, the replication of slave-based commodity production became integral to the creation of mass markets for cotton, sugar, and coffee, which remain at the center of contemporary life.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Reconstructing the Landscapes of Slavery about?
Assessing a unique collection of more than eighty images, this innovative study of visual culture reveals the productive organization of plantation landscapes in the nineteenth-century Atlantic world. These landscapes—from cotton fields in the Lower Mississippi Valley to sugar plantations in western Cuba and coffee plantations in Brazil’s Paraíba Valley—demonstrate how the restructuring of the capitalist world economy led to the formation of new zones of commodity production. By extension, these environments radically transformed slave labor and the role such labor played in the expansion of the global economy.
Artists and mapmakers documented in surprising detail how the physical organization of the landscape itself made possible the increased exploitation of enslaved labor. Reading these images today, one sees how technologies combined with evolving conceptions of plantation management that reduced enslaved workers to black bodies. Planter control of enslaved people’s lives and labor maximized the production of each crop in a calculated system of production. Nature, too, was affected: the massive increase in the scale of production and new systems of cultivation increased the land’s output. Responding to world economic conditions, the replication of slave-based commodity production became integral to the creation of mass markets for cotton, sugar, and coffee, which remain at the center of contemporary life.
What core themes, tropes, or subjects are explored in Reconstructing the Landscapes of Slavery?
History and Archaeology > History > History of the Americas
Where can I read a sample of Reconstructing the Landscapes of Slavery?
You can read an official preview of the few pages here https://www.book2look.com/book/9781469663111
How long is Reconstructing the Landscapes of Slavery and how many pages does it have?
Reconstructing the Landscapes of Slavery has 176 page(s)
Who is/are the Author/s of the book Reconstructing the Landscapes of Slavery?
Carlos Venegas Fornias, Dale W. Tomich, Rafael de Bivar Marquese, Reinaldo Funes Monzote
What are the ISBN numbers for the physical and digital editions?
Reconstructing the Landscapes of Slavery is available as hardcover(ISBN 9781469663111) and paperback(ISBN 9781469663128) and ebook(ISBN 9798890860446) and ebook(ISBN 9781469663142) and ebook(ISBN 9798890860453) and ebook(ISBN 9781469663135)
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Where can I buy Reconstructing the Landscapes of Slavery?