‘At their perfect command'? The struggle of/(over) post‐emancipation rural labour

Abstract

In a collection which refuses to recognize the presence of Marxist contributions to its subject, a number of essays in this book adhere to imperial or neoclassical economic historiographic traditions, both of which are not just problematic but also revisionist in their approach to the issue of pre‐ and post‐emancipation forms of unfree labour. Privileging empiricism, and for the most part eschewing theory, revisionism attempts to depoliticize analysis of relations such as slavery, indenture and bonded labour in colonial contexts. Symptomatic examples of this revisionist argument — as applied to rural labour in South Africa, India and the Caribbean during the latter part of the nineteenth century ‐ are examined, and the reasons for their shortcomings explored.

After Slavery: Emancipation and its Discontents, edited by Howard Temperley. London and Portland, OR: Frank Cass Publishers, 2000. Pp.v + 300. £45. ISBN 0 7146 5022 6 (cloth).