‘Witnesses in spite of themselves’: Reconstructing Afro—Caribbean culture in the Danish West Indian archives

Abstract

In his geographical study of Denmark published in 1855–57, E. Erslev regrets that he cannot provide significant information on the Afro-Caribbean population in the Danish West Indies: ‘In addition to our description of the way in which the colored inhabitants are occupied on the plantations, it would have been of interest if we had been able to offer an account of the many other distinctive characteristics of their life; but as far as the author is aware, we lack any form of literary aid to this end. If somebody who is travelling to or staying in the West Indies feels encouraged to describe the colored people and their domestic conditions, he would thereby help fulfill a palpable need’.¹

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Karen Fog Olwig

Born 1948. Ph.d. in Anthropology, Minnesota University 1977. Research fellow and lecturer at Department of Anthropology, Copenhagen University.