The Coffee Planter of Saint Domingo: A Technical Manual for the Caribbean Slave Owner

Abstract

In 1798, Laborie published a manual with detailed instructions for building a coffee plantation, for example, how to purchase and care for slaves, design plantation buildings, and maintain authority. Laborie's language is that behind the institution of slavery: Slaves are property and thus relate to economic success. Through this review, we investigate historical technical documents to see how our past informs our present and how our attention to technical communication today can inform the future.

Keywords:

• Caribbean plantations
• historic manuals
• instructions
• slavery
• technical documents

Additional information

Notes on contributors

John Wilson Ramey

John Wilson Ramey is an associate professor of English at Indiana University Southeast where he teaches technical writing and creative writing. His research interests include visual rhetoric and technical documents of the Atlantic slave trade.