Manuel Barcia: slave resistance in Cuba 19/03/09
Disguised and Nonviolent Forms of Slave Resistance on Cuban Plantations, 1790-1850
Dr Manuel Barcia
University of Leeds
On 19 March, 2009, Dr Manuel Barcia of Leeds Univeristy presented a seminar at the IISC on the subject of his book: The Seeds of Insurrection
More than 40 students, lecturers, jouranlists., film-makers and other academics particpated in the seminar which was followed a sale of the book and a signing by the author.
In his presentation Dr Barcia explained how in Cuba, as elsewhere, slaves found ways to express their ideas and to reproduce their traditions and inherited knowledge about the world.
He emphasised how slaves often reproduced forbidden habits, customs, religious beliefs, and the autochthonous elements of their native cultures. Those who were warriors maintained their military pride and, not surprisingly, started numerous movements of resistance. But revolts and marronage were not safe ways to oppose slavery. Day-to-day life was full of imperceptible incidents and events that in one way or another constituted safer forms of resistance.
On Cuban plantations slaves, he said, were well aware of the limits of their private and public actions. Consequently, rather than to give up easily, they accepted some elements of their oppressors' culture by integrating them into their own cultural and religious practices.
The best known example of this phenomenon, though not the only one, was slaves' acceptance of the saints and virgins of the Catholic pantheon and their merging of these figures with the various African deities they worshipped. This process, known under the terms "syncretism" and "transculturation," is a fashionable subject of study among scholars today, inspiring prolific research not only in Cuba but also across the world. In this paper I look at the wide range of the 19th Century Hidden Transcript practiced by slaves on Cuban plantation and how these apparently harmless actions helped to transform their lives and the lives of their oppressors.
Dr Manuel Barcia. Studied History at the universities of Havana and Essex, taking his PhD in the latter. Has taught at the universities of Essex, Nottingham and Leeds. His research focuses on the history of the Africans in the Americas, in particular in the Spanish Caribbean. Has published various book chapters and articles and his most recent book 'Seeds of Insurrection: Domination and Resistance on Western Cuban Plantations' has just been published by the Louisiana State University Press.
To purchase a copy of this presentation on dvd please send a cheque for £5.00 (or equivalent) to:
The International Institute for the Study of Cuba,
London Metropolitan University,
31 Jewry Street,
London,
EC3N 2EY
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