“When unwelcome night came”: A nocturnal history of the colonial Caribbean, 1660-1800

van der Velde, Adrian Thomas

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/124374 Copy

Description

Title

“When unwelcome night came”: A nocturnal history of the colonial Caribbean, 1660-1800

Author(s)

van der Velde, Adrian Thomas

Issue Date

2024-04-23

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Koslofsky, Craig

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Koslofsky, Craig

Committee Member(s)

• Crowston, Clare
• Hogarth, Rana
• Morrissey, Robert
• Rabin, Dana
• Roitman, Jessica

Department of Study

History

Discipline

History

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Caribbean
• early modern
• night
• technology
• violence
• mobility
• sociability
• cultural history
• sugar production
• nocturnality

Abstract

This dissertation examines the Dutch, English, and French Caribbean of the long-eighteenth century through the lens of nocturnality, which was the way that people lived in and discussed the night. Using “the night” as a category of analysis, it shows that the colonial Caribbean was central to the rise of the modern era in the Atlantic World and that it exercised significant influence on the way that contemporaries viewed capitalism, leisure, labor, race, religion, and violence. It argues that nocturnality was a key component of the colonial project, and that the goods and ideas from the Caribbean transformed nocturnalization in Europe. This transformation occurred in no small part because of the products of sugar, coffee, and tobacco which allowed Europeans to engage in social and intellectual activities after dark in ways that they could not do before the seventeenth century. The colonial Caribbean also provided the archetype of the industrial sugar plantation complex which served as a model for the 24-hour labor regime of the Industrial Revolution. There are five thematic chapters in this dissertation concentrated on the following topics: mobility, technology, violence, religion, and sociability. The mobility chapter looks at the movement of people and goods into and throughout the Caribbean, and considers the way that sailors, smugglers, and Maroons travelled throughout the night, by both choice and necessity. The technology chapter examines artificial illumination of the night, including in homes and streets. Importantly, it demonstrates that 24-hour sugar production was integral to the plantation economy and that this served as a model for the Industrial Revolution in Europe. The violence chapter considers the way that violent actions, including fights, murder, rape, and the brutality of the system of chattel slavery were a part of the every-night experience of people in the Caribbean. The chapter on religion shows the ways that people in the region capitalized upon the nighttime to create and pursue their own spiritual interests, including enslaved people, Jews, state-sponsored Christianity, and Protestant sects. The final chapter on sociability considers the nocturnal spaces where people gathered to participate in communal activities, such as ballrooms, bars and taverns, and the theater. The conclusion goes beyond the eighteenth century to consider the legacy of nighttime celebrations among the African-descended peoples of the Caribbean, especially in the form of Carnival and Junkanoo.

Graduation Semester

2024-05

Type of Resource

Thesis

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2024 Adrian van der Velde

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