Landscapes of Freedom

Building a Postemancipation Society in the Rainforests of Western Colombia

Nonfiction, History, Americas, South America
Cover of the book Landscapes of Freedom by Claudia Leal, University of Arizona Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Claudia Leal ISBN: 9780816538386
Publisher: University of Arizona Press Publication: March 20, 2018
Imprint: University of Arizona Press Language: English
Author: Claudia Leal
ISBN: 9780816538386
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Publication: March 20, 2018
Imprint: University of Arizona Press
Language: English

After emancipation in 1851, the African descendants living in the extra-humid rainforests of the Pacific coast of Colombia attained levels of autonomy hardly equaled anywhere else in the Americas. This autonomy rested on their access to a diverse environment—including small strips of fertile soils, mines, forests, rivers, and wetlands—that contributed to their subsistence and allowed them to procure gold, platinum, rubber, and vegetable ivory for export.

Afro-Colombian slave labor had produced the largest share of gold in the colony of New Granada. After the abolishment of slavery, some free people left the mining areas and settled elsewhere along the coast, making this the largest area of Latin America in which black people predominate into the present day. However, this economy and society, which lived off the extraction of natural resources, was presided over by a very small white commercial elite living in the region’s ports, where they sought to create an urban environment that would shelter them from the jungle.

Landscapes of Freedom reconstructs a nonplantation postemancipation trajectory that sheds light on how environmental conditions and management influenced the experience of freedom. It also points at the problematic associations between autonomy and marginality that have shaped the history of Afro-America. By focusing on racialized landscapes, Leal offers a nuanced and important approach to understanding the history of Latin America.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

After emancipation in 1851, the African descendants living in the extra-humid rainforests of the Pacific coast of Colombia attained levels of autonomy hardly equaled anywhere else in the Americas. This autonomy rested on their access to a diverse environment—including small strips of fertile soils, mines, forests, rivers, and wetlands—that contributed to their subsistence and allowed them to procure gold, platinum, rubber, and vegetable ivory for export.

Afro-Colombian slave labor had produced the largest share of gold in the colony of New Granada. After the abolishment of slavery, some free people left the mining areas and settled elsewhere along the coast, making this the largest area of Latin America in which black people predominate into the present day. However, this economy and society, which lived off the extraction of natural resources, was presided over by a very small white commercial elite living in the region’s ports, where they sought to create an urban environment that would shelter them from the jungle.

Landscapes of Freedom reconstructs a nonplantation postemancipation trajectory that sheds light on how environmental conditions and management influenced the experience of freedom. It also points at the problematic associations between autonomy and marginality that have shaped the history of Afro-America. By focusing on racialized landscapes, Leal offers a nuanced and important approach to understanding the history of Latin America.

More books from University of Arizona Press

Cover of the book Unsettling Mobility by Claudia Leal
Cover of the book The Body as Capital by Claudia Leal
Cover of the book The Mountains Next Door by Claudia Leal
Cover of the book Grasshopper Pueblo by Claudia Leal
Cover of the book Marking Indigeneity by Claudia Leal
Cover of the book Radical Territories in the Brazilian Amazon by Claudia Leal
Cover of the book Native Studies Keywords by Claudia Leal
Cover of the book Plaintext by Claudia Leal
Cover of the book De Grazia by Claudia Leal
Cover of the book Gathering the Desert by Claudia Leal
Cover of the book Alcohol in Latin America by Claudia Leal
Cover of the book Outside Theater by Claudia Leal
Cover of the book Songs My Mother Sang to Me by Claudia Leal
Cover of the book Huaorani Transformations in Twenty-First-Century Ecuador by Claudia Leal
Cover of the book An Anthropologist's Arrival by Claudia Leal
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy