The People Trade: Pacific Island Laborers And New Caledonia, 1865-1930 Pacific Island Laborers And New Caledonia, 1865-1930 Project Muse Upcc Books

This text presents the story of the people of the New Hebrides (Vanuatu) and the Solomon islands, who left their homes to work in the French colony of New Caledonia has long remained a missing piece of Pacific island history. The author brings these labourers to life by painstakingly assembling the fragments from a wide variety of scattered records and documents. She sketches the workers' lives during and after recruitment, describing the contractual agreements, the kinds of work they did, their living conditions, how they spent their free time, the large numbers who sickened and died, and the difficult choice at the end of the contract to remain in the colony as a free worker or to return home. The story of the people from the New Hebrides (Vanuatu) and the Solomon Islands who left their homes to work in the French colony of New Caledonia has long remained a missing piece of Pacific Islands history. Now Dorothy Shineberg has brought these laboreres to life by painstakingly assembling fragments from a wide variety of scattered records and documents. She tells the story of their recruitment, then sketches the workers'lives in New Caledonia, describing the contractual arrangements, the kinds of work they did, their living conditions, how they spent their free time, the large numbers who sickened and died, and the choice at the end of the contract to remain in the colony as free workers or to return home. Throughout the book she throws light on the controversy about the recruiting of the Islanders: were they kidnapped? Or did they choose to leave home? If so, what motivated them? Evidently the Islanders'cheap labor contributed to the development of the French colony, but how did the episode affect them and their homeland? The People Trade offers readers a revealing new picture of a long neglected side of the Pacific Islands labor trade. Pt. 1. Recruiting For New Caledonia. 1. The Pacific Island Labor Trade And New Caledonia. 2. The Colony Established. 3. Entrepreneurial Recruiting In The 1870s. 4. The Kidnapping Inquiries And The Suspension Of The Labor Trade, 1880-1882. 5. Settlers Triumphant: The Labor Trade Revived. 6. The New Century -- Pt. 2. Profile Of Recruits. 7. Men And Motives. 8. The Women. 9. The Children -- Pt. 3. At The Workplace. 10. Work In New Caledonia. 11. Living And Working In New Caledonia: By Law Or Custom? 12. Perpetual Theft 13. Sickness And Death. 14. Hebrideans In Colonial Society. 15. Life After Indenture. 16. Nothing More Convenient. Dorothy Shineberg. Maps On Lining Papers. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 275-297), Index, And Statistics. Editor's Note 7 Contents 11 Illustrations 13 Acknowledgments 17 Conventions 19 Note on Sources 21 Part One 25 The Pacific Island Labor Trade and New Caledonia 27 The Colony Established 35 Entrepreneurial Recruiting in the 1870s 49 The Kidnapping Inquiries and the Suspension of the Labor Trade, 1880-1882 60 Settlers Triumphant: The Labor Trade Revived 74 The New Century 90 Part Two 97 Men and Motives 99 The Women 114 The Children 140 Part Three 147 Work in New Caledonia 149 Living and Working in New Caledonia: By Law or Custom? 170 Perpetual Theft 190 Sickness and Death 206 Hebrideans in Colonial Society 227 Life after Indenture 245 Nothing More Convenient 253 Appendix: Tables 263 Notes 273 References 299 Index 323