Year: 2012
Type: article
Abstract: If an inhabitant of Saint-Pierre or Cap Français wanted to emulate the life of a European, what goods and foods were available to them?This thesis examines the flow of consumer goods that tied France's West Indian colonies to the metopole.It argues that the ports of Bordeaux and Marseille connected the Caribbean consumers to a dense web of regional European trade routes which supplied them with a plethora of manufactured goods.Elites in the islands were able follow French fashions from a distance but often adapted metropolitan objects, such as kerchiefs, to fit homegrown styles.In contrast to this mixing, the diet of West Indies was highly stratified with elites successfully recreating the foodways of France and slaves subsisting on cheap proteins.
Author: Andrew J. Dial
Institution: Miami University
Language: English
Subfield: History
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2274537307