Work

Margarita’s La Habana : colonial ports and Black ecologies in early nineteenth-century Havana

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: This article re-examines the geography of late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Havana through the gendered lens of Black freedom and enslavement. The author uses fragmentary evidence surrounding the disappearance of Margarita, a young, enslaved girl in 1820s Havana, to suggest how the city’s African and African-descended residents navigated urban space in opposition to colonial design and function. In the process, the author suggests the ways in which the interventions of Black residents, influenced by the ecologies internal to the port, were pivotal to the production of urban space and the geographies of slavery.

Source: Urban History

DOI: 10.1017/s0963926825100205

Author: Guadalupe García

Institution: University of California San Diego

Language: English

Topic: Colonialism, slavery, and trade

Subfield: Anthropology

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Sustainable cities and communities, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,550