“A weh dem a go?: The slave trade of Jamaica"

by Nadine Hunt

The modern African diaspora in the Americas was largely born out of the involuntary movement of Africans in the era of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.  While the emphasis has been placed on a numerically larger and sociologically more significant involuntary migration vis-à-vis the trans-Atlantic slave trade, this paper will shed light on memories of the intra-Caribbean slave trade on Jamaica.  The paper focuses on the eighteenth century, a period that witnessed British Jamaica actively selling enslaved Africans to neighbouring Caribbean colonies. 

The paper illuminates complexities of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, demonstrating that this inhumane commerce was far more versatile than simply landing enslaved Africans into a single territory dominated by any given European power.  More importantly, it argues that Africans formed hybrid identities because of multiple movements in the Americas, possibly permitting Africans to explore and construct their identity through contact with a host of diverse groups.