Sidney Mintz and Caribbean Studies

Abstract

Review of:Empirical Futures: Anthropologists and Historians Engage the Work of Sidney W. Mintz. George Baca, A isha Khan & Stephan Palmié (eds.). Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2009. v + 232 pp. (Paper US$ 24.95)Three Ancient Colonies: Caribbean Themes and Variations. Sidney W. Mintz. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2010. xiv + 257 pp. (Cloth US$ 27.95)[First paragraph]There can be no doubt about the importance of U.S. anthropologist Sidney Mintz in the development of Caribbean Studies. His work has influenced both the historiography and anthropology of Caribbean slavery and the emergence of Caribbean peasant societies. Now two books have been published that interrogate the significance of his work. The first is an anthology that tries to build on Mintz’s ideas – as I will argue below, in a circumspect and not fully convincing way. In the second Mintz describes and compares thesocieties of Jamaica, Haiti, and Puerto Rico, and looks back on his work that started in the 1940s.