The ERACI IV Registry is a multicenter and prospective open label study that evaluates the cobalt-chromium alloy sirolimus eluting stent Firebird 2™ for the treatment of patients with multiple vessel coronary artery disease and indication for revascularization. 225 patients were evaluated and included in the registry. Patients inclusion criteria are acute coronary syndromes, excluding ST elevation myocardial infarction (MI), reference vessel diameter >2.5 mm and target lesion diameter stenosis ≥70%. Exclusion criteria were poor left ventricular ejection fraction, previous treatment with drug eluting stent (DES) in an epicardial vessel or contraindication to ASA or thienopyridines. All patients signed an informed consent form according to the National Direction of Personal Data from Argentina following the current law. All data will be incorporate to a database by an electronic case report form. Primary end-point was to know the incidence of cardiovascular events defined as any cause of death, MI, cerebrovascular accident (CVA) and target lesion revascularization (TLR), compared with ERACI III population (Cypher™ and Taxus™ arm and by-pass arm) at 30 days, 6 and 12 months of follow-up. Secondary endpoints includes incidence of target lesion failure (TLF) defined as any ischemia driven revascularization of the target lesion, cardiac death, MI and TLR; incidence of Target vessel revascularization (TVR) and stent thrombosis, according to Academic Research Consortium (A.R.C.) definition. An independent clinical events committee will adjudicate adverse events.
Palabras clave: DES, multiple vessel disease, unprotected left main.
El Registro ERACI IV es un estudio multicéntrico, prospectivo y abierto que evalúa el stent de aleación de cromo cobalto liberador de sirolimus Firebird 2® para el tratamiento de pacientes con enfermedad coronaria múltiple e indicación de revascularización. Se incluyeron 225 pacientes en el registro; los criterios de inclusión fueron: síndrome coronario agudo como motivo de internación, excluyendo al infarto de miocardio con elevación del segmento ST; diámetro de referencia >2,5 mm y estenosis de la lesión a tratar >70%, por estimación visual. Los criterios de exclusión fueron: mala función ventricular, tratamiento previo con stent liberador de fármacos o contraindicación para el tratamiento con aspirina y/o tienopiridinas. Todos los pacientes firmaron un consentimiento informado de acuerdo con la Dirección Nacional de Datos Personales de la Inspección General de Justicia de la Nación. Todos los datos relevantes para la investigación se incorporaron a la base de datos utilizando un formulario electrónico de formulario de datos, mediando una contraseña para cada sitio e investigador. El objetivo primario del registro fue conocer la incidencia de eventos cardiovasculares definidos como muerte de cualquier causa, infarto de miocardio (IM), accidente cerebrovascular y revascularización de la lesión tratada (TLR), para posteriormente compararla con la población del estudio ERACI III (rama Taxus® y Cypher® y rama cirugía de bypass) a 30 días, 6 y 12 meses de seguimiento. Los objetivos secundarios: la incidencia de falla de la lesión tratada (TLF), definida como cualquier revascularización debido a isquemia de la lesión tratada, muerte cardíaca, MI y TLR; incidencia de revascularización del vaso tratado (TVR) y trombosis del stent de acuerdo con la definición del Academic Research Consortium. Un comité clínico Independiente adjudica los eventos adversos.
Keywords: DES, enfermedad de múltiples vasos, tronco no protegido.
Tabla 1. Firebird 2 charactaristics.
Using the results from these pivotal clinical trials two meta-analyses6,7 were set and published using the individual data from each of them; of significance, one included multiple vessel coronary disease patients and other patients treated either treated with balloon angioplasty or BMS. The first one, by Mark Hlatky et al.,6 showed almost identical survival freedom from death, AMI and cerebrovascular accident (CVA) between BMS and CABG. At six years of follow-up the results were similar. In both articles neither the number of coronary vessels involved, left anterior descendent artery or poor left ventricular ejection fraction were associated to worst survival in PCI arm; meaning that coronary disease extension was not a predictor of poorer outcome in the randomized trials done during 1986/2000.
At the end of the last decade the most ambitious randomized trial comparing DES with CABG in patients with multiple vessel disease presented the one year results: the "SYNergy between PCI with TAXUS and Cardiac Surgery (SYNTAX)" trial. This study, conducted by Patrick Serruys, was a multinational trial (85 sites) with a randomization block 1:1 that compared the incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACCE: death, AMI, CVA and new revascularization) between the first generation of DES and CABG in patients with coronary disease in three vessels and unprotected left main disease (ULMD). One year results13 showed similar incidence in death and AMI, with a significant difference in favor to DES when comparing CVA (p=0.003), no differences in death, AMI and CVA (p=0.89) and a major incidence in revascularization procedures with DES (p=0.001). Numbers that affected the incidence of MACCE resulting in non-inferiority margins that didn´t fulfill the primary endpoint.
In this trial the authors stratified results according to the SYNTAX Score, an index that take in account the complexity of the patients, classifying them in tertiles of low (< 22), moderate (between 22 and 32) and high risk (>32).
At five years of follow-up14 DES arm showed higher incidence of cardiac death (p=0.003), MI (p< 0.001) and new revascularization procedure (p< 0.001), meanwhile CVAs was still in favor of DES, although non-significantly (p=0.09). These unfavorable findings in PCI group where mainly caused by higher incidence of events in patients with 3 vessels treated with PCI. On the contrary, in most patients with left main stenosis, long term outcome was similar between both revascularization strategies, and the only advantage of CABG was due to revascularization procedures. The old DES design used in this trial was a major limitation; in fact, any definition of stent thrombosis (definite, probable and possible) from the SYNTAX trial showed 15.4% rate of stent thrombosis, and this was translated to a higher incidence of death. Patients with definite or probable stent thrombosis have 41.3% of death rate.
In the last years we witness the introduction of new DES designs17,18 with better platforms and biocompatible and/or biodegradable polymers that shown an important reduction in severe cardiac events including cardiac death and MI in almost all analyzed subgroups, comparing to first generation DES, as randomized clinical trials showed.
Firebird-2 is a cobalt-chromium alloy sirolimus eluting stent completely different from those used in ERACI III,19 SYNTAX and FREEDOM trial.
The Firebird 2™ Sirolimus-Eluting Cobalt-chromium Coronary Stent is a second generation DES, which based on a cobalt chromium alloy stent platform. It has a strut thickness of 0.0034´´ and a crossing profile or 0.039´´. The pharmacological agent, rapamycin, in incorporated into a polyolefin polymer that provides controlled release of the available drug, with a drug-release rate at 30-days of 80%.
The ERACI IV Registry is a multicenter and prospective open label study that evaluates the Firebird-2™ DES for the treatment of patients with multiple vessel coronary artery disease and indication for revascularization. Subjects with acute coronary syndromes (ACS), excluding ST elevation myocardial infarction as clinical presentation and reference vessel diameter (RVD) ≥ 2.5 mm and ≤ 3.5 mm by visual estimation will be included; additional inclusion and exclusion criteria are given in this manuscript. The number of subjects to evaluate was 225, in accordance with the ERACI III population. Primary end point is the rate of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACCE). Subsequently a comparison with ERACI III patients (DES and CABG arms) will be done at 30 days, 6 and 12 months of follow-up. Secondary end points includes the incidence of TLF at one year of follow-up, incidence of TVR and incidence of stent thrombosis, according to the Academic Research Consortium definition (A.R.C.).
MACCE is defined as the composite of any cause of death, myocardial infarction (MI; both ST elevation and Non-ST elevation), cerebro-vascular accident (CVA) and any ischemia-driven revascularization of the target lesion (TLR). Target lesion failure (TLF) is defined as any ischemia driven revascularization of the target lesion, cardiac death (if the event could not be determined with certainty, it will be assumed to be cardiac), MI and TLR. Target vessel revascularization (TVR) refers to an ischemic driven revascularization of the treated coronary artery. Stent thrombosis is defined per the Academic Research Consortium (A.R.C.) definition.
For the study, clinical endpoints measurements were conducted in-hospital and at 30 days and are planned at 3, 6 and 12 months. After the first follow-up visit, the next ones could be done by personal visit, telephone or reference physician.
Dual Anti-Platelet Therapy (DAPT) was required for all included patients. Aspirin ≥ 300 mg was administrated orally at least 1 hour prior to catheterization and an oral loading dose of tienopiridnes: either clopidogrel (300 to 600 mg), prasugrel (60 mg) or ticagrelor (180 mg), preferably ≥ 6 hours prior to procedure. During PCI unfractionated heparin was recommended as necessary to maintain an activated clotting time as current guidelines suggested. Alternatively, enoxaparin, bivalirudin or others antithrombotic agents could be administrated per standard of care and operator´s choice. DAPT will be maintained at least 6 months and, recommended, indefinitely; includes either clopidogrel (75 mg/day), prasugrel (10 mg/day) or ticagrelor (90 mg/12 hours).
This registry evaluated patients with multiple vessel coronary disease (MVD). The strategy of staged procedures was allowed. If this was the choice, the medical records must reflect this information. Treatment of a non-planned coronary vessel after baseline PCI it will be evaluated by the Clinical Committee, either an original target or non-target lesion or vessel.
For the primary endpoint analysis, most frequent methods will be use. No power calculation were done taking in account that this is an observational study. For the later indirect comparison with ERACI III population, we will do a matching-adjusted indirect comparison incorporating individual patient data and using an approach similar to propensity score weighting, so we can estimate the difference in 12 months MACCE rate between the ERACI IV group and the ERACI III trial (DES and CABG groups).
An independent clinical events committee will adjudicate all reports events of MACCE and other clinical events, including stent thrombosis. An independent data monitoring committee is responsible for oversight of all reported adverse events and evaluate safety data.
All the required patient´s information needed to fulfill the research was incorporated to the database by each site researchers, trained with that purpose, using a password protected electronic case report form (CRF).
The Centro de Estudios en Cardiología Intervencionista (CECI) is responsible for the development of the protocol registry, database, e-CRF and statistics analyses.
The Informed Consent Form (ICF) was presented to the National Direction of Personal Data (Inspección General de Justicia) from Argentina, and the database was approved by this national bureau, following the personal data protection law (n° 25326). The protocol was presented to the Administración Nacional de Medicamentos, Alimentos y Tecnología Médica (ANMAT) from Argentina.
The registry follows Good Clinical Practice (GCP) and Helsinki declaration for human research. All patients signed an Informed Consent Form (ICF).
Taking in account that this is a multicenter registry that evaluates a "real world" population, not a randomized clinical trial,20,21 a matched-adjusted indirect comparison between ERACI IV and ERACI III trial will be done, considering that the devices used in ERACI III, Taxus and Cypher stents, were 1st generation eluting stents (paclitaxel and rapamycin respectively) approved by ANMAT, FDA and with CE-mark and widely used around the world, and that Firebird 2™ is a later generation sirolimus eluting stent, approved by ANMAT and other agencies.
CECI: Centro de Estudios en Cardiología Intervencionista. .
MACCE: Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events.
A complete list of inclusion and exclusion criteria, both clinical and angiographic, is listed below.
- Subject is ≥ 18 years old.
- Eligible for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).
- Documented stable angina pectoris or acute coronary syndrome (ACS), excluding ST elevation myocardial infarction (MI) at the moment of inclusion.
- Subject understands the nature of the study and provides informed consent before inclusion to registry.
- Patient willing to comply with follow up evaluations.
- Target lesions located in native coronary artery.
- Target lesions diameter stenosis ≥ 70%.
- Reference vessel diameter ≥ 2.50 mm and ≤ 4.0 mm, by visual estimation.
- Patients with documented ST elevation MI between 72 hours prior to baseline PCI.
- Patients treated with one or more drug eluting stent/s (DES) in an epicardial target vessel.
- Patients with previous treatment of a target epicardial vessel with a bare metal stent (BMS) within 6 months of the index procedure.
- Contraindication to ASA, or both clopidogrel, prasugrel or ticagrelor.
- Known hypersensitivity to sirolimus.
- Known allergy to Cobalt chromium alloy.
- Any prior true anaphylactic reaction to contrast agents defined as known anaphylactoid or other non-anaphylactic allergic reactions to contrast agents that cannot be adequately treated prior to index procedure.
- Leukopenia (< 3000 cel/mm3), thrombocytopenia (< 100000 cel/mm3) or other blood diseases.
- Active peptic ulcer or active gastrointestinal bleeding.
- Any known disease, to investigator criteria, that could interfere with the optimal participation of the patient in the current registry.
- Currently participating in another investigational drug or device study.
- Programmed surgical intervention within 30 days posterior to the index procedure.
- Arrythmia or any conduction abnormality.
- Cerebrovascular accident after hospital discharge or cerebrovascular accident suspected to be related to the index procedure.
- Death due to procedure complication, including bleeding, vascular repair, transfusion reaction or by-pass surgery.
- Any death in which cardiac cause cannot be excluded.
Major adverse cardiovascular event (MACCE).
MACCE is defined as the composite of any cause of death, myocardial infarction (MI; both Q and non Q), cerebro-vascular accident (CVA) and any ischemia-driven revascularization of the target lesion (TLR).
- Q wave: development of new pathological Q-waves in 2 or more leads lasting ≥ 0.04 segs with post procedure cardiac enzyme levels elevated above normal.
TVR refers to an ischemic driven revascularization of the treated coronary artery.
- Probable: unexplained death within 30 days or target vessel myocardial infarction without angiographic confirmation of stent thrombosis.
- Possible: any unexplained death after 30 days.
- Acute: 0-24 hours post stent implantation.
- Subacute: > 24 hours – 30 days post implantation.
- Late: > 30 days – 1 year post implantation.
- Very Late: > 1 year post implantation.
The authors like to thank to: Mónica Buus for assistance and sites coordination and Anabel Chesini for editorial support, both from CECI Centro de Estudios en Cardiología Intervencionista.
Clinical Events Committee: David Antoniucci, MD (CEC Chairperson); Eduardo Gabe, MD (Sanatorio Otamendi y Miroli, Buenos Aires, Argentina); Fernando Sokn, MD (Clínica IMA. Adrogué, Argentina) and Pablo Stutzbach, MD (Sanatorio Las Lomas. San Isidro, Argentina).
Angiocorelaboratory: Claudio Llauradó, Bs and Alejandro Incarbone, Bs (Centro de Estudios en Cardiología Intervencionista. Buenos Aires, Argentina).
Clinical Project Management: Centro de Estudios en Cardiología Intervencionista (Alfredo M. Rodriguez-Granillo, Project Manager; Alfredo E. Rodriguez, Director).
Biostatistical analysis: Centro de Estudios en Cardiología Intervencionista. (Gastón Rodríguez-Granillo, MD, PhD; Alfredo M. Rodriguez-Granillo, MD).
Safety monitoring: Comité de Ética en Investigación Clínica, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Study sites and PI: Sanatorio Otamendi y Miroli, Buenos Aires(Alfredo E. Rodríguez); Clínica IMA, Adrogué, Buenos Aires (Carlos Fernández-Pereira, Carlos Mauvecín); Sanatorio Las Lomas, San Isidro, Buenos Aires (Juan Mieres); Sanatorio de la Trinidad, Quilmes, Buenos Aires (Carlos Haiek); Clínica provincial de Merlo, Merlo, Buenos Aires (Omar Santaera); Sanatorio San Miguel, San Miguel, Buenos Aires (Juan Lloberas); Hospital Español, Mendoza (Miguel Larribau); Hospital El Cruce, Buenos Aires (Ricardo Sarmiento); Instituto de Diagnóstico y Tratamiento de Afecciones Cardiovasculares, La Plata, Buenos Aires (Ignacio Rifourcat); Centro Médico Talar, Pacheco, Buenos Aires (Antonio Pocoví); Hospital Militar Central, Buenos Aires (Oscar Carlevaro); Clínica Privada Angiocor, La Plata, Buenos Aires (Elías Sisu); Sanatorio Belgrano, Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires (Alejandro Delacasa); Sanatorio San Lucas, San Isidro, Buenos Aires (Antonio Pocoví); Clínica de Nefrología, Urología y Enfermedades Cardiovasculares, Santa Fe (Víctor Moles).
Bari Investigators. The final 10-years follow-up results from the BARI randomized trial. J Am CollCardiol 2007;49(15):1600-1606.
Hueb W, Lopes NH, Gersh BJ, et al. Five-year follow-up of the Medicine, Angioplasty, or Surgery Study (MASS II): a randomized controlled clinical trial of 3 therapeutic strategies for multivessel coronary artery disease. Circulation 2007;115(9):1082-1089.
Booth J, Clayton T, Pepper J, et al. Randomized, controlled trial of coronary artery bypass surgery versus percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with multivessel coronary artery disease: six year follow-up from the Stent or Surgery Trial (SoS). Circulation 2008;118:381-388.
Serruys PW, Ong AT, van Herwerden LA, et al. Five-year outcomes after coronary stenting versus bypass surgery for the treatment of multivessel disease: the final analysis of the Arterial Revascularization Therapies Study (ARTS) randomized trial. J Am CollCardiol 2005;46(4):575-581.
Rodriguez AE, Baldi J, Fernández Pereira C, et al. Five-year follow-up of the Argentine randomized trial of coronary angioplasty with stenting versus coronary bypass surgery in patients with multiple vessel disease (ERACI II). J Am Coll Cardiol 2005;46(4):582-588.
Hlatky MA, Boothroyd DB, Bravata DM, et al. Coronary artery bypass surgery compared with percutaneous coronary interventions for multivessel disease: a collaborative analysis of individual patient data from ten randomized trials. Lancet 2009;373:1190-1197.
Daemen J, Boersma E, Flather M, et al. Long-term safety and efficacy of percutaneous coronary intervention with stenting and coronary artery bypass surgery for multivessel coronary artery disease: a metaanalysis with 5-year patient-level data from the ARTS, ERACI-II, MASS-II, and SoS trials. Circulation 2008;118:1146-1154.
Moses JW, Leon MB, Popma JJ, et al. Sirolimus-eluting stents versus standard stents in patients with stenosis in a native coronary artery. N Engl J Med 2003;349:1315-1323.
Stone GW, Moses JW, Ellis SG et al. Safety and efficacy of sirolimus- and paclitaxel- eluting coronary stents. N Engl J Med 2007;356:998-1008.
Stettler C, Wandel S, Allemann S, et al. Outcomes associated with drug eluting and bare-metal stents: a collaborative network meta-analysis. Lancet 2007;370:937-948.
Camenzind E, Steg PG, Wijns W. Stent Thrombosis Late After Implantation of First-Generation Drug-Eluting Stents A Cause for Concern. Circulation 2007;115:1440-1455.
Rodriguez AE, Mieres J, Fernández-Pereira C, et al. Coronary stent thrombosis in the current drug-eluting stent era: Insights from the ERACI III trial. J Am CollCardiol 2006;47:205-207.
Serruys PW, Morice MC, Kappetein AP, et al. Percutaneous coronary intervention versus coronary-artery bypass grafting for severe coronary artery disease. N Engl J Med 2009;360(10):961-972.
Mohr FW, Morice MC, Kappetein AP, et al. Coronary artery bypass graft surgery versus percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with three-vessel disease and left main coronary disease: 5-year follow-up of the randomised, clinical SYNTAX trial. Lancet 2013;381(9867):629-638.
Farkouh ME, Domanski M, Sleeper LA, et al. FREEDOM trial investigators. strategies for multivessel rev,,,ascularization in patients with diabetes. N Engl J Med 2012;367(25):2375-2384.
Rodriguez AE, Arizmendi L, Romero G and Rodriguez-Granillo AM. Randomized trials of PCI versus CABG, why coronary stenting should remain the first choice of revascularization in non-diabetics patients and why the controversy is still present in diabetics? Expert Rev CardiovascTher, 2014,Mar;12(3):297-309.
Claessen BE, Smits PC, Kereiakes DJ, et al. Impact of lesion length and vessel size on clinical outcomes after percutaneous coronary intervention with everolimus- versus paclitaxel-eluting stents pooled analysis from the SPIRIT (Clinical Evaluation of the XIENCE V Everolimus Eluting Coronary Stent System) and COMPARE (Second-generation everolimus-eluting and paclitaxel- eluting stents in real-life practice) Randomized Trials. JACC Cardiovasc Interv 2011 Nov;4(11):1209-1215.
Windecker S, Serruys PW, Wandel S, et al. Biolimus eluting stent with biodegradable polymer versus sirolimus-eluting stent with durable polymer for coronary revascularisation (LEADERS): a randomised non-inferiority trial. The Lancet 2008, 372:1163-1173.
Rodriguez AE, Maree AO, Mieres J, et al. Late loss of early benefit from drug-eluting stents when compared with bare-metal stents and coronary artery bypass surgery: 3 years follow-up of the ERACI III registry. Eur Heart J. 2007 Sep;28(17):2118-2125.
Flather M, Delahunty N, Collinson J. Generalizing results of randomized trials to clinical practice: reliability and cautions. Clin Trials 2006;3:508-512.
Nallamothu BK, Hayward RA, Bates ER. Beyond the randomized clinical trial: the role of effectiveness studies in evaluating cardiovascular therapies. Circulation 2008 Sep 16;118(12):1294-1303.
Centro de Estudios en Cardiología Intervencionista. Sanatorio Otamendi y Miroli. CABA, Argentina.
Clínica IMA., Adrogué, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Clínica Privada Provincial. Merlo, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Hospital Español. Godoy Cruz, Mendoza, Argentina.
Sanatorio de la Trinidad. Quilmes, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Hospital El Cruce. Florencio Varela, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Sanatorio Las Lomas. San Isidro, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Sanatorio San Miguel. San Miguel, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Centro Médico el Talar. Tigre, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Hospital Militar Central. CABA, Argentina.
Instituto de Diagnóstico y Tratamiento de Afecciones Cardiovasculares. La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Centro de Estudios en Cardiología Intervencionista. CABA, Argentina.
Careggi Ospedale. Florencia, Italia; on behalf of ERACI IV Investigators.


text:
Aha original Senapathi, a nailbiting crime drama
Directed by Pavan Sadineni , the film is produced by Sushmitha Konidela and Vishnu Prasad under Gold Box Entertainments. World of Senapathi, a riveting glimpse into the film's ambience, the characters, their motives, was launched today. Director Pavan Sadineni who is known for his 2013 romcom Prema Ishq Kaadhal was signed to helm the remake of crime thriller 8 Thottakkal. Sadineni, however, prefers it to call a "semi-remake" because they added new characters and changed several aspects while retaining the crux of the original. The film marks the digital debut of veteran actor Rajendra Prasad.
The story explores what happens when a police officer loses his gun and a series of murders takes place in the city. 100% Telugu streaming platform aha, a household name for Telugu entertainment, is coming up with a gripping original film titled Senapathi. The one-of-a-kind redemption drama marks the OTT debut of veteran actor Rajendra Prasad in a never-seen-before avatar.
Senapathi is the Upcoming Aha Original Series scheduled for the Occasion of Dussehra and Sankranthi Festival season. It will be streaming on Aha Video between Dussehra and Sankranthi Days. Along with Rajendra Prasad, Naresh Agastya, Gnaneshwar Kandergulam, Harshavardhan and Rakendu Mouli played the lead roles in this web series. The able technical team and Shravan Bharadwaj's background score keep the atmosphere brooding and gritty as the film traverses the maze-like conduits of crime in the bylanes of Hyderabad.
The director made the film run with a racy screenplay in the first half. But, the film has become a bit slow while it nears the climax. Aha dropped fairsweety the trailer of Senapathi on December 21, 2021. Rajendra Prasad's new look and character shocked everyone and the trailer got viral in no time.
He made this film in his style without losing the originality of the film. Character goes on a serious note throughout the film, unlike his previous films. Refrain from posting comments that are obscene, defamatory or inflammatory, and do not indulge in personal attacks, name calling or inciting hatred against any community. Help us delete comments that do not follow these guidelines by marking them offensive. Let's work together to keep the conversation civil.
Please clear the app cache and force close the app and try again. To resume watching from where you last left, go to "my aha" in the app and you will be able to stream the resumed movies. Indian 2 also stars Kamal Haasan, Kajal Aggarwal, Bobby Simha, Priya Bhavani Shankar, Rakul Preet Singh, Siddharth, Samudra Kani and Gulshan Grover.
entertainment, google, local

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Joseph Burtt Davy (Derbyshire, 7 de março de 1870  - Birmingham, 20 de agosto de 1940) foi um botânico e agrostólogo inglês.  Foi o primeiro curador do herbário do Instituto Imperial Florestal, quando fundado em 1924.

Bibliografia
Vernacular & Botanical Names of some South African Plants - Burtt Davy, Transvaal Agricultural Journal, abril de 1904
Ferns of the Transvaal - Burtt Davy & V. G. Crawley, Report of the SA Association for the Advancement of Science, 1909
A First Checklist of Flowering Plants & Ferns of the Transvaal and Swaziland - Burtt Davy & Mrs R. Leendertz Pott, Annals of the Tvl. Museum, 1912
Maize: its History, Cultivation, Handling and Uses with Special Reference to South Africa - Burtt Davy, Londres, 1914
A Manual of the Flowering Plants and Ferns of the Transvaal with Swaziland - Burtt Davy : Longmans, Green & Co., 1932

Homenagens
Foi galonado com o título de Ph.D. pela Universidade de Cambridge em 1925 e outro pela Universidade de Oxford em 1937.

Em sua honra foram nomeadas as espécies:
 Aloe davyana Schönland
 Acacia davyi N.E.Br. 1908
 Ficus burtt-davyi Hutch. 1916

Ligações externas

Botânicos do Reino Unido
Botânicos da África do Sul

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Anna Eva Fay: Topics in Chronicling America
A popular stage medium, Anna Eva Fay captivated audiences and newspaper readers with her psychic performances. This guide provides access to material related to "Anna Eva Fay" in the Chronicling America digital collection of historic newspapers.
Photograph of Anna Eva Fay. January 18, 1908. Goodwin's Weekly: A Thinking Paper for Thinking People (Salt Lake City, UT), Image 6. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers.
"There can be no knowledge without faith." Anna Eva Fay was one of the most famous and successful mediums of the 19th and 20th centuries, enthralling the American public with her ability to read minds, communicate with spirits, and predict future events. She was particularly renowned for her "Somnolency," where she would predict and answer the written questions of audience members with startling accuracy, and throughout her life she received thousands of letters entreating her guidance. Anna Eva Fay's career was fraught with constant skepticism from critics but she always maintained that her legitimacy was up to the audience to accept—since her performances were so astonishing and convincing, people began to believe they were the real thing. Read more about it!
Anna Eva Fay opens at the Sacramento Metropolitan Theater.
An audience member lifts up Miss Fay's skirt in a vain attempt to find the little boy hiding inside.
Fay uses her powers to divine the identity of a murderer.
Fay calls upon her abilities to locate a gold mine.
Fay uncovers the body of a missing murder victim.
Supported by Clara Barton, Fay decides to found a "Bungalow Home" for people of all kinds.
By now Miss Fay has experienced a highly successful mentalist career, securing $1000 every week.
URL: https://guides.loc.gov/chronicling-america-anna-eva-fay
Subjects: American Women History, Individuals, Topics in Chronicling America


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text:
module PiPiper
  # class for SPI interfaces on the Raspberry Pi
  class Spi
    # Least signifigant bit first, e.g. 4 = 0b001
    LSBFIRST = 0
    # Most signifigant bit first, e.g. 4 = 0b100
    MSBFIRST = 1

    # Select Chip 0
    CHIP_SELECT_0 = 0
    # Select Chip 1
    CHIP_SELECT_1 = 1
    # Select both chips (ie pins CS1 and CS2 are asserted)
    CHIP_SELECT_BOTH = 2
    # No CS, control it yourself
    CHIP_SELECT_NONE = 3

    # SPI Modes
    SPI_MODE0 = 0
    SPI_MODE1 = 1
    SPI_MODE2 = 2
    SPI_MODE3 = 3

    #Sets the SPI mode. Defaults to mode (0,0).
    def self.set_mode(cpol, cpha)
      mode = SPI_MODE0 #default
      mode = SPI_MODE1 if cpol == 0 and cpha == 1
      mode = SPI_MODE2 if cpol == 1 and cpha == 0
      mode = SPI_MODE3 if cpol == 1 and cpha == 1
      PiPiper.driver.spi_set_data_mode mode
    end

    #Begin an SPI block. All SPI communications should be wrapped in a block.
    def self.begin(chip=nil, &block)
      PiPiper.driver.spi_begin
      chip = CHIP_SELECT_0 if !chip && block_given?
      spi = new(chip)

      if block.arity > 0
        block.call spi
      else
        spi.instance_exec &block
      end
    end

    # Not needed when #begin is called with a block
    def self.end
      PiPiper.driver.spi_end
    end

    # Uses /dev/spidev0.0 to write to the SPI
    # NOTE: Requires that you have /dev/spidev0.0
    #  see: http://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-raspberry-pi-educational-linux-distro/overview
    #  most likely requires `chmod 666 /dev/spidev0.0`
    #
    # @example Writing red, green, blue to a string of WS2801 pixels
    #   PiPiper::Spi.spidev_out([255,0,0,0,255,0,0,0,255])
    #
    def self.spidev_out(array)
      PiPiper.driver.spidev_out(array)
    end

    # Sets the SPI clock frequency
    def clock(frequency)
      options = {4000     => 0,      #4 kHz
                 8000     => 32768,  #8 kHz
                 15625    => 16384,  #15.625 kHz
                 31250    => 8192,   #31.25 kHz
                 62500    => 4096,   #62.5 kHz
                 125000   => 2048,   #125 kHz
                 250000   => 1024,   #250 kHz
                 500000   => 512,    #500 kHz
                 1000000  => 256,    #1 MHz
                 2000000  => 128,    #2 MHz
                 4000000  => 64,     #4 MHz
                 8000000  => 32,     #8 MHz
                 20000000 => 16      #20 MHz
               }
      divider = options[frequency]
      PiPiper.driver.spi_clock(divider)
    end

    def bit_order(order=MSBFIRST)
      if order.is_a?(Range)
        if order.begin < order.end
          order = LSBFIRST
        else
          order = MSBFIRST
        end
      end

      PiPiper.driver.spi_bit_order(order)
    end

    # Activate a specific chip so that communication can begin
    #
    # When a block is provided, the chip is automatically deactivated after the block completes.
    # When a block is not provided, the user is responsible for calling chip_select(CHIP_SELECT_NONE)
    #
    # @example With block (preferred)
    #   spi.chip_select do
    #     spi.write(0xFF)
    #   end
    #
    # @example Without block
    #   spi.chip_select(CHIP_SELECT_0)
    #   spi.write(0xFF)
    #   spi.write(0x22)
    #   spi.chip_select(CHIP_SELECT_NONE)
    #
    # @yield
    # @param [optional, CHIP_SELECT_*] chip the chip select line options
    def chip_select(chip=CHIP_SELECT_0)
      chip = @chip if @chip
      PiPiper.driver.spi_chip_select(chip)
      if block_given?
        begin
          yield
        ensure
          PiPiper.driver.spi_chip_select(CHIP_SELECT_NONE)
        end
      end
    end

    # Configure the active state of the chip select line
    #
    # The default state for most chips is active low.
    #
    # "active low" means the clock line is kept high during idle, and goes low when communicating.
    #
    # "active high" means the clock line is kept low during idle, and goes high when communicating.
    #
    # @param [Boolean] active_low true for active low, false for active high
    # @param [optional, CHIP_SELECT_*] chip one of CHIP_SELECT_*
    def chip_select_active_low(active_low, chip=nil)
      chip = @chip if @chip
      chip = CHIP_SELECT_0 unless chip

      PiPiper.driver.spi_chip_select_polarity(chip, active_low ? 0 : 1)
    end

    # Read from the bus
    #
    # @example Read a single byte
    #   byte = spi.read
    #
    # @example Read array of bytes
    #   array = spi.read(3)
    #
    #
    # @param [optional, Number] count the number of bytes to read.
    #   When count is provided, an array is returned.
    #   When count is nil, a single byte is returned.
    # @return [Number|Array] data that was read from the bus
    def read(count=nil)
      if count
        write([0xFF] * count)
      else
        enable { PiPiper.driver.spi_transfer(0) }
      end
    end

    # Write to the bus
    #
    # @example Write a single byte
    #   spi.write(0x22)
    #
    # @example Write multiple bytes
    #   spi.write(0x22, 0x33, 0x44)
    #
    # @return [Number|Array] data that came out of MISO during write
    def write(*args)
      case args.count
        when 0
          raise ArgumentError, "missing arguments"
        when 1
          data = args.first
        else
          data = args
      end

      enable do
        case data
        when Numeric
          PiPiper.driver.spi_transfer(data)
        when Enumerable
          PiPiper.driver.spi_transfer_bytes(data)
        else
          raise ArgumentError, "#{data.class} is not valid data. Use Numeric or an Enumerable of numbers"
        end
      end
    end

  private
    def initialize(chip)
      @chip = chip
    end

    def enable(&block)
      if @chip
        chip_select(&block)
      else
        yield
      end
    end
  end
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Owen helps lead the vision and direction of the Alacrity Foundation and is a major contributor to the local technology community in Victoria. He donates his time and resources to multiple groups within and outside of the Alacrity portfolio.
Owen is also a General Partner at Wesley Clover International, responsible for managing their technology portfolio. Wesley Clover is a private investment firm with active portfolios in technology, hospitality and commercial real estate.
Prior to his move to Wesley Clover in 2007, Owen was the founder and CEO of NewHeights Software. NewHeights was a pioneer in enterprise unified communication products and was acquired by CounterPath Corporation.
Owen is an active member on the Board of Directors for Counterpath Corporation, EchoSec Systems, Encepta Corp., Pretio Interactive, Referral SaaSquatch, and Tutela Technologies.
On the community engagement side Owen is a Governor on the Board of Power to Be, a non-profit organization that empowers people to explore their limitless abilities through inclusive adventures rooted in nature. He has been active on the board of advisors for the Peter B. Gustavson School of Business at the University of Victoria, Children's Health Foundation of Vancouver Island and St. Margaret's School.
He is also on the board of directors for the Victoria Innovation, Advanced Technology and Entrepreneurship Council, Victoria's one-stop hub connecting people, knowledge, and resources to grow and promote the local technology sector.
Owen enjoys fishing, coffee, playing soccer, barbecuing, and spending time with his wife and three children.
Owen studied Computer Science and Psychology at the University of Victoria.


text:
Could Brandon Marshall Find a New Home with the Ravens?
The Bears can cut Marshall before March and save some cap space in the process
Published Feb 5, 2015 at 3:27 PM | Updated at 3:28 PM CST on Feb 5, 2015
Wide receiver Brandon Marshall #15 of the Chicago Bears looks on prior to the start of the game against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium on September 14, 2014 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)
The Chicago Bears haven't decided what they are going to do with wide receiver Brandon Marshall yet, but if they turn him loose to avoid paying him his new three-year contract extension, he may have a potential landing spot on the East Coast.
According to a post on the Baltimore Ravens' website on Thursday morning, Marshall asked head coach John Harbaugh if he would allow the receiver to still appear on Showtime's "Inside the NFL" if he were to play for the Ravens.
The subject has been a controversial one in recent weeks as Showtime producers have extended an offer to Marshall to come back for next year, but Harbaugh unequivocally answered "yes" when Marshall asked him the question.
Of course, the Ravens' website then went on to suggest that the story could fan the flames of a potential Marshall-to-Baltimore scenario, and on the surface, the thought of Marshall playing for the Ravens isn't that much of a stretch.
Patriots Model Provides Clues to Bears' Rebuild
With Joe Flacco locked in for a long-term contract, Torrey Smith testing the free agent waters, and Steve Smith not getting any younger, the Ravens could use another weapon in the passing game, and Marshall could fit the bill if the Bears decide they don't want him around any more.
There is one ever so crucial, little itty bitty detail that could prevent a Marshall-Ravens union: the fact that Marc Trestman is their offensive coordinator.
While Trestman would obviously have knowledge of Marshall's skill set, would he really provide an endorsement for a guy who was one of the guys holding a torch while the Bears' team chemistry went down in flames?
Bears' NFL Draft Fan Festival Plans Taking Shape


text:
The National is an indie rock band formed in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1999 and is currently based in Brooklyn, New York. The band's lyrics are written and sung by Matt Berninger, a baritone. The rest of the band is composed of two pairs of brothers: Aaron and Bryce Dessner and Scott and Bryan Devendorf. Padma Newsome, from sister band Clogs, often… Leia mais
The Airborne Toxic Event
Julian Plenti
Stations With The National
The National Radio
Plays The National along with similar artists like:
Julian Plenti, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Doves, My Morning Jacket, Des…
Biggest Hits of 2010
Plays the biggest songs from the hottest artists of 2010.
The Sword, The Black Keys, Caribou, Taio Cruz, Enrique Iglesias, Trey Songz, Lloy…
Get dancing and laughing to the sounds of 2010's Lollapalooza
Hot Chip, The Temper Trap, Blues Traveler, Lady GaGa, The Morning Benders, Stars…
College Indie
Plays the latest indie pop & rock.
Imperial Teen, Wavves, Grimes, Lana Del Rey, Band Of Skulls, Jens Lekman, The Ast…
Arcade Fire Radio
Plays Arcade Fire along with similar artists like:
The National, The Decemberists, The Drums, Beirut, The Temper Trap…
EL VY Radio
Plays EL VY along with similar artists like:
The National, Sir Sly, Half Moon Run, The Coral, Doves…
Arab Strap Radio
Plays Arab Strap along with similar artists like:
Malcolm Middleton, Gravenhurst, The Walkmen, Glasvegas, Broken Social Sce…
Blonde Redhead Radio
Plays Blonde Redhead along with similar artists like:
Autolux, Arcade Fire, Blouse, Broken Social Scene, The Notwist…
Bloc Party Radio
Plays Bloc Party along with similar artists like:
Kele, Athlete, The Fratellis, Mew, The Last Shadow Puppets…
From The National
Fake Empire
Bloodbuzz Ohio
Mistaken for Strangers
I Need My Girl
Terrible Love
Afraid Of Everyone
Conversation 16


text:
Australia CSP contract uses daytime load to access peak prices
SolarReserve's innovative offtake agreement for its 150 MW Aurora CSP plant combines favorable government demand shapes with peak power price exposure and renewable certificate income, Tom Georgis, Senior Vice President of Development at SolarReserve, told New Energy Update.
SolarReserve plans to capitalize on peak power prices during summer evenings. (Image credit: George Clerk).
Australia launches CSP study to decide support; California renewables hit record output share
SolarReserve's giant CSP project targets California peaks with 10-hour storage
CSP lenders push for competitive PPAs to build sustainable industry
Gains from CSP with storage hinge on market-specific designs
In August, the Government of South Australia awarded U.S. developer SolarReserve a 20-year power offtake agreement at a maximum price of AU$78/MWh ($61/MWh) for its planned 150 MW Aurora CSP plant with molten salt energy storage at Port Augusta.
The "Generation Purchase Agreement" [GPA] is a key step in the development of Australia's first large-scale CSP plant. Aurora will hold eight hours of full load storage capacity and is expected to cost AU$650 million ($505.9 million) to build. Construction is due to begin in 2018 and is expected to be completed in 2020.
The Aurora plant will help address South Australia's peak demand challenges with carbon-free generation. In the summer, power prices surge across peak demand periods in the late afternoon and evening hours. Wind power accounts for almost 40% of South Australia's generation and peak power is typically supplied by gas-fired plants.
Trading intervals above AU$5000/MWh (quarterly)
Tesla is currently building a 100 MW energy storage plant at Neoen's 315 MW Hornsdale wind farm to help reduce supply shortages. PV capacity is expected to rise going forward, but without energy storage it will not be able to supply evening peak demand or provide certain grid stability services.
"The South Australia market is a great fit [for CSP] given its need for firm capacity, high price peak periods, and great solar resource," Georgis told New Energy Update.
"The key benefit of this [GPA] structure is that it allows us to offer a competitively priced plant, inherent market risk management capabilities, and green attribute value while helping to stabilize pricing volatility and enhancing the transmission grid," he said.
Under the agreement, SolarReserve will retain 75% of renewable energy certificates issued for the plant, providing an additional revenue stream for the developer.
SolarReserve currently owns 100% of the Aurora project and plans to bring in new equity partners as it fleshes out the project finance structure ahead of construction, Georgis said.
Peak returns
The GPA is the result of a tender launched by the state government in September 2016 to procure 75% of its long-term power supply. The state also decided to procure 25% of electricity from renewable sources.
"The offer from SolarReserve was the lowest-cost option of the shortlisted bids... the government will pay an expected levelized price of AU$75/MWh, and no more than AU$78/MWh," the office of Jay Weatherill, Premier of South Australia, said in a statement.
Quarterly base futures prices by region
Under the agreement, SolarReserve will operate as a wholesale generator and deliver its power to the National Electricity Market (NEM) and the government will buy its power from the NEM. The annual load of the government is approximately 500 GWh, roughly the annual output of the Aurora power plant. The government load profile is higher during the off-peak daytime working hours and peaks at around 125 MW.
"The GPA is structured as more of a tolling arrangement where the South Australia government withdraws power typically during off peak periods while Aurora sells power during high priced peak periods. Aurora captures the pricing spread revenue after reimbursing the South Australia government for their withdrawn energy costs," Georgis said.
Effectively, SolarReserve takes wholesale market (electricity pool) risk on the output over and above the government load profile, which is typically favorable in terms of hourly price trends.
In addition, SolarReserve will be allocated 75% of the Large-Scale Generation certificates (LGCs) issued to the plant. LGCs are issued annually for renewable energy output and are usually sold to electricity retailers which are required to surrender a set number of certificates each year. LGCs have been valued at around $80/MWh in recent months, according to online data sources.
"This program is only in place for the next 10 years, and the revenue is difficult to predict, but it has value to the project economics," Georgis noted.
The GPA structure could be applied to other global markets which use national electricity pools, Georgis said.
A key target for SolarReserve has been Chile, where the company has thus far proposed eight towers for a total 7,000 GWh of annual output, to supplement the country's rising PV and wind output.
SolarReserve has bid the projects into Chile's national power auctions but is yet to be allocated capacity, despite a record-low CSP bid of $63/MWh in August 2016. The auctions allocated projects on a levelized cost of energy (LCOE) basis and wind, solar, coal and gas projects were bid at lower prices.
SolarReserve also has ambitious expansion plans in Australia as it looks to take advantage of strong solar resources and rising renewable energy targets.
The developer is considering building four to six CSP plants, each of capacity 100 to 150 MW, in the state of Queensland. The company is also studying several other sites in South Australia and Western Australia, Georgis said.
"These opportunities are a combination of mining, industrial and retailer offtake," he said.
Australia's installed generation by fuel source, region


Shopper with zip and patchwork that adds a bohemian touch. Adorned with romantic floral embroidery, it has contrasting zigzag stitches, natural-colour handles, inner lining with foil polka dots and nubuck material. An attractive folk touch for your looks. Measurements: 30 x 13 x 28cm.


text:
Clean blog theme is a ported theme to Spress designed by [Start Bootstrap](http://startbootstrap.com/).

[Live demo](http://spress-add-ons.github.io/clean-blog/).

### Features

* Fully responsive.
* Distraction free blog text optimized for legibility.
* Contact form powered by [getsimpleform](https://getsimpleform.com/).
* Comments powered by [Disqus](disqus.com).

### How to install?

#### Download a copy

* Get a copy of the latest [release](https://github.com/spress-add-ons/Clean-blog-theme/releases).
* Uncompress it.
* Go to `Clean-blog-theme` folder
* `spress site:build --server --watch`

#### With Git

* [Fork this repository](https://github.com/spress-add-ons/Clean-blog-theme/fork)
* Clone it: ` https://github.com/YOUR-USER/Clean-blog-theme.git
* Go to `Clean-blog-theme` folder
* `spress site:build --server --watch`

#### Globally

**This options is not available with `spress.phar`**.

Go to your [Spress](http://spress.yosymfony.com/) installation folder i.e  **~/Spress** and add the following depencency to your `composer.json` file

```json
"require": {
    "spress-add-ons/clean-blog-theme": "1.0.*@dev"
}
```

and then run the following command to install the dependency.

```bash
$ composer update
```

Next create your new site:

```bash
$ spress new:site /your-site-dir clean_blog
$ cd /your-site-dir
$ spress site:build --server --watch
```

## Configuration

### Comments

Comments are powered by [Disqus](disqus.com) and it need your
**disqus shortname**. To get it, you need create a account at this service.
It's free.

```yaml
comments:
  enabled: true
  disqus_shortname: yosymfony
```

### Top menu

Top menu are composed by each of **pages with `title` attribute**. e.g: `about/index.html`:

```yaml
title: "About me"
```

### Contact form

The contact form is a AJAX form configured in `config.yml`:

```yaml
forms:
    contact:
        getsimpleform_api_token:
```

You need a API key from [getsimpleform](https://getsimpleform.com/) service. It's free.

### Writing a post

To create a new post use `new:post` command from Spress:

```bash
$> spress new:site
```

Each post has a header image. You can configure your image and some data about it.

```yaml
header_img:
  url: "img/post-bg-07.jpg"
  author: Yuri Samoilov
  author_url: https://flic.kr/p/mjhDwB
```

## License

[Apache 2.0](http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0).


text:
Q: How to change the value in the array according to the index in react hooks How to change the value in the array according to the index in react hooks?
Is there any elegant solution?
export function Test() {
    const a =new Array(5).fill(0)
    console.log(a[0])
    const [data, setData] = useState(a);
    return

{data.map(it=>(

setData(?)
    }>
        i am test {it}

))
}

}

A: in order to re-render, just clone old array and set again

{
   data[2] = 1;
   setData([...data])// clone old object
}>
        i am test {it}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


KROD RECORDS is an independent record label located in Berlin, Germany established in march 2015 by Jordan Calvi. We maintain a strong connection with our artists, medias and all the promoters we are working with. The label got fiercely independent diy work ethic. Our artists have been featured in some of the biggest magazines in music today such as Kerrang!, Rock Sound, alternative press, Noisey and New Noise Magazine.
Since 2017, the label is located in two countries – Germany and France. We also do management for our artists and sometimes, we join them touring the world just to spend more time with these amazing people.
in 2018, we created red toad music and pr to distribute music and promote artists and friends we love.
our physical releases are distributed by code 7.


The Department of Pharmacy Practice welcomes Assistant Professors Nicole Pezzino and Vicky Shah to the faculty.
Dr. Pezzino, who started on Monday August 3rd, received her PharmD from the University of Pittsburgh. She completed a PGY-1 residency in Community Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina - Ashville. Dr. Pezzino will establish a new practice site with Weis Pharmacy in Nanticoke PA. Her teaching will focus on community pharmacy, self-care and longitudinal care.
Dr. Vicky Shah received his BS in Biology from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Subsequently, he earned this PharmD from Howard University in Washington DC. Dr. Shah recently completed a PGY-1 residency at Suburban Hospital – Johns Hopkins in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Shah will be teaching in various areas of the curriculum including PT and longitudinal care. He will be precepting APPE students (internal medicine) at the VA Wilkes-Barre. Dr. Shah started Monday August 10th.
Dr. Pezzino and Shah have offices on the third floor. Please join me in welcoming Drs. Pezzino and Shah.


text:
Slave Women, Family and Property, Part 3
Against the Current, No. 42, January/February 1993
The New-Old Political Order
Imagine The Possibilities
The Rebel Girl: Measure 9 Dies; OCA Vampire Lives
— Catherine Sameh
Bill Clinton in the World
— Mike Zielinski
— Cecilia Green
Revolution and Justice
— Justin Schwartz
Random Shots: Campaign and Other Leftovers
— R.F. Kampfer
Perspectives on Environmental Struggle
Report from New Orleans
— Rick Wadsworth
What Is Environmental Racism?
— Kathryn Savoie interviews Bunyan Bryant
Retrospective on Rio
— Maby Velez
Stop the Poisoning of Peru
— Hugo Blanco
The Environmentalism of the People
Radiation: A New Smallpox Blanket
— Jennifer Viereck
Why We Need a Political Ecology
— Chris Gaal
Ecology and Radical Economics
The Fiery Furnace of Neb-u-chad-nez-zar
— Don Fitz
Who's Got the News?
— E. San Juan, Jr.
Elinor Ferry (1916-1992)
— Nora Ruth Roberts
Cecilia Green
WE HAVE ALREADY identified two tendencies within the slave community, both of critical social significance and impact, but actually involving minorities within the slave community: (a) concubinage with white men, resulting<197>especially in extra-residential or tenuous co-residential situations–in a species of extended matrifocal family (socially elevated by biological and symbolic, even if not social, white fatherhood), and (b) patriarchal, male-headed (extended) families, whose chief principals were elite (and therefore dominant) slave men.
But what does an examination of a full range of family practices, which is mindful of the possibilities of gender and ethnic contestation, have to tell us? What about the majority of slave women, who were neither concubines of white men nor partners in a relatively "formally sanctioned" polygamous set-up? These questions cannot be properly answered here, as such a project would require another paper; however, a critical if cursory assessment of selective attempts by others to answer the last question may stimulate a onsideration of the fundamental principles at stake.
Below, with this in mind, I review aspects of the work of B.W. Higman, perhaps the most prominent Caribbeanist in the field of slave family reconstruction (see also Reddock, 1988: 125-31). (Whatever one may think of his conclusions, Higman has earned his reputation just on the basis of the incredibly painstaking and comprehensive demographic reconstruction that he has done for the late period of slavery in the British West Indies, and for which we are all deeply in his debt.)
Slave Family Reconstruction. Household reconstitution analysis has become one of the most respected means used by historians for providing an interpretation of the residential and family arrangements of the slaves. However, it has become increasingly clear that the data upon which this type of analysis rests have been forced to carry a far heavier burden of proof than they are adequate to bear.
Nominal data from estate account books and slave registration returns, which should provide at best complementary or secondary information, have been forced to tell us everything we need to know about slave families. Furthermore, an interpretative bias is clearly in operation when the significance of certain values is over-inflated, in the midst of a prevailing picture of wide variation and a lack of ascendancy of a single hegemonic form.
Household reconstitution methods and analysis, as executed by their best known protagonist, Peter Laslett, have been severely criticized for their qualitative and historical limitations. Laslett (1972), using those methods for analyzing household composition, had found that households in pre-industrial England and Europe were typically small and nuclear in structure, and saw this as evidence of the transhistorical existence of the nuclear family and the myth of the pre-industrial extended family.
His approach has been criticized on several grounds by Colin Creighton (1980) and others. Most obviously, Laslett confuses the categories of "family" and "household"; moreover, he deduces household structure from co-residential composition at a single point in time; he therefore ignores the "developmental cycle of the peasant household," and fails to take into account relations of property (and the modes of property transmission) as fundamental in the constitution of family forms; finally, in basing his definition of family form solely on the criterion of residence, he fails to distinguish between "residential rights" and "residential behavior," based on survival strategies and demographic imperatives (Creighton, 1980; Berkner, 1976).
In a series of seminal and oft-cited articles, Anglophone Caribbeanist and historical demographer, B. W. Higman (1973; 1975; 1978) attempts to tease out certain patterns of "family type" from data listed in estate account books, estate reports and slave registration returns for Jamaica and Trinidad mainly. Higman himself is clear that the 1825 estate reports (from three commonly owned adjoining properties with a total of 814 slaves) that he uses for his Jamaican case (1973; 1975) "contain no information about kinship," and the slave registration returns give only the mother's name (and that, only when she lived on the property) and "say nothing about paternity" (1973: 528).
The co-inhabitants of the particular households that Higman sees as containing "elementary families" are entered variously for the three properties as "male, woman, her children," "woman, male, the female's children," or "male, the woman's male children, woman, her daughters" (ibid: 538). This particular "household type" (Type 4 of 13 types), automatically assumed by Higman to also constitute "the elementary family" type, accounts for 19.8% of all households and 25% of all slaves (ibid.: Table 2, 535). By adding in households of Type 7 ("woman, her children, and others"), which he rather nonchalantly further assumes as "being in many cases essentially a sub-type of Type 4," Higman is able to conclude that "almost 50% lived in households approximating the elementary family" (lbid.: 534).
The other households are variously divided into those containing a woman with her own children or, in addition, her grandchildren or her nieces and nephews and their children, those with apparent heterosexual couples by themselves, single-member or same-sex households, groups of apparently unrelated men and women, and other (extended) forms. The households apparently headed by women alone (containing, in various permutations, their children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and grand-nieces and -nephews), excluding the category appropriated by Higman for his so-called "elementary family" (i.e., the category of "woman, her children, and others"), constitute 13.9% of households and almost 16% of all slaves. "Others" in the appropriated category is apparently assumed by Higman to refer to a male spouse and his children perhaps? (Interestingly, he does not include Type 5, "male, woman, her children and grandchildren," in his elementary family group.)
If we include the appropriated category among woman-headed households (which does not seem unreasonable, given the recorders' obvious attention to perceived distinctions), such households constitute 27.8% of all households and a little over 40% of all slaves. Higman (1973: 534), however, feels confident enough of his categorization to speedily offer the suggestion that "the woman-and-children household type was far from dominant, whatever the importance of the mother-child link"; elsewhere, he is more unequivocal about its relative insignificance. It is a conclusion he makes much of, along with the one that the "elementary family" (consisting of a man, a woman, and her, his, or their child/ren) was modal, i.e. the single most frequently occurring type.
To strengthen his case for orderly heterosexual monogamy and parenting among the slaves, Higman relentlessly searches for proof of proper conjugal coupling in other less obvious "household types," using closeness in age as positive evidence of it. On the basis of equally questionable evidence, he is also anxious to demonstrate male initiative and male-status dominance in family formation.
But in terms of "structure," "function," "developmental cycle" and underlying "property relations," simple mating and co-residence, even when proved, do not necessarily a family make. It is therefore hard not to conclude that Higman is forcing and prejudging his data in the direction of a preferred "ethical" and cultural model. In fact, he makes a number of statements which show that he regards any recurring pattern of "matrifocality" (sometimes used interchangeably, and incorrectly, with "matriarchy") or "extended households" as evidence of instability, disorder and promiscuity, and a regular appearance of the "elementary family," "nuclear family" or "single family household" (again, all used somewhat interchangeably) as evidence of social and moral order and stability.
The confusion is repeatedly–though not consistently–a three-way one among "household composition," "family type," and a particular social and moral value. Higman does not consider any explanatory model that might attribute an overarching historically specific order and rationality to the clear evidence of non-"elementary" and non-nuclear forms (those that he tries to downplay), especially from the perspective of certain subject-positions within the slave community. Non-nuclear forms are seen either as failed nuclear families or as the result of extreme and extenuating circumstances. (Higman does confirm the regular, if limited, incidence of matrifocal colored domestic-slave families and "elite" male-headed polygynous families.) About the U.S. case, he notes that:
"[R]ecent studies of the black family both before and after the Civil War, based largely on detailed census sources, have challenged the traditional view of it as disorganized, unstable, and matriarchal. In fact it can now be argued that the slave family was not matrifocal but was characteristically a stable nuclear unit, the single-family household predominating." (Higman, 1975: 262-3)
Higman is aware that the Caribbean evidence cannot be so neatly packaged, and he notes that "in the Caribbean the slave family was subject to greater stresses than in the United States" (ibid.: 263). This qualification appears particularly confirmed by the data from Trinidad, a late-settled and still new sugar colony by 1813, when "[of] the 50% of slaves living in families… 44.2% were in mother-children units" (Higman, 1978: 170). But the discussion of the relationship between "stress" and family form is both inconsistent and revealing.
Higman has noted for Jamaica and especially for Trinidad, both with high proportions of African-born among the slaves, that the latter tended either to have no family connections at all or to be found in simple couples or nuclear groups. The creole (locally-born) slaves, who were in a more settled situation and had achieved generational depth in their kinship patterns were relatively more likely to be in matrifocal and extended family groups and less likely to be in simple nuclear units.
While the African pattern would appear to be a result precisely of disruptive enslavement, individuation, and isolation within the new community<D> and the obvious need to begin bonding from the simplest building block or cell, Higman (1973: 536) equivocates in the Jamaican case, saying that "[this] might suggest that the Africans attempted to maintain nuclear families, while the creoles, dislocated by the experience of slavery, were unable to do so; or it may simply signify that the ramifications of creole kinship were that much greater." He makes no attempt to discover the full potential of those ramifications, but he continues, somewhat contradictorily, in a later article:
"Where there was a heavy predominance of male Africans it was improbable that all of them could find mates, and few of them could live with siblings, parents, or collaterals. Thus, as long as the slave trade continued there would always be a large number of slaves who had no chance of finding themselves in family households. This was the most immediate and most brutal feature of the slave system, and its impact on family structure is not in dispute. The issue is whether slavery and the plantation destroyed the family, making it impossible for these slaves who could find mates to establish any orderly form of family organization and inducing a growing creole section to become dominated by the matrifocal family. It is necessary to look at those family households which did emerge, for even though the creoles inevitably possessed more kin than the Africans, it does not follow that a large creole population necessarily meant greater order in family structure." (Higman, 1975: 270-1)
What is Higman saying? That the African-born were the most physically disrupted in the short term but the least morally corrupted in the long term? Again, when discussing the Trinidad data, he observes that "the African-born were more successful than the creoles in establishing families centered on co-resident mates," which "must have been seen by most of the African-born merely as the essential building-block of extended or polygynous family types rooted in lineage and locality" (Higman, 1978: 171). He continues (ibid.: 171-2):
"Their creole descendants, however, either lost sight of these models (as part of the process of creolization) or were prevented from achieving them by the brutality of the slave regime (heavy mortality, separation by sale, miscegenation, Christian proselytism, and so on)."
For Higman, therefore, it was the long experience of slavery<197>and distancing from cultural memory–that was most socially dislocating, evidenced by the high incidence of matrifocality among the creoles (even though, he insists, the nuclear family was always either modal or dominant). Matrifocality, then, becomes an indication not just of disorder, but also of de-Africanization. But Higman, in spite of sudden and unexpected contradictions of his own thesis here and there, has given no sustained consideration to the possible emergence of a relationship between matrifocality, on the one hand, and a certain kind of social order and reconstituted cultural tradition, on the other. (In fact, Higman devotes almost no independent explanatory space to accounting for the huge numbers of his population outside of apparent "elementary family" forms or any apparent–heterosexual–family form at all.)
Questions need to be raised about this. It could be, and indeed has been, suggested that increasing creolization expanded and routinized or systematized the (reconstituted) kinship systems of the slaves, and that extended continuity of ownership in conjunction with the large size of West Indian estates militated against the sudden disruptions of slave families through sale (though not through mortality). Higman himself points out the relationship between creolization, large estate populations, and extended families.
The evidence for the United States has been quite the contrary: much smaller plantations, greater disruptions through sales, and a noticeably higher level of nuclear family formation than in the Caribbean. The far higher retention of Africanisms and parallel reworking of African forms (among them, matrifocal family structures as possible derivations of mother-children polygynous cells) have also been repeatedly noted for the Caribbean, not the least by the often misrepresented Melville Herskovits (1941) and his followers (see also Sudarkasa, 1980).
Recently, moreover, shocking evidence of systematic and widespread family separations (and the instilling of psychological terror through the constant threat of such separations) on a scale unheard of in the Caribbean has come to light in the work of Michael Tadman (1989) on the internal slave trade ("Negro speculation") between the Upper and Lower South in the first six decades of the nineteenth century. Tadman (1989: 170-2) estimates that forcible separations through sales and non-market transactions (planter migrations, gifts of slaves and estate divisions between beneficiaries) "probably destroyed about one in three of all first marriages between Upper South slaves," and that almost one in two Upper South slave children aged fourteen and under were separated from one or both parents by sales and non-market transactions.
In light of all this, I propose that the time has come to re-think our notions of stability, stress and family dynamics. One could speculate that in the circumstances of externally imposed, far-reaching and traumatic demographic erosion, conjugal bonding, as the most immediately available means of cohesion and protection against vulnerability, takes on added significance. The subject needs to be pursued elsewhere. At this point, I wish to offer a number of leads for consideration in the study of slave family dynamics.
Matrifocality, or mother/woman-centeredness, must be tackled frontally, rather than residually, as a major tendency within the slave community. I see it originating from two directions: first of all as a ruling-class imposition but secondly as a re-appropriation and re-interpretation by slave women in keeping with their gender, class and ethnic consciousness and interests. Some of the households designated by Higman as comprising intact "elementary families" (a designation, incidentally, often reserved in anthropology for mother-child/ren units) might have easily been implicated in a matrifocal developmental cycle.
One is reluctant, however, to arbitrarily privilege matrifocality as a conceptual framework in the way that Higman and others have done for male-dominant nuclear family forms, the latter no doubt being a genuinely important tendency within the slave community. An examination of the system must stand on its own for now.
Ruling Class Imposition. Manyoni (1980: 93) points out that slaves were "considered outside the formal institution of legal matrimony" and "both State and Church shared a strong disapproval of slave marriages, a situation that continued unmitigated until the eve of emancipation." His is one of the few accounts that begins to look systematically at ruling class ideology and practices with regard to slave marriage and family in the context of ruling class interests.
For well over a hundred years, the West Indian planter class had firmly opposed any metropolitan or local efforts to Christianize the slaves and invest them with spiritual and legal matrimonial rights. As far as the planters were concerned, investing the slaves with any kind of officially sanctioned civil and human (especially spiritual, moral and intellectual) rights and freedoms would, in their own words, "impair their value and price" and interfere with the freedom to economically and sexually exploit their slaves in the enjoyment of absolute and unmediated rights of ownership.
The implications of this have not been fully explored from all the angles. Three of those are critical: (i) the race/class; (ii) gendered/patriarchal; and (iii) transnational or dually located character of the British West Indian planter class.
First, as Manyoni points out, Christianization, education and (clerical/legal) marriage for the slaves were the "three closely intertwined" bogeymen that haunted West Indian slave regimes. Whites found the idea of converted, literate, and "properly" married slaves to be offensive and dangerous. It eroded and contaminated the exclusivity and sacrosanctity of European privilege and identity by allowing slaves to partake of them, if only distantly and symbolically; it weakened the availability of the slaves as objects of unmitigated exploitation and of the murky colonial underside of European "civilization" and fantasy; and it potentially threatened the physical security of the whites and their property by inciting the slaves to visions of total freedom.
Manyoni (1980: 99) cites a contemporary observation that "when coloured concubines adopted Christianity, `their renunciation of base connections gave the greatest offence to the white community.'" It occurred to whites that "uppity" black people who went to the great lengths required to become literate, convert to Christianity or obtain a clerical marriage, might have pretensions to being something other than their sexual and economic tools. In the overwhelming black majority situations of the Caribbean, such pretensions were extremely threatening to the planters' race/class niche.
At the same time, having denied their slaves basic human rights and what they considered to be the finer spiritual and moral trappings of European civilization, whites claimed to be disgusted and repelled by slave women's alleged promiscuity, "shocking licentiousness," and lack of godliness, or at least its Christian variant. The alleged "culture" of the oppressed became a subterranean cesspool in which the whites disposed of and concealed their refuse of culpability, conferring it instead upon their victims as the latter's "native" heritage. As it turns out, even when they were extended legal and spiritual matrimonial "privileges" in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, few slaves were interested.
Second, Euro-Christian marriage did not confer equal rights on the partners, but of course gave men superior rights over women and the family patrimony. Thus, intimately bound up with the withholding of legal marital rights was the desire to avoid having to endow black male heads–perceived through patriarchal lenses as the chief potential rivals of ruling class men–with an independent and corporate (familial) base of authority and property, one that might, moreover, mediate and limit exploitative planter-class access to their women and children. This has already been discussed; what has not is the question of alternative arrangements that might have been followed.
We have already seen that the coding practices of the planters routinely recorded domestic units as defined by a mother and her children, regardless of the (usually duly noted) presence of a co-resident male and his biological relationship to the children. The other thing would be to find out how means of subsistence and subsistence production, most notably the slaves' personal provision grounds, were allotted; this would tell us something about class-induced relations of reproduction and property by gender, important imperatives in family formation. [For a discussion on the role and importance of the provision grounds see part 1 of this essay in ATC 40, especially pages 35-37–ed.]
The evidence from contemporary commentators appears to be genuinely mixed and sometimes indecipherable, due to the universal and indiscriminate use of the masculine pronoun and obvious masculinist bias in certain texts or parts of texts. Higman himself notes the recording in the Old Montpelier Account Book of detailed statements about gardens and provision grounds belonging to each household, but, puzzlingly, does not call upon this information to aid him in his assiduous family reconstruction exercise.
The slave laws themselves, however, sometimes prove to be quite unambiguous and, embedded as they are in the heart of a fundamentally patriarchal project, startlingly and meticulously gender-conscious in their language. Indeed, one often encounters the irony in many discussions of slave reproduction and economy that the only gendered language present speaks to us directly from the text of the slave laws of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Late eighteenth-century legislation in Grenada directed that each adult slave (over fourteen years) should receive "his or her proper ground"; an 1831 law in Dominica stipulated the allotment of "not … less than half an acre for each individual slave"; in 1834, it was "ground adequate, both in quality and quantity, for his or her support, and within a reasonable distance from his or her usual place of abode"; 1784 and 1786 revisions of the Code Noir in Martinique decreed that each adult slave was to receive a small plot of land to cultivate on his or her own account (Marshall, 1991: 52; Trouillot, 1988: 74-75; Tomich, 1991: 72). Of the provision grounds in Martinique, where practices were similar to those in the British islands, Schoelcher wrote, "[they] pass them on from father to son, from mother to daughter, and, if they do not have any children, they bequeath them to their nearest kin or even their friends" (quoted in Tomich, 1991: 81).
It seems clear that the slave masters individuated the adult status of the slaves across gender in the allocation of means of reproduction, and endowed women directly as individual adults and as mothers responsible for the welfare of their children<197>not through male heads. This did not mean that pooling of provision grounds by marriage partners did not occur and become a "de facto," socially recognized family enterprise; it meant rather that the allocation of provision land was not premised on or preconditioned by the male-headed or conjugal family as a corporate entity or as the object of endowment.
Insofar as a particular type of gendering occurred it was that which produced a direct equation between biological motherhood and adult status for women, especially in the later period of slavery, when motherhood increasingly became the occasion for direct endowment and "reward." Slavery may in fact have reinforced the "cult of the mother" tendencies present in many West African pre-capitalist cultures as well as their assumption of a direct conversion between motherhood and economic providership and responsibility. Parallels also exist with the role of women as the prime horticulturalists and marketers in many West African societies.
In plantation society, of course, the worker-breeder-sex object-provider female-role complex was the peculiar invention of an ethnically and socially alien ruling class and was predicated on its convenience and self-aggrandizement. But there is no doubt that slavery and racism were based not just on the Eurocentric creation and projection of (fictive) difference but also on the exploitation and displacement of (real) difference and the inversion of the culture of the other within a social relation of inferiority and subordination to European ruling class "civilization."
The project of making the slaves over into (first) little English men was a belated and relatively unsuccessful one, limited, at least in terms of a more general consensus within the planter class, to the later and increasingly desperate years of slavery. In directly endowing slave women with the means of subsistence, the planters no doubt felt they were confirming them in their status as means of re/production themselves and as beings located outside the requirements of civilized society.
Third, the social space of the West Indian planter class was transnationally split. Those of the old internal/external debate who assume that social determination is always necessarily confined within the internal boundaries of physically defined social formations understand little about colonialism, and even less about the West Indian case.
The schizoid social character of the West Indian planter class was represented precisely by the physical and social separation of certain fundamental conditions of their reproduction–slave-worked sugar plantations and metropolitan investment (and cultural) capital–into different worlds. While they were late "of" the center, the planters' economic interests were tied to enterprises physically and socially located in the periphery, and, based on varying degrees of residence and absence, their particular social, i.e. everyday, character was heavily invested in the little fiefdoms they had created and over which they presided.
No matter where they happened to be at a particular time, the creole planters suffered from a kind of transnational parochialism, wanting to be absolute despots "locally" (i.e., in the colonies), but to continue to maintain their leverage and life systems "transnationally" or through their metropolitan connections. In one recurring version, the transnational split was accommodated entirely by proxy, with the proprietors remaining in the metropole and their second-class surrogates presiding over their plantations and replicating the dualism of the system on their behalf.
The "dual-marriage system" must be understood in this context. Mintz (1989 [1974]: 302-28) points out that the non-Hispanic settler entrepreneurs of the Caribbean felt themselves under no compulsion to transplant or reconstitute systems of "social respectability," into which, moreover, they could integrate the slaves (albeit in a subordinate way). He contrasts this with the situation in the Hispanic Caribbean, where the settlers "came to stay" and totally separated themselves from Spain in a process of hybridization which rendered them, in the end, "Cuban" or "Puerto Rican," and which provided "familial and acculturational models" to which their slaves had access.
A contrast also existed with the Southern planters, who recreated resident cultures and singular hegemonic systems which virtually imprisoned their slaves within those orbits ("in the shadow of the Big House"), providing them with few escapes from the identity of the Euroamerican Subject's Other. Barbados came closest to this model in the West Indies, while South Carolina approximated the Caribbean model in many ways.
The planter class in the Caribbean did not<197>or could not–seek to erase or incorporate the culture of the slaves into a singular hegemonic design, but rather sought to condemn and marginalize it as the illegitimate or pagan underside of a bicultural mode, which corresponded to the dual and hierarchically related sites of the colonial project. Through their differentiated and contradictory involvement in both–one as the subject of their self-affirmation, the other as the object of their ab/use–the planters helped to reproduce and sustain the one as "legitimate" and the other as "illegitimate" across social and physical borders, but felt no need to reconcile them within a strong resident Euroamerican model.
Slave Women's Appropriation of Matrifocality. Some comments by Bush may well set the tone for this final discussion. She accepts that the nuclear family may have existed on a greater scale among the slaves than has been assumed, ("modeled on African rather than European cultural precedents,") but finds that:
"[M]ore flexible definitions of family and marriage are needed to account for the primary importance in slave society of consanguine (extended) as opposed to conjugal (nuclear) relationships. Complex extended family links existed in the slave community: In the absence of blood kin, "fictive" kin, often newly arrived slaves, were "adopted" to reestablish traditional African-derived kinship patterns and ensure cultural continuity. A strong sense of community existed among slaves, and interpersonal relations were marked by "warmth and sentiment." Children were cared for communally as were the elderly, who were afforded considerable respect in accordance with African practice. Within this broader structure, the polygynous unit probably only accounted for a minority of slave marriages. Marriage did not imply a lifelong relationship between two adults in a co-residential nuclear unit, and partners were often incorporated into wider extended family arrangements and may not have been continuously co-residential as in polygynous relationships.' (Bush, 1986: 120-1)
Bush is mostly concerned to challenge the "promiscuity" and "disorganization" thesis from an ethnic and non-bourgeois class perspective, so that she tends to reinterpret gender roles wholly within the context of (reconstituted) West African ethnicity. She is less concerned to consider ways in which slave women, acting autonomously and for themselves, may have seized hold of opportunities for self-determination inadvertently or indifferently passed on by the system itself.
Slave women obviously manipulated, in their favor, a certain convergence or accommodation between the demands made upon them by the system and the cultural resources brought with them from West Africa. Bush's observations are important in that regard, and point to critical elements in the reconstitution of rational cultural systems in the new setting. The new setting often allowed slave women to rework certain West African
cultural principles in a way that was optimal for them.
Bush mentions the examples of the economic independence of women, ease of divorce, the relative separation between sex, childbearing, co-residence and marriage, respect for seniority, the relatively greater focus on consanguineous as opposed to conjugal relationships, late weaning of infants, and so on. The system accommodated the reconstitution of these ethnic features within a base which lacked a formally sanctioned and collectively organized patriarchal authority, communally speaking, that is. This relative political neutralization of gender presented women with certain opportunities. Indeed, it is instructive to us that others saw it differently:
"This economic independence of slave women was identified by Matthews as a causal factor of what he termed the crisis in the West Indian family. He argued that on slave plantations men and women each had a separate economic base, as each had an independent land grant (possibly provision ground). Women controlled their own money and according to Matthews, `tampering with the reputed wife's money or garden produce was a major crime, as disreputable as theft by a common stranger.'" (Reddock, 1988: 120-1)
"Reddock (1988: 122-5) confirms the rejection by both slave men and slave women of legal marriage in favor of consensual unions (and not only on account of its inaccessibility). Even today in the Caribbean, marriage, as the pre-eminently sanctioning and simultaneously all-inclusive institution for sexual relations, childbearing, conjugal community, and spousal and filial property rights, is a class-exclusive phenomenon. Between 60-80% of all children continue to be born outside of legal marriage, which is not absent from but occupies a different place in working-class cultural repertoires and biographies.
Most working-class women marry, if at all (a large minority never marries, legally or consensually), after extended periods of childbearing and sexual relations, sometimes co-residential, sometimes not, often involving serial partners/genitors who may or may not become significant and active social fathers. (I say "significant and active" because in the Caribbean the physical fact of paternity always has social meaning.) What should be judged as a rational (if still gender-discriminatory) way of pacing entry into different union forms and parenting arrangements from a matrifocal base<D> continues to be deemed "illegitimate" (although no longer in law).
The history of marriage among the slaves and ex-slaves has shown that occasional surges in its popularity have been induced by a direct link with economic opportunity. For example, those ex-slaves who chose to leave the plantations and join the "free village movement" under missionary leadership adopted marriage as part of their new status as free peasants and parishioners on land that they paid for and to which they had clear legal title (see Mintz, 1989 [1974]: 157-79).
Speaking of Jamaica, however, M.G. Smith (1962: 261) points out that although the majority of the senior population of those villages adopted marriage, "their juniors … did not, and by 1861, the missionary impetus had spent itself without displacing the traditional mating forms." None of the externally induced marriage "spurts" strewn across post-emancipation history managed to bring working-class Afro-Caribbean family forms into close conformity with the European pattern on which West Indian marriage laws were modelled. This is true even though Christianity gradually increased in popularity to eventually attain mass dimensions.
A more substantive erosion, however, took place with regard to the property relations that had evolved within the slaves' sub-economy, shaped in accordance with their gender, ethnic and class interests. A system of "family land" had emerged around the provision grounds of slavery, based on principles not unlike those of West African unilineal descent groups, according to which all the descendants in a determined family line had rights in the communal property, which could not be alienated (except by consent of all the heirs). These rights could be actively exercised at any time and "[included] all the family in perpetuity" (Clarke, 1966 [1957]: 60).
A little over one hundred years after the abolition of slavery, Edith Clarke's Jamaican informants explained to her the difference between "family land," which many of them traced back to their male and female African slave ancestors, and "bought land," which conferred individual freehold title and could be alienated at will. ("Bought land," however, could be converted into "family land.") In her famous study, My Mother Who Fathered Me (1966 [1957]: 48-9), she explains:
"A woman, whether wife or concubine, has no customary `rights' to land inherited or bought by her spouse. She is not, according to the traditional system, as distinct from the legal code under which she has the same rights as in British law, in any circumstance his heir. If there are no children of their union, the property reverts to his brothers and sisters and their descendants. At the same time it is generally conceded that the wife or concubine has a right to live in the family home and on the land during her lifetime. Such provision may be made in the man's will or verbally. Not infrequently there is the direction that the right of use lapses if she remarries or takes a concubine. But even where there is no will, it would be rare for the family to dispute her right, whether as the mother of his children or not, to live on the family land."
Sisters and brothers were equally endowed with rights in family land, and wives had lifetime rights of residence by privilege (and might well have access to their own family land). Clarke's informants explained that the land could be transmitted "through the blood" (through the mother) or "by the name" (through the father), and it was apparent that for those sisters who stayed and became the occupiers and trustees of the land (and in one of the villages of her study that was precisely the case), their "concubines" (so named in the text) or consensual partners had only tenuous rights at best. Such (matrilocal) cases provided the clearest examples of matrifocality at work.
But the system of family land, which was less discriminatory to women or in fact favored them, was considered to be an inferior and less economically productive species of property. The post-emancipation system increasingly promoted freehold title and male cash-crop farming and marginalized family land and female provision farmers.
A number of factors eventually conspired to effectively evict women from the land in the post-slavery period: the introduction and official promotion of cash- crop farming, which favored men and reinforced official neglect of provision farmers who were mostly women; the increasing introduction of individual land titles and male line inheritance; male-centered colonial institutions of agricultural extension and finance as well as land settlement schemes; the increasing redefinition of women as dependents and housewives rather than as farmers and workers; and later on, mechanization and rationalization on the larger estates which favored skilled or semi-skilled male workers.
In the final analysis, therefore, while the relentless efforts on the part of the planter class and elements within the colonial state to severely limit and even abort the development of an independent Caribbean peasantry are well known, what is less well known is that a key element of this strategy involved the almost complete elimination of the concept and reality of the female food grower as an independent farmer, and the privileging of the male cash-crop grower, within the now properly subordinated peasantry.
Working-class men were drawn increasingly into the front line of class relations, prompting a significant shift in the contours of class and gender, both domestically and extra-domestically. Where they could, Afro-Caribbean women fought to hold on to the hard-won roles that they saw as worth having, and in certain areas–for example, "huckstering"–the lines of continuity are evident. They also aggressively sought to maximize the new opportunities that came their way. The result of this can be most clearly traced in the phenomenal strides they have made in the past thirty years in the area of education, prompting at least one male Caribbean scholar to talk about the "rise of matriarchy" and the "marginalization of the Black male" in the Caribbean (Miller, 1986; 1988).
Generally, however, as the division by class and race or color has become less absolute and more porous, gender has been increasingly manipulated as a factor in social dynamics, considerably complicating the articulations of color, class and gender. Certainly, there seems no better time than the present for Caribbean women to seek lessons from their past.
References for Part 3
Berkner, L., "Inheritance, Land Tenure and Peasant Family Structure: A German Regional Comparison," in J. Goody et al. (eds.), Family and Inheritance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976.
Bush, Barbara, "'The Family Tree Is Not Cut': Women and Cultural Resistance in Slave Family Life in the British Caribbean," in Gary Y. Okihiro (ed.), In Resistance. Amherst: The University of Massachusetts Press, 1986.
Clarke, Edith, My Mother Who Fathered Me. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1966 [1957].
Creighton, Colin, "Family, Property and Relations of Production in Western Europe." Economy and Society, Vol.9 No.2, 1980, 129-197.
Higman, B.W., "African and Creole Slave Family Patterns in Trinidad." Journal of Family History, Vol.3 No.2, 1978, 163-180.
——–, "Household Structure and Fertility on Jamaican Slave Plantations: A Nineteenth-century Example." Population Studies, Vol.27 No.3, 1973, 527-550.
——–, "The Slave Family and Household in the British West Indies, 1800-1834." Journal of Interdisciplinary History,<D> Vol.6 No.2, 1975, 261-287.
Herskovits, Melville J., The Myth of the Negro Past. New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1941.
Laslett, Peter, "Introduction: The History of the Family," in P. Laslett and R. Wall (eds.), Household and Family in Past Time. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972.
——–, "Mean Household Size in England Since the Sixteenth Century," in P. Laslett and R. Wall (eds.), op. cit.
Manyoni, Joseph R., Extra-Marital Mating Patterns in Caribbean Family Studies: A Methodological Excursus. Anthropologica, Vol.XXII No.1, 1980, 85-118.
Miller, Errol, The Marginalization of the Black Male. Kingston, Jamaica: Institute of Social and Economic Research, UWI, 1986.
——–, "The Rise of Matriarchy in the Caribbean." Caribbean Quarterly, Vol.34 Nos.3&4, 1988, 1-21.
Mintz, Sidney W., Caribbean Transformations. New York: Columbia University Press, 1989 [1974].
Reddock, Rhoda, "Women and the Slave Plantation Economy in the Caribbean," in S. Jay Kleinberg (ed.), "Retrieving Women's History. Oxford and New York: Berg, 1988.
Smith, M.G., West Indian Family Structure. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1962.
Sudarkasa, Niara, "African and Afro-American Family Structure: A Comparison." The Black Scholar, Vol.11 No.8, 1980, 37-60.
Tadman, Michael, Speculators and Slaves. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1989.
Tomich, Dale W., "Une Petite Guinee: Provision Ground and Plantation in Martinique, 1830-1848." Slavery & Abolition, Vol.12 No.1, 1991, 68-91.
Trouillot, Michel-Rolph, Peasants and Capital. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988.
January-February 1993, ATC 42


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