Society and slaves

In the early colonies, alternative forms of society could be a source of anxiety. Religious and social cohesion was a concern in what was often an unmastered environment. Accounts of the early colonies reflect on the cohesion of a society made up of settlers and slaves. The self-interest of colonists could be acknowledged as problematic for public order, and the desires of slaves as disruptive to property. In practice, some property was ceded to slaves, and strategies were described to motivate slaves by granting comparative favour. Depictions of the uncultivated environment reflect anxieties about the proximity of unmastered spaces outside the colonies. There were also internal frontiers maintained by shared practices, such as hospitality and the consumption of alcohol. A number of testimonies about the maroon slaves illustrate concerns with culture and subversion, as well as the role of rumour in the early colonies. Further tensions in the colonies developed from desire, and related to questions surrounding marriage, manumission and métissage. Métissage, like manumission, was never considered outside distinct social contexts, and illustrates the instability within the slave society.