LIMES. LABOUR. LANDSCAPE.

“How did the lime industry impact the lives of local inhabitants and transform
Montserrat’s socioeconomic relations and physical landscape?”

DISSERTATION

My dissertation is a historical archaeology of the lime industry (ca. 1852-1928) in Montserrat that examines the social, economic, and environmental transformations that took place on the island during this period.

In the latter half of the nineteenth century, Montserrat underwent a dramatic transformation in the post-emancipation era as its economy shifted from sugar to citrus lime production. The rise of the lime industry was deeply intertwined with the legacy of colonialism, The Montserrat Company and its founder’s Quaker beliefs, and the struggles of the formerly enslaved as they navigated a changing world.

My research employs a multi-sited, multi-scalar approach to understanding the lime industry and its impacts.
This approach involves examining phenomena at various levels of analysis, from the micro-scale of individual sites or artifacts to the macro-scale of regions or global systems. It also emphasizes the interconnectedness of seemingly disparate locations and the flows of people, objects, and ideas between them. I combine a varied dataset (historical documentation, survey data, oral history, and archaeological evidence of two domestic sites) to engage with the multiplicity of Montserratian experiences in the post-emancipation era.

This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. It benefited from additional funding (direct and indirectly) from: NEH Collaborative Research Grant, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Science Foundation, the Wayne State University Graduate School, and the Department of Anthropology.

My work would not have been possible without the support of the Montserrat National Trust. I am incredibly grateful to the MNT’s Executive Director, Sarita Francis, OBE, and the rest of the MNT staff for their assistance and support over the years.