Dr Rita Pemberton

THE MATTER of resistance in Tobago has attracted little attention from writers because of the assumption that little resistance of note occurred on the island. It has been painted with particular descriptors at different times to suit the desires of particular individuals and groups. Attention should be paid to the people or groups who articulate these descriptors.

One of the features of the history of Tobago to which attention needs to be paid is the different descriptions of the island which reflect the attempts to paint it in a particular light as behooves the season in which the description was made.

Very early in the period of European encounters, despite the presence of settlements of First Peoples, of which they were aware, there was a common description of the island by all the interested Europeans that it was unoccupied and therefore available for European occupation.

This was an attempt to provide themselves with justification for their assumed right to take hold of the island, establish settlements and develop it as they saw fit. This right provided the competitive impetus which saw Europeans battling for possession of Tobago across the 17th and 18th centuries.

After the island was declared a British possession, the imperial administration was anxious to have it fully occupied with British citizens. To do this an advertising campaign was launched which emphasised its undisturbed natural beauty, its healthy environment, its fertile soils and its potential for development and for earning large economic returns. The intention of this advertisement was to attract investment in the plantations.

During the 19th century, the era of economic fluctuations, it was necessary to continually whip up investor enthusiasm for Tobago, so it was described as peaceful, healthy and full of potential. This was an attempt to counter real-life stories and project the image of a population of happy enslaved Africans who worked on the island’s sugar plantations.

The latter description was used by Governor Young and planters in their failed effort to derail the movement for emancipation by showing emancipation was not necessary in Tobago, where enslavement was benign, master/slave relations were good and enslaved Africans were happy. This is what they recommended as the solution to the issue of enslavement, to remove the atrocities revealed by the anti-slavery campaigners.

Although they were incorrect about the situation in Tobago, these descriptions were combined and used to describe the character of its African population during the post-emancipation era when there was a common perception that the African population was so happy there was little resistance from the free population after emancipation. In the search for explanations, some writers argue that it was their religious upbringing and their spirituality which prevented them from resisting.

The problem here is the term “resistance.” It is commonly assumed that resistance involves a physical confrontation between an aggrieved party, u