Rethinking the Fall of the Planter Class Event

This event will focus on the decline and fall of the British-Caribbean planter class. Presenters will bring new perspectives to bear on economic, political and cultural aspects of the planters’ fall from economic prosperity and apparent political influence, looking at the period between the middle of the eighteenth century and the gradual dismantling of slavery in the British empire during the 1830s. The conference brings together leading researchers in a variety of disciplines with interests in slavery, abolition and empire. It aims to provide new ways of understanding the long-overlooked phenomenon of the planters’ decline and fall, a process that had a profound impact on the interconnected histories of the Caribbean, Britain and the wider British empire and that shaped debates about slavery and freedom in the world beyond.

Key areas of focus:

• Enslaved people and plantation management

• Emancipation and compensation

• The representation and reputation of the planter class

• Proslavery politics

• The cultural lives of the planters

Conference website