This dissertation is an historical archaeological examination of the \"poor whites\" or \"Redlegs\" of Barbados. Excavations were undertaken from October 2012 to July 2013 in an abandoned tenantry, Below Cliff, on the east coast of the island, once inhabited by dozens of families locally referred to as the \"poor whites\" or \"Redlegs\", said to be the descendants of seventeenth century European indentured servants. Combining archaeological, ethnographic, and historical methodologies, this dissertation explores class relations of Below Cliff residents to processes of capitalism as well as other island laborers, including Afro-Barbadians. Additionally, racial categories are interrogated through an analysis of complex and interracial genealogies of Below Cliff residents that call into question the legitimacy of determinate racial categories of black and white. I argue that Below Cliff is best understood as an alternative modernity, a place in which residents were directly affected by processes of modernization, but through their own ways of relating to economic forces and their own experiences of race relations they were able to engender alternatives to modernity that were all their own.
","abstract_html":"<p>This dissertation is an historical archaeological examination of the "poor whites" or "Redlegs" of Barbados. Excavations were undertaken from October 2012 to July 2013 in an abandoned tenantry, Below Cliff, on the east coast of the island, once inhabited by dozens of families locally referred to as the "poor whites" or "Redlegs", said to be the descendants of seventeenth century European indentured servants. Combining archaeological, ethnographic, and historical methodologies, this dissertation explores class relations of Below Cliff residents to processes of capitalism as well as other island laborers, including Afro-Barbadians. Additionally, racial categories are interrogated through an analysis of complex and interracial genealogies of Below Cliff residents that call into question the legitimacy of determinate racial categories of black and white. I argue that Below Cliff is best understood as an alternative modernity, a place in which residents were directly affected by processes of modernization, but through their own ways of relating to economic forces and their own experiences of race relations they were able to engender alternatives to modernity that were all their own.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Reilly, Matthew Connor"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Anthropology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Douglas V. Armstrong"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2014,"date_issued":"2014-08-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2014-08-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:54:59Z","subjects":["Archaeology","Barbados","Caribbean","Class","Modernity","Race","Anthropology","Social and Behavioral Sciences"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://surface.syr.edu/etd/132","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Douglas V. Armstrong"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Reilly, Matthew Connor"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Anthropology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Archaeology","Barbados","Caribbean","Class","Modernity","Race","Anthropology","Social and Behavioral Sciences"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://surface.syr.edu/etd/132"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This dissertation is an historical archaeological examination of the \"poor whites\" or \"Redlegs\" of Barbados. Excavations were undertaken from October 2012 to July 2013 in an abandoned tenantry, Below Cliff, on the east coast of the island, once inhabited by dozens of families locally referred to as the \"poor whites\" or \"Redlegs\", said to be the descendants of seventeenth century European indentured servants. Combining archaeological, ethnographic, and historical methodologies, this dissertation explores class relations of Below Cliff residents to processes of capitalism as well as other island laborers, including Afro-Barbadians. Additionally, racial categories are interrogated through an analysis of complex and interracial genealogies of Below Cliff residents that call into question the legitimacy of determinate racial categories of black and white. I argue that Below Cliff is best understood as an alternative modernity, a place in which residents were directly affected by processes of modernization, but through their own ways of relating to economic forces and their own experiences of race relations they were able to engender alternatives to modernity that were all their own.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["At the Margins of the Plantation: Alternative Modernities and an Archaeology of the \"Poor Whites\" of Barbados"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Douglas V. Armstrong"],"dc:creator":["Reilly, Matthew Connor"],"dc:description.abstract":["This dissertation is an historical archaeological examination of the \"poor whites\" or \"Redlegs\" of Barbados. Excavations were undertaken from October 2012 to July 2013 in an abandoned tenantry, Below Cliff, on the east coast of the island, once inhabited by dozens of families locally referred to as the \"poor whites\" or \"Redlegs\", said to be the descendants of seventeenth century European indentured servants. Combining archaeological, ethnographic, and historical methodologies, this dissertation explores class relations of Below Cliff residents to processes of capitalism as well as other island laborers, including Afro-Barbadians. Additionally, racial categories are interrogated through an analysis of complex and interracial genealogies of Below Cliff residents that call into question the legitimacy of determinate racial categories of black and white. I argue that Below Cliff is best understood as an alternative modernity, a place in which residents were directly affected by processes of modernization, but through their own ways of relating to economic forces and their own experiences of race relations they were able to engender alternatives to modernity that were all their own.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://surface.syr.edu/etd/132"],"dc:subject":["Archaeology","Barbados","Caribbean","Class","Modernity","Race","Anthropology","Social and Behavioral Sciences"],"dc:title":["At the Margins of the Plantation: Alternative Modernities and an Archaeology of the \"Poor Whites\" of Barbados"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Anthropology"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:54:59Z"}