On Sat, 14 Oct 2000 16:59:02 -0400 Jim Farmelant <farmelantj at juno.com>
writes:
>
>
> On Sat, 14 Oct 2000 13:36:27 -0400 Yoshie Furuhashi
> <furuhashi.1 at osu.edu>
> writes:
> As if by serendipity, the newest issue (November 2) of the NY Review
> of
> Books has a
> piece by George Frederickson on American slavery which covers many
> of the issues in contention in this thread.
Concerning the debate over Genovese Frederickson has this to say:
"Perhaps the time has come to get beyond the debate between the
two schools of thought about the nature of antebellum slavery -
the seemingly unresolvable disagreement over whether it can be best
understood as resting on a "paternalistic bargain" between masters
and slaves or simply on the application of force and fear in the
service of economic gain. The reality reflected in the slave narratives
and other primary sources is of great variation in plantation regimes.
What proportion might be classified as paternalist and what proportion
was based simply on "arbitrary power, distrust, and fear "cannot
be quantified; it is a question that can be answered only on the basis
of general impressions that will differ, depending on which sources
are deemed representative and which anomalous. The side that
a historian supports might be determined more by ideology or theoretical
approach than by a careful weighing of the evidence."
"It also seems possible that many slaveholders could fancy themselves
as paternalists and act in ways that were totally at odds with their
self-image. Walter Johnson's book on the slave market, *Soul by
Soul*, in effect transcends the dichotomy by showing that a culture of
paternalism and a commitment to commercialism were not
incompatible. He also undermines another persistent and
contentious either/or of Southern historiography, one that also
involves the status of paternalism as ideology and social ethos.
This is the question of whether "race" (inequality based on
pigmentation) or "class" (stratification based on premodern
conceptions of honor and gentility) was central to the culture
and social order of the Old South."
>
> Jim Farmelant
>
>
>
________________________________________________________________
YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET!
Juno now offers FREE Internet Access!
Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit:
http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.