Events

Immigration and Urban History

An Enervating Environment: Altered Bodies in the Lowcountry and the British West Indies

Katherine Johnston, Columbia University
Conevery Bolton Valencius, University of Massachusetts - Boston
Saturday, November 23, 2024, 5:24PM - 5:24PM
Free

Rescheduled to March 17.

This paper examines the interactions between humans and the environment in the eighteenth century. Both Britons and creoles believed in a close connection between bodies and place, and colonists tried to change the environment based on those perceptions. That interaction created concern for Caribbean inhabitants who attempted to manage the environment to promote their health while noting the environmental changes their actions caused.