DRUGS, LABOR and COLONIAL EXPANSION by The University Of Arizona Press

DRUGS, LABOR and COLONIAL EXPANSION by The University Of Arizona Press

The emergence of European powers on the world scene after the fifteenth century brought with it more than the subjugation of colonized peoples; it also brought an increase in the market for drugs, which until then had seen little distribution beyond their lands of origin. Growth in trade required goods for which there was demand, and drugs filled that role neatly. This book explores how Europeans introduced and used drugs in colonial contexts for the exploitation and placation of indigenous labor. Combining history and anthropology, it examines the role of drugs in trade and labor during the age of western colonial expansion. From considering the introduction of alcohol in the West African slave trade to the use of coca as a labor enhancer in the Andes, these original contributions examine both the encouragement of drug use by colonial powers and the extent to which local peoples' previous experience with psychoactive substances shaped their use of drugs introduced by Europeans. The authors show that drugs possessed characteristics that made them a particularly effective means for propagating trade or increasing the extent and intensity of labor. In the early stages of European expansion, drugs were introduced to draw people, quite literally, into relations of dependency with European trade partners. Over time, the drugs used to intensify the amount and duration of labor shifted from alcohol, opium, and marijuana which were used to overcome the drudgery and discomfort of physical labor to caffeine-based stimulants, which provided a more alert workforce. Valuable not only for its ethnographic detail but also for its broader insight into the nature of capitalist expansion, this collection reveals the surprising consistency of drug use in the colonial process. Drugs, Labor and Colonial Expansion is a book rich with cross-cultural insights that ranges widely across disciplines to provide a new and needed look at the colonial experience.

William R. Jankowiak is professor of anthropology and ethnic studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He is the author (with Dan Bradburd) of Drugs, Labor, and Colonial Expansion, Urban Mongols: Ethnicity in Communist China, and Sex, Death, and Hierarchy in a Chinese City.
William Jankowiak is Professor of Anthropology & Ethnic Studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He received his Ph.D. in Anthropology in 1986 from the University of California Santa Barbara. His research and teaching interests include ethnographic studies of contemporary Chinese society, especially Mongolian culture, as well as human universals such as love and family bonds. His publications include Urban Mongols: Ethnicity in Communist China (Prentice Hall, 1994); Sex, Death and Hierarchy in a Chinese City (CUP, 1993); and is editor of Romantic Passion: The Universal Experience (CUP 1995)

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780816523511
ISBN 10	0816523517
Title	DRUGS, LABOR and COLONIAL EXPANSION
Author	William Jankowiak
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	University of Arizona Press
Year published	2003-10-30
Number of pages	253
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.