‘Had it not been for her’: Gender, Care Labour and Disability in the British Caribbean, 1788–1834

Abstract

This article explores the intersections between gender, disability and care labour in the slaveholding societies of the British Caribbean from 1788 to 1834. Considered economic burdens by slaveholders, aged and disabled bondswomen were made productive through caring for their enslaved peers, many of whom were themselves temporarily unproductive due to pregnancy, illness, age or impairment. Although slaveowners devalued aged and disabled bondswomen, and assigned them inferior labour positions, in actuality, slaveowners concealed an economic logic: disabled and aged bondspeople were efficient but of a different kind, and their productivity was essential to the healthscape of the plantation. This article explores The History of Mary Prince as a first‐hand account of an enslaved woman who experienced episodic impairment and long‐term disability and who practiced self‐care and received care from multiple different women.