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Modeling Colonial Paternalism: GIS and Multispectral Satellite Imagery at Kingstown, British Virgin Islands

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 August 2021

John M. Chenoweth Open the ORCID record for John M. Chenoweth [Opens in a new window] ,
Laura M. Bossio  and
Mark Salvatore
John M. Chenoweth*
Affiliation:
Department of Behavioral Sciences, University of Michigan-Dearborn, 4901 Evergreen Road, Dearborn, MI48170, USA
Laura M. Bossio
Affiliation:
Museum of Anthropological Archaeology, University of Michigan, 3010 School of Education Building, 610 E. University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI48109, USA
Mark Salvatore
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science, Northern Arizona University, NAU Box 6010, Flagstaff, AZ 86011-6010, USA
*
(jmchenow@umich.edu, corresponding author)
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Abstract

GIS modeling and analysis of multispectral satellite imagery are applied to a former plantation in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), which, in 1831, became a settlement of free Africans who lived within slavery-based British colonialism. A map of the settlement represents the paternalist British government ideal for this community—an “experiment” for controlling a postemancipation peasantry—and the techniques discussed here allow clearer understanding of the way these ideals would have interacted with the physical and social landscape of the BVI had they been implemented. The residents were certainly aware of their situation, and this study does not mean to imply that they simply adopted the plan they were handed. Instead, our goal is to interrogate the implications of the plan itself. We combine least cost path (LCP), Normalized Difference Vegetation Indexes (NDVI), and other technical analyses to show the interaction of the British plan and the BVI landscape in order to describe the context in which the Kingstown community was built and maintained. Although schematic, this study quantifies at least some of the barriers the community overcame and contributes in a limited way to broader considerations of the place of land and landscape in structures of colonialism.

Análisis y modelos de imágenes satelitales multiespectrales de SIG, fueron aplicadas a una antigua plantación en las Islas Vírgenes Británicas (IVB), las cuales en 1831, llegaron a asentarse de africanos libres quienes vivían dentro del colonialism británico basado en la esclavitud. El mapa del asentimiento simboliza el ideal paternalista del gobierno Británico para esta comunidad —como una “experimentación” para controlar la posterior liberación del campesinado— y las técnicas examinadas permiten un claro entendimiento de la manera en las cuales estos ideales hubieran interactuado con el entorno físico y social de las IVB si hubiesen sido establecidos. Los residentes estaban ciertamente conscientes de su situación y esta investigación no tiene la intención de insinuar que los residentes simplemente adoptaron el ideal que les fue proporcionado; al contrario, nuestro objetivo es cuestionar las implicaciones del ideal en sí mismo. Hemos combinado la técnica de Least Cost Path (LCP por sus siglas en inglés), el Índice de Vegetación de la Diferencia Normalizada (NVDI), junto a otros análisis técnicos a fin de exhibir la interacción entre el ideal Británico y el panorama de las IVB con el propósito de caracterizar el contexto en el que la comunidad de Kingstown fue construida y mantenida. Aunque sea esquemático, este estudio cuantifica al menos algunos de los obstáculos superados por la comunidad y contribuye en una manera limitada consideraciones más amplias sobre el ambiente del panorama cultural y el territorio dentro de las estructuras del colonialismo.

Keywords

British Virgin IslandsNDVIGISpostemancipationpaternalismcolonialismCaribbeanleast cost pathLas Islas Vírgenes Británicas (IVB)NVDI (Índice de Vegetación de la Diferencia Normalizada)SIG (Sistema de Información Geografíca)posterior a la emancipaciónpaternalismocolonialismoEl Cariberuta de menor coste (LCP)
Type
Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 86 , Issue 4 , October 2021 , pp. 734 - 751
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Society for American Archaeology

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