The Business of Empire
United Fruit, Race, and U.S. Expansion in Central America
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7309437 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Thomas Schoonover (0000-0002-3804-4901, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2012 |
| Volume | 99 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 943-944 |
| Publication date | 2012-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of American History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0021-8723 • E-ISSN: 1945-2314 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1093/jahist/jas441 |
| OpenAlex | W2318851970 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 17 |
Jason M. Colby, a young historian at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, has researched and analyzed his topic—the business of empire—well. He exposes the intertwining of imperialism, expansion, racism, and corporate power. The study places black labor—on banana plantations and the isthmian railroads—at the center of wealth production and product distribution but on the fringe of social, political, and economic justice, and characterized by uncertain personal security. The Business of Empire shows how shared racial assumptions prompted the United Fruit Company and the U.S. and isthmian governments to react similarly when faced with black recalcitrance. Since the black laborers along Central America's east coast came mostly from the British West Indies, the British government sought a more balanced response from United Fruit and the U.S. and isthmian governments. In December 1909 a labor and racial disturbance at United Fruit's Cayuga plantation in Guatemala highlighted the issue of racial and class slurs. A white timekeeper had first implemented a United Fruit pay cut and then, nine days later, he shot a Jamaican worker. A strike followed. Precipitously, United Fruit and the U.S. government urged the Guatemalan government to crush the rebellion. The British tried unsuccessfully to mediate
Distribution (mathematics · Economic history · Empire · Government (linguistics · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Race (biology · Racism · Sociology · White (mutation · Gender Studies · Global trade, sustainability, and social impact · History · Law
Filibustering from Africa to the Americas
“Yo soy indígena”
SHGAPE Presidential Address
The Negative Effects of U.S. Imperialism in Central America
Contesting the place of protest in migrant caravans
Buying into the Dream
Radicalize Multiculturalism? Garifuna Activism and the Double-Bind of Participation in Postcoup Honduras
Crossing Islands and Oceans in Labor Histories of American Empire
Race at Work
Territorial Acquisitions Are Among the Landmarks of Our History’
Building an Occupation
Harrell-Bond Lecture, Refugee Studies Centre, Oxford
The Delectable and Dangerous
Colonizing Workers
Engineering inter-imperialism
A Transnational Protest against the National Security State
Health, environment and colonial legacies
| Unique citing works | 17 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,31 |
| Citation span | 2013 - 2022 (10) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 16 |