Jerome Handler discusses his research into slave life on sugar plantations in Barbados from the early seventeenth through the early nineteenth century. He recounts how his research focus shifted from contemporary social anthropology to a historical study of the lives of slaves. Handler addresses the difficulties of studying the history of a population that did not produce its own written records, and describes his adoption of archaeological methods to supplement limited and biased historical records on slavery.
At the time of this interview, Handler, a Fellow at the National Humanities Center (1982-1983), was professor of anthropology at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
This edition of Soundings was conducted by Wayne J. Pond.
