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My research examines the historical and cultural significance of breadfruit in Caribbean foodways, particularly through the experiences of Black enslaved women. Introduced as part of colonial agricultural schemes, breadfruit was intended to sustain the enslaved population with minimal planter investment. However, its integration into Caribbean diets was neither seamless nor passive. Black women, key figures in food cultivation and preparation, navigated and reshaped imposed food systems through provision-ground agriculture, culinary adaptation, and resistance. By tracing the spread of breadfruit across the Caribbean from the nineteenth century to the present, this study reveals the intersections of colonial botany, labour, and gender. It interrogates the erasure of Black women’s agency in existing historiographies and foregrounds their role in the development of Caribbean food culture. Through archival analysis, oral histories, and culinary reconstructions, this research reclaims the narratives of those who transformed breadfruit from a colonial imposition into a marker of resilience and identity.

 

 

Royal College of Art and V&A Museum Graduate Symposium, December 2022

Wi Deh Yah - Design History Society, August 2023

Selling Health, Hygiene & Beauty in the Long twentieth century, December 2024

Darwin Day, Natural History Museum Paris, December 2024

Out of Many, One Caribbean: Delving deeper into our collection, February 2025

Association of Caribbean Historians,