commerce and the atlantic world
Author: Keishunda Curtis
Black Art, Black Atlantic, Metacapitalism | February 22, 2021
“It is hoped when the time comes for American and West Indian Negroes to settle in Africa, they will release their responsibility and their duty. It will not be to go to Africa for the purposes of exercising a overlordship over the natives, but shall be for the purpose of the Universal Negro Improvement Association to have established on Africa that brotherly cooperation which will make the interest of the African native and the American and West Indian Negro one and the same, that is to say, we shall enter into a common partnership to build up America in the interest of our race.”
Excerpt taken from Marcus Garvey’s famous speech Africa for Africans (1922)
Black people are still treated as if they are subordinates in relation to those of European descent throughout the Atlantic world. What exasperates the racial issues is a denial of the factors that have led to the current state of affairs. The trauma of slavery and its aftermath continue to marginalise people of African descent in various facets of life. In addition, the racist policies and systems continue to maintain the status quo.
Enterprise drives the Atlantic world. During the slave trade, for African people, this meant that they were the human capital that fuelled trade. The Atlantic world was a collective of networks happening on macro and micro levels. Enslaved Bermudians created several networks within the Atlantic world which saw them benefit greatly economically especially during periods of unrest in the Unites States. This paper proposes that these same networks and strategies be re-alchemised or repurposed and used to promote enterprise embedded with a social bottom-line. Instead of capitalism being used in an exploitive, predatory manner, it can be used to help heal and connect these scattered communities of the Diaspora. This research proposes using social enterprise as a tool for connectivity and healing.
Haiti, who was especially blackballed in the 18th centuries after fighting for their independence, became a black wall street during the War Years. Trade between Atlantic Africans was very lucrative and meant that many Bermudians were able to buy their freedom. As descendants of ancestors who worked together and formed networks cross culturally, pan-African social enterprise models can be used to bridge the gap between Diasporic and Continental Africans. hauteghetto, a fashion label, focuses on identity, sustainability and connectivity and aims to be an example of an enterprise that combines feminine focused and led principles and practices using a meta-modern approach. By fostering creativity and reconnection by basing operations in Africa, it is an enterprise which aims to employ conscious, fair and inclusive business practices at every level.
The story of a slave merchant “Oolaudah Equiano, whose life was essentially that of a Bermudian sailor, provides in his experience something that can serve as a picture of what constituted this enslaved venture mercantile activity” (Maxwell, et. al 2019). There is also a story about ‘Negro Bess’ who was accused of ‘stealing’. However, she was the partner of a slave-sailor who was privileged- she likely would have had access to goods for sale. This sheds some light on the degree to which slaves participated in trade.
Prudent Rebels: Bermuda and the American Revolution (2019) sheds light on the black market that was created in Haiti during wartime which, depending on perspective, contained aspects of pan-African social enterprise. Capitalism is driven by self rather than social interest and many of these structures of patriarchy still exist and continue to affect black communities on social and economic levels. The text is an historical account of the pivotal role Bermuda played in supporting the United Kingdom and United States in the American Revolution. It supports the premise that Bermuda’s participation in the American Revolution was self-serving in their quest for riches. Bermudians were loyal to neither the Crown nor the Americans as financially the island was well positioned to play the fence between the two waring nations who were already tired from previous battles. The text highlights the relationship between slave owners and their slaves- an atmosphere where masters often relied heavily on their slave’s navigational prowess to trade and/or smuggle throughout the Atlantic world.
Summary
No one denies that a ‘hustle mentality’ is necessary for a healthy economy. What needs to be acknowledged is the toxic aspects of such and the ways in which unfair practices perpetuates the current status quo. A metacapitalist approach can be considered as a way of preserving the elements of capitalism that work whilst also acknowledging the aspects that need to be refocused or redefined to better reflect harmonisation with nature and society.
