Caliban, social reproduction and our future yet to come

What can historical and contemporary labour geographies from the Caribbean tell us about social reproduction in a world of automation, precarity and free market fundamentalism? I argue in this article that juxtaposing 18th-19th century Caribbean labour geographies, with the free-market fundamentalisms, labour eradicating technologies and environmental disasters that define 21st century labour struggles, offers ways of thinking about how lives are made within capitalist systems, that overcome the traditional separation of the productive and reproductive work required to do so. Juxtaposing the social infrastructures that emerged from the practices of early unfree workers in the Caribbean with those produced by low income communities today, I trace continuities in the ways that people in situations of extreme precarity engage with space in order to exercise control over their labour. This article offers a number of provocations that aim to unsettle the theoretical separation of social reproduction from economic production, introduce insights into labour geographies beyond the worlds of formal organized labour and the formal economy itself, and to situate the Caribbean as a space of theory making that offers lessons for futures yet to come.

Automated summary

The article compares historical and contemporary labour geographies from the Caribbean to explore how lives are made within capitalist systems in a world of automation, precarity, and free market fundamentalism. By tracing continuities in the ways people in extreme precarity engage with space to exercise control over their labour, the article aims to unsettle the theoretical separation of social reproduction from economic production and offer insights into labour geographies beyond formal organized labor and the formal economy. The Caribbean is presented as a space of theory making that offers lessons for future developments.