Dr Rita Pemberton

HAVING gained possession of Tobago in 1763 following a series of conflicts between the various European claimants, the primary aim of the British government was the establishment of sugar cane cultivation on the island.

This led to a hasty attempt to subdivide and sell land to establish sugar plantations, a policy which was prompted by the dual aim of staving off French advances on the island and the desire to benefit from the lucrative market for sugar in Europe.

The need for labour led to the importation of captive Africans to the newly established estates, which initiated African enslavement on the island. Following the pattern established by the slavers in Barbados, those in Tobago, some of whom were also plantation owners in Barbados, applied the strict slave code which was created in Barbados.

These laws were based on the principle that the Africans were chattel, the property of their purchasers who had the right to exert full control over them and treat them as they pleased.

The Barbadian Slave Code was in fact based on the fears of the slavers that they would not be able to control their property unless they applied rigid restrictions and inflicted brutal punishment for transgressions by their enslaved property.

The other consideration was their need to institute measures to secure their investment in purchases of Africans and estates, and to secure the desired profits from the enterprise.

One of the areas that was specially targeted in the Barbadian code was in the realm of culture. Despite the harsh laws of the land which underscored their inferiority, the natural instincts of the enslaved Africans were to have recourse to their innate cultural practices as indices of their identity, strategies for survival, expressions of their religious beliefs, connections with their ancestors, and mechanisms of resistance.

A central feature of life in their homeland was communication across the vast continent, which was an integral part of life in African communities. The experience of the Barbadian slavers caused them to put specific emphasis on the most commonly used method of communication, the drum, one of the most revered cultural items, which one writer described as “the lifeblood “of the African.

Although the slavers objected to the noise and what they considered primitive pagan tendencies of drumming, the fact was that they did not understand the encoded messages which were communicated by drumming, but there were both an awareness that there was deeper meaning to the activity and fear that it could be used against the enslavers themselves and their ability to maintain the institution of slavery.

Drumming was associated with plots and revolts and enslavers recognised that drums spoke a language that they did not understand. Their solution to this dilemma was to impose a legal ban on the drum with severe punishment for the offenders, which was in force since the 18th century.

But for the creators and users, it was a battle with the authorities who felt a particular urge