Citation

J. Peasant Stud. 2021; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/03066150.2021.2015020

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The title of this article has been changed at the request of the authors. A Note from the Authors on the Change in Title: In the nineteenth-century guano trade, lasting about four decades, Chinese contract laborers were forced to dig guano on the Chincha Islands off the coast of Peru under some of the most horrific conditions in all of human history. It is believed that 100 percent of the workers died either from the work or from suicide. In fighting this form of human trafficking, the British anti-slavery movement, some members of Parliament, and revolutionary critics such as Karl Marx all adopted the term "worse than slavery," as the slogan of the struggle to end the trafficking of Chinese workers to the guano islands. In our article here, focusing on ecological imperialism, extractivism, and the guano trade, and discussing the horrendous conditions imposed on the Chinese guano diggers, we originally used this nineteenth-century anti-slavery slogan, carefully placed inside quotation marks, and followed by a question mark, in our title. However, it subsequently came to our attention, that in a contemporary context this same phrase is now increasingly interpreted as meaning that one form of institutionalized slavery (or mass oppression) is worse than another. Moreover, we understand that such a comparison, if it were to be made, might inadvertently lend support to anti-Black and white supremacist discourses. Nothing could be further from our intention in our article, and thus we requested that our original title be removed and that our subtitle, which was more descriptive, be substituted for it. © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Language: en