Scottish Silversmiths in the Caribbean, c.1700–1820
HEI: University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow
School: History, Classics and Archaeology
Supervisors: Professor Diana Paton (University of Edinburgh); Dr Sally Tuckett (University of Glasgow); Dr Georgia Vullinghs (National Museums Scotland)
Keywords: Scotland, Caribbean, Empire, Slavery, Craft, Material Culture
About Aisha’s Research:
This project aims to investigate Scottish silversmiths active in the Caribbean c.1700–1820. It will engender a fuller understanding of Scottish involvement in the manufacture and sale of luxury silver commodities in this colonial context. In focusing on an urban-based trade, it adds to existing studies of more prominent plantation-based industries in the Caribbean, like sugar production, and improves understanding of the interconnectedness of Scottish émigré networks.
The thesis has three main lines of enquiry—a demographic analysis of Scottish silversmiths in the Caribbean, the resources, craft practices and use of enslaved labour in silver workshops, and the social and financial networks of the trade, including the use of plantation-derived wealth as credit. Working in collaboration with National Museums Scotland, the project will examine extant Caribbean-made silverware, as well as its traces in archival documents.
CONNECT WITH AISHA
E-mail: aisha.tahir@ed.ac.uk
Instagram:@historianaisha