Book Report

Mr. Dr. John F. Campbell, a lecturer in History at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, received his PhD from the University of Cambridge. Written by Dr. John F. Campbell himself, the book entitled “Beyond Massa- Sugar Management in the British Caribbean 1770-1834,” examines the daily operations on the plantation including the lifestyle of the superior Europeans and the enslaved Africans during the seventeenth and eighteenth century. The book is inclusive of an in depth study of chattel slavery on the sugar estate of the British Caribbean. Also it is revisionism of previous knowledge as many contradictions of past events were made throughout the book with vital evidence to support such claims. A main focus is placed on the Jamaican territory in the British Caribbean during the time period of 1770-1834. A specific center of interest was directed towards the Golden Grove plantation owned by Chaloner Arcedekne, an absentee owner who wished to reside in England and as a result hired a local manager by the name of Simon Taylor. Furthermore the book incorporates the struggles in which the absentee owner Mr. Chaloner Arcedekne faced along with manager Simon Taylor during the seventeenth and eighteenth century, as well as relationships that developed among the enslaved and the Europeans. This assessment of “Beyond Massa,” is focused on the major topics of interest discussed throughout the book including; Human Resource Management (HRM), the enslaved elite, the female dimension and center of power and power center.
The term Human Resource Management can be referred to as, “the design and application of formal systems in an organization to ensure the effect and efficient use of human talent to accomplish organizational goals” (Daft). Human Resource Management allowed the planters to differentiate “between the labor and the productivity of labor” (Campbell). It is through the Human Resource Management that managers identified that labor was more

Citations: 1. Campbell, John. Beyond Mass - Sugar Management in the British Caribbean, 1770-1834. Calaloux Productions, 2012. Print. 2. Daft, Richard. New Era of Management. 9th ed. 2010. Print. 3. Washington, Clare. Women and Resistance in the African Disapora, with Special Focus on the Caribbean (trinidad and Tobago) and USA. 2012. Print.