Homemaking in Suriname, 1895–1930

This chapter addresses the homemaking of Girmitiya peasants. Their homemaking equals a moral community that made it possible to mobilise the agrarian capitalCapitalagrarian present in it, including the knowledge of agricultural construction, materials such as seeds, plants and animals, and the labour of group members. The homemaking suggested that cultural practices, the arrangement of nature and the practice of agriculture were intertwined. This entanglement is elaborated in Sect. 6.2, arguing that settlement as a peasant cannot be separated from experiences on the plantations because these were largely a push factor. Section 6.3 argues that survival as a peasant required not only a piece of land but also agricultural knowledge, planting materials and ties to the community. Section 6.4 examines how the Girmitiyas as peasants shaped the landscape according to their views through a specific arrangement of the geography and economy of rice farming. Section 6.5 addresses the composition and increase in smallholder production and the specialisation in rice, while Sect. 6.6 specifies this development by region.