Thesis ID: CBB001562392

The Vermin-Killers: Pest Control in the Early Chesapeake (2001)

unapi

Newman, Megan Haley (Author)


College of William and Mary
Brown, Chandos M.


Publication Date: 2001
Edition Details: Advisor: Brown, Chandos M.
Physical Details: 390 pp.
Language: English

The presence of pests and the effect of their activity emerged very early in the colonial era, from the early seventeenth century through the third quarter of the eighteenth century, as a major challenge to the financial and social success of Euro-American settlers, predominantly English, in the tidewater region of Virginia and Maryland, or the Chesapeake. Pests were not only a feature of the natural environment, they were a factor in the modified and built environments that settlers created. The problem of pests cut across ethnic, race, gender and class lines in the Chesapeake. Euro-American, African-American and Native American residents of the colonial Chesapeake consistently characterized pests as not simply annoying, but as also as threats. Their responses to pests reflected notions about both the nature of the threat pests presented, and the commodities and resources that residents valued. Pest control schemes were based on the establishment and reinforcement of boundaries across which pests and their effects were not tolerated. These boundaries quickly assumed a social function. In addition to defining an area in which the presence and activity of pests was restricted, these boundaries functioned as thresholds across which human interaction had to be negotiated. Pest control assumed boundary maintenance functions on several levels. In different times, places and circumstances, the role of vermin killer fell to different people in Euro-American traditions. In the domestic sphere the responsibility for managing pests in the home fell to women. In connection to their role in pest control, women had an important role in managing the establishment, reinforcement and maintenance of physical and social boundaries in the home.

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Description Cited in Diss. Abstr. Int. A 62 (2002): 3088. UMI order no. 3026410.


Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001562392/

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Authors & Contributors
Sarasohn, Lisa Tunick
Smalley, Andrea L.
Lynn Festa
Blakley, Christopher
Skabelund, Aaron
Seeley, Joseph
Concepts
Great Britain, colonies
Nature and its relationship to culture; human-nature relationships
Human-animal relationships
Vermin
Animals
Native American civilization and culture
Time Periods
18th century
17th century
19th century
16th century
Enlightenment
21st century
Places
North America
United States
Chesapeake Bay (North America)
Maryland (U.S.)
Great Britain
Baltimore (Maryland, U.S.)
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