معرفی
Jenny Shaw is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Alabama specializing in early modern Caribbean history with particular focus on Barbados in the 17th century. Her research examines family formation, slavery, and transatlantic connections during the colonial period.
Dr. Shaw's research interests center on the complex social structures that emerged in the early modern Caribbean, particularly examining how enslaved and free women navigated the constraints of plantation society. Her work explores the intersections of race, gender, and power in colonial contexts, with special attention to family formation across the Atlantic world. Through meticulous archival research, she has uncovered transnational family networks that challenge conventional understandings of Caribbean history.
Her recently published book The Women of Rendezvous: A Transatlantic Story of Family and Slavery (University of North Carolina Press, 2025) examines five women who birthed children by the same prominent Barbados politician and enslaver. Shaw's analysis reveals how these women navigated complex legal and social systems across the Atlantic world, creating family networks that transcended the boundaries imposed by slavery.
Dr. Shaw has presented her research at numerous academic venues including keynote lectures such as 'Caribbean Connections: Seventeenth-Century Barbados and Britain' at King's College London. Her work demonstrates how ordinary people, particularly women, created meaningful connections across the Atlantic despite the brutal conditions of slavery and colonialism.
