A World History of Rubber Empire, Industry, and the Everyday [Hardcover]

A World History of Rubber helps readers understand and gain new insights into the social and cultural contexts of global production and consumption, from the nineteenth century to today, through the fascinating story of one commodity.

• Divides the coverage into themes of race, migration, and labor; gender on plantations and in factories; demand and everyday consumption; World Wars and nationalism; and resistance and independence
• Highlights the interrelatedness of our world long before the age of globalization and the global social inequalities that persist today
• Discusses key concepts of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including imperialism, industrialization, racism, and inequality, through the lens of rubber
• Provides an engaging and accessible narrative for all levels that is filled with archival research, illustrations, and maps

Acknowledgments ix

Timeline xi

Global Rubber and Tire Companies xvii

Introduction: Why Rubber? 1

Global Connections 8

1 Race, Migration, and Labor 10

“Wild Rubber” and Early Industry 11

“Wild Rubber” and Empire 14

Plantations’ Progress: “Rationality and Efficiency” 17

Plantation Hierarchies 21

Race and Industry in the United States and Europe 29

2 Women and Gender on Plantations and in Factories 40

Gendering the Jungle and the Plantation 42

Asian Women on Plantations 44

European Women and Racism 48

The Colonizing Woman 50

Gendered Production in the United States and Europe 52&llãB