“There are no secrets here”: Sex and Scandal in the Streets of Curaçao Cover Image

“There are no secrets here”: Sex and Scandal in the Streets of Curaçao
“There are no secrets here”: Sex and Scandal in the Streets of Curaçao

Author(s): Jessica Roitman
Subject(s): Social history, Jewish Thought and Philosophy, 18th Century
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: Curaçao; Jews; enslaved people; gossip; rumor;

Summary/Abstract: This article challenges the assumptions about what spaces were actually private in the late early modern colonial world. Centered on a case of adultery amongst the Sephardic Jewish community of Curaçao in the late eighteenth century, this piece looks at the entangled lives of enslaved people, Dutch colonial officials, free people of color, Protestants, Catholics, and Jews. Gossip, private information transition, and the architecture and town planning of Willemstad, Curaçao, are integral to this story of community norms, legal systems, and colonial spaces.

  • Issue Year: 26/2023
  • Issue No: 52
  • Page Range: 375-400
  • Page Count: 26
  • Language: English