Worlds of Labor on Georgetown's Waterfront: Work, Freedom and the Labor Question in Guyana, c. 1890–1966.

This article analyzes the contested meanings and organization of wage labor among Afro-Guianese waterfront workers in Georgetown, Guyana, within the broader context of post-emancipation British colonial rule and its racialized political economy. It explores how Afro-Guianese workers combined casual waterfront employment with other livelihood strategies shaped by familial, communal, and cultural considerations, challenging colonial authorities' assumptions about labor discipline and productivity. The article details the introduction of decasualization—a system aimed at regularizing waterfront labor through registration and improved wages—as part of mid-twentieth-century colonial reforms, while highlighting ongoing tensions involving trade unions, employers, and workers amid rising nationalist and racialized political conflicts. It further examines the complex social worlds of waterfront workers, including gender roles, intra-class dynamics, and cross-racial labor solidarities, demonstrating that labor relations on the waterfront were shaped by intersecting economic, social, and political factors rather than solely by colonial imperatives or racial divisions.