Propagating Authenticity and Unsilencing Histories in Barbados

Rum is a multi-billion-dollar-a-year industry. Conventional wisdomwould suggest that the digital platforms for the various brands of rumare concerned with the sole intention of getting their products into theglasses of consumers and potential consumers of alcoholic beverages.However, there are broader historical and geopolitical implications torum making that have long necessitated propaganda arms to protect theimage of this valuable industry, and propagating rum’s image has becomeincreasingly complex in the digital age. While rum is a beverage thatconjures whimsical tales of dashing pirates, daring rum runners, andsun-soaked holidays in the tropics, it is also a beverage infused with thehistorical realities of colonialism, coercive systems of labor, criminality,disease, and social decay. Confronting these historical realities has been achallenge for modern rum makers, who rely heavily on ideas of traditionand authenticity to sell their product. A critical reading of brand websites,as well as the more expansive digital footprint of rum connoisseurs, rumfestival organizers, and other purveyors of all things rum, reveals effortsto polish rum’s image to consumers and, perhaps more importantly,create narratives that confront political-economic tensions in an era ofglobalization. This is especially true for rum makers in the small-islandnations of the Caribbean; the birthplace of rum making and the regionallocation of the most productive and diverse group of rum makers. TheCaribbean is synonymous with rum even though “rum” is today producedthroughout many different parts of the world beyond the borders of theCaribbean. The websites for Caribbean rum makers, as well as the digitalplatforms of the national governments that support them, convey implicitand explicit messages about nationalism, modernity, and the place ofdeveloping Caribbean countries in the larger global economy. The digitalage has allowed Caribbean rum manufacturers opportunities to refinepropaganda about rum’s authenticity while simultaneously navigatingpolitically divisive narratives about its history that many would prefer tosilence.