Mots-clés
Poor Law
gender
women
1930s
children
Parochial Boards
Imperial Institutions
Jamaica
Résumé
Les inspecteurs du Système d’Assistance à la Pauvreté de la Jamaïque étaient chargés de superviser et d’administrer l’aide allouée aux bénéficiaires sociaux. Ces fonctionnaires représentaient les conseils paroissiaux et protégeaient les intérêts financiers du gouvernement, même s’ils représentaient par ailleurs les intérêts des dits bénéficiaires sociaux. A travers leurs interactions quotidiennes, ces inspecteurs mirent en place un critère de pauvreté qu’ils utilisèrent pour identifier les personnes profitant des failles du système. En mai 1932, l’inspecteur D. Phillips avisa un fonctionnaire de l’antenne de Kingston et de St. Andrew que deux femmes avaient tenté d’escroquer le Bureau d’Assistance à la Pauvreté. A partir des archives de cette antenne du Bureau, j’explore les conflits entre ces inspecteurs et les plus démunis, et plus particulièrement les femmes, afin de déterminer la manière dont celles-
ci négocièrent la bureaucratie du système d’aide aux indigents misen place dans la Jamaïque. Je démontre par ailleurs que ces archives constituent une ressource importante pour des recherches portant sur la pauvreté, la famille et l’enfance.
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