This paper explores the ways in which Afro-Caribbeans impacted by the British colonial system have subversively used imported Chinese and European ceramics to challenge an imposed hierarchy, assert identity, and present an alternative retelling of Caribbean history. Olivia Holder explores the continuing relationship between Black Caribbean peoples and ceramics from the seventeenth century through to the present via a study of ‘chaney’. Though luxury goods, these ceramic imports were possessed and manipulated by enslaved peoples. The term chaney, a creolism of ‘China’ and ‘money,’ refers to a cultural artifact scattered around the Caribbean: shards of broken imported ceramics buried in the sand or soil as well as the carved ceramic fragments reshaped by locals. Historic chaney has been unearthed, dating the practice of manipulating the medium to the period of enslavement. Studying the historic and continuing manipulation of imported ceramics, this paper will, both, link contemporary artistic ceramic practices to an historic relationship between Afro-Caribbean peoples and ceramics as well as locate current Black Caribbean creation within the longstanding global exchange of goods and ideas. The talk will explore the implications of disrupting the coveted transparent, glass-like glazes on ceramic works to reveal and emphasize the grainy, sugary texture of the ware, and argue that the fragments constitute a vision of the cross-cultural connections that link sugar to tea ware, the productions of enslaved black bodies and chinaware.