Chapters

My feeling is that the chapters should be thematic. The aim is to write a matched pair of monographs, with the second one outlining the basic social bonds (and contestation) within the region over the same period: social history lends itself much more easily to thinking in thematic headings. Even if these are not the heads finally employed, one thinks of 'family', 'kin', 'gender', 'childhood', 'status' etc.
What would be the political equivalents, and what would each theme contain, bearing in mind that what I am trying to achieve is a chapter in which I might cover all of the geographical areas of the 'Anglophone Caribbean colonies', and all of the people present there over time, irrespective of ethnicity, gender, status and so on.
So far, I am thinking along the lines of chapters on ‘patriarchy’, to include hierarchy, paternalism, patronage and sexuality; ‘violence’ enacted within repression, oppression and resistance, in committing crime and imposing laws; ‘faction’, to denote the difficulties amongst and between all in forming lasting alliances; ‘territory’ to encompass the limitations of environment, management and control of land and seas. There will inevitably follow, if such heads are adhered to, a re-conceptualisation of ‘liberty’ and ‘authority’, but I cannot decide whether these are chapter headings in themselves, or overall conclusions to be drawn.
If 'liberty' and 'authority' are separate chapters, that would make six chapters, plus introduction and conclusion, which would strike me as about the right number. If they are not chapters in themselves, then I only have four heads, which would not seem enough, or, alternatively, if these were heads of sections, with sub-chapters within each section, then four sections would seem too many.