This collection of papers by a number of eminent anthropologists explores the patterns of ethnicity in the Caribbean. A valuable contribution to current literature in the field, these papers greatly increase our understanding of Caribbean societies. The variety of theoretical approaches o the processes that shaped Caribbean ethnic relations make this work a fascinating and vital study of the region as a whole
This innovative book contributes to a paradigm shift in the study of creole languages, forging new empirical frameworks for understanding language and culture in sociohistorical contact. The authors bring together archival sources to challenge dominant linguistic theory and practice and engage issues of power, positioning marginalized indigenous peoples as the center of, and vital agents in, these languages’ formation and development. Students in language contact, pidgins and creoles, Caribbean studies, and postcolonial studies courses—and scholars across many disciplines—will benefit from this book and be convinced of the importance of understanding creoles and creolization.
Race and biologized conceptions of ethnicity have been potent factors in the making of the Americas. They remain crucial, even if more ambiguously than before. This collection of essays addresses the workings of ethnicity in the Caribbean, a part of the Americas where, from the early days of empire through today’s post-colonial limbo, this phenomenon has arguably remained in the center of public society as well as private life. These analyses of race and nation-building, increasingly significant in today’s world, are widely pertinent to the study of current and international relations. The ten prominent scholars contributing to this book focus on the significance of ethnicity for social structure and national identity in the Caribbean. Their essays span a period from the initial European colonization right through today’s paradoxical balance sheet of decolonization. They deal with the entire region as well as the significance of the diaspora and the continuing impact of metropolitan linkages. The topics addressed vary from the international repercussions of Haiti’s black revolution through the position of French Caribbean békés and the Barbadian ‘redlegs’ to race in revolutionary Cuba; from Puerto Rican dance etiquette through the Latin American and Caribbean identity essay to the discourse of Dominican nationhood; and from a musée imaginaire in Guyane through Jamaica’s post independence culture to the predicament of Dutch Caribbean decolonization. Taken together, these essays provide a rare and extraordinarily rich comparative perspective to the study of ethnicity as a crucial factor shaping both intimate relations and the public and even international dimension of Caribbean societies.
This book is concerned with the nature of the relationship between gender, ethnicity and poverty in the context of the external and internal dynamics of households in Guyana. Using detailed data collected from male and female respondents in three separate locations, two urban and one rural, and across two major ethnic groups, Afro-Guyanese and Indo-Guyanese, the authors discuss the links between gender and race, exploring development issues from a feminist perspective.
This book offers an international perspective of philosophical, conceptual and praxis-oriented issues that impinge on achieving education for all students. It sheds light on the historical, systemic, structural, organizational, and attitudinal barriers that continue to be antithetical to the philosophy and practice of inclusive education within the Caribbean. The first section of the book examines how globalized views of inclusion informed by philosophical ideas from the North have influenced and continue to influence the equity in education agenda in the region. The second section considers how exclusion and marginalization still occur across selected Caribbean islands. It provides both quantitative and qualitative data about the nature and experience of exclusion in selected Caribbean islands, the UK and USA. The third section tackles the practical realities of transforming education systems in the Caribbean for inclusion. In particular, it identifies teacher practices as the main site of interrogation that needs to be tackled if inclusion is to be successful. The fourth and final section examines the contribution of principals and exemplars to the development and advocacy for inclusive education. It discusses how educational leadership is understood, as well as the role of school principals in making inclusion a reality in schools, the challenges experienced and the qualities of education leaders.
This book brings together research on the relations between people and the planet's living and non-living resources. Its three main foci include the methodological approaches to the study of relationships between people and land use, patterns of consumption, population trends and the availability of food and water resources; an examination of evidence of disequilibria in increasing conflicts, migrations, and over-crowding; and a search for balance between people and the other elements of the biosphere through understanding and overcoming destructive forces.
This collection of essays represents the first in-depth, scholarly treatment of housing policies and conditions throughout the Caribbean. The contributors consider both the performance of the state and the autonomous activities of the poor, making this volume an invaluable contribution to future planning and debate.The essays, each dealing with a specific island or group of islands, collectively address four main themes: the history of housing provision since colonization, current housing conditions, state policies toward housing provision, and the changing relationships between governments, international funding agencies, the private housing sector, and the peoples' responses. These investigations not only highlight the often alarming problems that Caribbean nations face in providing adequate housing for the poor but also implicate governments in past and present failures and poor performances. However, the essays are also filled with useful insights about the ways in which progressive housing policies can be formulated and implemented. For example, the volume suggests that the Caribbean's rich heritage of folk and vernacular architectural styles should be taken into serious account in future planning efforts.In a concluding synthesis chapter, the volume editors argue that a more progressive future is attainable if all parties exhibit the political will that the poor have already demonstrated.
