This page has books sorted by nations in the Caribbean. These books are only examples. Contact the Library for more books about the Caribbean in general!
Healing Cultures by
The Spanish expression - la cultura cura (culture heals) - is an affirmation of the potential healing power of a variety of cultural practices that together constitute the ethos of a people. What happens, however, when cultures themselves are in jeopardy? What are the "antidotes" or healing modalities for an ailing culture? Healing Cultures addresses these questions from a variety of disciplines - anthropology, holistic folk traditions, literature, film, cultural and religious studies - bringing together the broad range of beliefs and the spectrum of practices that have sustained the peoples and cultures of the Caribbean.
Look for Me All Around You by
Interdisciplinary in scope, this anthology redresses the undue neglect of Anglophone Caribbeans - almost 25 percent of the black population in Harlem in 1920 - and their pivotal role in the literary, cultural, and political events shaping the Harlem Renaissance. The poetry, fiction, drama, and essays included explore a variety of issues, such as the increasing emphasis on race and image building, the development of a black aesthetic, progressive politics, and the struggle to define the status of blacks in America. Both the literary and political works show the spirit of the New Negro, one emphasizing racial pride and aesthetic consciousness. Examined closely are the black and Carribean American figures involved in the black nationalism movement, socialist groups, and trade unions, including such prominent figures as Marcus Carvey and his two wives, Amy Ashwood and Amy Jacques Garvey, Hubert Harrison, W. A. Domingo, and Frank Crosswaith. Also explored are the developing communist movements as manifested in the writings of Cyril Briggs, Richard B. Moore, Otto Huiswoud, and George Padmore. Essays review the crucial literary contributions of Claude McKay, Eric Walrond, and dramatist Eulalie Spence, as well as historians Arthur Schomburg and J. A. Rogers. This anthology of writers, with accompanying discussions about their works placed in the context of their own time, will be of interest to anyone examinino the Harlem Renaissance and the larger black and Caribbean contribution to cultural and political thinking.
Marcus Garvey by
This biography of Marcus Garvey documents the forging of his remarkable vision of pan-Africanism and highlights his organizational skills in framing a response to the radical global popular upsurge following the First World War (1914-1918). Central to Garvey's response was the development of organizations under the umbrella of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League, which garnered the transnational support of several million members and sympathizers and challenged white supremacist practices and ideas. Garvey established the ideological pillars of twentieth century pan-Africanism in promoting self-determination and self-reliance for Africa's independence. Although Garvey travelled widely and lived abroad in New York and London, he spent his early years in Jamaica. Rupert Lewis traces how Garvey's Jamaican formation shaped his life and thought and how he combated the British colonial authorities as well as fought deep-rooted self-doubt and self-rejection among Jamaican black people. Garvey's much neglected political and cultural work at the local level is discussed as part of his project to stimulate self-determination in Africa and its diaspora.
Black Rebels by
An exploration of African-American freedom fighters in Jamaica, presenting a history of resistance instead of a history of domination. The context of marronage is carefully established: the plantation system as an economic and ideological machine fuelled by the abuse of black working power.
Cambridge Companion to the African American Novel by
The Cambridge Companion to the African American Novel presents new essays covering the one hundred and fifty year history of the African American novel. Experts in the field from the US and Europe address some of the major issues in the genre: passing, the Protest novel, the Blues novel, and womanism among others. The essays are full of fresh insights for students into the symbolic, aesthetic, and political function of canonical and non-canonical fiction. Chapters examine works by Ralph Ellison, Leon Forrest, Toni Morrison, Ishmael Reed, Alice Walker, John Edgar Wideman, and many others. They reflect a range of critical methods intended to prompt new and experienced readers to consider the African American novel as a cultural and literary act of extraordinary significance. This volume, including a chronology and guide to further reading, is an important resource for students and teachers alike.
The Caribbean by
Columbus "discovered" the Caribbean, not North America, and it was in the Caribbean that Amerindians first felt the effects of European steel, gunpowder, and (deadlier by far) microbes. The region became a pawn in the European struggle for empire and, later, a significant player in the developing Atlantic economy. Its economic importance rested on a substructure of African slavery, which provided labor for the numerous plantations across the region. However, slaves resisted slavery and, ultimately, the Abolitionist cause was carried successfully, initially in the British parliament and gradually elsewhere. Emancipation did not provide solutions to the ancillary ills of servitude--poverty, exploitation, inequality--and protest and resistance to colonial rule (whether British, Spanish, French, Dutch, or Danish) continued. In the twentieth century, the United States largely replaced the old European powers as the dominant players in the area, and sought to intervene when it perceived its interests were threatened.
Empire's Crossroads by
Ever since Christopher Columbus stepped off the Santa Maria and announced that he had arrived in the Orient, the Caribbean has been a stage for projected fantasies and competition between world powers. In Empire's Crossroads, historian Carrie Gibson offers a vivid, panoramic view of this complex region and its rich, important history. That fateful landing in 1492 soon launched a savage competition for West Indian territory that would last centuries. Gibson compellingly traces the ups and downs of European imperial expansion--including the first cash crops, failed settlements, and pirating on the open seas--but she also brilliantly describes daily life on the islands. Creole societies complicated traditional ideas about class and race, and by the end of the eighteenth century, plantation slaves in Saint-Domingue had launched the Haitian Revolution, the world's only successful slave revolt. As European control of the Caribbean loosened over the next 150 years, America was on the rise, ushering in a new era of foreign influence and the birth of the tourism industry that still thrives today. Incredibly multi-faceted and approachably written, Empire's Crossroads encompasses the narratives of more than twenty islands and reinterprets five centuries of history have been underappreciated for far too long.
Politics and Development in the Caribbean Basin by
"Grugel... has produced a first-rate introduction to the development dilemmas confronting the peoples of the Caribbean and Central America.... The book will enlighten general readers with an interest in the politics of geopolitical and economic dependency. And for appreciating the remaining difficulties facing small nations attempting equitable and harmonious development, it will remind Caribbean and Central American specialists just how valuable a good comparative analysis can be." -- Foreign Affairs ..". excellent comparative survey of the political economy of the Caribbean Basin... " -- Choice This wide-ranging survey of the political economy of the Caribbean Basin and its position in the emerging global order also assesses the attempts by revolutionary regimes in the region to create alternative models of development and the reasons for their failure.
The Other African Americans by
America's black population is becoming increasingly diverse and the presence of Caribbean and, especially, African immigrants continues to grow throughout the country. The Other African Americans seeks to broaden our understanding of these groups by exploring the changing intraracial dynamics among African Americans as new immigrants settle in the U.S. and become Americans. This edited volume of original research provides historical and contemporary information on African and Caribbean individuals and families, addressing particular topical areas covering the most salient issues facing these immigrants today.
Caribbean Dance from Abakua to Zouk
Caribbean Dance from Abakuá to Zouk is an unprecedented overview of the dances from each of this region's major islands and the complex, fused, and layered cultures that gave birth to them. The authors in this collection, from distinguished cultural leaders to highly innovative choreographers, reveal how dance shapes personal, communal, and national identity. They also show how Caribbean rhythms, dances, fragments of movement, and even attitudes toward movement reach beyond the islands and through the extensive West Indian diaspora communities in North America, Latin America, and Europe to be embraced by the world at large. From the anthropological to the literary and from the practical to the creative, these dances are explored in the contexts of social history, tradition, ritual, and performance. Connections are made among a fascinating array of dances, both familiar and little known, from culturally based to newly created performance pieces. Particular emphasis is placed on the African contribution in making Caribbean dance distinctive. An extensive glossary of terms and more than 30 illustrations round out the book to make it the most complete resource on Caribbean dance available. nbsp; nbsp;
Beyond Slavery by
Beyond Slavery traces the enduring impact and legacy of the African diaspora in Latin America and the Caribbean in the modern era. In a rich set of essays, the volume explores the multiple ways that Africans have affected political, economic, and cultural life throughout the region. Focusing on areas traditionally associated with Afro-Latin American culture such as Brazil and the Caribbean basin, this innovative work also highlights places such as Rio de La Plata and Central America, where the African legacy has been important but little studied. The contributors engage readers interested in the African diaspora in a series of vigorous debates ranging from agency and resistance to transculturation, displacement, cross-national dialogue, and popular culture. Documenting the array of diverse voices of Afro-Latin Americans throughout the region, this interdisciplinary book brings to life both their histories and contemporary experiences. Contributions by: Aviva Chomsky, Dari n J. Davis, Dario Euraque, Sujatha Fernandes, David Geggus, Aline Helg, Ricardo D. Salvatore, Eduardo Silva, Jason Stanyek, Camilla Townsend, Bobby Vaughn, Ben Vinson III, and Judith Michelle Williams
Whispers from the Cotton Tree Root by
The lushness of language and the landscape, wild contrasts, and pure storytelling magic abound in this anthology of Caribbean writing. Steeped in the tradition of fabulism, where the irrational and inexplicable coexist with the realities of daily life, the stories in this collection are infused with a vitality and freshness that most writing traditions have long ago lost. From spectral slaving ships to women who shed their skin at night to become owls, stories from writers such as Jamaica Kincaid, Marcia Douglas, Ian MacDonald, and Kamau Brathwaite pulse with rhythms, visions, and the tortured history of this spiritually rich region of the world.
At the Bottom of the River by
Jamaica Kincaid's inspired, lyrical short storiesReading Jamaica Kincaid is to plunge, gently, into another way of seeing both the physical world and its elusive inhabitants. Her voice is, by turns, naively whimsical and biblical in its assurance, and it speaks of what is partially remembered partly divined. The memories often concern a childhood in the Caribbean--family, manners, and landscape--as distilled and transformed by Kincaid's special style and vision.Kincaid leads her readers to consider, as if for the first time, the powerful ties between mother and child; the beauty and destructiveness of nature; the gulf between the masculine and the feminine; the significance of familiar things--a house, a cup, a pen. Transfiguring our human form and our surroundings--shedding skin, darkening an afternoon, painting a perfect place--these stories tell us something we didn't know, in a way we hadn't expected.
Bay of Souls by
Robert Stone's remarkable novel is a psychological thriller of razor-sharp intensity: mysterious, erotic, and deeply readable. Michael Ahearn, a professor at a rural college, sheds his comfortable assumptions when he becomes obsessed with a new faculty member from the Caribbean, Lara Purcell. An expert in Third World politics, Lara is seductive, dangerous -- and in thrall, she claims, to a voodoo spirit who has taken possession of her soul. Impassioned and determined, Michael pursues Lara to her native island of St. Trinity, heedless of the political upheaval there. Together they desperately attempt to reclaim all that Lara has lost. Yet island intrigue ensnares them. Lara sacrifices herself to ritual and superstition. Michael is caught unawares in a high-stakes smuggling scheme. In his feverish state of mind, the world becomes an ever-shifting phantasmagoria. He is, himself, possessed. In Bay of Souls, readers will recognize the trademarks of Stone's greatest fiction: the American embroiled in Third World corruption, the diplomats and covert operatives, the idealists and opportunists. Yet here the author's sights are set inward, to a place where politics is superfluous, experience unreliable. Never before has Stone probed so powerfully the psychological depths of one man's mind. What he finds there defies expectations.
Remaking a Lost Harmony by
These diverse stories, all of which were written after the 1959 Cuban Revolution, reflect both the unique and colorful culture of the islands and the social changes that provided the impetus to search for the lost harmony of Caribbean and Latin American culture. "Wow! An important and timely collection of voices long known in the Caribbean...from this vital part of the hemisphere."--Julia Alvarez
Green Cane and Juicy Flotsam by
This collection of short stories features moving tales from the rich Caribbean oral tradition, stories that question women's traditional roles, present women's perspectives on the history of Caribbean slavery and colonialism, and convey the beautiful cadences of the language of Caribbean women. It offers the general reader a broad selection of the themes, styles, and techniques characteristic of contemporary women's fiction in the Caribbean. There are twenty-seven enjoyable and vibrant tales in this anthology, some of them originally written in English, others in French, Dutch, and Spanish. There are writers from Guadeloupe, Dominica, Jamaica, Trinidad, Puerto Rico, Martinique, Antigua, Haiti, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Surinam. Along with stories by well-known writers such as Jean Rhys, Jamaica Kincaid, Michelle Cliff, Maryse Conde, and Rosario Ferre, the anthology also includes first-rate stories by lesser-known but equally talented writers. The collection also contains a critical introduction, biographical notes, and a bibliography.
Windward Heights by
A stunning retelling of Wuthering Heights set in the nineteenth century Guadeloupe & Cuba.
The Chosen Place, the Timeless People by
The chosen place is Bourneville, a remote, devastated part of a Caribbean isl∧ the timeless people are its inhabitants--black, poor, inextricably linked to their past enslavement. When the advance team for an ambitious American research project arrives, the tense, ambivalent relationships that evolve, between natives and foreigners, black and whites, haves and have-nots, keenly dramatize the vicissitudes of power. "An important and moving book . . . Marshall is as wise as she is bold, for in compromising neither her politics nor her understanding of people, she makes better sense of both."--Village Voice
