The Caribbean ranks among the earliest and most completely
globalized regions in the world. From the first moment Europeans
set foot on the islands to the present, products, people, and ideas
have made their way back and forth between the region and other
parts of the globe with unequal but inexorable force. An inventory
of some of these unprecedented multidirectional exchanges, this
volume provides a measure of, as well as a model for, new
scholarship on globalization in the region.
Ten essays by leading scholars in the field of Caribbean studies
identify and illuminate important social and cultural aspects of
the region as it seeks to maintain its own identity against the
unrelenting pressures of globalization. These essays examine
cultural phenomena in their creolized forms--from sports and
religion to music and drink--as well as the Caribbean
manifestations of more universal trends--from racial inequality and
feminist activism to indebtedness and economic uncertainty.
Throughout, the volume points to the contending forces of
homogeneity and differentiation that define globalization and
highlights the growing agency of the Caribbean peoples in the
modern world.
Contributors:
Antonio Benitez-Rojo (1931-2004)
Alex Dupuy, Wesleyan University
Juan Flores, City University of New York Graduate Center
Jorge L. Giovannetti, University of Puerto Rico
Aline Helg, University of Geneva
Franklin W. Knight, The Johns Hopkins University
Anthony P. Maingot, Florida International University
Teresita Martinez-Vergne, Macalester College
Helen McBain, Economic Commission for Latin America & the
Caribbean, Trinidad
Frances Negron-Muntaner, Columbia University
Valentina Peguero, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
Raquel Romberg, Temple University