Views
of the modern Caribbean have been constructed by a fiction of the
absent aboriginal. Yet, all across the Caribbean Basin, individuals
and communities are reasserting their identities as indigenous
peoples, from Carib communities in the Lesser Antilles, the Garifuna
of Central America, the Taíno of the Greater Antilles, to members of
the Caribbean diaspora. Far from extinction, or permanent
marginality, the region is witnessing a resurgence of native
identification and organization. This is the only volume to date
that focuses concerted attention on a phenomenon that can no longer
be ignored. Territories covered include Belize, Cuba, Dominica, the
Dominican Republic, French Guiana, Guyana, St. Vincent, Suriname,
Trinidad and Tobago, and the Puerto Rican diaspora. Writing from a
range of contemporary perspectives on indigenous presence,
identities, the struggle for rights, relations with the
nation-state, and globalization, fourteen scholars, including four
indigenous representatives, contribute to this unique testament to
cultural survival. This book will be indispensable to students of
Caribbean history and anthropology, indigenous studies, ethnicity,
and globalization.
The
Introduction to the volume is
available for free, as a PDF download.
