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What is the Caribbean ?
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Introduction
- The 23 octobre 2013 09h01
Things seem very simple at first glance. The Caribbean appears to be a set of territories – essentially insular - bordered by the Caribbean Sea. However, despite this apparent simplicity, understanding this regional space is quite a complex matter since the definitions vary according to the regions, authors and their areas of expertise (see for example: Gaztambide-Geigel, 1996; Kempado, 1999; Guarch-Delmont......
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Hegemony, contested hegemony and the Caribbean in the 21st century
- The 23 octobre 2013 09h01
The Caribbean is an expression of North Atlantic imperialism created to sum up a power relation that exerts hegemony over a specific space with a specific geographic presence. It is then necessary to articulate and deconstruct the discourses of power that exercise hegemony over this space that is summed up in the expression: the Caribbean. The Caribbean in the 21st century continues to be under the hegemon......
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The caribbean is a story in any language
- The 23 octobre 2013 00h00
Imagine asking someone who lives in the Caribbean to describe the Caribbean. He or she could describe it in the way one would describe any place: by naming the landmarks that make up the area, and giving their relative positions. In other words, this person would paint a visual picture of what is physically there – like a mental map or a verbal landscape painting. Inevitably, the person doing the describing......
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The Caribbean as a cultural space
- The 23 octobre 2013 00h00
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Thinking through the Caribbean as a region
- The 23 octobre 2013 00h00
What is the Caribbean? While the twentieth century saw the term itself gain dominance over ‘West Indies’ or ‘Antilles, the definition of the region has shifted over the centuries. As Boswell (2003: 19) notes: “like beauty, regions are in the eye of the beholder. Girvan (2000: 34) argues that the very notion of Caribbean was not only invented but has been continuously reinterpreted in response both to exter......
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Is Suriname a Caribbean Island like the others ?
- The 23 octobre 2013 00h00
Suriname is the smallest country in South America. However, in regional academic literature, it has been repeatedly considered one of the largest Caribbean territories for many years (Best 1967; Granger 2008). This territory is generally included in the socio-historical group of the three Guianas (Lézy 2000), or the bio-geographical group of the Guiana Plateau. Additionally, Suriname is frequently considere......
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The perceived Caribbean: An Introduction
- The 23 octobre 2013 09h01
The demarcation of the boundaries of the Caribbean varies considerably based on the aspects considered: language(s), identity, oceanography, economy, history, culture, geopolitics, etc. (Girvan 2005). The exonym “Caribbean”, a legacy of the European vision of the World, was only established to designate the region at the end of the 19th century, during the expansion of the United States into the Basin (Gatz......
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The Caribbean seen through the pillaging of the first black republic: the Haitian experience
- The 23 octobre 2013 00h00
“Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather”(Matthew 24, 28). Many Caribbean people would be outraged at the very idea of being compared to the Haitians. This is due to such absurdities as racism (the Haitian population is the “darkest” in the Caribbean in proportion to the total population), the rejection of persons living under poor conditions (those Haitian migrants, saddled with contemptuous......
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Mapping Caribbeanness
- The 23 octobre 2013 00h00
When we pair the word “Caribbean” with the suffix “-ness” we kindle or conjure up a certain state or condition. We summon to mind something that has a particular shape with its own contours, structure and profile. Yet, what is it that we invoke? Can we picture it with any exactitude? Can we describe its features? Can we map its topography? And can we restrict that map to a specific location? There is much t......