African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
207 p., Includes S. Reid's "An Introductory Approach to the Concentration of Power in the Jamaican Corporate Economy and Notes on its Origin." (chapter: pp. 15-44); D. Robotham's "Agrarian Relations in Jamaica." (chapter: pp. 45-57); and Ralph Gonsalves' "The Trade Union Movement in Jamaica: Its Growth and Resultant Problems." (chapter: pp. 89-105).
This article deals with the question of ethnic political entrepreneurship in Trinidad. It treats the ethnic entrepreneur as a political operator who has a clear agenda, which is pursued via ethnic means. Though often disguised, the concerns of ethnic entrepreneurs are class concerns and they have definite economic and/or political goals. Two groups of such operators in the Trinidad context are the black nationalists or Afrocentrists and the Hindu nationalists or those who embrace the ideology of Hindutva. Leaders of both groups are seen as pursuing a form of ethnic nationalism that eschews class analysis, that plays upon peoples' insecurities, and that embraces a great deal of myth. Among other things, ethnic entrepreneurs traffic in social divisions, seek to manipulate the emotions of their followers, and carefully avoid any critical, intellectual engagement of the issues involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR];
