How do people respond to the news that they are HIV positive? To date, there have been few published qualitative studies of HIV diagnosis experiences, and none focusing on Caribbean people. Twenty-five HIV-positive Caribbean people in London, UK, related their diagnosis experience and its immediate aftermath in semi-structured interviews. Diagnosis with HIV caused profound shock and distress to participants, as they associated the disease with immediate death and stigmatisation. The respondents struggled with "biographical disruption", the radical disjuncture between life before and after diagnosis, which led them into a state of liminality, as they found themselves "betwixt and between" established structural and social identities. Respondents were faced with multifaceted loss: of their known self, their present life, their envisioned future and the partner they had expected to play a role in each of these. A minority of accounts suggest that the way in which healthcare practitioners delivered the diagnosis intensified the participants' distress. This research suggests that healthcare practitioners should educate patients in specific aspects of HIV transmission and treatment, and engage closely with them in order to understand their needs and potential reactions to a positive diagnosis. Adapted from the source document.
Examines the impact of the Universal Negro Improvement League (UNIA) on the British colony of Bermuda where the majority black population was segregated and disenfranchised while white elites enjoyed total political and economic power. The efforts of UNIA leaders like Marcus Garvey made UNIA a global organization and strongly influenced Caribbean regional politics. Attention is given to the impact of tourism which became Bermuda's primary industry in the 1920s when blacks were evicted from their homes to make room for white resorts.
At the beginning of the twentieth century there was a brief period of imperialist rhetoric among the Canadian business elite, the bankers of Toronto and Montreal in particular, who argued the benefits of an annexationist policy for the British West Indies to complement their deepening financial links to the Caribbean region.
