Chomsky,Aviva (Author) and Lauria-Santiago,Aldo (Author)
Format:
Book, Whole
Publication Date:
1998
Published:
Durham, NC: Duke University Press
Location:
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
404 p, Research on the social history of Central America and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean on rural workers, peasants, migrants, and women. Individual essays include discussions of plantation justice in Guatemala, highland Indians in Nicaragua, the effects of foreign corporations in Costa Rica, coffee production in El Salvador, banana workers in Honduras, sexuality and working-class feminism in Puerto Rico, the Cuban sugar industry, and agrarian reform in the Dominican Republic
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
696 p, "This interpretation of labour organisations and politics of the working people of the British Caribbean relates their struggle to important national, regional and global factors. The chief focus is on the period between 1934 and 1954, when a series of labour rebellions gave rise to trade unions and political parties, and led to democratic reforms, self-government, and eventually independence. The author argues that while these new institutions were ostensibly democratic, they often exhibited authoritarian tendencies that reflected the wider political culture and global context in which these democratic-authoritarian states emerged. Social and economic changes since Emancipation are examined, including new class formations and racial consciousness, along with the impact of the Great Depression, the Second World War, the Cold War, the decline of the British Empire and the increasing hegemony of the United States. These circumstances precluded the creation of a socialist labour movement and facilitated the rise of middle-class politicians throughout the region. This multi-disciplinary and comparative study will interest everyone who is concerned with understanding the social origins of modern Caribbean political culture." (Amazon) ;