The Construction and Representation of Race and Ethnicity in the Caribbean - Hardcover

Alleyne, Mervyn

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 9766401144 ISBN 13: 9789766401146

Publisher: University of the West Indies Press, 2002

Synopsis

The definition and evolution of the categories of race and ethnicity have long been debated among historians and scholars of social anthropology. This book examines how the meanings and values of race and ethnicity have been constructed historically and how they are represented symbolically, with particular focus on the Caribbean Mervyn Alleyne examines the historical development of these categories in Europe, in Asia and in Africa and then proceeds to an in-depth analysis of the Caribbean, with a focus on Puerto Rico, Martinique and Jamaica as three different modalities of race and ethnicity and three different colonial systems. Through a unique approach grounded in linguistic, ethnographic and historic analysis, Alleyne draws on a wide array of evidence to ultimately oppose the widely held notion that racial antagonism against black people is the consequence of New World slavery in the period following the "discovery" of the Americas in the late fifteenth century. Of particular interest to academic audiences in history, linguistics, African American and ethnic studies, sociology and anthropology, this book also appeals to general readers interested in issues of race, ethnicity, and the historical experience of Africans and African-descended peoples.

About this title

Review:

"A significant contribution to the increasingly contentious discussion in the field of race and ethnic theorization about the origins of racism and, in particular, its relationship to people of African descent." - James Millette, Professor and Chair of African American Studies, Oberlin College

About the Author:

Mervyn C. Alleyne is Professor, Department of Language, Linguistics and Philosophy, University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of the West Indies Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 9766401144
• ISBN 13: 9789766401146
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 400