Many of the nations of the Caribbean that have become independent states have maintained as a central, organizing, nationalist principle the importance in the beliefs of the ideals of sovereignty, democracy, and development. Yet in recent years, political instability, the relative size of these nations, and the increasing economic vulnerabilities of the region have generated much popular and policy discussions over the attainability of these goals. The geo-political significance of the region, its growing importance as a major transshipment gateway for illegal drugs coming from Latin America to the United States, issues of national security, vulnerability to corruption, and increases in the level of violence and social disorder have all raised serious questions not only about the notions of sovereignty, democracy, and development but also about the long-term viability of these nations. This volume is intended to make a strategic intervention into the discourse on these important topics, but the importance of its contribution resides in its challenge to conventional wisdom on these matters, and the multidisciplinary approach it employs. Recognized experts in the field identify these concerns in the context of globalization, economic crises, and their impact on the Caribbean.

Many of the nations of the Caribbean that have become independent states have maintained as a central, organizing, nationalist principle the importance in the beliefs of the ideals of sovereignty, democracy, and development. Yet in recent years, political instability, the relative size of these nations, and the increasing economic vulnerabilities of the region have generated much popular and policy discussions over the attainability of these goals. The geo-political significance of the region, its growing importance as a major transshipment gateway for illegal drugs coming from Latin America to the United States, issues of national security, vulnerability to corruption, and increases in the level of violence and social disorder have all raised serious questions not only about the notions of sovereignty, democracy, and development but also about the long-term viability of these nations. This volume is intended to make a strategic intervention into the discourse on these important topics, but the importance of its contribution resides in its challenge to conventional wisdom on these matters, and the multidisciplinary approach it employs. Recognized experts in the field identify these concerns in the context of globalization, economic crises, and their impact on the Caribbean.

This anthology is an interdisciplinary collection of essays that builds on the presentations from a conference held at Bucknell University that addressed the issue of the persistence of race in the new millennium. These essays all deal with various critical dimensions of race from a sociological, anthropological, and literary perspective. The essays engage with history, either textually, materially, or with respect to identity, in an effort to demonstrate that these discourses about race are still relevant and still central to everyday experiences. The chapters are mainly about U.S. race relations but in some cases the analysis extends beyond national boundaries. The volume disabuses any notion of color blindness and affirms the position that race still matters in America and beyond. Contributors: Linden Lewis, Glyne Griffith, Isabell Cserno, Uta Kresse Raina, Lan Dong, Carmen Gillespie, Sarah Daynes, Norlisha F. Crawford, Theda Wrede, Andrea O'Reilly Herrera.

"A major contribution to the scholarship of gender and sexuality in the Caribbean."--A. Lynn Bolles, University of Maryland This volume provides an engaging interdisciplinary approach to the study of gender and sexual relations in the Caribbean. Essays from sociological, literary, historical, and political science approaches cover the Hispanic-, French-, and English-speaking Caribbean areas and address topics such as sexuality, homosexuality, culture, the body, the status of women, and the wider social relations that inform these subjects. Contents Exploring the Intersections of Gender, Sexuality, and Culture in the Caribbean: An Introduction Part 1. Theoretical Mediations on Gender in the Caribbean 1. Theorizing Ruptures in Gender Systems and the Project of Modernity in the Twentieth Century Caribbean, by Violet Eudine Barriteau 2. The Globalization of the Discourse on Gender and Its Impact on the Caribbean, by Hilbourne Watson 3. Caribbean Masculinity: Unpacking the Narrative, by Linden Lewis Part 2. The Political Terrain of Gender and Sexuality 4. A Blueprint for Gender in Creole Trinidad: Exploring Gender Mythology through Calypsos of the 1920s and 1930s, by Patricia Mohammed 5. Popular Imageries of Gender and Sexuality: Poor and Working-Class Haitian Women's Discourses on the Use of Their Bodies, by Carolle Charles 6. "The Infamous Crime against Nature": Constructions of Heterosexuality and Lesbian Subversions in Puerto Rico, by Elizabeth Crespo-Kebler Part 3. Sexual Orientation and Male Socialization in the Caribbean 7. The Role of the Street in the Socialization of Caribbean Males, by Barry Chevannes 8. Masculinity and Power in Puerto Rico, by Rafael Ramirez 9. Queering Cuba: Male Homosexuality in the Short Fiction of Manuel Granados, by Conrad James Part 4. Gender, Sexuality, and Historical Considerations 10. Struggling with a Structure: Gender, Agency, and Discourse, by Glyne Griffith 11. "It Hurt Very Much at the Time": Patriarchy, Rape Culture, and the Slave Body-Semiotic, by Joseph C. Dorsey Linden Lewis is associate professor of sociology and anthropology at Bucknell University and the author of numerous articles on the Caribbean.