Critical interventions in Caribbean politics and theory / Brian Meeks.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Meeks, Brian, author.

Series:

Caribbean studies series (Jackson, Miss.)

Caribbean studies series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political science--West Indies.

Political science.

Radicalism--West Indies.

Radicalism.

Neoliberalism--West Indies.

Neoliberalism.

Postcolonialism--West Indies.

Postcolonialism.

West Indies--Politics and government.

West Indies.

Caribbean Area--Politics and government.

Caribbean Area.

West Indies--Colonial influence.

Jamaica--Politics and government.

Jamaica.

University of the West Indies.

Meeks, Brian.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (267 p.)

Place of Publication:

Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, [2014]

Summary:

"These essays by Brian Meeks, a noted public intellectual in the Caribbean, reflect on Caribbean politics, particularly radical politics and ideologies in the postcolonial era. But his essays also explain the peculiarities of the contemporary neo-liberal period while searching for pathways beyond the current plight. In the first chapters, titled 'Theoretical Forays,' Meeks makes a conscious attempt to engage with contemporary Caribbean political thought at a moment of flux and search for a relevant theoretical language and style to both explicate the Caribbean's recent past and confront the difficult conditions of the early twenty-first century. The next part, 'Caribbean Questions,' both retrospective and biographical, retraces the author's own engagement with the University of the West Indies (UWI), the short-lived but influential Caribbean Black Power movement, the work of seminal Trinidadian thinker and activist Lloyd Best, Cuba's relationship with Jamaica, and the crisis and collapse of the Grenadian Revolution. As evident in its title, 'Jamaican Journeys,' the concluding section excerpts and extracts from a longer, more sustained engagement with Jamaican politics and society. Much of Meeks' argument builds around the notion that Jamaica faces a crucial moment, as the author seeks to chart and explain its convoluted political path and dismal economic performance over the past three decades. Meeks remains surprisingly optimistic as he suggests that despite the emptying of sovereignty in the increasingly globalized world, windows to enhanced human development might open through policies of greater democracy and popular inclusion"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Preface: Dreaming to Change the World

Part One. Theoretical Forays

The Frontline : Valentino, Pablo Moses, and Caribbean Organic Philosophy in the Seventies

Reasoning with Caliban : A Critical Reading of Paget Henry's Caliban's Reason : Introducing Afro-Caribbean Philosophy

Arguments within What's Left of the Left : James, Watson, and the Question of Method

Michael Manley : Crossing the Contours of Charisma

Part Two. Caribbean Questions

Saving the Soul of the University

Black Power Forty Years On

Lloyd Best, "The People," and the Road Not Taken in 1970

Cuba from Due South

Grenada, Once Again : Revisiting the 1983 Crisis and Collapse of the Grenada Revolution

Part Three. Jamaican Journeys

Reinventing the Jamaican Political System

Imagining the Future : Rethinking the Political in Jamaica

Caribbean Radical Traditions and the Turn in the Jamaican Moment

The Dudus Events in Jamaica and the Future of Caribbean Politics

Jamaica on the Cusp of Fifty : Whither Nationalism and Sovereignty?

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-62674-067-4

OCLC:

892620597