Institute for Latin American Studies epub Webb, J: Memory, Migration and (De)Colonisation in the Carib (Open access titles)

This edited volume provides interdisciplinary perspectives on the interpellation of migration and (de)colonisation, paying particular attention to how these two phenomena have been experienced and have impacted upon one another in the Caribbean and its diasporas. The volume advances our understanding of processes of (de)colonisation as a set of multidirectional processes. The term ‘(de)colonisation’ encapsulates the multiplicity of processes of colonisation that are advancing and receding simultaneously across various contexts. This work represents an ambitious project to integrate a range of perspectives on continuing processes of (de)colonisation. Eminent historians of enslavement, Geoffrey Cubitt and Laurajane Smith, have recently highlighted the urgent need to include the contributions of practitioners in academic discussions concerning race (2011). With a similar ethos, the chapters in this volume represent a conversation between academics, the interested public, and community activists to promote a more democratic and publicly engaged analysis of decolonisation and Caribbean migration. To this end, the editors have decided to include the contributions of practitioners alongside chapters by academics. These chapters, shorter in length that the academic pieces, provide forceful and scholarly critiques of experiences of migration and (de)colonisation. Taken together, the chapters thus illustrate the importance and validity of collaboration between the academy and the interested public. Memory, Migration, and (De)colonisation thus provides original, timely, and important contributions to the historiographies of (de)colonisation and migration and, above all, serves to enhance our understanding of the various experiences of Caribbean pasts and presents.