Leadership and Caribbean Political Thought

The aim of this course is to provide a general introduction to the field of Caribbean Political Thought as well as to engage you in developing your own perspectives on this new field of enquiry. The theme for this semester is Leadership and Caribbean Political Thought. We will be looking at leadership historically and in the context of the political as it expresses itself from slavery through to independence and global neo-liberalism of the 21st century. By the political we understand the relations of authority and power in any community as these are embodied in the commanding and subordinate institutions of a society. The political can also be considered in terms of the intellectual, cultural, religious and gender dimensions of power and authority in society. The interesting thing about Caribbean societies is that they have been products of the early stages of capitalism and are associated with the emergence and development of global markets. Our societies are closely bound up with the economies and cultures of the shapers of the modern world in Europe and the United States as well as with the older worlds of Africa and Asia. These circumstances create fertile fields for intellectual creativity.
During the past two years 2002/2004 while I was on the UWI Research Fellowship the course in Caribbean Political Thought was taught by Mr. Cecil Gutzmore in 2002/2003 and Professor Brian Meeks in 2003/2004. I thank them both for undertaking this task and have drawn on their contributions in preparing this outline.

Coursework is 40% of the final grade. It will consist of a book review from a chosen list for 15% and a term paper for 25%. The exam will constitute the remaining 60%.

Section 1: Europe and Africa in the Caribbean
George Lamming Coming Coming Home, Conversations II
George Lamming The Sovereignty of the Imagination
Denis Benn – The Caribbean – An Intellectual History 1774-2003 Chapters 1 and 2.
Gordon Lewis – Main Currents in Caribbean Thought – Chapters 2 and 3

Section 2: Political Writing of Africans in the Caribbean in the Eighteenth Century
Olaudah Equiano – The Interesting Narrative and other Writings –
Ottobah Cugoano – Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil and Wicked Traffic of the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species, Humbly Submitted to the Inhabitants of Great Britain by Ottabah Cugoano.
Equiano and Cugoano’s books have been reprinted in Henry Louis Gates Jr. and William L. Andrews Pioneers of the Black Atlantic –Five Slave Narratives from the Enlightenment 1772-1815 and Vincent Carretta’s Unchained Voices – An Anthology of Black Authors in the English-speaking World of the 18th Century.
Anthony Bogues “The Political Thought of Quobna Cugoano: Radicalized Natural Liberty” Chapter 1, Black Heretics, Black Prophets- Radical Political Intellectuals

Section 3 African Elements of Our Thinking and Being / Theoretical issues of ethnicity, race and class in the Caribbean
Maureen Warner-Lewis “Religious Cosmology and Praxis”Chapter 6 Central Africa in the Caribbean-Transcending Time, Transforming Cultures.
Paget Henry “The African Philosophical Heritage” Chapter 1, Caliban’s Reason – Introducing Afro-Caribbean Philosophy
Mervyn Alleyne “The Caribbean” and “Jamaica”Chapters 5 and 8 The Construction and Representation of Race and Ethnicity in the Caribbean and the World
Mervyn Alleyne Chapters 2-6 of Roots of Jamaican Culture
David Baronov and Kevin Yelvington “Ethnicity, Race, Class and Nationality” Chapter 8 Understanding the Contemporary Caribbean edited by Richard S. Hillman & Thomas J. D’Agostino

Section 4 – Religion and Politics
Bartolomé de las Casas – A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies
Patrick Hylton The Role of Religion in Caribbean History
Leslie G. Desmangles, Stephen D. Glazier, and Joseph M. Murphy “Religion in the Caribbean” Chapter 10 Understanding the Contemporary Caribbean edited by Richard S. Hillman & Thomas J. D’Agostino

Section 5 Gender in Caribbean History and Political Thought
A. Lynne Bolles “Women and Development” Chapter 9 Understanding the Contemporary Caribbean edited by Richard S. Hillman & Thomas J. D’Agostino
From Gloria to Glorianna – Autobiography of Eugennie Carroll Minto (contemporary Jamaican autobiography)
Patricia Mohammed (guest ed.) Feminist Review No.59, “Rethinking Caribbean Difference”.
Patricia Mohammed (ed.) Gendered Realities: Essays in Caribbean Feminist Thought.
Rhoda Reddock, “Conceptualizing Difference in Caribbean Feminist Theory”, Ch.8 in New Caribbean Thought.
Eudine Barriteau-Foster, “The Construction of a Post modernist feminist theory for Caribbean Social Science Research” Social and Economic Studies, Vol.35 no.2, 1-43.

Section 6 Hispanophone Caribbean Intellectuals and the United States
Jose Marti Our America in O. Nigel Bolland’s The Birth of Caribbean Civilization- A Century of Ideas About Culture and Identity, Nation and Society Chapter 1
Pedro Albizu Campos ‘The Day of the Race’ and ‘Puerto Rican Nationalism’ in O. Nigel Bolland’s The Birth of Caribbean Civilization- A Century of Ideas About Culture and Identity, Nation and Society Chapter 6
Luis Munoz Marin in O. Nigel Bolland’s The Birth of Caribbean Civilization- A Century of Ideas About Culture and Identity, Nation and Society Chapter 7
Fidel Castro in O. Nigel Bolland’s The Birth of Caribbean Civilization- A Century of Ideas About Culture and Identity, Nation and Society Chapter 9
Section 7 Marcus Garvey’s Thought: The Tradition of Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism
CD ROM – Marcus Garvey’s Jamaica 1929-1932
Amy Jacques Garvey Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey
Rupert Lewis/Maureen Warner-Lewis Garvey: Africa, Europe and the Americas
Rupert Lewis Marcus Garvey Anti-Colonial Champion
Rupert Lewis and Patrick Bryan Marcus Garvey – His Work and Impact
Robert Hill Marcus Garvey and the UNIA Papers Volume7
Tony Martin Race First – The Ideological and Organizational Struggles of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association

Section 7 Caribbean Political Leadership
C.L.R. James Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution
C.L.R. James – “From Toussaint L’Ouverture to Fidel Castro” in From Gloria to Glorianna – Autobiography of Eugennie Carroll Minto (contemporary Jamaican autobiography)
Anton Allahar ed. Caribbean Charisma- Reflections on Leadership, Legitimacy and Populist Politics – (See essays on Maurice Bishop, Errol Barrow, Michael Manley, Eric Gairy, Eric Williams, Fidel Castro, Cheddi Jagan, Forbes Burnham, Eric Williams).

Section 8 – Francophone Caribbean Thinkers
Anténor Firmin The Equality of the Human Races in
O. Nigel Bolland’s The Birth of Caribbean Civilization- A Century of Ideas About Culture and Identity, Nation and Society Chapter 14
Aime Cesaire Discourse on Colonialism in
O. Nigel Bolland’s The Birth of Caribbean Civilization- A Century of Ideas About Culture and Identity, Nation and Society Chapter 16
Frantz Fanon The Wretched of the Earth

Section 9 Radical Critique in Anglophone Caribbean
Walter Rodney The Groundings with my Brothers.
Walter Rodney How Europe Underdeveloped Africa.
Rupert Lewis Walter Rodney’s Intellectual and Political Thought.
Denis Benn, “The Intellectual Foundation of Modern Caribbean Economics” “New World and the New Political Economy”, ‘Marxism and Socio-Political Change” “Black Consciousness and Black Affirmation: The Intellectual Dimensions of Black Protest” The Caribbean – An Intellectual History – An Intellectual History 1774-2003. Chapters 4-7.
Stuart Hall, “Negotiating Caribbean Identities”, Ch.2 in Brian Meeks and Folke Lindahl (eds.) New Caribbean Thought.

Section `10 Caribbean Radicalism in Power
Charles Arthur and Michael Dash (eds.) Ch.1 “Colonialism and Revolution” in Libete: A Haiti Anthology.
Mimi Sheller, “Black Publics and Peasant Freedom in Haiti, 1820-1843”, Ch.4 in Democracy after Slavery.
Antonio Carmona Báez State Resistance to Globalization in Cuba “The Causes and Impact of Cuba’s Crisis in the 1990s” and “Structural Adjustments and Social Forces in Cuba: How Cuba’s Economic Model was shaped by Global Forces” Chapters 3 and 4.
Carlos Moore, Castro, The Blacks and Africa.
Maurice Bishop, In Nobody’s Backyard: Speeches, 1979-1983.
Brian Meeks, Chapters on Cuba and Grenada, Caribbean Revolutions and Revolutionary Theory: An Assessment of Cuba, Nicaragua and Grenada.
Perry Mars, “The Future of Left Wing Politics”, Conclusion in Ideology and Change: The transformation of the Caribbean Left.
Section 11 Cultural Leadership and Popular Music
Orlando Patterson “Ecumenical America: Global Culture and the American Cosmos.” Chapter 45 O. Nigel Bolland’s The Birth of Caribbean Civilization- A Century of Ideas About Culture and Identity, Nation and Society

CD’s Bounti Killa, Vybz Kartel, Beenie Man, Lady Saw , Buju Banton, Sizzla, Capleton or any group of your choice

Horace Campbell “Rasta, Reggae and Cultural Resistance”, Ch.5 in Rasta and Resistance.
Carolyn Cooper “Introduction”, Ch.7, “Chanting Down Babylon: Bob Marley’s Songs as Literary Text” in Noises in the Blood; Orality, gender and the Vulgar body of Jamaican Popular Culture.
Norman Stolzoff “The Politics of Dancehall Culture: A Conclusion” in Wake the Town and Tell the People.
Brian Meeks “The Frontline: Valentino, Pablo Moses and Caribbean Organic Philosophy in the 1970s” in Holger Henke and Fred Reno (eds.) Modern Political Culture in the Caribbean.
Louis Regis The Political Calypso.
Richard Burton, “Conclusion”, Afro-Creole.