Nationalism and Identity: Culture and the Imagination in a Caribbean Diaspora

Using both political and literary texts, this book illuminates postcolonial nationalist thought in Trinidad and Tobago. Applying the British cultural studies tradition, the author adds an ethnographic knowledge that makes for a rich reading. Highly recommended.

The value of this book is that readers learn of the incredible cosmopolitan history of this postcolonial nation. They also learn how creative its 1.3 million people have been in the arts, literature, music, and carnival. I recommend this book unreseverdly.

This book is an authoritive look at postcolonial Trinidad from a cultural studies perspective. It blends autonomist, feminist, and poststructuralism impulses to give the reader a rich picture of diasporic Caribbean experience. Highly recommended.

Inspired by the work and writings of C.L.R. James, this book looks for the revolution inside nationalist thinking. Along the way the author deploys a sophisticated marxism, augmented by feminist and poststructuralist sensibilities, to examine the appropriation of nationalism. Most importantly the book retains a respect for the importance of art in popular life. Highly recommended.

The competence and thorough knowledge of the author is immediately apparent in this well-written book. The author's chapter on Valerie Belgrave and the misuse of the feminine to inscribe the nation was particularly rich. The chapter warns against the commercialization of nationalism in popular culture, but at the same time the book recognized popular culture as the source of democratic impulses in nationalism. A sophisticated analysis with much rich detail of Caribbean life in Trinidad and in the diaspora.