First published in 1986, East Indians in a West Indian Town explores the complex geographical, sociological and anthropological dimensions of Trinidad society before and after its political independence, by employing three sets of materials – census data, questionnaires and participant-observation records. Cartographic, humanistic and statistical approaches are combined in a historical perspective to deal with the significance of race, cultural distinctions and class in San Fernando. A major concern of the book is to examine the social complexity that lies behind geographical patterns, and to compare aggregate data with group behaviour. This book will be of interest to students of geography, sociology and anthropology.

Once a central concept in anthropology, syncretism has recently re-emerged as a valuable tool for understanding the complex dynamics of ethnicity, postcolonialism, and transnationalism. Building on a century-long tradition of scholarship, this important book formulates a broader view of the mixing and interpenetration of religious beliefs and practices, primarily from Africa and Europe, highlighting the ways in which religions and cultures on both sides of the Atlantic have been assimilated and innovatively changed. Divided into four sections, the book focuses on religious syncretism in Brazil, Jamaica, and other parts of the Caribbean and West Africa. Greenfield and Droogers have brought together an array of outstanding international scholars whose rich and varied essays on specific geographical locales and customs comprise an innovative and comprehensive view of the transference of religious traditions and their continuity and reformulation on two continents.

The poor saw these public places as sites of play and livelihood. De Barros shows how these opposing views set the stage for a series of petty disputes and large-scale riots. By uncovering the popular cultural patterns that underlay much of this unrest, De Barros demonstrates both their place within a larger West Indian cultural paradigm and the emergence of a peculiarly Guianese ritual of protest."--BOOK JACKET.

In small plural societies, cultural differences can be exaggerated, exploited and intensified during political contests. The survival of these societies as democracies - or even at all - hangs in the balance.

A region victimized by natural hazards, soil erosion, overpopulation and gunboat diplomacy is portrayed in this examination of successive waves of colonization of the Caribbean and the effects on its peoples over the past 500 years.

By the end of the twentieth century some nine million people of South Asian descent had left India, Bangladesh or Pakistan and settled in different parts of the world, forming a diverse and significant modern diaspora. In the early nineteenth century, many left reluctantly to seek economic opportunities which were lacking at home. This is the story of their often painful experiences in the diaspora, how they constructed new social communities overseas and how they maintained connections with the countries and the families they had left behind. It is a story compellingly told by one of the premier historians of modern South Asia, Judith Brown, whose particular knowledge of the diaspora in Britain and South Africa gives her insight as a commentator. This is a book which will have a broad appeal to general readers as well as to students of South Asian and colonial history, migration studies and sociology.

A study of the relationship between society and politics in the Caribbean, this book examines the importance of democracy to these subjects. It argues that despite structural differences, these ex-colonies gravitate toward democratic values and practices because of European colonization.

A study of ethnicity, gender, and class as integral elements of class structure.

This book studies Indian diaspora, currenlty 20 million across the world, from various perspectives. It looks at the 'transnational' nature of the middle class worker. Other aspects include: post 9/11 challenges; ethnicity in USA; cultural identity versus national identity; gender issues amongst the diaspora communities. It argues that Indian middle classes have the unique advantages of skills, mobility, cultural rootedness and ethics of hard-work.