Guyana, a former British colony, obtained independence in 1966, following the collapse of a multi-racial nationalist movement and instability fomented by the US and UK governments. Standard political economy and historical analyses of post-independence Guyana tend to focus on the period of authoritarian rule under the People's National Congress party, and the introduction of an IMF-supervised economic recovery programme. The analyses rarely go beyond the return to formal electoral democracy in 1992. Unmasking the State fills a critical gap in our understanding of the last three decades of Guyanese political, economic, social and cultural life under the People's Progressive Party in the context of evolving regional and global geopolitical realities. It offers a detailed and nuanced examination of the post-1992 period, within a larger context where historical divisions, persistent attempts to tinker with and reinterpret the defective 1980 constitution, and systemic and institutional failures have produced waves of authoritarianism and corruption. It includes a stimulating range and diversity of perspectives from academics and activists, multidisciplinary in their engagement of history, politics, anthropology, economics, feminist, queer, Indigenous and environmental studies.

Much of Guyana's 20th century history was defined by the PNC dictatorship and the political and economic wreckage it left behind. In "Guyana's Great Economic Downswing, 1977 to 1990", Dr Ramesh Gampat presents a comprehensive study of these specific years when the national economy contracted by 2.7 percent annually. He explores the multiple facets of the country's political tribalism which "does not value freedom, liberty and the flourishing of all people; it values only freedom, liberty and flourishing of tribes." The study reinforces the widely held belief that until and unless these adversarial groups subsume their respective selfish interests and commit to the common cause of national peace and development, the great downswing might not rest as a historical event but could well re-emerge with further economic devastation if the lessons go unheeded. Dr Gampat makes a strong case for federalism as a solution to Guyana's ethnic politics. Federalism, he posits, would ensure that all Guyanese have equal access to opportunities and resources since a system of provincial governance would be better placed to address discriminatory policies and practices at a localised level. With the country sitting on the cusp of transformative development to be propelled by new-found oil wealth, there is an urgency to settle the divisive politics if every Guyanese is to benefit fairly and equitably from the economic boom. "Guyana's Great Economic Downswing, 1977 to 1990" offers up a studied and comprehensive analysis that should be part of that bipartisan discourse going forward. --- Ryhaan Shah, Novelist, Social Activist A few piecemeal academic articles analyzing Guyana's economic evolution over the period 1977 to 1990 were written, but they are scattered and lost away in various journals. What was missing is a comprehensive and rigorous exploration of the era of Cooperative Socialism. Dr. Ramesh Gampat's book fills this gap. It is a superb synthesis of historical, theoretical and econometric exploration of the Great Downswing. The book not only provides estimates of important macroeconomic concepts such as Guyana's total factor productivity and long-term growth, but also produces the useful statistics and reviews of poverty, inequality, life expectancy, education outcomes as well as a detailed analysis of the rice sector. As if these are not enough, Gampat sets the tone by situating the exploration in the country's long standing and debilitating ethno-political dynamics. This self-contained book will be of tremendous use to policy makers, journalists and students interested in the historical context of present-day outcomes. I highly recommend this book to public libraries and home reference libraries. ---Tarron Khemraj, William and Marie Selby Professor of Economics and International Studies, New College of Florida

It is virtually impossible to understand the history of modern Guyana without understanding the role played by Forbes Burnham. As premier of British Guiana, he led the country to independence in 1966 and spent two decades as its head of state until his death in 1985. An intensely charismatic politician, Burnham helped steer a new course for the former colony, but he was also a quintessential strongman leader, venerated by some of his citizens yet feared and despised by others. Forbes Burnham: The Life and Times of the Comrade Leader is the first political biography of this complex and influential figure. It charts how the political party he founded, the People’s National Congress, combined nationalist rhetoric, socialist policies, and Pan-Africanist philosophies. It also explores how, in a country already deeply divided between the descendants of African slaves and Indian indentured servants, Burnham consolidated political power by intensifying ethnic polarizations. Drawing from historical archives as well as new interviews with the people who knew Burnham best, sociologist Linden F. Lewis examines how his dictatorial tendencies coexisted with his progressive convictions. Forbes Burnham is a compelling study of the nature of postcolonial leadership and its pitfalls.

Exposes the global threat of environmental catastrophe and the forms of erasure that structure Caribbean women’s lives in the overlooked nation of Guyana Previously ranked among the hemisphere’s poorest countries, Guyana is becoming a global leader in per capita oil production, a shift which promises to profoundly transform the nation. This sea change presents a unique opportunity to dissect both the environmental impacts of modern- world resource extraction and the obscured yet damaging ways in which intersectional race and gender formations circumscribe Caribbean women’s lives. Drawing from archival research and oral history, and examining mass-mediated flashpoints across the African and Indian diasporas—including Rihanna’s sonic routes, ethnic conflict reportage, HBO’s Lovecraft Country, and Netflix’s Indian Matchmaking—Global Guyana repositions this marginalized nation as a nexus of social and economic activity which drives popular culture and ideas about sexuality while reshaping the geopolitical and literal topography of the Caribbean region. Oneka LaBennett employs the powerful analytic of the pointer broom to disentangle the symbiotic relationship between Guyanese women’s gendered labor and global racial capitalism. She illuminates how both oil extraction and sand export are implicated in a well-established practice of pillaging the Caribbean’s natural resources while masking the ecological consequences that disproportionately affect women and children. Global Guyana uncovers how ecological erosion and gendered violence are entrenched in extractive industries emanating from this often-effaced but pivotal country. Sounding the alarm on the portentous repercussions that ambitious development spells out for the nation’s people and its geographical terrain, LaBennett issues a warning for all of us about the looming threat of global environmental calamity.

Reproducing Domination: On the Caribbean Postcolonial State collects thirteen key essays on the Caribbean by Percy C. Hintzen, the foremost political sociologist in Anglophone Caribbean studies. For the past forty years, Hintzen has been one of the most articulate and discerning critics of the postcolonial state in Caribbean scholarship, making seminal contributions to the study of Caribbean politics, sociology, political economy, and diaspora studies. His work on the postcolonial elites in the region, first given full articulation in his book The Costs of Regime Survival: Racial Mobilization, Elite Domination, and Control of the State in Guyana and Trinidad, is unparalleled. Reproducing Domination contains some of Hintzen’s most important Caribbean essays over a twenty-five-year period, from 1995 to the present. These works have broadened and deepened his earlier work in The Costs of Regime Survival to encompass the entire Anglophone Caribbean; interrogated the formation and consolidation of the postcolonial Anglophone Caribbean state; and theorized the role of race and ethnicity in Anglophone Caribbean politics. Given the recent global resurgence of interest in elite ownership patterns and their relationship to power and governance, Hintzen’s work assumes even more resonance beyond the shores of the Caribbean. This groundbreaking volume serves as an important guide for those concerned with tracing the consolidation of power in the new elite that emerged following flag independence in the 1960s.

Mapping a New Museum seeks to rethink the museum’s role in today’s politically conscious world. Presenting a selection of innovative projects that have taken place in Latin America over the last year, the book begins to map out possibilities for the future of the global museum. The projects featured within the pages of this book were all supported by The Santo Domingo Centre of Excellence for Latin American Research (SDCELAR) at the British Museum (BM), with the aim of making the BM’s Latin American collections meaningful to communities in the region and others worldwide. These projects illustrate how communities manage cultural heritage and, taken together, they suggest that there is also no all-encompassing counter-narrative that can be used to "decolonise" museums. Reflecting on, and experimenting with, the ways that research happens within museum collections, the interdisciplinary collaborations described within these pages have used collections to tell stories that destabilise societal assumptions, whilst also proactively seeking out that which has historically been overlooked. The result is, the book argues, a research environment that challenges intellectual orthodoxy and values critical and alternative forms of knowledge. Mapping a New Museum contains English and Spanish versions of every chapter, which enables the book to put critical stress on the self-referentiality of Anglophone literature in the field of museum anthropology. The book will be essential reading for students, scholars and museum practitioners working around the world.

Based on research conducted in Black communities, along with over thirty years of teaching experience, Colour Matters presents a collection of essays that engages educators, youth workers, and policymakers to think about the ways in which race shapes the education, aspirations, and achievements of Black Canadians. Informed by the current socio-political Canadian landscape, Colour Matters covers topics relating to the lives of Black youth, with particular, though not exclusive, attention to young Black men in the Greater Toronto Area. The essays reflect the issues and concerns of the past thirty years, and question what has changed and what has remained the same. Each essay is accompanied by an insightful response from a scholar engaging with topics such as immigration, schooling, athletics, mentorship, and police surveillance. With the perspectives of scholars from the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada, Colour Matters provides provocative narratives of Black experiences that alert us to what more might be said, or said differently, about the social, cultural, educational, political, and occupational worlds of Black youth in Canada. This book probes the ongoing need to understand, in nuanced and complex ways, the marginalization and racialization of Black youth in a time of growing demands for a societal response to anti-Black racism.

This publication is dedicated to the issues related to Social Justice in the Caribbean, and seeks to increase dialogue among practitioners, unions, labour activists, academics, policy-makers and other individuals from across the social sciences and humanities. It is purposely multi-disciplinary in orientation, intending to cover issues related to work, workers, labour, and related topics, as well as social, organizational and institutional aspects of work and industrial relations. It aims to set the tone for discourse on a wide range of issues related to the future of work and sustainable Caribbean development, Social Justice, industrial relations, governance systems, social protection, social dialogue, cooperatives and community empowerment, the future of education, migration and security, among others, nationally, and regionally. The publication will represent contemporary scholarly contributions from researchers presenting either original or innovative research that contribute to the theory, practice and public policy dimensions of work, migration, labour, industrial relations, and related issues.

"Politics in a Half Made Society tells the story of contemporary politics in the twin island of Trinidad and Tobago. The book provides a narrative and analytical account beginning in 1925, when the first elections were held, and continuing up to 2001 with the two major political parties in a historical deadlock for which formal constitutional arrangement did no cater. The book is divided into four sections, each underlining the important stages of Trinidad's political history, Part One - Prelude to Self-government - deals with Trinidad's move towards the establishment of party politics between 1925 and 1953; Part Two - The Long Reign of Eric Williams - recounts the political shrewdness of this prime minister and the peculiar challenges he faced while in power; Part Three - Paved with Good Intentions: The Rise and Fall of the National Alliance for Reconstruction - examines the failure of the Chambers administration to sustain the political and economic gains made during the Williams years, covers the attempted coup of 1990 and assesses the NAR's performance; Part Four - Toward Stalemate: Structural Adjustment, Indian Arrival and Slim Majorities - looks at the political configuration of the 1990s after structural adjustment and Basdeo Panday's coming to power. "

In Engineering Vulnerability Sarah E. Vaughn examines climate adaptation against the backdrop of ongoing processes of settler colonialism and the global climate change initiatives that seek to intervene in the lives of the world’s most vulnerable. Her case study is Guyana in the aftermath of the 2005 catastrophic flooding that ravaged the country’s Atlantic coastal plain. The country’s ensuing engineering projects reveal the contingencies of climate adaptation and the capacity of flooding to shape Guyanese expectations about racial (in)equality. Analyzing the coproduction of race and vulnerability, Vaughn details why climate adaptation has implications for how we understand the past and the continued human settlement of a place. Such understandings become particularly apparent not only through experts’ and ordinary citizens’ disputes over resources but in their attention to the ethical practice of technoscience over time. Approaching climate adaptation this way, Vaughn exposes the generative openings as well as gaps in racial thinking for theorizing climate action, environmental justice, and, more broadly, future life on a warming planet. Duke University Press Scholars of Color First Book Award recipient