In Beyond the Legacy of the Missionaries and East Indians, Jerome Teelucksingh offers a revisionist perspective of the role of the Presbyterian Church in Trinidad. He is particularly interested in social mobility as regards the Indo-Caribbean diaspora in the era following the First World War. He argues that the Presbyterian Church in the Caribbean was particularly interested in women’s rights. As such, he examines the dynamic between local expertise and Canadian missionary work in such social uplift processes.

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

The organization and personnel of the Emigration Board in England from 1840 to 1878, the administration of the Passenger Acts, and an analysis of general emigration during the period.

Translating Kali's Feast is an interdisciplinary study of the Goddess Kali bringing together ethnography and literature within the theoretical framework of translation studies. The idea for the book grew out of the experience and fieldwork of the authors, who lived with Indo-Caribbean devotees of the Hindu Goddess in Guyana. Using a variety of discursive forms including oral history and testimony, field notes, songs, stories, poems, literary essays, photographic illustrations, and personal and theoretical reflections, it explores the cultural, aesthetic and spiritual aspects of the Goddess in a diasporic and cross-cultural context. With reference to critical and cultural theorists including Walter Benjamin and Julia Kristeva, the possibilities offered by Kali (and other manifestations of the Goddess) as the site of translation are discussed in the works of such writers as Wilson Harris, V.S. Naipaul and R.K. Narayan. The book articulates perspectives on the experience of living through displacement and change while probing the processes of translation involved in literature and ethnography and postulating links between ‘rite' and ‘write,' Hindu ‘leela' and creole ‘play.' The author wrote the description of the Big Puja (namely chapter 9, 10, 11, and 13) and the Guyana Kali Puja Lexicon (chapter 17) in collaboration with Guyanese scholar Karna Singh.

This pathbreaking study provides the first comprehensive examination of India-China interactions in the broader contexts of Asian and world history. By focusing on material exchanges, transmissions of knowledge and technologies, networks of exchange during the colonial period, and little-known facets of interactions between the Republic of India and the People’s Republic of China, Tansen Sen argues convincingly that the analysis of India-China connections must extend beyond the traditional frameworks of nation-states or bilateralism. Instead, he demonstrates that a wide canvas of space, people, objects, and timeframe is needed to fully comprehend the interactions between India and China in the past and during the contemporary period. Considering as well the contributions of people and groups from beyond India and China, Sen also explores the interactions between Indians and Chinese outside the Asian continent. The author’s formidable array of sources, pulled from archives and libraries around the world, range from Chinese travel accounts to Indian intelligence reports. Examining the connected histories of the two regions, Sen fills a striking gap in the study of India and China in a global setting.