Decolonization without Independence: Nationalism & Assimilation in the non-sovereign Caribbean
From Repeating Islands
Decolonization without Independence: Nationalism and Assimilation in the Non-Sovereign Caribbean
Lecture by Grace Carrington
January 16, 2019, 5:30 – 7:00 pm
Lecture Room 103, UCL Institute of the Americas, 51 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PN
While attendance at this event is free, places are limited and so booking is required to avoid disappointment.
For more information, contact Dr Kate Quinn at [email protected]
Source: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/americas/events/2019/jan/decolonization-without-independence-nationalism-and-assimilation-non-sovereign
Today, non-independent territories account for more than half the states of the Caribbean and yet narratives of Caribbean decolonization frequently brush over or ignore the non-sovereign states of the region. Histories of global decolonization are even more likely to disregard these territories. However, there is much to be learned about the nature of decolonization from these seemingly unconventional, non-independent states. Using case studies from the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Martinique and Guadeloupe, this paper will explore the local dimensions of decolonization, including local constructions of race and gender. It will also reveal the global connections which influenced decision makers, political activists and local opinion, demonstrating that these territories were intimately connected to developments elsewhere in the Caribbean, and globally. The paper will combine oral history, archival sources, newspapers and political memoirs to analyse the factors that influenced changes to political status. No longer formal colonies, yet having not become conventional independent sovereign states, these territories challenge our preconceptions about decolonization and the so-called postcolonial world.
Grace Carrington is a doctoral researcher in International History at LSE. Her current research compares decolonization in the Francophone and Anglophone Caribbean, with a focus on the relationship between identity and politics in those territories that did not choose independence. She holds an MA in French and Spanish from the University of Edinburgh, and an MSc in Empires, Colonialism and Globalisation from LSE. See http://www.lse.ac.uk/International-History/People/GTA-GT/carrington/carrington
