Title: Modern Political Culture in the Caribbean
Editors: Holger Henke and Fred Reno
Reviewed by: Billy Hall
THE CARIBBEAN as a whole is a rare focus. Most writings on the region is concerned mainly with just one or two countries, of the same language or similar ideology, or size.
This book impressively covers all the countries, all the languages, and all the current ideological strains in the Caribbean. And it does so from the perspective of a wide range of scholars and their respective disciplines.
The essential concern is political response to the struggles of Caribbean people with the forces that have enslaved and embattled them historically, and even currently, in terms of new manifestations of oppression.
The authors hint at this in their introduction when they approvingly quote John Gibbins who wrote in 1989: "A society always witnesses a plurality of conflicting hegemonies seeking, but rarely achieving, dominance. The study of political culture is then the historical account of their emergence, a critical analysis of the political and economic forces they represent, a study of their internal character and a rigorous critique or negation of their logic and effect."
It is such critical analysis and rigorous critique that this book pursues.
In 455 pages, 16 academics make their unique contributions, all original essays, examining the political culture of the Caribbean today.
Their varied, scholarly preparation and training, and well-documented contributions enrich the book. Students of comparative politics and, indeed, anyone with keen interest in modern Caribbean politics will find this book interesting as well as invaluable.
Two of the contributors are the editors, Holger Henke and Fred Reno, each distinguished scholars with demonstrated abiding interest in the Caribbean.
Henke, a German, did doctoral studies at the University of the West Indies, Mona, and taught there for several years. Also, in 2002 he published a tough academic book entitled: Between Self-Determination and Dependency: Jamaica's Foreign Relations 1972-1989
Fred Reno is mentioned as professor of political science and director of the Centre d'Analyse Geopolitique et Internationale (CAGI) at the Universite des Antilles et de la Guyane.
His contribution focuses on Haiti, in regard to Democratic Transition and Authoritarianism.
He argues for patience with Haiti in regard to the establishing of democracy, for until the process takes cultural root the transition will not occur. He says that Haiti "needs time, perhaps a long time, to separate the wheat of democracy from the chaff of its garment".
GREATER CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING
One contributor in particular attracts attention for his pursuance of the cultural perspective the book highlights.
In fact, the editors seem agreed on this, for in their introduction they say: "Perhaps nowhere in this volume is the immediate importance of this perspective more salient than in Brian Meeks' contribution".
Meeks is regularly heard on the popular talk radio programme, The Breakfast Club.
He is senior lecturer and director of the Centre for Caribbean Thought in the Department of Government, at the UWI, Mona.
He has also lectured, the publishers inform, at Michigan State University, and at Florida International University.
In his essay, Meeks pleads for greater cultural understanding as the basis for the constructing or excavating of a world view that must inform and affect fundamentally effective political action. His contribution is entitled: The Frontline: Valentino, Pablo Moses, and the Caribbean Organic Philosophy in the 1970s.
He highlights two Caribbean countries Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago and selects for analysis one artist from each country Moses and Valentino, respectively.
His opinion of both is that "They voice, perhaps more explicitly than any others of their generation, an autonomous, African-centred notion of revolution that operated the parameters of the broader anti-imperialist and revolutionary movement of the 1970s, but never completely within it."
In his professional critique, he shows immense knowledge of the people and events that enrich the work and enhance credibility on the matters discussed, which in terms of normative concerns are more to be found underground than in the foreground.
Certainly, they are not kept on the 'frontline', except when someone such as a university lecturer analyses and publishes them.
However, in regard to the work of the Trinidad & Tobago artist, Valentino, he comments somewhat unclearly on a line. "And I see like Ethiopia go rise again" (Third World).
Meeks states that Valentino claims and proclaims the biblical prophecy that "Ethiopia shall rise again" but his reference is unclear as to whether he is quoting the words of the song or words of the Bible.
For the sake of clarity, there are no such words in the Bible; no such prophecy. The one possible reference that might be relevant vaguely, but could not really stand up exegetically is this: "Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God" (Psalm 68:31).
That apart, Meeks presents his arguments from an impressive knowledge base even though conceding particular lines of thought that need further exploration.
His contention is that authentic popular world views are based on "lived histories and traditions of resistance, and not on a blank slate". Only such a foundation he asserts is valid for the building of "future projects of social and political transformation."
CUTTING ANALYSIS
All the essays contribute to the success of the whole, which is to help readers understand the uniqueness of the Caribbean as a region, one not conveniently fitting Euro-centric perceptions and invariable, universal perspectives.
This comprehensive view of the region is unusual, for there are few books that attempt such wide scope when giving attention to the Caribbean.
Also, the analysis is cutting, for it digs deep in cultural realities, revealing the complexity of Caribbean social structure and style.
As the editors say in the introduction, the work differentiates in such variables in politics as "race, ethnicity, migration, and multifaceted dependency (for example), of institutional mimicry, strategies of reproduction of metropolitan models by the local elites, socio-economic conditions, popular culture."
This book's value is threefold, for it is current, cutting, and comprehensive.
Publisher: University of the West Indies Press, 2003
