Book Review : Post-colonial trajectories in the Caribbean : the three Guianas

Abstract

Scholars of the Caribbean have intellectually charted beyond colonial boundaries. For example, there has been an effort to study the Dominican Republic and Haiti as a single unit. A line of inquiry regarding the “Three Guianas” has pushed beyond colonial borders to explore the expanse of French Guiana, Suriname (formerly Dutch Guiana) and Guyana (formerly British Guiana) in the same conversation. Several conferences have followed this intellectual journey, including “Imagining the Guyanas: Ecologies of Memory and Movement,” at the University of London in 2016. This dialogue follows patterns previously generated by everyday people: crossing porous borders; traversing the Amazon; establishing networks of trade, communities, political alliances; small-scale mining and tourism; and the expansion of the informal economy. These three small states – with combined populations of less than 1.6 million – cover almost 465,000 km2 in South America, with topography ranging from rain forest to savannah to coastal cities. Overwhelming majorities of their populations live on the coast, and they share vast ‘interiors’, including the Amazon Basin. Considering these three countries without ignoring differences imposed by empire and language, is the fundamental project of Post-colonial trajectories in the Caribbean: The three Guianas.