Journeys in Caribbean Thought

Paget Henry is Professor of Africana Studies and Sociology at Brown University. His books include Caliban's Reason (2000).Lewis R. Gordon is Professor of Philosophy and Africana Studies at the University of Connecticut, Visiting Professor at the University of the West Indies at Mona, Jamaica, Nelson Mandela Visiting Professor at Rhodes University, South Africa, European Union Visiting Chair in Philosophy at Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès, France,, and Writer-in-Residence at Birkbeck School of Law. His most recent book is What Fanon Said: A Philosophical Introduction to His Life and Thought (2015).Jane Anna Gordon is Associate Professor of Political Science and Africana Studies at the University of Connecticut and President of the Caribbean Philosophical Association. Her books include Why They Couldn’t Wait: A Critique of the Black-Jewish Conflict Over Community Control in Ocean-Hill Brownsville, 1967–1971 (2001), Of Divine Warning: Reading Disaster in the Modern Age (2010) and Creolizing Political Theory: Reading Rousseau through Fanon (2014). Neil Roberts is Professor of Africana Studies and Faculty Affiliate in Political Science at Williams College and an Executive Officer of the Caribbean Philosophical Association. He is the author of Freedom as Marronage (2015) and editor of the forthcoming A Political Companion to Frederick Douglass.Aaron Kamugisha is Senior Lecturer in Cultural Studies at the University of the West Indies. He is the editor of Caribbean Political Thought: The Colonial State to Caribbean Internationalisms (2013), Caribbean Political Thought: Theories of the Post-Colonial State (2013) and Caribbean Cultural Thought: From Plantation to Diaspora (2013).

This book constitutes a multi-dimensional and multi-layered text of great depth and complexity not to be reduced to a single theme. For what it gives us is Henry’s quest to excavate, systematize and articulate Afro Caribbean intellectual production in varied intellectual endeavours such as sociology, literature, political economy and philosophy. The book is not only a negation of but also an antidote to the peripheralization of Caribbean thought. It is a must read for all interested in Caribbean thought’s complexity and depth precisely because it shifts the Geography of Reason.

• 1. Introducing Paget Henry, Jane Gordon, Lewis Gordon, Aaron Kamugisha and Neil Roberts / Part I: The Distinctive Character of Africana Philosophy / 2. The General Character of Afro-Caribbean Philosophy / 2. Africana Phenomenology: Its Philosophical Implications / 3. Between Naipaul and Aurobindo: Where is Indo-Caribbean Philosophy? / 4. Sylvia Wynter and the Transcendental Spaces in Caribbean Thought / Part II: Caribbean Political Economy and Cultural Development / 5. Grenada and the Theory of Peripheral Transformation / 6. Political Accumulation and Authoritarianism in the Caribbean: The Case of Antigua / 7. Caribbean Dependency in the Phase of Informatic Capitalism / 8. CLR James, Walter Rodney and the Rebuilding of Caribbean Socialism / Part III: A Homeward Turn: Antigua and Barbuda / 9. V.C. Bird’s Political Philosophy / 10. Philosophy and Antigua/Barbudan Political Culture / 11. Badminded Nikki: A Review of Joanne Hillhouse’s Oh Gad! / 12. The Socialist Legacy of Tim Hector / Epilogue: An Interview with Paget Henry (2015) / Bibliography / Index / The Editors