Download or read book The Difficult Flowering of Surinam written by Edward Dew and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-03-09 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the months immediately preceding Surinam's independence, November 25, 1975, warning signals went up on both sides of the Atlantic. This small, ethnically plural society was torn by severe political conflict. Elections in November 1973 had brought an end to political collaboration between Creoles and Hindustanis, the country's two largest ethnic groups; and the Creoles, now in control of the government, were resolutely pushing (over Hindustani opposition) to sever their colonial ties with the Netherlands. But defections from the Creole benches during the summer of 1975 had produced a virtual stalemate in the legislature, heightening fears that the government would act unilaterally. The failure of Creole and Hindustani leaders to resolve their differences led many observers in both the Netherlands and Surinam to predict a collapse of democracy and/or violent conflict once independence was proclaimed. Ironically, the dramatic, last-minute resolution of the struggle precipitated not only general jubilation and relief, but also self-congratulation, as the leaders of Surinam's multiethnic society, long priding themselves on achieve ments in harmonious understanding, pulled out all stops in their indepen dence day oratory. No-one could forget the nightmare of the preceding few years. But neither could anyone familiar with Surinam's historical develop ment flatly reject the rhetoric as being without some foundation. In fact, Surinam, while severely tested by the most complex multi-ethnic population in the Caribbean, does have a record of which she can be proud and which deserves to be more widely known.

Download or read book Twentieth century Suriname written by Rosemarijn Hoefte and published by Ian Randle Publishers. This book was released on 2001 with total page 365 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Combining a broad thematic approach with a focus on long-term developments in Surinam, the book consists of thirteen chapters that discuss the main trends major areas of research.

Download or read book Guyana 1838 1985 written by Steve Garner and published by Ian Randle Publishers. This book was released on 2008 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book traces the creation of ethnic groups in nineteenth century Guyana and its ultimate impact on the colony's political consituencies as it moved to independence. The construction of the nation in the postcolonial period is approached through an analysis of cricket, trade unions and women traders in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The author argues that ethnicity as a historical relationship can be understood as a social experience if it is viewed as part of a set of overlapping identities which include class and gender. It also contends that ethnicity in Guyana was created in colonial times and deployed as a tool for dominance which has reconfigured itself to function effectively in postcolonial times.

Download or read book The Caribbean City written by Rivke Jaffe and published by Ian Randle Publishers. This book was released on 2008 with total page 383 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Caribbean cities are a unique yet underexposed phenomenon. Their distinctiveness results from a combination of interrelated factors including a history of slavery, development under the hemispheric hegemony of the United States and spatial limitations imposed by the settings of most Caribbean urban areas." "This innovative volume presents a detailed introduction to the spatial, socio-cultural and economic characteristics of the Caribbean city, followed by case studies of selected cities in the Dutch, Hispanophone, Francophone and Anglophone Caribbean. It discusses a broad range of disciplinary approaches in examining the urban Caribbean, incorporating perspectives from anthropology, sociology, history, political science, geography and literary and cultural criticism."--BOOK JACKET.