
Remnants of Conquest
The Island Caribs and their Visitors, 1877-1998
Peter Hulme(Author)
Oxford University Press
Published on 23. November 2000
Book
Hardback
382 pages
978-0-19-811215-0 (ISBN)
Description
In 1877 a US ornithologist stumbled across a small indigenous Caribbean population, the Caribs, still living in a remote part of the small island of Dominica. His account of his stay among the Caribs started a trickle of visitors which grew to a steady stream and is now in the full flood of mass tourism. Remnants of Conquest offers an account and analysis of these visitors' writings as they struggle to understand the way of life of a twentieth-century indigenous community, inhabitants of a postcolonial world.
The visitors who have followed the ornithologist's footsteps include the novelist Jean Rhys, who was fulfilling a childhood ambition, a colonial officer who expected to meet Red Indians in warpaint, a British naval officer who bombarded the Reserve with starshells, and an anthropologist who settled on the island with a Carib woman.
Through this close focus on a small place extensively written about, Remnants of Conquest raises crucial questions about the postcolonial perceptions of indigeneity.
The visitors who have followed the ornithologist's footsteps include the novelist Jean Rhys, who was fulfilling a childhood ambition, a colonial officer who expected to meet Red Indians in warpaint, a British naval officer who bombarded the Reserve with starshells, and an anthropologist who settled on the island with a Carib woman.
Through this close focus on a small place extensively written about, Remnants of Conquest raises crucial questions about the postcolonial perceptions of indigeneity.
Reviews / Votes
Meticulously researched ... the real virtue of this book is that it offers a solid, historically embedded and fascinating account of how the Caribs in Dominica have been constructed through travel writings ... Its detailed focus on a small place and a small population over more than a century ... is a welcome reminder of the riches of uptapped archives, and a genuine contribution to this field of study. * Studies in Travel Writing * This will be a useful text for courses in postcolonial literature, especially those that have an emphasis on travel and inter-cultural encounter. However, it also may have a broader appeal for graduate courses and research concerned with the cultural geography of race, ethnicity and indigeneity. * Cultural Geographies * The book addresses a compelling range of questions about travel, indigenous identity and postcoloniality ... A key contribution of this book is its exploration of complex questions of race and ethnicity. * Cultural Geographies *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
halftones
Dimensions
Height: 224 mm
Width: 145 mm
Thickness: 26 mm
Weight
569 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-811215-0 (9780198112150)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Peter Hulme is Professor of Literature, University of Essex
Content
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS ; NOTE ON REFERENCES ; AFTERWORD ; ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ; CHRONOLOGY ; NOTES ON VISITORS ; APPENDIX: ORIGINAL LANGUAGE QUOTATIONS ; ABBREVIATIONS ; REFERENCES ; INDEX