History Matters: Reassembling the Fragments of a Contested Past - In Honour of Bridget Brereton
The most consequential Caribbean historian of her generation, Bridget Brereton has produced a string of innovative and path-breaking studies that have had a profound influence on the ways we have come to understand many of the major events in the area's history. This Work tips its hat to her contributions, as well as suggests ways to expand on the research agenda she has set.

 

Taking its cue from Brereton, the essays are generally reader friendly in their exploration of the economic, social, economic, political and cultural history of the area. Brereton's work is always "balanced." So too are the contributions to this anthology. Complex societies, Brereton insists, demand complex histories. These essays do exactly that. Like her work, this collection also breaks through old historiographical boundaries. To its credit, the geographical and thematic coverage is comprehensive although, not surprisingly, Trinidad and Tobago attracts a plurality of interest.

 

Its range and mix make this work one of a kind. There are other anthologies that cover aspects of the area's history, but nothing as comprehensive in its historical and thematic reach. It brings to mind Gordon Lewis’s, The Growth of the Modern West Indies (1968) which for years was basic fare of graduate seminars. Lewis identified what he called Caribbean "characteristics." It was a house divided against itself in which parochial governing elites butted heads against outside liberal influences before and after emancipation, a place where status was symbolized by skin colour and an area, which with the collapse of King Sugar and emancipation, became a back water until World War II. This work expands on many of the same themes reaching beyond Lewis to cover all language areas. 

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History Matters: Reassembling the Fragments of a Contested Past - In Honour of Bridget Brereton
The most consequential Caribbean historian of her generation, Bridget Brereton has produced a string of innovative and path-breaking studies that have had a profound influence on the ways we have come to understand many of the major events in the area's history. This Work tips its hat to her contributions, as well as suggests ways to expand on the research agenda she has set.

 

Taking its cue from Brereton, the essays are generally reader friendly in their exploration of the economic, social, economic, political and cultural history of the area. Brereton's work is always "balanced." So too are the contributions to this anthology. Complex societies, Brereton insists, demand complex histories. These essays do exactly that. Like her work, this collection also breaks through old historiographical boundaries. To its credit, the geographical and thematic coverage is comprehensive although, not surprisingly, Trinidad and Tobago attracts a plurality of interest.

 

Its range and mix make this work one of a kind. There are other anthologies that cover aspects of the area's history, but nothing as comprehensive in its historical and thematic reach. It brings to mind Gordon Lewis’s, The Growth of the Modern West Indies (1968) which for years was basic fare of graduate seminars. Lewis identified what he called Caribbean "characteristics." It was a house divided against itself in which parochial governing elites butted heads against outside liberal influences before and after emancipation, a place where status was symbolized by skin colour and an area, which with the collapse of King Sugar and emancipation, became a back water until World War II. This work expands on many of the same themes reaching beyond Lewis to cover all language areas. 

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History Matters: Reassembling the Fragments of a Contested Past - In Honour of Bridget Brereton

History Matters: Reassembling the Fragments of a Contested Past - In Honour of Bridget Brereton

History Matters: Reassembling the Fragments of a Contested Past - In Honour of Bridget Brereton

History Matters: Reassembling the Fragments of a Contested Past - In Honour of Bridget Brereton

Overview

The most consequential Caribbean historian of her generation, Bridget Brereton has produced a string of innovative and path-breaking studies that have had a profound influence on the ways we have come to understand many of the major events in the area's history. This Work tips its hat to her contributions, as well as suggests ways to expand on the research agenda she has set.

 

Taking its cue from Brereton, the essays are generally reader friendly in their exploration of the economic, social, economic, political and cultural history of the area. Brereton's work is always "balanced." So too are the contributions to this anthology. Complex societies, Brereton insists, demand complex histories. These essays do exactly that. Like her work, this collection also breaks through old historiographical boundaries. To its credit, the geographical and thematic coverage is comprehensive although, not surprisingly, Trinidad and Tobago attracts a plurality of interest.

 

Its range and mix make this work one of a kind. There are other anthologies that cover aspects of the area's history, but nothing as comprehensive in its historical and thematic reach. It brings to mind Gordon Lewis’s, The Growth of the Modern West Indies (1968) which for years was basic fare of graduate seminars. Lewis identified what he called Caribbean "characteristics." It was a house divided against itself in which parochial governing elites butted heads against outside liberal influences before and after emancipation, a place where status was symbolized by skin colour and an area, which with the collapse of King Sugar and emancipation, became a back water until World War II. This work expands on many of the same themes reaching beyond Lewis to cover all language areas. 

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9789766409869
Publisher: The University of the West Indies Press
Publication date: 05/02/2025
Pages: 506
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.13(d)

About the Author

Heather Cateau is a senior lecturer in Caribbean History at The University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus. She has held the positions of Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Education, Head of the Department of History and University Dean.


Rita Pemberton is a former senior lecturer, Head of the Department of History and Deputy Dean, Student Affairs in the Faculty of Humanities and Education at The University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus.


Ronald Noel lectures in the Department of History at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus. He came into academia after a career in industry which spanned three decades.

Read an Excerpt

INTRODUCTION


HEATHER CATEAU 

CARL CAMPBELL, A FELLOW CARIBBEAN HISTORIAN WHO HAS known Bridget Brereton for years, reflected that, “In a small West Indian society such as Trinidad and Tobago, it is not uncommon for one person in the Arts or Sciences to become particularly associated in the public’s mind with a certain expertise or skill, and usually this is a well-earned reputation. So it has been with Brereton.”1 His insightful summation of the impact of her scholarship and the public interventions, with which he himself was very familiar, is reflective of the extent to which Bridget Brereton has become so much more than a lecturer and author. As suggested by the title of this volume, she has played a critical role in reassembling the fragments of the region’s history. Indeed, she is regarded as a local and regional academic who can be trusted to provide academic insight into Trinidad and Tobago’s past, as well as the Caribbean’s. In doing this she has also raised the prominence of history, her chosen tool of analysis.

Table of Contents

List of Tables 

Abbreviations and Acronyms 

Introduction 

HEATHER CATEAU

Part 1: The Colonial Caribbean in Transition 

1 ‘Little England’ vs ‘Great Britain’: Barbados Slavers in the Emancipation Debate 

HILARY MCD. BECKLES 

2 No ‘Gentle Glide’ From Enslavement to Emancipation: The Post-Emancipation Labour Struggles in Tobago, 1838–1919 

RITA PEMBERTON

3 The Impact of Christianity on Naming Practices in Post-Emancipation Barbados 

PEDRO L.V. WELCH 


Part 2: Law, Justice and Empire 

4 From Unicameralism to Bicameralism: Trinbago Constitutional Advances (1831–1962) 

BRINSLEY SAMAROO 

5 “The Thorough Knowledge of the Island and All its Departments and Instruction in Political Science”: Representing the Patria in Puerto Rico’s First Elections Under Spain’s 1812 Constitution 

JUAN GONZÁLEZ MENDOZA 

6 The Crown Is Not Welcomed: Government and Politics in British Guiana, 1953–1957 

JAMES ROSE

7 Eric Williams and C.L.R. James: Intellectual Symbiosis and Political Counterpoint 

HUMBERTO GARCÍA-MUÑIZ

Part 3: Gendered Testimonies 


8 Bridget Brereton’s Gendered Historiography of the Caribbean 

GELIEN MATTHEWS

9 Egodocuments by Women as Sources for Caribbean History: Three Cases from Late Colonial Suriname 

ROSEMARIJN HOEFTE

10 Imperial First Lady of Trinidad, Lady Rachel Hamilton-Gordon 1865–1870 

DANE MORTON-GITTENS

11 Slavery, Gender and the Historiography of the French Antilles, 1635–1848 

BERNARD MOITT

Part 4: Engendering History: Social and Political Life in the Caribbean 

12 Gender and Protest at Morant Bay and in the Post-Emancipation Caribbean 

GAD HEUMAN

13 Inclusion/Exclusion: Women, Citizenship and Political Franchise in Early Twentieth-Century Trinidad and Tobago 

RHODA REDDOCK


14 Gender and Nation-Building in Barbados 

MARY CHAMBERLAIN

15 Ascent to Leadership: Women and the National Union of Public Workers of Barbados, 1975–1995 

RICHARD A. GOODRIDGE

Part 5: Race Relations in the Caribbean: Contested Narratives 

16 “Passing for White” in Bahamian Society During the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries 

GAIL SAUNDERS

17 It Featured a Gymkhana? Conflicting Identities in the Early Years of the Modern Crop Over Festival 

MARCIA BURROWES

18 Contesting Narratives of Trinidad and Tobago’s History: The Contribution of Bridget Brereton and an Exploration of the Syrian/Lebanese Narrative 

FIONA ANN RAJKUMAR

Part 6: History Matters: The Historian and Her Craft 

19 Bridget Brereton and the Narratives of Modern Trinidad: An Assessment of Three Volumes 

MICHAEL TOUSSAINT

20 Called to Action: Caribbean Historians and the Preservation of Primary Sources for the History of the Region 

JOHN A. AARONS 

Selected Bibliography 

Contributors 

Index 

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