Global Culture, Island Identity

by Fog Olwig,Karen

• ISBN13: 9783718606245
• ISBN10: 3718606240
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 1996-01-01
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Looking at the development of cultural identity in the global context, this text uses the approach of historical anthropology. It examines the way in which the West Indian Community of Nevis, has, since the 1600s, incorporated both African and European cultural elements into the framework of social life, to create an Afro-Caribbean culture that was distinctive and yet geographically unbounded - a "global culture". The book takes as its point of departure the processes of cultural interaction and reflectivity. It argues that the study of cultural continuity should be guided by the notion of cultural complexity involving the continuous constitution, development and assertion of culture. It emphasizes the interplay between local and global cultures, and examines the importance of cultural display for peoples who have experienced the process of socioeconomic marginalization in the Western world.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	vii
Preface	ix
Introduction	1	(16)
PART ONE English Patriarchal Hierarchy, African Bondage	17	(50)
Africans in English Patriarchy	19	(20)
Afro-Caribbean Culture, Euro-Caribbean Institutions	39	(28)
PART TWO In Pursuit of Respectability	67	(70)
The Methodist Society	69	(23)
In a Free Society	92	(21)
The Struggle for Recognition	113	(24)
PART THREE Home Is Where You Leave It: Paradoxes of Identity	137	(64)
The Demise of the Local: the background for a global community	139	(20)
The Global Community	159	(20)
Global Culture, Island Identity	179	(22)
Conclusion	201	(8)
References	209	(22)
Index	231