Havana, Cuba [Courtesy of Alex Rojas at Pixabay]
The Caribbean Studies collection covers materials related to the Caribbean Islands. This includes the countries of Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, the Bahamas, Barbados, Bonaire, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Cuba, Curacao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, Saba, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos, and the US Virgin Islands.
The majority of the collection can be found in the Main (Gardner) Stacks, as well as in the over 20 subject specialty libraries and affiliated libraries.
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There are two ways to connect to library resources from off-campus using the new library proxy:
More information is on the EZproxy guide.
The campus VPN provides an alternate method for off-campus access.
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If there is a title needed for your research but not available at UC Berkeley, consider using Interlibrary Borrowing Services. UC Berkeley students, faculty, and staff can request materials from peer institutions through Melvyl or the Interlibrary Services office (133 Doe).
Is there a title that you think should be part of the collection? You can fill out the library's Purchase Recommendation form to submit your suggestion!
Politics and Violence in Central America and the Caribbean by This book develops a comparative study on violence in Jamaica, El Salvador, and Belize based on a theoretical approach, extensive field research, and in-depth empirical research. It combines the Caribbean and Central America into a single comparative research that explores the historical (from the conquista onwards) as well as contemporary causes of violence in these societies. The volume focuses on forms of violence such as gang violence, police violence, every day forms of violence, vigilantism, and organized crime. The analysis provides a theoretical perspective that bridges political economy as well as cultural approaches in violence research. As such, it will be of interest to readers studying development, violence, political, Central American, and Caribbean studies.
The Indian Caribbean by This book tells a distinct story of Indians in the Caribbean--one concentrated not only on archival records and institutions, but also on the voices of the people and the ways in which they define themselves and the world around them. Through oral history and ethnography, Lomarsh Roopnarine explores previously marginalized Indians in the Caribbean and their distinct social dynamics and histories, including the French Caribbean and other islands with smaller South Asian populations. He pursues a comparative approach with inclusive themes that cut across the Caribbean. In 1833, the abolition of slavery in the British Empire led to the import of exploited South Asian indentured workers in the Caribbean. Today India bears little relevance to most of these Caribbean Indians. Yet, Caribbean Indians have developed an in-between status, shaped by South Asian customs such as religion, music, folklore, migration, new identities, and Bollywood films. They do not seem akin to Indians in India, nor are they like Caribbean Creoles, or mixed-race Caribbeans. Instead, they have merged India and the Caribbean to produce a distinct, dynamic local entity. The book does not neglect the arrival of nonindentured Indians in the Caribbean since the early 1900s. These people came to the Caribbean without an indentured contract or after indentured emancipation but have formed significant communities in Barbados, the US Virgin Islands, and Jamaica. Drawing upon over twenty-five years of research in the Caribbean and North America, Roopnarine contributes a thorough analysis of the Indo-Caribbean, among the first to look at the entire Indian diaspora across the Caribbean.
Arising from Bondage by Arising from Bondage is an epic story of the struggle of the Indo-Caribbean people. From the 1830's through World War I hundreds of thousands of indentured laborers were shipped from India to the Caribbean and settled in the former British, Dutch, French and Spanish colonies. Like their predecessors, the African slaves, they labored on the sugar estates. Unlike the Africans their status was ambiguous--not actually enslaved yet not entirely free--they fought mightily to achieve power in their new home. Today in the English-speaking Caribbean alone there are one million people of Indian descent and they form the majority in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. This study, based on official documents and archives, as well as previously unpublished material from British, Indian and Caribbean sources, fills a major gap in the history of the Caribbean, India, Britain and European colonialism. It also contributes powerfully to the history of diaspora and migration.
Decolonising the Caribbean by Oostindie and Klinkers add depth to the study of post-World War II Caribbean decolonization with their comparative analysis of the former Dutch colonies of Surinam, the Netherlands Antilles, and Aruba. Their detailed analysis of Dutch decolonization policies of the 1940s cover such issues as the political processes of decolonization, development aid, the Dutch Caribbean exodus to the metropolis, and cultural antagonisms. Putting these issues within a larger context, the authors skillfully contrast the decolonization process of Dutch Caribbean states with the current policies pursued in the non-sovereign Caribbean by France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Caribbean Realities and Endogenous Sustainability by The contributors to Caribbean Realities and Endogenous Sustainability discuss alternative theoretical perspectives, sustainable growth-inducing economic policies, and special challenges in this era of neoliberal globalization. These perspectives, policies and challenges have to be seriously considered if appropriate interventions towards changing the Caribbean status quo and eliminating social and political ills are to be pursued. The authors evaluate past efforts and policies, criticize failed perspectives, and offer alternative strategies, policies and realistic options to the region's current socio-economic impasse and misery from a distinctly Caribbean viewpoint. The chapters are informed by such important factors as historical legacy, the role of institutions (including market and government), geopolitics and international relations, security, local culture and social psychology, which clearly stand in contrast to the starry-eyed analysis of the current orthodoxy. Overall, the essays not only expand the body of knowledge but, more importantly, provide a rich menu for alternative strategies and policies related to Caribbean international relations and social and governance ills in the twenty-first century.
