Caribbean and Southern: Transnational Perspectives on the U.S. South (Southern Anthropological Society Proceedings Ser.) - Hardcover

9780820328317: Caribbean and Southern: Transnational Perspectives on the U.S. South (Southern Anthropological Society Proceedings Ser.)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0820328316 ISBN 13: 9780820328317

Publisher: University of Georgia Press, 2006

Ranging across the colonial and postcolonial eras of the American South and the Caribbean, the six essays in this volume take a fresh look at the regions' transnational linkages. With their focus on border zones, hybridity, and creolization, the essays challenge our notions about the cultural and economic trajectories of the African diaspora in this part of the world. For instance, was the movement of slaves seeking freedom in the United States always south to north? Or was the movement of slaves in bondage always westward, from Africa to the Caribbean or the Americas?

One consequence of the work presented in this volume is an expansion of the physical borders of the Caribbean-southern sphere to include, for example, the Chesapeake Bay area. Lesser-known populations, such as the Black Seminoles, also gain heightened visibility. Runaway slaves who first allied themselves with Florida Indians, the Black Seminoles later migrated to the Bahamas. Other topics covered include foodways, environmental justice and Caribbean tourism, and religious or celebratory traditions of Vodou, Jonkonnu, and Rocks.

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About the Author:

HELEN A. REGIS is an associate professor of geography and anthropology at Louisiana State University. She is the author of Fulbe Voices and coauthor of Charitable Choices.

Review:

A very important and timely book. It makes an excellent contribution to anthropology, Caribbean studies, and southern studies, as well as to African diaspora studies. Regis and her colleagues very successfully illustrate the ways in which the U.S. South has been historically and culturally linked to the Caribbean, calling for new discussions of transnationalism, hybridity, and creolization. The authors map Caribbean and southern connections in terms of some of the historic patterns of migration, foodways, and cultural practices that are evident today. From colonial societies, migration practices, and cultural production, these chapters, in sum, illustrate the interconnectedness of people and places in the U.S. South and the Caribbean—redefining and repositioning the South as a site of inquiry and analysis.

(Kimberly Eison Simmons University of South Carolina)

Innovative study of the transcolonial and transnational links between the Caribbean and the U.S. South.

(Journal of Southern History)

Caribbean and Southern is an important contribution to this ongoing project of investigating the U.S. South through a global lens. Editor Helen Regis and her contributors identify some of the rich connections that exist between the South and the Caribbean, demonstrating how the analysis of one region cannot truly be analyzed without examining the other. . . . Caribbean and Southern is a well-illustrated book written in a style that makes it accessible to student readers as well as faculty researchers.

(Derek H. Alderman Geographical Review)

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