Family Love in the Diaspora: Migration and the Anglo-Caribbean ExperienceRoutledge, 2017 M07 5 - 260 pages Colonial social policy in the British West Indies from the nineteenth century onward assumed that black families lacked morals, structure, and men, a void that explained poverty and lack of citizenship. African-Caribbean families appeared as the mirror opposite of the "ideal" family advocated by the white, colonial authorities. Yet contrary to this image, what provided continuity in the period and contributed to survival was in fact the strength of family connections, their inclusivity and support. This study is based on 150 life story narratives across three generations of forty-five families who originated in the former British West Indies. The author focuses on the particular axes of Caribbean peoples from the former British colonies of Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados, and Great Britain. Divided into four parts, the chapters within each present an oral history of migrant African-Caribbean families, demonstrating the varieties, organization, and dynamics of family through their memories and narratives. It traces the evolution of Caribbean life; argues how the family can be seen as the tool that helps transmit and transform historical mentalities; examines the dynamics of family life; and makes comparisons with Indo-Caribbean families. Above all, this is a story of families that evolved, against the odds of slavery and poverty, to form a distinct Creole form, through which much of the social history of the English-speaking Caribbean is refracted. "Family Love in the Diaspora" offers an important new perspective on African-Caribbean families, their history, and the problems they face, for now and the future. It offers a long overdue historical dimension to the debates on Caribbean families. |
Contents
Narratives of the Family | 43 |
Families through the Narratives of | 117 |
Part 4 Comparison and Conclusion | 183 |
Bibliography | 225 |
Index | 241 |
Other editions - View all
Family Love in the Diaspora: Migration and the Anglo-Caribbean Experience Mary Chamberlain No preview available - 2006 |
Common terms and phrases
African African-Caribbean families Alana argues Asian aunt Barbados behavior born Britain British British West Indies brother Caribbean Families Caribbean Migration child childhood close Constance Sutton contemporary cousins Creole creolization cultural daughter didn’t economic England Erna Brodber ethnic Families in Britain family forms family members father Gender genre George Lamming Goulbourne grandfather grandmother grandparents Harry Goulbourne household husband identity illegitimacy importance Indo-Caribbean Jamaica kids Kingston kinship labor lineage live London look marriage married Mary Chamberlain maternal memories Merle migrated to Britain mother narratives neighborhood networks parents particular pattern Paul Thompson practices relationship role Routledge shared siblings Sidney Mintz Simey sister slavery slaves social society story Taylor & Francis there’s Transnational Families transnationalism Trinidad Trinidad and Tobago Trinidadian uncles University Press values West Indian West Indies women Yoruba