Views of the modern Caribbean have been constructed by a fiction of the absent aboriginal. Yet
all across the Caribbean Basin individuals and communities are reasserting their identities as
indigenous peoples from Carib communities in the Lesser Antilles the Garifuna of Central
America and the Taíno of the Greater Antilles to members of the Caribbean diaspora. Far from
extinction or permanent marginality the region is witnessing a resurgence of native
identification and organization. This is the only volume to date that focuses concerted
attention on a phenomenon that can no longer be ignored. Territories covered include Belize
Cuba Dominica the Dominican Republic French Guiana Guyana St. Vincent Suriname Trinidad
and Tobago and the Puerto Rican diaspora. Writing from a range of contemporary perspectives on
indigenous presence identities the struggle for rights relations with the nation-state and
globalization fourteen scholars including four indigenous representatives contribute to this
unique testament to cultural survival. This book will be indispensable to students of Caribbean
history and anthropology indigenous studies ethnicity and globalization.
