The Caribbean: The Genesis of a Fragmented Nationalism

by Franklin W. Knight

Offering a rare pan-Caribbean perspective on a region that has moved from the very center of the western world to its periphery, The Caribbean journeys through five centuries of economic and social development, emphasizing such topics as the slave-run plantation economy, the changes in
political control over the centuries, the impact of the United States, and the effects of Castro's Cuban revolution on the area. The newly revised Second Edition clarifies the notions of "settler" and "exploitation" societies, makes more explicit the characteristics of state formation and the
concept of fragmented nationalism, incorporates the results of recent scholarship, expands treatment of the modern period, updates the chronology of events, and adds a number of new tables. Integrating social analysis with political narrative, The Caribbean provides a unique perspective on the
problems of nation-building in an area of dense populations, scarce resources, and an explosive political climate.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 5, 1978

About the author

Franklin W. Knight is Professor of Latin American and Caribbean History at The Johns Hopkins University.

Reviews

[Paul Haspel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Caribbean region, as it is typically defined, includes more than 700 islands. Those islands are divided up into 33 political entities that include 13 sovereign states, 12 dependent territories, and 7 other overseas territories. In spite of this bewildering array of sometimes dueling sovereignties, the peoples of the Caribbean share a vibrant culture and an often difficult history. Perhaps it is for that reason that historian Franklin W. Knight gave his 1978 history of the region the subtitle The Genesis of a Fragmented Nationalism.

Knight, a professor of Caribbean and Latin American history at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, focuses on the factors that he sees linking the experience of the peoples of the Caribbean. With regard to the colonization experience, for example, he notes that colonization happened over a period of 300 years and involved several nations including Spain, France, England, Holland, Denmark, and Sweden. The common factor that he sees is that “enclaves” of colonizers “survived by forming ingenious relationships with each other, with the local indigenous populations, and with their parent society in Europe. In time, the colonies all reflected the accumulated experience of these contacts” (p. 51).

An interesting part of that colonial mindset that developed among many European settlers in the Caribbean, and among their descendants, was that “Until the twentieth century, the white sector in the non-Hispanic Caribbean – not just in the English Antilles – continued to behave like transients. Their homes were in the islands, but their hearts were in a hallowed, idealized, imaginary Europe” (p. 159).

Knight provides a thorough discussion of the system of plantation slavery that developed throughout the Caribbean region – one that might seem too dispassionate, in its “scholarly” objectivity, for some modern readers. Yet without dwelling on the many horrific details that later historians have made an area of focus, Knight acknowledges “the brutal system of slavery” (p. 125), and focuses on how, in places like the French colony of Saint-Domingue that became the independent republic of Haiti, enslaved people rose up against those who held them in bondage, and took control of their own destinies: “By 1789 Saint-Domingue had erupted, at the height of its prosperity, and the society experienced the first complete revolution in the Western Hemisphere. The slaves destroyed not only their bondage, but also the symbols of their servitude – the white masters, the large plantations” (p. 109). The passages of the book dealing with the Haitian Revolution, with “monstrous” repression by the whites and thoughtful deliberation by hitherto enslaved people who in 1791 “began to fight for themselves and their freedom – but…were careful to do so in the name of the [French] Revolution” (p. 153), are among the book’s best and most informative.

Comparably interesting is a late chapter titled “The Cuban Revolution and the Contemporary Scene, 1959-1976.” Knight argues that “the Cubans seem to have been in the vanguard of Caribbean nationalist movements” (p. 190), and sees Fidel Castro’s revolution against Fulgencio Batista as reflecting prior efforts, by earlier generations of Cubans, to secure their country’s freedom from Spain.

We all know of the degree of United States influence in pre-revolutionary Cuba – a situation dramatized by filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola in a key sequence from his film The Godfather Part II (1974). Some American observers of the Cuban Revolution might argue that U.S. colonial influence before the revolution was simply replaced by Soviet colonial influence after the revolution; and Knight acknowledges that consolidation of Cuba’s revolution in the 1970’s involved “a significant increase in the influence and assistance of the Soviet Union” (p. 202). Indeed, Soviet aid to Cuba, from the Cuban Revolution of 1959 through the fall of the U.S.S.R. in 1991, was quite generous; a popular Soviet joke of those times held that “if we get one more ally as loyal as Cuba, we’ll go bankrupt for sure.”

Yet many people throughout the Caribbean Basin found the Cuban Revolution inspiring, and took heart at the way Fidel Castro regularly thumbed his nose at the Yankee colossus to the north – even if they were not advocates of Soviet-style communism. Knight sets forth well the reasons why:

One reason for the growing popularity of the Cuban Revolution within the Caribbean area may be the recent growth of nationalism – or at least statism – within the region. The Caribbean zone, like Africa and Asia, felt the centrifugal winds of political decolonization. To new, independent states seeking to establish some form of identity…the Cuban model seemed attractive, if not totally acceptable. At least it showed that a small Caribbean state, with some luck, some sacrifice, and some outside goodwill, could ameliorate the conditions of life for its rapidly growing masses. (p. 203)

Such attitudes may have changed somewhat, in some quarters of the Caribbean, after the fall of the Soviet Union. The abrupt end of Soviet aid to Cuba caused a complete crash of the Cuban economy, and widespread hardship for ordinary Cubans, in a time that the Cuban government euphemistically called the Período especial en tiempos de paz (Special Period in the Time of Peace). But Knight establishes well what a paradigm shift the Cuban Revolution represented in Caribbean history.

The Caribbean: The Genesis of a Fragmented Nationalism is short (223 pages, not counting source guide, appendices, and index), and it only takes the reader up to 1975. I originally read it for a Latin American history course at my undergraduate college in Tidewater Virginia, many decades ago now. But it certainly provides a good and concise introduction to Caribbean history; and from there, one can move on to read work by the many excellent Caribbean scholars and writers who have provided such thoughtful and perceptive examinations of the life of the Caribbean region in more recent years.

[Brian Griffith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Knight writes like a good sociologist. He doesn't really tell human interest stories of slave revolts, buccaneers, labor leaders, etc. His focus is on signal events and social change, always well explained, with quantitative measures of scope and impact. The book is island focused -- with little attention on the Caribbean's mainland enclaves of Belize, the Guyanas, or Suriname. It presents a good foundation for understanding the diverging paths of numerous island states, and gives a feel for the impact of anti-plantation sentiment after the Haitian revolution, the repressive terror which that revolution unleashed in planters and colonial governors across the Caribbean, the rise of community and labor organization, the diverse forms of post-colonial rule, and the difficult trials of many economic models. Though the survey ends around 1990, it's a great window on everything that came before.

[Sasha (bahareads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the most recent preface, Knight writes that The Caribbean focuses on social and economic factors to tell the story of Caribbean. He moves away from political history and telling the story of national heroes or great men. He also does not focus on specific dates to tell his story.

I only recently became familiar with Franklin Knight’s work, and I was pleasantly surprised by The Caribbean. His writing style was quite enjoyable. He does a great work of incorporating other prominent scholars on the Caribbean and primary source material into his narrative. While Knight covers the entire Caribbean, a hard task, he tends to focus his narrative heavily on the Anglo Caribbean then the Spanish and French Caribbean. The Dutch Caribbean is mentioned from time to time, but it is more neglected in the narrative. Particularly when Knight mentions statistics, he focuses on Anglo-Caribbean.

I did not totally buy into his idea of the two major social groups in chapter four. The separation between Maroon and Pirates as one group, and everyone else as another group seems to neglect the fact that merchants and free people of colour were also transient people in the Atlantic. I did not know that The Bahamas had one of the highest percentages of Free People of Colour in the Atlantic. It was neat to learn.

Knight states multiple times throughout the narrative that settler colonies and exploitative colonies were not always distinct but that sometimes they changed from one form to another or were both simultaneously. I see where Knight is coming from with his distinctions, and I lean on agreeing with him. I think it depends on the majority of the population in the colony. Many White settlers from Europe wanted to create their own micro-metropoles to model the society they left, while other Europeans wanted to extract as much as they could from the land which (usually) meant no modeling after their previous society.

I agreed with Knight’s observation that in British territories “to excel according to the criteria of the mother country’s culture was the ultimate achievement.” You can still see it in the British Caribbean today. When talking about education in the British Caribbean, Knight mentioned the high literary rates. I cannot help but wonder what the rates in the modern-day Caribbean are today. As this book was last updated in 2011, I cannot help but point out that Barbados is also now a republic within the Commonwealth.

Towards the last few pages of the book, Knight mentions the diverse challenges that the Caribbean faces. He points out specifically natural disasters. I believe it is important to note that the region is experiencing a lot of issues due to climate change, such as sea levels rising but also (and something that affects us in Miami) stronger hurricanes. Last hurricane season was ridiculous.

While I was reading, I couldn’t help but think about a number of great books that have come out quite recently that cover some of these countries. Cuba: An American History by Ada Ferrer, Puerto Rico: A National History by Jorell Meléndez-Badillo, and Awakening the Ashes: An Intellectual History of the Haitian Revolution by Marlene L. Daut (She also just published a biography on Henry Christophe).

[Grant Fuerstenau · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating read covering the pre-Columbian Caribbean up until the late 1980s. Knight builds the beginnings of these societies and guides the reader through the struggles and successes of each - the Spanish, French, Dutch, and British territories. I would wholly recommend for anyone wanting to learn more about the people and the history of this diverse region!

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good summary of the difficulties the Caribbean islands face in forming a unified cultural and social identity in the 21st century

[Jess orellana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great resource for my Caribbean Lit class.