Ian Randle Publishers underline that today (August 9) is the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. In celebration, the publisher recommends the book An Unconquerable Spirit: The Indigenous Resistance to Colonisation in the Caribbean Windward Islands, including works by Helen Francis-Seaman, edited by Alan Cobley.
Description: Helen Francis-Seaman’s seminal study details the history of resistance to settler colonialism demonstrated by the Kalinago, Garifuna and Maroon communities in Dominica, St Vincent and other Eastern Caribbean countries appropriately depicted in the title An Unconquerable Spirit. Following the arrival of Christopher Colombus in 1492 and the subsequent genocide of the Arawakan communities (Tainos) and the marginalisation of other indigenous ethnic groups of the Caribbean, Francis-Seaman describes the nuanced political and militaristic actions taken by the Kalinagos and other indigenous communities as they fought to retain their culture and right to the land. Treaties, landownership, and firsthand accounts of the events after 1492 are examined, exposing not only the physical violence they endured but also the internal displacement and other strategies of colonialism that are still affecting these populations today.
For over 500 years, the Kalinago, Garifuna and Maroon communities have had to navigate the pseudo-scientific racial caste system imposed by imperialist nations mainly Britain and France. This book re-frames the deep-rooted falsehoods of Caribbean historiography concerning the encounters between Europeans and the indigenous communities of the Eastern Caribbean. Helen Francis-Seaman finally tells the stories of these unsung heroes without the burden of traditional imperialist history.
About the Author: The late Helen Francis-Seaman is a native of the island of Dominica. She is well-known in the country of her birth and throughout the southern Caribbean for her passionate defense of the rights of the Kalinagos. Dr Francis-Seaman attended the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Barbados where she graduated with a Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) in History. She also had a distinguished career as an educator at Dominica’s Sixth Form College and its State College where she served first as its Registrar and later as VP Academic and Student Affairs.
For more information, see https://ianrandlepublishers.com/product/an-unconquerable-spirit/
Ian Randle Publishers underline that today (August 9) is the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. In celebration, the publisher recommends the book An Unconquerable Spirit: The Indigenous Resistance to Colonisation in the Caribbean Windward Islands, including works by Helen Francis-Seaman, edited by Alan Cobley. Description: Helen Francis-Seaman’s seminal study details the history of
