Islands Between Worlds: Caribbean Cold War Literatures
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abstract
The creolised cultural and political space of the Caribbean extended during the Cold War as it became subject to numerous US interventions, to the revolutionary influence of Cuba and to continuing control by Western European empires. The chapter argues that figures such as Aim Csaire, Ren Depestre, C.L.R. James and Nicolas Guillen, although not often considered Cold War intellectuals, offer unique insight into Cold War intellectual currents by virtue of their direct engagement with all three worlds of the era. This chapter surveys the writings of these and other progressive Caribbean intellectuals as they sought to articulate emancipatory projects both specific to the material conditions of their own people and in solidarity with other small nations caught up in the superpower struggle.
