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Records of New Perspectives on Caribbean Studies: Toward the 21st Century and Prospects for Caribbean Basin Integration
(Conference held at Hunter College, CUNY, August 28-September 1, 1984)

Call Number

RISM.RG.16.(j)

Dates

1979-2008, inclusive
; 1984, bulk

Creator

Research Institute for the Study of Man

Extent

17.50 Linear Feet in 23 manuscript boxes, 2 half manuscript boxes, 1 oversize box, 1 carton and 8 other containers

Language of Materials

Material is in English and Haitian Creole.

Abstract

The conference "New Perspectives on Caribbean Studies: Toward the 21st Century and Prospects for Caribbean Basin Integration," sponsored by the Research Institute for the Study of Man (RISM) and the City University of New York (CUNY), was held at Hunter College, CUNY, in New York City, from August 28 – September 1, 1984. The conference provided an interdisciplinary forum for distinguished Caribbeanist scholars, government officials artists, and other participants to reflect on contemporary issues in the Caribbean region. The collection includes correspondence, proposals, conference programs, press releases, abstracts, published and unpublished manuscripts, clippings, articles, journals, photographs, audio and video recordings and transcripts, and an index to the audio and video recordings, transcripts and photographs. The collection contains material duplicated in the Vera D. Rubin Professional Papers.

Historical Note

The conference "New Perspectives on Caribbean Studies: Toward the 21st Century and Prospects for Caribbean Basin Integration," sponsored by the Research Institute for the Study of Man (RISM) and the City University of New York (CUNY), was held at Hunter College, CUNY, in New York City, from August 28 – September 1, 1984. Vera D. Rubin, Ph.D., founder and director of RISM, Frank McGlynn, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, and Linda Basch, Ph.D., member of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), were the principal organizers of the conference. The Caribbean Studies Association (CSA) provided additional collaboration and support. The conference, which received generous support from the Ford Foundation, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada, attracted 117 participants from the several regions of the Caribbean, the United States of America, Canada and the United Kingdom. Over 350 people registered for the conference, and many others, primarily students, attended without registering.

"Pacem in Maribus" (Peace in the Ocean) was chosen as the theme of the conference, to foster an air of cooperation and inclusion, and to establish a framework for exploring relationships between nation and culture, political economy and scientific progress, social organization and the arts, and agriculture and public health. Critical responses to the recently implemented Caribbean Basin Initiative, a United States program for trade provisions with Caribbean and Latin American countries, shaped the primary goals of the conference: to revisit, review and reorient long-standing theoretical issues associated with Caribbean studies. The conference was designed to stimulate direct engagement among scholars working in different countries addressing theoretical and methodological issues with an interdisciplinary focus on the region as an integrated whole.

More than one hundred prominent Caribbean scholars, government officials and policymakers engaged in a scholarly examination of the economic, political and social issues particular to the Caribbean region. Notable speakers included Michael Manley, former Prime Minister of Jamaica and leader of the People's National Party (PNP), novelist and poet George Lamming, and anthropologist M. G. Smith.

Conference sessions consisted of presented papers and panel discussions. Participants interacted as discussants and co-chairs, and took part in question-and-answer exchanges with audience members. In addition to the scheduled sessions, there was a series of informal panel discussions, referred to as "roundtable sessions," in which two to six scholars discussed significant contemporary issues in the Caribbean. Roundtable sessions were video-recorded with the intention of producing short educational videos on Caribbean issues to be used throughout the CUNY system. Guided by framing questions, roundtable participants reflected on seven main topics: history of the region, artistic culture and politics, the "crisis" caused by multiple development policies in the Caribbean, transnational oil companies in Trinidad, obstacles to socioeconomic and political change, intraregional and international migration, and Haitian political and cultural issues.

Additional recorded highlights of the conference included an awards ceremony for outstanding achievement in the creative arts hosted by Donna Shalala, former President of Hunter College. Award recipients were Calypso singer Mighty Sparrow (Slinger Francisco) of Trinidad and Tobago, author George Lamming of Barbados, and sculptor Edna Manley of Jamaica, whose award was accepted by her son Michael Manley on her behalf.

Sources:

Unpublished Conference Address, Vera D. Rubin, August 29, 1984 (Series XI)

RISM Press Release, August 28, 1984

At Hunter, quarterly newsletter No. 2, October 1984.

Arrangement

The records of the conference, "New Perspectives on Caribbean Studies: Toward the 21st Century" have been arranged in the following series. Please note that this collection does not contain a Series II or a Series III.

  1. Correspondence
  2. Grant Funding (removed)
  3. Accounting and Financial Records (removed)
  4. Publicity
  5. Conference Registration Papers
  6. Conference Participant Files
  7. Clippings
  8. Photographs
  9. Audio and Video Recordings Administrative Files
  10. Pre-Publication Papers
  11. Conference Manuscipts (unpublished)
  12. Yale University Press Manuscripts (unpublished)
  13. Published Manuscripts
  14. Miscellaneous Articles and Journals
  15. Oversized Materials
  16. Audio and Video Recordings
  17. Digitized Audio and Video Recordings and Transcripts
  18. Appendix

Scope and Contents

The records of the conference "New Perspectives on Caribbean Studies: Toward the 21st Century and Prospects for Caribbean Basin Integration" span the years 1979 to 2008, consist of approximately 17.5 linear feet (29 boxes), and include correspondence, mailing lists, published and unpublished manuscripts, abstracts, curricula vitae, advertisements, annual reports of foundations, artwork, flyers, posters, greeting cards, book reviews, articles, journals, brochures, clippings, conference programs and proposals, maps, press releases, photographs, audio and video recordings, transcripts and ephemera. The material has been organized as 16 series (see Arrangement, p. 6). Specific details of chronological or alphabetical arrangement are included in the scope and content note for each series.

Series I. Correspondence includes correspondence with many prominent government officials that laid the groundwork for the conference. Series IV. Publicity documents the organizers' efforts gain support and to promote interest in the conference, and includes meeting minutes, flyers and conference programs, and post-conference articles published by Hunter College.

Series II and III were removed from the collection. (See "Separated Materials" for details.)

Series VI. Conference Participant Files contains correspondence between Vera D. Rubin and leading contemporary Caribbeanists. Many of these individuals served as co-chairs, participants, or observers at the conference. The files also include manuscripts and articles written by or about conference participants, previously published book reviews, original artwork, greeting cards, invitations, curricula vitae and posters.

Additional post-conference reportage can be found in Series VII. Clippings, and photographic materials in Series VIII show highlights of the conference.

Series XI, XII and XIII contain published and unpublished manuscripts (Mss.) covering an extensive range of issues impacting the Caribbean Basin in the 1980s: social stratification, cultural identity, religion, the effects of migration, the status of health systems, agricultural development, science and technology, and 'political' music and other politicized forms of creative expressions. These series include conference presentations and post-conference submissions for publication. Following Dr. Rubin's untimely death in February 1985, plans for the publication of the conference proceedings by Yale University Press continued until 1987, but ultimately were not realized; Series XII. Yale University Press Manuscripts contains manuscripts prepared for this publication. In the interim, Frank McGlynn published a select number of original manuscripts in December 1986 in the journal Third World Studies (see Series XIII. Published Manuscripts).

Series XVII. Digitized Audio and Video Recordings and Transcripts contains a three-volume duplicate original manuscript produced for institutional circulation by the Research Institute for the Study of Man (RISM) and InterAmericas, programs of The Reed Foundation. "New Perspectives on Caribbean Studies: Toward the 21st Century and Prospects for Caribbean Basin Integration" Transcripts of the Audio and Video Recordings, edited by Mercedes Duff with Danielle Davenport and Jane Gregory Rubin, is comprised of transcripts and digitized copies of the analog audio and video recordings in Series XVI, prints of video stills and selected photographs from Series VIII, and an index to the audio and video transcripts, photographs, and video stills. Spanish and Haitian Creole audio and video material was transcribed and translated by Danielle Davenport and James Larèche.

Subjects

People

Harvey, Peter; Hamid, Ansey; Halpern, Elizabeth; Hall, Suart; Hall, Kenneth O.; Gurdián, Galio C.; Greene, Eddie; Gordon-Somers, Trevor; Stewart, John; Hill, Errol; Hess, Robert L.; Hess, Francis; Henry, Paget; Hennessy, C.A.M. (Charles Alistair Michael); Heine, Jorge; Haycock, Beasley; Serbín, Andr‌és; Selakoff, Leanna; Singh, Rickey; Silverman, M. (Marilyn), 1945-; Smith, R.T.; Singham, Archie; Solimano, Giorgio; Sol, Jorge; Rohlehr, Gordon, 1942-; Rodríquez, Pedro; Rubin, Reed; Rowe, James; Safa, Helen Icken; Rubin, Jane Gregory; Selakoff, Judith; Sanders, Joan; Post, Ken, 1935-; Priestly, George; Phillips, Peter D.; Pierre-Charles, Gérard; Rios, Palmira; Robinson, Claude; Quintero Rivera, A.G. (Angel G.), 1947-; Ram, Peretz; Moller, Livia; Moreno, José Antonio, 1928-; Mills, Don; Odle, Maurice A.; Parris, Carl D.; Murray, Gerald F.; Nash, June C., 1927-; Manning, Frank E.; Manners, Robert A. (Robert Alan), 1913-1996; Mandle, Jay R.; Mair, Lucille Mathurin; McGlynn, Frank; McEachrane, Helen; McComie, Val; Mason, Marco A.; Williams, Dessima; Weiss, Peter; Weiss, Daniel; Weiss, Cora; Maggio, Michael; Lamming, George, 1927-; Wiltshire-Brodber, Rosina; Wiltshire, Winston W.; Wilson, Lawrence A.; Thomas-Hope, Elizabeth M.; Tuden, Arthur; Watkins, L.O.; Watson, Hilbourne A., 1943-; Thomas, Clive Yolande; Cartey, Wilfred G., 1931-1992; Sutton, Constance R.; Manley, Edna, 1900-1987; Rubin, Vera D.; Wolf, Eric R., 1923-; Carr, Peter; Casimir, Jean; Anderson, June; Angrosino , Michael V.; Aho, William A.; Alfonso, Marcelo; Basch, Linda G. (Linda Green), 1938-; Beckford, George L.; Austin-Broos, Diane J.; Barnet, Lloyd; Burns, W. Haywood (William Haywood); Bryce-Laporte, Roy S.; Campos, Ricardo; Butler, Judy, 1940-; Braithewaite, Kamau; Aguilar Zinser, Adolfo; Brown, Carolyn; Braithwaite, Ursula; Lohrding, Ronald; Loose, Verne W.; Lord Nelson; Braithwaite, Lloyd; Lewis, Beata C.; Lewis, Sybil; Lindenbaum, Shirley; Linton, Neville; Bonilla, F.; Bolland, O. Nigel; Boersner, Demetrio; Benn, Denis; Bourne, Sheila; Bourgois, Philippe I., 1956-; Bossert, Thomas J.; Bosch, Samuel, J.; Castor, Suzy; Chapman, Anne, 1922-2010; Segal, Aaron; Comitas, Lambros; Shalala, Donna E.; Comitas, Irene; Dalton, Peter; Giacalone de Romero, Rita; Walcott, Derek; Dodson, Howard; Donovan, Chiristine; Lett, Leslie A.; Le Melle, Tilden J., 1929-; Manley, Michael, 1924-1997; Latortue, Paul R.; McBurnie, Beryl, 1913-2000; Laraque, Paul, 1920-; Mighty Sparrow, 1935-; Koehler, Wallace C.; Murphy, Joseph; Khan, Aisha; Jaffe, A.J.; Nettleford, Rex M., 1933-2010; Hodge, Merle, 1944-; Craton, Michael; Garfield, Richard; Cole, Johnetta B.; Moreno Fraginals, Manuel; Gilpin, Margaret; Georges, Eugenia; Gomes, P.I (Patrick); Harewood, Jack; Girvan, Norman, 1941-; Laguerre, Michel S.; Gordon, Edmundo; Goodfield, June (G. June), 1927-; Brathwaite, Lloyd; Dressler, William W.; Best, Lloyd; Dreher, Melanie Creagan; Duncan, Neville C.; Smith, M. G. (Michael Garfield); Drori, Israel D.; Erickson, Kenneth; Edmondson, Locksley; Farrell, Trevor M. A.; Erisman, H. Michael

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open without restrictions.

Conditions Governing Access

Some restricted materials pertaining mainly to finances, internal administration, and private information remain at the Reed Foundation and are closed to researchers.

Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish materials must be obtained in writing from the:
New York University Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012
Phone: (212) 998-2646
Fax: (212) 995-4070
E-mail: university-archives@nyu.edu

Preferred Citation

Identification of item, date (if known); RISM Collections at New York University, Conferences; The Records of the Conference "New Perspectives on Caribbean Studies: Toward the 21st Century: New Perspectives for Integration of the Caribbean Basin"; RG 16 (j); box number; folder number; New York University Archives, New York University.

Location of Materials

Some of the materials are stored offsite and advance notice is required for use. Please request materials at least two business days prior to your research visit to coordinate access.

Provenance

The records of the conference on "New Perspectives on Caribbean Studies: Toward the 21st Century: New Perspectives for Integration of the Caribbean Basin," were generated by the Research Institute for the Study of Man (RISM).

Separated Material

Written or typed originals-correspondence, (ALS, TLS) signed by notable individuals, have been removed from the collection and replaced with Xerox photocopies. The originals are located in the Originals Correspondence Binder. Series II and Series III contained grant funding, accounting and financial records from the RISM Corporate Records and were returned to The Reed Foundation to be housed with the RISM Corporate Records. One box of duplicate material has been removed from the collection.

List of Conference Papers

The collection contains the following conference papers, discussion remarks and addresses:

  1. Aguilar, Adolfo "The Decimation of the Indians in Guatemala" [missing]
  2. Austin, Diane J. "Social Class and Religious Experience: The Case of Jamaica"
  3. Austin, Diane J. "Social Class and Religion: The Case of Jamaica"
  4. Austin, Diane J. "Religion, Economy and Class In Jamaica: Reinterpreting a Tradition"
  5. Basch, Linda "The Transnationalization of Caribbean Migration: Some Political Dynamics"
  6. Batista del Villar, Guarocuya "Plantation Economy and Banana Monarchy"
  7. Best, Lloyd "Reforma y Revolucion en el Caribe"
  8. Boersner, Demetrio "Up By the Bootstraps: Ideologies of Social Levitation"
  9. Bonilla, Frank and Ricardo Campos "The Dilemma of Success: The Revolutionary Achievements in Nicaraguan Health"
  10. Bossert, Thomas "Guaymi Labor on a United Brands Subsidiary in Bocas del Toro, Panama and Talamanca, Costa Rica"
  11. Bourgois, Philippe "Ethnic Diversity in a Corporate Plantation"
  12. Bourgois, Philippe "Migration and the Integration of Peoples and Places"
  13. Bryce-Laporte, Roy "Health Systems Development in the English-Speaking Caribbean"
  14. Carr, Peter "Images of the Black Man in Caribbean Literature" [missing]
  15. Cartey, Wilfred "Presence and Decline of the Counter-Plantation System in Dominica"
  16. Casimir, Jean "Francaso del Poder Oligarqico en Haiti y Alternativas de Cambio"
  17. Castor, Suzy and Gerard Pierre-Charles "The Tolupan (Jicaque) of Honduras: A Study of Culture Lost"
  18. Chapman, Anne "Sociocultural and Ecological Factors Influencing Schistosomiasis in St. Lucia (W.I.)
  19. Dalton, Peter "Guyana at the Crossroads of Latin American Politics in the Caribbean"
  20. de Romero, Rita Giacalone "Crisis of the Dominican Republic Medical Model. Alternatives for the Year 2000"
  21. Deosaran, Ramesh "Nationalism vs. Integration: Psychological Resistance" [missing]
  22. Dreher, Melanie "Medicinal Folk Uses of Ganja"
  23. Dressler, W.W. "Hypertension and Culture Change in the Caribbean"
  24. Drori, Israel D. "Diversification as a Strategy for Agricultural Development in the Caribbean: The Case of Barbados"
  25. Franginals, Manuel Moreno "Caribbean Sugar Plantations: Their Past, and Their Probable Future"
  26. Erisman, Michael "U.S. Foreign Policy and the Central Americanization of the English-Speaking Caribbean"
  27. Farrell, Trevor M.A. "Technology Policy and Economic Transformation: The Funfamental Issues and an Agenda for Action"
  28. Garfield, Richard and Pedro Rodriguez "Health Services in Central America"
  29. Girvan, Norman P. "Comments on Plantation Society and the Contemporary Caribbean"
  30. Gomes, Patrick I. "Reflections on Regional Agricultural Development: Contsraints and Potentials"
  31. Greene, Eddie "The Political Economy of the Caribbean Basin: The Prospects Jan 1985 of Integration"
  32. Gurdian, Galio and Edmundo Gordon "Ethnicity, Consciousness, and Revolution: The Miskitu/Creole Question in Nicaragua"
  33. Hamid, Ansley "Ganja: 'A Mono-Crop Alternative'"
  34. Harewood, Jack "Population Prespective of the Commonwealth Caribbean"
  35. Hennessy, Alistair "The Bifurcated Diaspora: an Overview on West Indian migration to the United States and Britain in the Twentieth Century"
  36. Hill, Errol "Overview: Nationalism, Independence and Creative Florescence"
  37. Hodge, Merle "Caribbean Literature and the Schools" [missing]
  38. Jaffe, A.J. "The Changing Demography of the Non-Anglo Caribbean"
  39. Laguerre, Michel S. "Voodoo and Politics in Contemporary Haiti"
  40. Laguerre, Michel S. "Migration and Urbanization: The Case of Haiti"
  41. Lamming, George "Culture and Sovereignty"
  42. Latortue, Paul "Haiti as the New Taiwan of the Caribbean" [missing]
  43. Lett, Leslie "The Role of the Church in regional Social Change"
  44. Lewis, Vaughn "International relations Aspects of Caribbean Development" [missing]
  45. Loose, Verne W. and Beata C. Lewis "Fuel for Economy: Energy Investment to Reduce Oil Dependency"
  46. Loose, Verne W. with Beata C. Lewis and Ronald Lohrding "Fuel for the Economy: Energy Investment to Reduce Oil Dependency"
  47. Mandle, Jay R. "Overcoming Dependency"
  48. Mandle Jay R. Discussion Remarks: "Comments Prepared Caribbean Basin: Crisis, for Session on Reaction Response at Conference on New Perspective on Caribbean Studies: Toward the 21st Century"
  49. Manley, Michael Closing Remarks: "Address to the Research Institute for the Study of Man: The Caribbean Basin and Regional Development to the 21st Century"
  50. Manning, Frank E. "Symbolic Expression of Politics: Cricket and Carnival"
  51. Manning, Frank E. "Political Theatre: Carnival and Cricket in the West Indies"
  52. Mason, Marco Discussion Remarks: "The Impact, Implications and Special Significance of Caribbean Migration to New York City"
  53. McGlynn, Frank "The Anthropology of Caribbean Agrarian Formations"
  54. Mills, Don "Some Aspects of Caribbean/Latin American Relations"
  55. Moreno, Jose "Perspectives from the Hispanic Caribbean," (aka) "La Crisis Economica del Caribe: De la Dependencia Tradicional a la Dependencia Financiera: El Caso de la Republica Dominicana"
  56. Murray, Gerald F. "Haitian Peasant Agroforestry and the Market for Wood: Microeconomic Prerequisites for Appropriate Technology"
  57. Nettleford, Rex "Cultural Identity and the Arts"
  58. Odle, Maurice A. "The Plantation Legacy and the Rise, Decline and ReEmergence of Transnational Corporations in the Caribbean"
  59. Parris, Carl D. "Power and Privilege in a Small Island Economy: The Case of Trinidad and Tobago"
  60. Phillips, Peter D. "Ideological Reponses: Black Power and Rastafarianism"
  61. Phillips, Peter D. "Twentieth Century Social Stuggles in the Caribbean: Black Power and Rastafarianism in Jamaica"
  62. Pierre Charles, Gerard "Concepts Sobre El Estado En Las Socioedades Del Caribe"
  63. Post, Ken "Class, Race and Culture in the Caribbean: Some Speculations on Theory"
  64. Quintero-Rivera, Angel G. "Stratification and Social Class in the Hispanic Caribbean (with Special Emphasis On Puerto Rico)"
  65. Rohlehr, Gordon "Calypso and Social Confrontation in Trinidad 1970 to the Present"
  66. Rubin, Vera D. "Opening Remarks"
  67. Sassen-Koob, Saskia "Issues of Core and Periphery: Labor Migrations and the New International Division of Labor"
  68. Segal, Aaron and Wallace C. Koehler "Science, Technology and Development in the Caribbean (Possibilities and Impediments)"
  69. Serbin, Andres "Socialism y Nacionalismo en la Ideolologia de La Izquierda del Caribe de haba Inglesa"
  70. Silverman, Marilyn "Dependency and Local-Level Conflict: Agrarian Processes in Guyana and Coastal Ecuador"
  71. Singam, Archie "The Impact of the Grenada Invasion" [missing]
  72. Smith, M.G. "Pluralism in the Non-Hispanic Caribbean"
  73. Smith, M.G. "Pluralism, Politics and Ideology in the Creole Caribbean"
  74. Smith, R.T. "Some Theoretical Issues in Family and Household Studies"
  75. St. Cyr, E.B.A. and John A. Spence "Towards Removal of Constraints to Agricultural Develpoment: Some Perspectives on the Commonwealth Caribbean"
  76. Stone, Carl "The Development of Caribbean States in the Post-War Period" [missing]
  77. Sutton, Constance "Africans in the Diaspora: Changing Continuities In West Indian and West African Sex/Gender Systems"
  78. Thomas, C.Y. "Guyana: Crisis, Reaction and Response"
  79. Thomas-Hope, Elizabeth M. "Perception as a Factor in the Configuration of Caribbean Social Space"
  80. Valdes, Nelson "Revolutionary Responses: The Case of Cuba" [missing]
  81. Watkins, L.O. Discussion Remarks: "Public Health Indicators of Development: A Commentary"
  82. Watson, Hilbourne A. "Transnational Banks and Backward Capitalism: The Caribbean in the International Division of Labor"
  83. Watson, Hilbourne A. "Transnational Banks and Crisis in the Capitalist World Economy: Impacts on the Caribbean"
  84. Wickham, John "The Impact of Natioanl Consciousness on Arts and Literature"
  85. Williams, Dessima "The Future of Self-Determination, Sovereignty and Independence in the Caribbean Region: A Discussion" [missing]
  86. Wilson, Lawrence A. "Institutional Perspectives on Regional Agricultural Research and Training in the Caribbean: An Alternatice Framework for the 21st Century"
  87. Wiltshire, Winston "The Economic Impact of Caribbean Emigration on Labour Donor Societies: Grenada and St. Vincent"
  88. Wiltshire-Brodber, Rosina "The Informal Processes of Caribbean Regional Integration"

Collection processed by

Emilyn L. Brown, December 2005; Revised by Siobhan Aitchison, April 2010. Inventory updated by Katie Ehrlich and Stephanie Schmeling, October 2010.

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-22 13:19:48 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Finding aid written in English

Edition of this Guide

This version was derived from 1984 finding aid.doc

Repository

New York University Archives
Research Institute for the Study of Man
New York University Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
2nd Floor
New York, NY 10012