Search

Copyright of Tiempos Modernos is the property of Tiempos Modernos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The musical genre known as zouk , since its conception and launch by Pierre-Edouard Decimus, Jacob Desvarieux, and Kassav' in 1979, has become a phenomenon of worldwide proportions in the forty years that followed. This milestone in musical expression, cultural affirmation, and transnational identitarianism was marked by an international series of concerts in 2019, headlined by an anniversary concert by Kassav' at La Défense Arena in Paris on the evening of May 11. In the interim, zouk —and Kassav' in particular—has played an indelible and incontrovertible role in articulating the key tenets of Franco-Antillean cultural identity, both at home (principally in Guadeloupe and Martinique) and abroad (among the more than 800,000 citizens of Antillean birth or descent living on the metropolitan mainland and in numerous other postcolonial Francophone sites from the Caribbean to sub-Saharan Africa). Indeed, zouk can be said to embody the concrete articulation of Antillean cultural identity through structure, language, and performance and can trace its origins and form to an insistence on valorizing the multiple musical and ethnocultural heritages of the French Caribbean. Identifying the immutable nature of this fandom and understanding how and why these complex rhythms came to be central to the cultural identity and sense of belonging of so many will require our entry into the contemporaneous philosophical, artistic, and cultural inscription of creolization and créolité as arbiters of the Antillean experience across a broad range of artistic expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the role of Black Antillean feminists in the growth of Black consciousness in the French Caribbean and its diasporas. Topics discussed include the political insignificance of the 1920s essay "Black Internationalism" by Martinican writer Jane Nardal, influence of the intellectual dominance of Négritude poets in the failure of Martinican women to assert their voices, and effect of the Black male intelligentsia on Négritude women.

The distribution of all orders of Arachnida in Central America and the Antilleans is analysed and compared, together with analysis of the paleogeographical history of the area and the various attempts of zoogeographers to situate the continental and the insular parts on the zoogeographical map of Western Hemisphere.

Este articulo estudia la complejidad histórica que obstaculiza el desarrollo de la identidad caribeña como componente de la identidad cubana. Por ejemplo, el racismo histórico hacia los migrantes antillanos en la primera parte del siglo XX obstaculizó la identificación caribeña de los cubanos. El autor analiza varios de los proyectos y acciones que se han llevado a cabo recientemente para promover la identidad caribeña en Cuba. This article studies the historical complexities that have prevented the development of a Caribbean identity as a component of Cuban identity. For instance, historical racism toward Antillean migrants in Cuba might have resulted in Cuba being the least Caribbean country in the Caribbean. The article concludes with an analysis of several projects and actions that have been carried out recently to promote a Caribbean identity in Cuba. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a toolkit for developing a culturally critical—resistant—reading method building on cognitive cultural studies and feminist hermeneutics. It illustrates the potential for resistant literacy fostered by a cognitively challenging text, De duik (The Plunge). A postcolonial, anti-imperialist text, The Plunge foregrounds a resistant way of dealing with issues of displacement, slavery, and cultural rifts. As the analysis demonstrates, this text intermingles the past and the present, the personal and the communal, while questioning the boundaries of "us" and "them." The analysis proffers cognitive strategies geared toward resistant reading that are generally applicable, such as challenging stereotypes, undermining cultural hegemony, and stimulating Theory of Mind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This article examines risk factor and health differences between Antillean migrants in the Netherlands and Antillean and Dutch non-migrants, and relates these findings to four commonly used explanations for migrant health disparities. Methods: Nationally representative data from the 2012 Dutch Public Health Monitor and the 2013 National Health Survey Curaçao was used. The weighted rates were calculated and significance assessed using the χ2 test. Logistic regression analyses were used to compare health behaviours and outcomes between Antillean migrants and the non-migrant populations. Results: Overall, Antillean migrants had poorer physical and mental health than Antillean and Dutch nonmigrants. For overweight/obesity and tobacco and alcohol use, Antillean migrants had rates in-between those of the Antillean and Dutch non-migrants. The poor health of Antillean migrants persisted in the second generation, who were born in the Netherlands. Conclusions: Patterns of differences in physical and mental health among the study populations were suggestive of a 'stressful environment' effect. The poorer health of Antillean migrants may be partly determined by host-country-specific stressors, such as perceived discrimination, spatial concentration in multi-ethnic neighbourhoods and reduced social mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Lesser Antillean Iguana (Iguana delicatissima) is an endangered species threatened by habitat loss and hybridization with non-native Green Iguanas (Iguana iguana). Iguana delicatissima has been extirpated on several islands, and the Green Iguana has invaded most islands with extant populations. Information is essential to protect this species from extinction. We collected data on 293 iguanas including 17 juveniles from St. Eustasius, one of the few remaining I. delicatissima strongholds. Genetic data were leveraged to test for hybridization presence with the Green Iguana using both mitochondrial and nuclear genes, including 16 microsatellite loci. The microsatellites were also analyzed to estimate genetic diversity, population structure, and effective population size. Using molecular and morphological data, we identified 286 I. delicatissima individuals captured during our first fieldwork effort, and 7 non-native iguanas captured during a second effort, showing hybridization occurs within this population. Comparing homologous microsatellites used in studies on Dominica and Chancel, the I. delicatissima population on St. Eustatius has extremely low genetic diversity (HO = 0.051; HE = 0.057), suggesting this population is genetically depauperate. Furthermore, there is significant evidence for inbreeding (FIS = 0.12) and weak spatial genetic structure (FST = 0.021, P = 0.002) within this population. Besides immediate threats including hybridization, this population's low genetic diversity, presence of physiological abnormalities and low recruitment could indicate presence of inbreeding depression that threatens its long-term survival. We conclude there is a continued region-wide threat to I. delicatissima and highlight the need for immediate conservation action to stop the continuing spread of Green Iguanas and to eliminate hybridization from St. Eustatius. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the socio-natural assemblages of salt cultivation involving humans, other organisms and natural phenomena on the Venezuelan islands of La Tortuga and Cayo Sal from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. The research is based on archaeological, documentary and oral evidence marshalled to understand the dynamics of past solar sea salt production. In the past, a keen knowledge of the climatic conditions, the tides, and the effects of the microorganisms involved in the concentration of brine and the subsequent crystallisation of sodium chloride (NaCl) was indispensable to augmenting the quantity and quality of a salt harvest. These natural phenomena could be managed through anthropic intervention to the benefit of a saltpan enterprise by investing in infrastructure and tools such as dikes and pumps, thereby modifying the natural environment of a salt lagoon. This research indicates that the Dutch in the seventeenth, the Anglo-Americans in the seventeenth and eighteenth, as well as the Dutch Antilleans and a US American in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, approached the process of obtaining salt on the Venezuelan saltpans differently. This resulted in different configurations of the socio-natural assemblages on the saltpans and a variable final product conditioned by distinct market necessities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on Nevis island and the history of the Antillean hallucination brought by the colonialism. Topics mentioned include the tourist attraction in the plantation society, the snake free plantation garden of the island, and the images of the young men who were charged of murder. It mentioned the photographs of the accused like Renaissance paintings that symbolizes the colonial racism.

This article reads Aimé Césaire’s playUne Tempêteas developing an understanding of freedom based on the potential for movement, achieved through a radical relinquishing of ties to land. The main action of the play, Caliban’s attempt to overthrow Prospero, reveals the dangers inherent in understanding nationalism as the path to freedom.Une Tempête’s naming of its island’s flora and fauna, and the contexts in which they are described, suggests that freedom comes from a rejection of rootedness. The appearance in the play of the Yoruba trickster god Eshu serves as a reminder that indeterminacy is always present – and so freedom is never entirely absent. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article focuses on the geographies of knowledge on Hispanic Caribbean. Topics discussed include the impact of existential, political, and linguistic borders on Caribbean people, the cultural contexts and language of the Caribbean and Latin American, and the landscape and civilization of the Antilleans.

Much debate surrounds the phylogenetic affinities of the endemic Greater Antillean platyrrhines. Thus far, most phylogenetic analyses have been constructed and tested using craniodental characters. We add to this dialog by considering how features of the distal humerus support or refute existing hypotheses for the origins of fossil Caribbean primates, utilizing three-dimensional geometric morphometric data in combination with character based cladistic analyses. We also add to the sample of fossil platyrrhine humeri with the description of UF 114718, a new distal humerus from Haiti. We reconstruct UF 114718 to be a generalized, arboreal quadruped attributed to the species Insulacebus toussantiana . Our results from phylogenetic analyses lend some support to the idea that some Greater Antillean fossil taxa including Xenothrix mcgregori , Antillothrix bernensis , and Insulacebus toussaintiana could form a monophyletic clade that is sister to either extant Platyrrhini or basal pitheciids. Based on the distal humeral data, we reconstruct the earliest ancestral platyrrhine to be a generalized, arboreal quadruped that potentially emphasized pronated arm postures during locomotion and may have engaged in some limited climbing, most similar in shape to early anthropoids and some of the earliest Antillean forms. However, aspects of shape and standard qualitative characters relating to the distal humerus seem to be variable and prone to both homoplasy and reversals; thus these results must be interpreted cautiously and (where possible) within the context provided by other parts of the skeleton. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article informs about three sessions of the conference "Édouard Glissant et le 'Discours antillais': La source et le delta", proceedings of the international colloquium in three sessions, organized by the Institut du Tout-Monde from April to November 2019. Topics include Antillean Discourse puts in tension within it the traditional borders allocated to the discourse spec culative and analytical; intrusion of vision into the very field of demonstrative discourse; and Poetic discourses, political and cultural visions of aesthetic focals by the organizer, Hugues Azérad.

The Antillean Cenozoic fossil record of asteroids comprises mainly dissociated ossicles. Most common among isolates from upper Oligocene deposits of Jamaica and Antigua are marginal ossicles of an extinct, indeterminate species of Pycinaster. This is the youngest known occurrence of the genus and the first from beyond Europe. A number of relatively complete fossils have been assigned to Pycinaster and (sub)familial status proposed for it together with Phocidaster. The latter proposition is based solely on a few marginals, but available diagnoses are judged insufficient to justify such recognition. The taxon Pycinasteridae is here synonymized with the Goniasteridae, although future study of added features (such as the ventral surface) might justify recognition at a higher taxonomic level. In addition to ossicles assigned to Pycinaster, many marginals are tentatively assigned to the surviving goniasterid Nymphaster. Numerous generic and many species names have been based on asteroid isolates, but the practice demands assumptions that are not readily justified. Linkage of discrete isolates under a single taxon name assumes derivation from a single source, an inference that can be verified only rarely (if ever), therefore reducing names to the single holotype ossicle. Availability of only isolates encourages comparison with extant taxa and biogeography, biasing interpretations with a Holocene overlay. Because of these constraints, a new nominal species of Pycinaster is not justified and assignment of ossicles to Nymphaster is tentative. However, given the importance of asteroids in marine communities, we emphasize the significance, largely ignored, of their presence in Cenozoic deposits of the wider Caribbean. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article focuses on the history of Antilles and how racialist insularism can help achieve the objective of a regional confederation. Topics discussed include the Antillean peoples as agents in a geopolitical reordering process; the fall of the U.S. and the rise of China's influence in the region; and the legacy of the 19th century project of the Antillean League for a possible realignment of forces at the regional level.

The article focuses on the "Puerto Rican Journal," cultural journalism and its Hispanic American networks. Topics discussed include the journal's role in history of local journalism and the group of Antillean and Hispanic American intellectuals that compose it. It highlights their goals and internal organization; the tools used in the design and typographic composition, as well as artistic-literary influences.

The crime figures among Antilleans (people from islands in the Caribbean Sea) residing in the European country of the Netherlands remain high for offenders in their twenties and thirties, unlike other major ethnic groups residing in the Netherlands. The aim of this study is to get a better insight into the backgrounds of the deviances in the shape of the age-crime curve for this ethnic group. The research comprises a quantitative analysis of data regarding people who are registered as an offender in the Netherlands. This study has found indications that the high level of broken families might be related to comparatively high rate of offenders among adult Antillean men up to approximately 45 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patrick Chamoiseau's Un Dimanche au cachot (2007) and Gisèle Pineau's Folie, aller simple (2010) refer to the authors' professions (respectively social worker and nurse) to explore the tensions besetting Caribbean territories that belong integrally to the French Republic, yet are culturally distinct from the Hexagon. While both writers use a version of 'staged marginality' to raise questions about the 'imagined community' of the Republic, each adopts a different political approach and writing strategy. Chamoiseau appears still to struggle with binary colonial anxieties in relation to France, despite his professed immersion in Glissant's transcending 'Tout-Monde'; Pineau presents a less theorized, more integrative 'transcultural' Frenchness based on her personal experience. These contrasting interpretations highlight the need for a theoretical approach to the Antilles that accommodates both the shifting, relational dynamic associated with Glissant's postcolonial perspective, and the binary axis of centre and periphery more commonly associated with colonialism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the field known as 'Whiteness Studies' has been thriving in Anglophone criticism and theory for over 25 years, it is almost unknown in France. This is partly due to epistemological and political differences, but also to demographic factors - in contrast with the post-plantation culture of the US, for example, whites in Martinique and Guadeloupe are a tiny minority of small island populations. Yet 'whiteness' remains a phantasized and a fetishized state in the Antillean imaginary, and is strongly inflected by gender. This article sketches the emergence of 'white' femininity during slavery, then examines its representation in the work of a number of major Antillean writers (Condé, Placoly, Confiant, Chamoiseau). In their work, a cluster of recurring images and leitmotifs convey the idealization or, more commonly, the pathologization, of the white woman ; these images resonate strongly with Bhabha's 'unhomely', and convey the disturbing imbrication of sex and race in Antillean history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the potential of carbon and oxygen isotope data from human enamel carbonate (n = 50) to contribute to mobility studies in the Caribbean. Most oxygen and carbon isotope results display limited variation, with substantial overlap between islands. However, a few individuals from El Chorro de Maíta, Cuba possess relatively low δ18O and high δ13C. Two of these individuals were previously identified as possible non-Antillean immigrants on the basis of strontium isotopes, and bioarchaeological and mortuary evidence. The carbon and oxygen isotope results provide additional evidence supporting the proposed non-local origins of these individuals and contribute to explorations of their potential natal origins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Using data on recently arrived immigrants in the Netherlands, I study the role of migration in religious attendance and praying. For the majority of immigrants, the frequency of religious attendance and praying remains the same after migration, but a substantial group shows religious decline. I observe this drop of religiousness for both attendance and praying, but the drop is much more pronounced for attendance. Whereas 40% participate less often in Holland than before migrating, frequency of praying dropped among 17% only. The degree of religious continuity and decline differs dramatically across immigrant groups. Conditional upon pre-migration religiousness, I find that the “older”, well-established and numerically larger migrant groups of Turks, Moroccans, Surinamese and Antilleans more frequently attend religious meetings and pray than the “new” and smaller groups of Poles and Bulgarians. Religious continuity and decline seem less dependent on individual experiences. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

As many critics have noted, Antillean literature has developed in tandem with a strong (self-)critical and theoretical body of work. The various attempts to theorise Antillean identity since the 1930s (négritude, antillanité, créolité, relation) have hugely enriched the literary scene and have put Antillean writing firmly on the world map. They have also undoubtedly contributed to a field that can be characterised as explosive, incestuous and highly self-referential. This article begins by examining the kinds of writing privileged in the postcolonial canon, both francophone and anglophone, and argues that the French-language field continues to favour writers who are associated with theoretical or speculative writing (Césaire, Glissant, Chamoiseau). From this perspective Maryse Condé appears to offer a particularly interesting counter-example. Undoubtedly a canonical Antillean writer, she is openly dismissive of theory, claiming to operate outside its boundaries. Yet she too is heavily involved in the work of criticism and in shaping readers’ responses, as well as her own self-image, through criticism and theory. I argue that Condé, like Chamoiseau (who is often viewed as the more ‘theoretical’ writer), tends to supply the tools for analysis of her own writing through a strong awareness of, and ongoing contribution to, the critical field in which her work is read. Both authors thus work to consolidate their own, and often in turn each other’s, position as canonical authors. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this report we present an overview of the Antillean immigration process in eastern Cuba, detaining us especially in the workers coming from Haiti. We have analyzed the discourse presented in the press and its contribution to the construction of an negative imaginary about these workers. We'll talk of repatriation, founded organization, and also about Santiago de Cuba by Haitians to educate their descendents in their culture and national identity, called George Sylvain Association. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Variation in interspecific interactions across geographic space is a potential driver of diversification and local adaptation. This study quantitatively examined variation in floral phenotypes and pollinator service of Heliconia bihai and H. caribaea across three Antillean islands. The prediction was that floral characters would correspond to the major pollinators of these species on each island. Analysis of floral phenotypes revealed convergence among species and populations of Heliconia from the Greater Antilles. All populations of H. caribaea were similar, characterized by long nectar chambers and short corolla tubes. In contrast, H. bihai populations were strongly divergent: on Dominica, H. bihai had flowers with short nectar chambers and long corollas, whereas on Hispaniola, H. bihai flowers resembled those of H. caribaea with longer nectar chambers and shorter corolla tubes. Morphological variation in floral traits corresponded with geographic differences or similarities in the major pollinators on each island. The Hispaniolan mango, Anthracothorax dominicus, is the principal pollinator of both H. bihai and H. caribaea on Hispaniola; thus, the similarity of floral phenotypes between Heliconia species suggests parallel selective regimes imposed by the principal pollinator. Likewise, divergence between H. bihai populations from Dominica and Hispaniola corresponded with differences in the pollinators visiting this species on the two islands. The study highlights the putative importance of pollinator-mediated selection as driving floral convergence and the evolution of locally-adapted plant variants across a geographic mosaic of pollinator species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a multiethnic community sample of 1,170 preadolescent children, it was investigated whether discrepancies in parent-child reports of internalizing problems are related with gender, ethnic background (Dutch, Surinamese/ Antillean, Moroccan, Turkish, Other) and with future internalizing problems. No significant differences in discrepancy scores between boys and girls were found. Parent-child disagreement of internalizing problems varied across ethnic groups, with significant differences among children from Surinamese/ Antillean (children reporting more internalizing problems than their parents) and Turkish background (parents reporting more internalizing problems than their children). Disagreement between parents and their preadolescent child significantly contributed to the prediction of self-reported internalizing problems in early adolescence. For the early identification of internalizing problems, it is recommended to include both parent and child self-reports as part of routine health examinations in the setting of preventive youth health care because when parents underreport problems relative to their child, this can predict future internalizing problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines Caribbean representations of race, gender and ethnicity, and how these influenced the labor allocations of female migrant workers in St Maarten's tourism economy. From the late 1970s to the 1990s, thousands of poor women from Haiti and the Dominican Republic worked in the service sector of St Maarten's tourism economy. St Maarten's black population, and especially its male residents, interacted with the migrant women, and created gendered and social-sexual images that privileged the Latina/mulatta women over the black Haitian women. These gendered/racial stereotypes helped to incorporate the Haitian and Dominican women into specific and different labor sectors of the tourism economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Antillean subspecies of the West Indian manatee Trichechus manatus is found throughout Central and South America and the Caribbean. Because of severe hunting pressure during the 17th through 19th centuries, only small populations of the once widespread aquatic mammal remain. Fortunately, protections in Belize reduced hunting in the 1930s and allowed the country's manatee population to become the largest breeding population in the Wider Caribbean. However, increasing and emerging anthropogenic threats such as coastal development, pollution, watercraft collision and net entanglement represent challenges to this ecologically important population. To inform conservation and management decisions, a comprehensive molecular investigation of the genetic diversity, relatedness and population structure of the Belize manatee population was conducted using mitochondrial and microsatellite DNA. Compared with other mammal populations, a low degree of genetic diversity was detected ( H=0.455; N=3.4), corresponding to the small population size and long-term exploitation. Manatees from the Belize City Cayes and Southern Lagoon system were genetically different, with microsatellite and mitochondrial F values of 0.029 and 0.078, respectively ( P≤0.05). This, along with the distinct habitats and threats, indicates that separate protection of these two groups would best preserve the region's diversity. The Belize population and Florida subspecies appear to be unrelated with microsatellite and mitochondrial F values of 0.141 and 0.63, respectively ( P≤0.001), supporting the subspecies designations and suggesting low vagility throughout the northern Caribbean habitat. Further monitoring and protection may allow an increase in the Belize manatee genetic diversity and population size. A large and expanding Belize population could potentially assist in the recovery of other threatened or functionally extinct Central American Antillean manatee populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented on the new understanding of the "masculine" and "feminine," socially and within literary convention in the children's tale by Chamoiseau. If offers the background representations of gender roles and family structure in Antillean societies and the new perspective on the role of caretaker in the tale. The author points out the complexity and how the tale could influence social discourses on gender.

An essay is presented on humor in the literary works of Antillean writers. It states that the cultural and historical specificity of humor, as well as its status as a constitutive characteristic of Antillean thought and mode of address in literary and popular expression, are being stressed by contemporary Antillean writers. Furthermore, a 1997 book review of the novel "Desirada," by Maryse Condé is discussed to explore the comic literary landscape in which French Antillean writers work.

Abstract: Background: Depressive patients may derive consolation as well as struggle from their religion. Outside the Western-Christian cultures these phenomena did not receive much empirical exploration. The current study aims to describe how positive and negative religious coping strategies relate to depressive symptoms in different ethnic groups in The Netherlands. Methods: Interview data were derived from the second phase of the Amsterdam Health Monitor, a population based survey, with stratification for ethnicity (native Dutch N =309, Moroccan 180, Turkish 202, Surinamese/Antillean 85). Religious coping was assessed using a 10-item version of Pargament''s Brief RCOPE; depression assessment included the SCL-90-R and the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Results: The five positive religious coping items constituted one sub-scale, but the five negative religious coping items had to be examined as representing separate coping strategies. Across the ethnic groups, negative religious coping strategies had several positive associations with depressive symptoms, subthreshold depression, and major depressive disorder: the most robust association was found for the item ‘wondered whether God has abandoned me’. Other significant associations were found for interpreting situations as punishment by God, questioning whether God exists, and expressing anger to God. Limitations: Due to the two-phase design and low participation in this urban sample, the non-response was substantial. Therefore, the study focused on associations, not on prevalences. Conclusion: The more or less universal finding about ‘feeling abandoned by God’ may suggest how depression represents an existential void, irrespective of the religious background. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article demonstrates that in the post-World War II period the bodies of Guadeloupean and Martinican women served as a tool to implement new French "development" policies affecting Guadeloupe and Martinique. Immigration officials hoped to improve the women's socioeconomic conditions by encouraging them to migrate to France where they could earn higher wages. By contrast, the women's bodies became a battlefield for Caribbean male nationalists, who appropriated their experiences for political reasons. On both sides, however, the paradoxes were striking. French officials treated Antillean women in a manner that contradicted the national republican values of universal equality, and the Antillean nationalists politicized the migration of Antillean women to France as a way of dealing with the emasculating effects of neocolonial relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses social conditions for children born from racially-mixed marriages. The author utilizes a survey of Antilleans and Surinamese in the Netherlands to investigate whether children from mixed marriages involving black and white parents identify with racial and ethnic majorities or minorities as compared to children from marriages in which both parents are black. He suggests that data from the survey indicates mixed marriages promote social integration for children and that the results are not dependent on socioeconomic factors. He comments on how the educational levels of parents may affect children's integration.

Abstract: The record of South-American Pleistocene Megalonychidae is scarce. Of the species described for intertropical Brazil, including Megalonyx sp., Ocnopus gracilis, Valgipes deformis, Xenocnus cearensis and Ahytherium aureum, only the last, recently described, is valid. The new megalonychid species described here was recovered from the same locality as Ah. aureum. The latter is apparently more closely linked to the North-American Pleistocene forms whereas Australonyx aquae may be more closely related to the Antillean sloths. The fossil remains of extant taxa recovered in association with the new sloth species suggest that the region, currently within the Caatinga biome, was a mosaic of the Atlantic Forest and Savannah biomes during the final stages of the Pleistocene. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In an interview which took place in the Maison Française, Oxford, on 10 May 2008, the day instituted by the Chirac government to commemorate the crime of slavery, Patrick Chamoiseau discusses his attempts to raise consciousness of slavery among young Antilleans. He reflects on his relationship with a number of Caribbean writers, including Edouard Glissant, Derek Walcott and the recently-deceased Aimé Césaire. Working out of a number of familiar theoretical concepts ('créolité', 'relation'), he articulates his vision of 'mondialité', a global dynamic according to which the peoples of the world are in constant connectedness to each other, capitalism being only the crudest example of this reality. Finally Chamoiseau queries the extent to which the term 'postcolonial' can be a useful one for formerly colonised peoples, given the risk that it might sanctify or give undue prominence to the colonial experience. This interview was translated by Rachel O'Loan and the interviewer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the life of the Antillean women in the play "Mémoires D'Isles," by Ina Césaire. The play, which was already made into a book, probes the nature of antillanité or caribbeanness, a term coined by Edouard Glissant. The play can be regarded as a tool for women, particularly Martinican, for their self-exploration, emancipation and autonomy.

The article presents brief personal narratives by mainly English-speaking black people of West Indian descent, as well as biographical sketches and photographs of these people, as part of the Voices From Our America project. Gloria Branch describes the difficulties faced by black West Indians as English speakers in Spanish-speaking Panama in the 1940s. Hugh Mclymont discusses the decision to switch from the Royal Crown Reader to the Anansi Stories for the purposes of teaching English in Jamaica. Olivia Mclymont recalls conditions for girls in Barbados. The article also notes that the Panama Canal was built with the help of thousands of black British West Indian men.

Alejo Carpentier's El siglo de las luces and Maryse Condé's La vie scélérate are both novels that reflect the wandering of the Caribbean people, on the individual as well as collective level. These two works explore intraregional connections, more specifically between Cuba, Guadeloupe and French Guyana at the time of the French and Haitian revolutions for Carpentier's novel and between Guadeloupe, Panama, and California in the early twentieth century for Maryse Condé's novel. What is striking is the way in which, what with the climate and the hard working conditions endured by the new migrants, the continental Caribbean figures as an earthly version of Hell in these works by Antilleans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay analyses the texts of Glissant and Confiant to explore the consequences of departementalization on the representation of Africa in the Antillean imagination. The patient and methodic exploration of Africa allows Glissant to produce a critical and complex perspective on Africa whereas Confiant, following up on the theorized indifference promoted by Créolité towards Africa, does not distance himself from a stereotypical representation of the continent. The departmentalization of the Antillean imagination, defined here as the assimilation of its discourse by the franco-centric gaze, is a consequence of the 1946 departmentalization of the Antilles. La présente étude, à partir des textes de Glissant et de Confiant, explore l'impact de la départementalisation sur la représentation de l'Afrique dans l'imaginaire antillais. L'accumulation d'un savoir méthodique permet à Glissant de produire une pensée critique et complexe. Confiant, guidé par la poétique de la créolité qui engendre une indifférence envers l'Afrique, produit une représentation stéréotypique du continent. La départementalisation de l'imaginaire, définie ici comme l'assimilation du discours antillais par le regard français, est au bout de la départementalisation de 1946. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to correct a number of archaeological misconceptions issuing from the Taino-Carib dichotomy engrained within the discipline. We examine the evidence for Late Ceramic Age (AD 800-1500) interactions between communities of the Greater and Lesser Antilles. This article explores and nuances the alleged dichotomy between Taino and Carib societies, details a number of contact lines between them, and advances hypotheses regarding the mechanisms underlying these interactions such as incorporation, exchange, and appropriation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the relationship between the ethnic concentration of a neighbourhood and multiple integration outcomes of ethnic minority groups in Dutch society. The data used are drawn from two large-scale surveys: the Survey Social Position and Use of Provisions by Ethnic Minorities (2002 and 2003), which provides information on the four largest immigrant groups (Turks, Moroccans, Surinamese and Antilleans) as well as five important refugee groups in the Netherlands, and the Attitudes towards Minorities Survey (2002), which contains extensive information on the indigenous majority. The paper examines whether ethnic concentration in neighbourhoods influences indicators of socio-cultural integration, i.e. inter-ethnic contacts, language proficiency and mutual stereotypical attitudes. The analyses show that social contacts between majority and minority groups are less frequent in ethnically concentrated neighbourhoods. However, a degree of mixing has a positive influence on the actual orientation of the indigenous Dutch towards ethnic minorities. The analyses also reveal that in neighbourhoods experiencing a sudden influx of non-Western citizens, inter-ethnic attitudes tend to be more negative. Social contacts play a mediating role in this relationship. These contacts are also important for a good command of the Dutch language among members of ethnic minority groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The precolonial communities of the Caribbean archipelago were not insular The discontinuous natural resource distribution, the ,nariti,ne orientation of the Caribbean Amerindians, and the complexities of regional social interaction cash red that the precolonial Caribbean islandscape was dynamic and highly interconnected. This report explores the sociocultural behavior and intercommunitv exchange relationships of the inhabitants of the Lesser Antilles. It combines related archaeological case studies encompassing the procurement and exchange of (1) raw materials and utilitarian goods with a wide spatial and social distribution, (2) goods with high stylistic visibility and presumed social function as markers of identity or status, and (3) prestige goods with profound ceremonial value. The study of these objects reveals overarching social and ideological dimensions to Caribbean life. Data suggest that social relationships manifest themnselves at different levels and throngh distinct rhythmns while taking on various material guises during the Ceramic age Amnerindian occupation of the Caribbean islands (400 B.C. to A.D. 1492). While there is great potential in unraveling interaction networks through the careful study of distribution patterns, the incorporation of ethnohistoric and ethnographic information is imperative to elucidate the web of social relationships underlying these material manifestations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the legacy of Frantz Fanon in the study of linguistic, psychological and political aspects of decolonization. Fanon, connecting psychoanalysis to socioanalysis, concludes that Antillean Blacks suffer from a neurosis that results from violence of colonialism and racism and the general mistreatment of the colonized person. The article elaborates on his anti-colonial ideas and his idea of decolonization.

Copyright of European Journal of Population is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

No fewer than 120 snake species representing six families and 20 genera inhabit the West Indies; 115 (95.8%) are endemic to the region. Except for ± 30 taxa, we do not know the true conservation status of West Indian snakes; the herpetofauna is in a state of flux, as are the islands. Factors contributing to the decline of Antillean snake populations are complex, but nearly all are human-mediated and involve the introduction of exotic species, including predators (e.g., cats, black and Norway rats, mongooses) and ungulates (goats, pigs) that degrade habitats. Species that appear especially vulnerable to extirpations and extinctions are boids (Epicrates spp.) and diurnal, ground-dwelling colubrids (Alsophis spp. and Liophis spp.). Alterations in the prey base, commercial exploitation, and habitat destruction are likely responsible for declines in Epicrates populations, whereas predation by mongooses, cats, and rats have taken their toll on species of Alsophis and Liophis. Pesticides and herbicides may also have a deleterious impact on fossorial (e.g., Typhlops spp.) and anuran-eating species (Antillophis spp., Chironius vincenti, Darlingtonia haetiana). With greater environmental awareness and a minimum of tolerance, snakes and humans could co-exist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the awareness of Antillean identity in Martinique based on several literary works. In his book "la Relation du Tout-monde," author Edouard Glissant suggests that being exiled in one's homeland should not constitute or no longer constitute a fundamental difference. Patrick Chamoiseau's essay "Ecrire en pays dominé" evokes the cultural conflicts and the different types of domination to confront and elude. Chamoiseau uses words that he transposes from Creole to which he gives their Creole semantic content, thus enriches such content when the French language has a similar meaning.

A study into the relevance of cultural factors in predicting condom-use intentions among Antillean migrants in the Netherlands is described in this article. The association between the intention to use condoms with a new sexual partner and a perceived taboo on discussing sex, beliefs about sex education and machismo beliefs on gender and power relationships is addressed. The study was conducted among 346 Dutch Antilleans from a random sample of an Antillean population aged 15–50 years. The response rate was 37.8%. The results showed that condom-use intentions were primarily determined by perceived subjective norms, the perceived taboo on discussing sex, machismo attitudes, gender, age and educational background. Moreover, the respondent's opinion regarding machismo was an effect modificator for the association between condom-use intentions and subjective social norm. It is concluded that, in predicting condom-use intentions, factors specific to the culture of a population contribute significantly to the determinants drawn from the general social-cognition models. It is recommended that future research should use measurement instruments that are adapted to culture-specific beliefs, and should explore the influence of cultural factors on actual condom use. Moreover, interventions promoting condom use among migrant populations should target the cultural correlates of condom use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]