Theorising the Caribbean against the grain. How West Indian social scientists established the Caribbean as a space of knowledge production in the 1950s

Abstract

This paper examines the foundational and formative period of interdisciplinary social thought in the anglophone Caribbean to critically engage with hypothesis of academic dependency and shed further light on how West Indian scholars in the 1950s resisted institutional and epistemic structures of dominance. Manifold contributions outline the colonial and imperial legacy and entanglement of social sciences knowledge production, however often focus on macro-historical and epistemic discussions. To enhance these, I argue, concrete empirical case studies of social knowledge production in the Global South can be productive to elaborate and learn from non-hegemonic traditions of theorising and researching. Conducting a reconstruction of the institutional context of knowledge production and its interaction with each other, it will be shown that West Indian social scientists represent an inspiring example of how social theorising was practiced against the grain of centre-periphery relations.

Colonial Scholars and Anti‐Colonial Agents: Politics of Academic Knowledge Production Between the West Indies and London in the Mid‐20thCentury

“…9 9 This is also supported by L.F. Lewis‘ work on Wynter: “She came to the realization that the negative image and impressions she developed about Africa and Africans, as opposed to the positive impressions she had toward Europe and Europeans, were all a consequence of her socialization process in the colonial Caribbean” (L.F. Lewis, 2021, p. 140; for the following, see also Cramer, 2022). …”

“…The institutionalisation of knowledge production in the anglophone Caribbean was held back until the mid‐20 th century, as local research and higher education were only institutionalised in the 1950s, together with the sovereignty of the formerly British West Indian colonies during the 1960s (see G.K. Lewis, 1985, p. 211). The educational system served for a long time to instruct loyal imperial citizens, and higher education was only possible through mobility to the colonial metropole (however, for the rich tradition of social thought in the West Indies before its institutionalization in the mid‐20 th century, see G.K. Lewis, 1983; Henry, 2000; Bogues, 2003; Benn, 2004; see also Cramer, 2022).…”

“…136ff.). 10 academic dependency in the 1950s (Cramer, 2022). 3 In a similar vein, in his critique of postcolonial studies and scholars in the 1980s, A. Dirlik outlines how the promotion of 'postcolonialism' co-occured with the migration of scholars from the Global South to institutions in the Global North (see Dirlik, 1994).…”

“…pressions she developed about Africa and Africans, as opposed to the positive impressions she had toward Europe and Europeans, were all a consequence of her socialization process in the colonial Caribbean" (L.F. Lewis, 2021, p. 140; for the following, see also Cramer, 2022). 10 A few years after Wynter, further Caribbean social scientists, financed by scholarships, pursued their higher education in London and met and networked with West Indian scholars there.…”

“…2 2 This paper builds on arguments developed in an earlier publication about how Caribbean social scientists challenged academic dependency in the 1950s (Cramer, 2022). …”