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Reviews
| Caliban and the Yankees: Trinidad and the United States Occupation, by Harvey R. Neptune. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2007. 288 pages. $21.95, paper.
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| For those certain that any book about American involvement in the Caribbean during World War II could only be an irrelevant history about an irrelevant place, I would enthusiastically recommend Harvey Neptune's first book, Caliban and the Yankees: Trinidad and the United States Occupation, in hearty contradiction. A wartime arrangement between the United Kingdom and the United States authorized our temporary presence, and in this book, the Trinidadian-born historian focuses on the intriguing cultural politics at play during a deeply contentious time for the colony. Remembered as "the occupation" by locals, this diplomatic agreement allowed the United States military to build and staff bases on Trinidad beginning in 1941 and resulted in a dramatic increase in American influence there. However, Neptune asserts that the United States occupation itself did not cause this highly contentious time. Rather, it set nationalist intelligentsia, the colonial establishment, and subaltern groups against each other as all involved made deliberate use of the Yankee presence to further their own agendas for a swiftly changing Trinidad. These conflicts, according to Neptune, reveal that for the colonial establishment, anxiety swirled around what they considered attempts by overeducated radicals and uneducated natives to replace British imperialist polices with those of the impudent North American republic. Moreover, for Trinidad's "Creole patriots," this meant a desire to construct an authentic national subjecthood that simultaneously rejected the "banal Englishness" they had come to despise and the 'flashy American-ness' they had come to fear. And, perhaps most important to the author, for the island's subalterns, these contests reflected a rejection of both the respectability being insisted upon by the colonial establishment and the traditionalist identity being fashioned for them by the nationalist intelligentsia. All these nuanced positions, Neptune insists, have been stripped from the official history of the island. |
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To accomplish bringing this story back to life, Neptune wisely begins his analysis with the decades before the first American servicemen arrived on the island. In fact, the author dedicates the first three chapters of Caliban to establishing the important socio-cultural context wherein Trinidadians had gained considerable experience engaging with the American imperialism they had encountered in their own backyards. He then devotes the succeeding five chapters to the myriad ways America figured in daily life and local discourse, and in particular, how subalterns "appropriated select segments of US culture towards subversive ends" during the occupation. For instance, in his examination of how the Yankee presence factored into labor conflicts, Neptune acknowledges the pragmatism behind non-white Trinidadians' agitation for better compensation while emphasizing the satisfaction workers took in earning more while undermining island employers' exploitation of the local job market. Likewise, his exploration of young Afro-Trinidadian men's "style making" reveals elite criticisms of zoot suits and "saga boys" which they saw as less a concern for the working-classes' attraction to foreign fads and more about the displeasure caused when the presumed powerless rejected elite sensibilities by embracing African-American popular fashion. In the same vein, Neptune's focus on the Creole intelligentsia's efforts to nationalize Calypso further probes the oft overlooked tension between nationalists and potential nationals by exploring how attempts to legitimize the art form were frustrated by savvy Calypso men flouting traditional morality while catering to American audiences. Further, while Neptune examines the fallout surrounding Afro-Trinidadian women's relationships with black and white American servicemen, the author does not neglect the challenges these intimacies posed to white supremacy or Afro-Trinidadian masculinity as he interrogates women's complex involvement in such liaisons. In the final chapter, titled appropriately "Coda," Neptune addresses the period beginning in the early 1960s when a resurgence of nationalist fervor led to a bid to reclaim base land from the United States. When we reach this point, we can appreciate the gravity of refashioning occupation in grossly oversimplified terms. |
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Ultimately, Neptune's characterizations of these complex events and the deeply ambivalent sentiments they engendered is a detailed yet jargon-light exploration of the seemingly endless controversies that plagued Trinidad during this period. His thoroughness coupled with accessibility also makes Caliban a valuable example for scholars at all levels of how to produce fascinating cultural history that equitably integrates the analysis of multiple subjectivities through a critical reading of varied sources. The result is a richly textured volume that knits seemingly incompatible narratives together into a cohesive "alternative text" which successfully challenges the "homogenizing effect" of the nationalist history of Trinidad. In so doing, Caliban re-enforces the need to reassess similar histories from elsewhere in the post-colonial world and Neptune joins the growing chorus of scholars seeking to have perceived colonial backwaters like Trinidad seen as the "theaters of globally momentous struggle" they have always been. |
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| Northeastern University, Boston, MA |
Seneca Joyner |
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