Caribbean migration is a dynamic and complex phenomenon that has shaped societies and cultures across the globe and remains one of the most researched phenomena in the Caribbean. From historical forced migrations to contemporary patterns of circulation, free movement and diasporic communities, Caribbean migration defies simplistic categorizations, Westernized models and androcentric lenses. Written in three sections, the book presents an expansive and interdisciplinary perspective on Caribbean migration with a focus on transnationalism, gender and decoloniality. It seeks to reconceptualize Caribbean migration by adopting a transnational perspective, which acknowledges the interconnectedness of sending and receiving societies, as well as the fluidity of migrant identities and experiences across borders. The book also focuses on emerging issues in Caribbean migration including displacement, accelerated free movements, return migrations, mobility in the context of natural disasters and situations of crises and conflict. The contributions include interdisciplinary perspectives and critical insights on these under-researched areas of Caribbean migration. The scholarship contained in this text has implications for broader frameworks of action and policy for better migration management and governance as Caribbean SIDS are being confronted by shifting regional landscapes and global crises.
Chapter 1: Reconceptualizing Caribbean Migration: An Introduction.-
Chapter 2: Calling the West Indies: Una Marsons Portrayals of Migratory
Military Service in Hello! West Indies and West Indies Calling.
Chapter
3: From Separation to Healing: Windrush, Mother-Daughter Bonds, and the
Journey of Transformation.
Chapter 4: From confined labourers to successful
entrepreneurs: Chinese migration and identity in Puerto Rico.
Chapter 5:
Caymanian by Pain or by Plane: Literary Constructions of Identity and
Belonging in a Globalised Caribbean Territory.
Chapter 6: Como Decimos
Nosotros Dominicanos (As We Dominicans Say): An Exploration of Dominican
Immigrant Resistance of Marginalisation in Ohio.
Chapter 7: The role of farm
workers in shaping the development narrative of communities and impacts on
the Diaspora.
Chapter 8: Beyond Talk Shops? Representations of Jamaica's
Diaspora Conferences (2004- 2024)".
Chapter 9: Why Women Migrate: Narratives
of Intra-Regional Caribbean Movement.
Chapter 10: Diaspora Unbound: Writing
Relationality in Achy Obejass Days of Awe.
Chapter 11: On Crises,
Catastrophic Equilibria and Tipping Points: Venezuelan Migration and Policy
Development in the Southern Caribbean.
Chapter 12: Intra-Caribbean migration
and cross border activities: Implications for policy intervention and
sustainable development within the Caribbean Community.
Chapter 13: Shifting
Geographies of Return: Caribbean migrants, COVID-19, and the Trump
Administrations Immigration Policies.
Chapter 14: Intra-regional migration
in the Caribbean: Emerging trends and policy actions.
Dr. Natasha Kay Mortley is a regionally and internationally known scholar of Caribbean migration focused on gender transformational advocacy and gender justice scholarship. She is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Gender and Development Studies, Regional Unit, at the University of the West Indies (UWI) in Jamaica. Dr. Mortley is a Sociologist by training and has a PhD in Migration and Diaspora Studies from (UWI). Her disciplinary focus over the past twenty (20) years has been dedicated to integrating a gender perspective to Caribbean development and social policy issues. Her areas of research include migration & development; diaspora studies; human mobility, gender and climate change; gender & political leadership; gender-based violence and Caribbean masculinities. Natasha Mortley serves as Strategic Advisor on Migration and Gender to the Commission of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and is a member of the Steering Committee working on the CARICOM migration policy
Dr. Baldwin is a Caribbean migrant who currently lives and works in the United States. She is an Associate professor in the Divisions of Gender and Ethnic Studies in the School for Cultural and Social Transformation, and a 2023-2024 Presidential Fellow at the University of Utah. Dr. Baldwin who is an attorney-at-law and holds a masters degree in international trade policy and a Ph.D. in gender and development studies, is the founder of the Black Feminist Eco Lab at the University of Utah. She has several publications including her 2021 book monograph A Decolonial Black Feminist Theory of Reading and Shade: Feeling the University; 2019 and 2023 co-edited texts in the Standpoints Black feminisms book series with Virginia Tech Publishing; and a 2023 co-edited volume on Global Black feminisms. She is the creator and co-host of Standpoints, a Black feminist podcast produced by Virginia Tech Publishing, and the co-curator of the Caribbean feminist series for Black Women Radicals.
