Peter Lang Gmbh, Internationaler Verlag Der Wissenschaften Geopolitics of Memory and Transnational Citizenship: Thinking Local Development in a Global South: 10 (Cultural Memories)

This book offers new perspectives on transnational citizenship, memory and strategies of development. Beginning with an exploration of belonging and cultural memory, the book turns to a series of case studies in order to examine the ways in which citizens actively engage with their state of origin through narratives of remembrance. In the Haitian case, community engagement is primarily a grassroots movement in spite of the early creation of a Ministry of Haitians Abroad (MHAVE). The Jamaican case, however, differentiates itself by having a top-down structure promoted by an administration that actively seeks to engage Jamaicans abroad by way of solidarity funds. By treating simultaneously two geopolitical entities, Francophonie and the Commonwealth, this study offers a unique, comparative perspective on a complex web of family networks, spiritual bonds and entrepreneurial cross-border practices at the core of a common Caribbean culture of resilience and self-reliance. The findings on the relationship between memory, citizenship and the State challenge the existing assumption that communities abroad become increasingly assimilated into the new society, whereas, in fact, the idea of a transnational citizenship has become increasingly prevalent. This evolution is enhanced by memory, which acts as a powerful dynamic engine to deconstruct citizenship while connecting beyond borders. Review «Clara Rachel Eybalin Casséus's Geopolitics of Memory and Transnational Citizenship is an exciting interdisciplinary work bringing together memory studies, archival work, ethnographic interviews, and a decolonial praxis. Eybalin Casséus's politics of re-reading otherwise begins in pre-Columbus Haiti, an alternative longue durée perspective which passes through colonial Saint-Domingue, arrives in the present-day Caribbean and its many diasporas, and points to alternative transnational Caribbean futures. Her comparative focus on diasporic Haitian and Jamaican expat «associations» (organizations) connects histories in Haiti, Jamaica, France, England, Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Cuba and Italy, putting South-South networks in dialogue. This allows for on-the-ground comparisons between La Francophonie and the Commonwealth, as well as productive discussions and alternative considerations regarding idées reçues around so-called British Multiculturalism and French Intégration. She reads circularity as «the sum of mobilities» and brilliantly brings postcolonial theoretical concepts such as creolization and Tout-monde back to earth, while demonstrating the ways in which colonial and postcolonial traffic move in multiple directions. Eybalin Casséus's work offers not just palimpsests of memory, but productive matrices, via: the museum, the archive, the port, the association, the movement of capital and its resulting displacements, the map, the ship, the sacred, the neighbor, the exile, the hurricane, the earthquake, the migrant, the host, the guest, and the silences. It is a welcome addition to Caribbean Studies.» (Professor Megan C. MacDonald, EURIAS Residential fellow, 2018-2019 / IMéRA - Institut d'études avancées d'Aix-Marseille Université and Assistant Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Koç University, Istanbul) «With this engaging volume about transitional networks of Caribbeans in the diaspora, the author presents an insightful analysis of contributions to development as well as social and political participation in the homeland and host land. Clara Rachel Eybalin Casséus enriches the literature on decolonised knowledge by successfully studying individual and collective memories of the colonial past, and therewith contributes to discussions about Colonization and Chinafication in the Global South. It is a valuable volume to the literature of CARICOM member states. Advisable to academics, politicians, policymakers and those interested in the Caribbean and the Global South.» (Dr Betty Sedoc-Dahlberg, Ph.D.