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Maroon Intellectuals from the Caribbean and the Sources of Their Communication Strategies, 1925-1940

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Maroon Intellectuals from the Caribbean and the Sources of Their Communication Strategies, 1925-1940 MEMORIES OF THE FUTURE. MAROON INTELLECTUALS FROM THE CARIBBEAN AND THE SOURCES OF THEIR COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES, 1925-1940 William Fred Santiago-Valles B.A. Antioch College, 1970 Ph.D. Union Institute, 1978 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the School of Communication O William Fred Santiago-Valles 1997 SIMON FRASER UNIWRSITY December 1997 All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author, VOLUME I APPROVAL NAME William Santiago-Valles DEGREE PhD TITLE MEMORIES OF THE FUTURE: MAROON INTELLECTUALS FROM THE CARIBBEAN AND THE ORIGINS OF THEIR COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES, 1925 - 1940 EXAMINING COMMITTEE: Chair Prof. Tom Mallinson Prof. Alison Beale Senior Supervisor, School of Communication, SFU Prof. Rowly Lorimer Supervisor, School of Communication, SFU Prof. Marilyn Gates Supervisor, Department of Sociology and Anthrovolow . SFU Profflerto Ciria Supervisor, Department of Political Science, SFU Prdf. Karen Ferguson Internal Examiner,Mistory Department, SFU l?kK~edr Robinson External xaminer Prof. of lack Studies and Political Science Univer tfity of California, at Santa Barbara Date: r/53 PARTIAL COPYRIGHT LICENSE I hereby grant to Simon Fraser University the right to lend my thesis, project or extended essay (the title of which is shown below) to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. I further agree that permission for multiple copying of this work for scholarly purposes may be granted by me or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this work for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Title of Thesis/Project/Extended Essay MEMORIES OF THE FUTURE: MAROON INTELLECTUALS FROM THE CARIBBEAN AND THE ORIGINS OF THEIR COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES. 1925 - 1940 Author: r (Signature) William Santiago-Valle5 (name) -lhmwbd 5,\99+ (date) ABSTRACT This dissertation traces the movement of Fernando Ortiz, Patricia GalvSo, Elma Francois, Richard Hart and C.L.R. James across the Caribbean region and the groups in which they pioneered research about popular communication strategies between 1925 and 1940. By considering the history of the connections made between collective memories and the means of confirming how those interventions were shared in other territories, it is possible to examine how direct(ed) experience and consciousness are modified through social practices that turn the popular into a cultural force. This is the research problem, and these groups are brought together in their context to understand the situation which drove them to apply the historical practices they were investigating. The ways of questioning reality suggested by those collective practices are a contribution to the research methods in Communication. After constructing a vocabulary underscoring the limitations of the current discussion about popular cultures, I examine materials produced by or about these groups pioneering emancipatory perspectives to see how their organized activity revealed obstacles to participation in the whole social order. Each case was approached with iii questions designed to explain the means of communication used by the researchers while elaborating popular perspectives through events in which they participated and which they had promoted. This method of historical analysis was informed by the social and communication theories matured during similar junctures at subsequent historical periods by the Johnson-Forest group (U.S.A.), Paulo Freire (Brazil) and JesCs Ibdfiez (Spain). The results of the investigation demonstrate how these groups of intellectuals worked with the popular to transmit memories and produce a history of the present. The networks which resulted from such cooperation helped the intellectuals overcome their isolation and connected the popular opposition with their peers across the region. Despite the discontinuities imposed by the organization of work and public space, these groups created communication strategies which questioned all aspects of daily life and proposed inclusive methods of conducting dialogic research about becoming historical subjects. The sense of community generated among those who became aware of the world in the process of emancipating each other in non-negotiable situations is what produced the popular communication strategies. To my parents, for reasons which exceed the space available here. "Thought only acquires meaning in actions to transform the world." Paulo Freire, Pedauoaia del O~rimido [Pedagogy of the oppressed] (1970) "This is the theory that workers want...What they want are historical experiences which apply to their own problems and aims, not to abstractions. ..These are the things that serious students of theory want to know...to understand an account of what happened and why,..This is theory and practice." C.L,R. James, Grace Lee, Pierre Chaulieu [Cornelius Castoriadis], Facinq Reality (1958) "The cultural history of- the Caribbean masses is the history of marronnage" Gerard Pierre-Charles. El Pensamiento Socio-Politico Moderno en el Caribe [Modern Socio-Political Thought in the Caribbean] (1985) "In the contemporary Caribbean our [Maroon] heritage is at the same time our utopia." Angel Quintero Rivera in Coloatio Internacional sobre el Imauinario Social Contem~orgneo [International Colloquium on the Contemporary Social Imaginary] (1991) "The maroon is a traditional voluntary act of collective work" Maurice Bishop in Nobody's Back Yard, Maurice BishoD's Speeches: 1979-1983 (1984) "The notion of 'antillanitel or Caribbeanness, emerges from a reality we will have to question, but also corresponds to a dream that we must clarify and whose legitimacy must be demonstrated.,,What is missing...is the transition from the shared experience to the conscious expression; the need to transcend the intellectual pretensions ...to be grounded in collective affirmation..." Edouard Glissant. Caribbean Discourse, Selected Essays (1992) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author wishes to express sincere appreciation to Professors Alison Beale, Marilyn Gates, Alberto Ciria and Rowland Lorimer for their assistance in preparing this manuscript. I should like to consign my gratitude to Professors A. Quintero Rivera, W. Mattos Cintr6n and P. Ferndndez de Lewis for their support and solidarity. The hospitality and intellectual generosity of Professors Martin Glabeman and Robert A. Hill was a constant reminder of what the thought collectives (which are the topic here) must have been like. Despite my debt to all the above, the text could not have been written without the collaboration of the Inter-library Loans office at Simon Fraser University, the Dutch language translation services of Louie Ettling, the technical support of Pam Brown and Neville Swartz, and the inspiring presence of such research colleagues as Eleanor O'Donnell, Dorothy Kidd and Nick Witheford. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Title page .............................................i Approval ................................................ ii Abstract ................................................ iii Dedication .............................................. v Quotation ...............................................vi Acknowledgements ........................................vll . Table of Contents .......................................vlll ... List of Tables .......................................... xll. List of Figures .........................................xln ... CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ........................................ 1 Conversations around the fire ........................ 1 What I propose to do .............................. 6 Relevance for the present ......................... 12 The popular in the Caribbean Region ............... 15 The wider context of shared considerations ........ 16 How I became interested in this problem ........... 19 Goals of the research ............................. 21 Research questions and procedures ................. 23 Means of organizing the evidence .................. 25 Making the connections ............................ 27 The rest of the story ................................ 29 End Notes .......................................... 33 CHAPTER I1 DEFINITIONS AND SELECTION CRITERIA ................... 37 Vocabulary ........................................ 38 Culture ......................................... 39 Mass culture and cultural leadership ............ 44 The Popular ..................................... 48 Marronnage ...................................... 54 Thought Collectives and Thought Style ........... 59 Meaning and Knowledge ........................... 66 viii Praxis .......................................... 70 Maroon Intellectuals ............................ 72 Identity, Historical Memory, Consciousness ...... 78 Communication ................................... 85 Criteria for Selection of Case Studies ............ 89 Additional Criteria ............................. 94 Criteria for Selection of Historical Period ....... 96 Definition of Caribbean Region .................... 98 Research Problem and Conjecture ................... 100 Summary ..............................................105 End Notes ............................................107 CHAPTER I11
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