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FROM WIG to NWIG, 1919-1993 the New West Indian Guide Has, Not GERT OosnNDIE FROM WIG TO NWIG, 1919-1993 The New West Indian Guide has, not without justification, been touted as the scholarly journal on the Caribbean with the longest record of unin­ terrupted publication. Indeed, the NWIG boasts a history starting in 1919. This Index is offered in celebration of the journal's 75th anniversary. 1 However, the NWIG is certainly not the earliest established journal deal­ ing with the Caribbean. Particularly the larger Caribbean colonies began to have their own publishing houses in the eighteenth and nineteenth centu­ ries. Books, brochures, and newspapers were perhaps the most important publications issued in these houses, but periodicals were part and parcel of the endeavor too. Most such journals were short-lived, but some lasted. Some virtually new journals would later capitalize upon the prestige given by a venerable early starter. To cite two Cuban examples, the Revista Bi­ mestre Cubana, published from 1910 to 1959, had borrowed its name and tradition from a short-lived nineteenth-century original (1831-1834). Like­ wise, the Revista de la Biblioteca Nacional Jose Marti started its new and still continuing series in 1949; the first series had run only from 1909 to 1912. 2 Generally speaking, it wasn't until the post-World War II period that Caribbean journals developed a genuine interest in the region as a whole, or were even founded with the aim of stimulating the development of a com­ parative perspective on the region. The great majority of the periodicals published before that time had been characterized - as was the WIG - by a certain parochialism and a near exclusive orientation toward their immedi­ ate colonial context; some of these journals moreover strove to keep their readership informed of the political, scientific, economic, and cultural de­ velopments in Europe and the United States. The agenda was to a consid- New We st Indian Guide/ Nieuwe West-Indische Gids, Index to vols. 56-67 (1982 -1993): 3-14 Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 06:09:01PM via free access 4 GERT OosTINDIE erable extent utilitarian, and so was a Caribbean awareness - as in the fre­ quent allusions made to the Haitian Revolution in subsequent writing by the Caribbean planter classes, or in the growing interest in the economic accomplishments of neighboring colonies operating on the same markets for products such as sugar. That Caribbean awareness was competitive indeed. Whereas today's most prestigious book publishers on the Caribbean may be located in the United States and the European metropoles, journals exclu­ sively focusing on the region are still primarily linked to Caribbean institu­ tions. The still-functioning exceptions to this rule include the literary and cultural review Callaloo (U.S), the Journal of Caribbean Studies (U.S.), the NWIG, and newsletters such as Caribbean Focus and Caribbean Insight. Several American, European, and Latin American journals do include con­ tributions on the Caribbean, but not exclusively.3 What are the most important and reliable journals in Caribbean studies today, where are they published, and what is their regional and disciplinary profile? It would be ludicrous to attempt to give an encompassing statement here, and even more so to pretend to advance an accepted hierarchy among the journals mentioned as important and reliable, that is, published contin­ uously over the past decade or so. A serious analysis of Caribbean journals is still wanting, and this preface has no intention to fill the gap. Pressed to mention some of these journals, and excluding those dealing with one country only, such as the Boletin def Museo del Hombre Domini­ cana, Cuban Studies or Conjonction: Revue Franco-Hai'tienne, or those ded­ icated to the social sciences in general, e.g., Ciencia y Sociedad, I would certainly include the Anales def Caribe (Cuba, 1981-); Callaloo (U.S., 1976-); Caribbean Quarterly (Jamaica/U.W.I., 1949-); Caribbean Studies (Puerto Rico, 1961-); El Caribe Contemporaneo (Mexico, 1980-); Del Caribe (Cuba, 1982-); Homines (Puerto Rico, 1976-); the Journal of Caribbean History (Barbados/U.W.I., 1970-); the Journal of Caribbean Studies (U.S. , 1980-); the NWIG (the Netherlands, 1919-); Revista/Review Interamericana (Puerto Rico, 1971-); and Social and Economic Studies (Jamaica, 1953-). 4 A first, perhaps somewhat oblique observation is that with the exception of the NWIG, these journals are all relatively young. Nor were they the only influential Caribbean journals founded in the post-War era. Others were established, but lasted for short periods only. The radical nationalist jour­ nals from the newly independent Commonwealth Caribbean, Moko, the New World Quarterly, Tapia, and Savacou: A Journal of the Caribbean Art­ ists Movement, are cases in point (Evelyn 1974, 1988). Most of the journals singled out here are directly linked to an academic Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 06:09:01PM via free access FROM WIG TO NWIG, 1919-1993 5 institution. The Ana/es del Caribe are published by the Cuban Centro de Estudios del Caribe, affiliated with the Casa de las Americas. Caribbean Studies is a publication of the Universidad de Puerto Rico's Institute of Caribbean Studies, Del Caribe of the Casa del Caribe in Santiago de Cuba, Homines of the Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico. Caribbean Quarterly, the Journal of Caribbean History and Social and Economic Stud­ ies are published through the University of the West Indies. The Journal of Caribbean Studies is published by the Association of Caribbean Studies, but has its base at the editor's American university. The NWIG is embedded in Dutch academic institutions, and Callaloo is published by the Johns Hop­ kins University Press. The importance of English as the language of publication of journals on the Caribbean reflects the global scholarly acceptance of English as lingua franca, more than the demographic realities of a region in which less than 20 per cent of the population is actually Anglophone.5 In any case, not all jour­ nals are English. Caribbean Studies is bilingual (English/Spanish), as are Homines and the Revista/Review lnteramericana. Contributions to the Anales de! Caribe are mainly in Spanish; however, an increasing number of articles is published in English or French. El Caribe Contemporaneo and Del Caribe are in Spanish. In a recent issue of the NWIG, Charles V. Carnegie (1992) presented a thorough analysis of Social and Economic Studies from the 1950s through the 1980s, indicating the journal's consistent "provincialism of language," i.e. its near absolute focus on the Commonwealth Caribbean. Moreover, he demonstrated an increasing and finally overwhelming emphasis on eco­ nomics, political science, and sociology at the expense of anthropology, cul­ ture, and history. Even a superficial comparison to other journals suggests several parallels, besides significant contrasts. Regional bias characterizes most Caribbean journals. In the preface to its first issue (1980), the Ana/es de! Caribe claimed to be "among the first publi­ cations specializing in the Caribbean and covering a vast thematic and geo­ graphic spectrum."6 The need for such a pan-Caribbean journal was obvious indeed, but the practice remained rather different for most journals. Today, the Journal of Caribbean History, like Social and Economic Studies, contin­ ues to devote the greater part of its articles to the Anglophone Caribbean. And true to their institutional base, Caribbean Studies, Homines, and Revista/Review Interamericana have traditionally featured Puerto Rico as the most extensively discussed island, even if efforts have been made to widen the regional scope. E.g., Caribbean Studies has devoted a consid­ erable number of articles to the Commonwealth Caribbean and, of course, Cuba and the Dominican Republic; only the former French and Dutch colo- Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 06:09:01PM via free access 6 GERT O0STINDIE nies were poorly represented.7 The break with the traditional parochialism is most evident in the Anales de! Caribe, Callaloo, El Caribe Contempora­ neo, the Journal of Caribbean Studies, and the NWIG. These journals cover all linguistic and cultural subregions of the Caribbean. The journals aiming for a wider Caribbean focus tend also to incorporate various disciplinary perspectives. Caribbean Studies, the Journal of Carib­ bean Studies, Homines, and the Revista/Review Interamericana all publish on a broad array of subjects, from economics through political science to literature. El Caribe Contempordneo specializes in the social sciences. The Ana/es de! Caribe is explicitly devoted to the arts and history, avoiding poli­ tics and economics. Callaloo and Caribbean Quarterly, finally, emphasize Caribbean cultures and particularly literature.8 How may we characterize the NWIG as it developed over the decade sum­ marized in this Index? Programmatically, as an English-language journal striving for a pan-Caribbean and interdisciplinary perspective. In practice, the journal's articles' section still underrepresents the Spanish Caribbean and Hai:ti, as well as the disciplinary fields of contemporary economics and political science. The review section, in contrast, has over the past years developed into the world's most complete review of books covering all parts of the region and all disciplines of Caribbean studies. Concerted efforts are being made today by the editors of the NWIG to further develop the jour­ nal's interdisciplinary and pan-Caribbean character. However, rather than dwelling on these editorial policies here, it seems fitting to retrace the pedi­ gree of the journal to its early colonial origins, and to chart the subsequent metamorphoses. In order to do so, we may best begin by returning for a moment to 1919. Even though the Dutch are recently devoting more attention lo the Dutch East Indies. the Dutch West Indies still hardly get any attention at all. Yet our West Indian colonies need and deserve full attention from the Dutch people. The Netherlands are in duty bound to the West Indies as well as to the East Indies, a duty from which we Dutchmen should not withdraw.
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