| Publication |
2007.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Decolonization in the British West Indies involved tensions over the intersection of nationhood, race, and politics as well as disagreements (across race and class) over the extent to which colonies should extract themselves from ties to the metropole. These issues were evident in an extended 1957 sugar workers' strike in St. Lucia. The event brought predominantly European plantation employers and Afro-St. Lucian middle-class trade unionists and political activists to the negotiating table. Four days of labor talks revealed a layered debate not merely about wages and work conditions on sugar estates. Although not overtly stated, the debate also concerned the process of achieving internal self-government on the island, and negotiating social and geographical boundaries of the emerging nation
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