Eric Williams and the anti-colonial tradition : the making of a diasporan intellectual

A leader in the social movement that achieved Trinidad and Tobago’s independence from Britain in 1962, Eric Williams (1911–1981) served as its first prime minister. Although much has been written about Williams as a historian and a politician, Maurice St. Pierre is the first to offer a full-length treatment of him as an intellectual. St. Pierre focuses on Williams's role not only in challenging the colonial exploitation of Trinbagonians but also in seeking to educate and mobilize them in an effort to generate a collective identity in the struggle for independence. Drawing on extensive archival research and using a conflated theoretical framework, the author offers a portrait of Williams that shows how his experiences in Trinidad, England, and America radicalized him and how his relationships with other Caribbean intellectuals―along with Aimé Césaire in Martinique, Juan Bosch in the Dominican Republic, George Lamming of Barbados, and Frantz Fanon from Martinique―enabled him to seize opportunities for social change and make a significant contribution to Caribbean epistemology. Contents Acknowledgments Introduction 1 Colonialism in Early Twentieth-CenturyTrinidad and Tobago: The Construction of a SociallyDishonored Status 2 Life Abroad: The Academic Intellectual and theStruggle for Credentialism 3 The Native Son Returns: The Public Intellectual andthe Quest for Credibility 4 In Search of Relevance: The “University of WoodfordSquare” and the Political Party Paper 5 Exploiting the Political-Opportunity Structure: TheEmergence of the People’s National Movement Party 6 From Pedantic Visionary to Elected Politician 7 The Bachacs Confront the “Hydra-Head” ofColonialism: The American Presence in Trinidadand Tobago 8 Caliban and the Anticolonial Tradition Afterword: The Head That Wears the CrownLies Uneasy Notes Selected Bibliography Index