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During independence negotiations in British Guiana, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago, the debate about bills of rights did not focus on the merits of bills of rights in protecting the rights of individuals but on their capacity to entrench in the constitution the basic democratic features of the Westminster system of government. There was great apprehension about independence from groups that had different views from the party likely to be in government during the transfer of power. One approach taken by such groups was to try to lock in the constitutional status quo and therefore minimize the political uncertainty after independence. The bill of rights was an important component of this entrenchment package. This reflected a major shift in thinking about the use of a bill of rights that did not occur to the same extent in either Asia or Africa.

Hazel Franco braids the many strands of the two islands' (Trinidad and Tobago) folk dance cultures with their histories. She focuses on Afro-Trinidadian dances and their underlying African heritages and various infusions, on Carnival traditions from the balls of French plantation owners to the development of traditional Carnival characters to the mid-20^th century bands of sailors and ship's firemen following steel bands. She notes the different history and dances of Tobago, government innovations like the Best Village competitions, and the black power movement of the 1970s. She charts an arc of choreographers adopting folklore for the stage, with new theatrical fusions from pioneer Beryl McBurnie to Cyril St. Lewis to Astor Johnson.

This chapter discusses the Chaguaramas dispute, the battle with the United States over the return of the land on which the Chaguaramas Naval Station had been constructed to the people of Trinidad and Tobago. When the Standing Federation Committee (SFC) chose the Chaguaramas Naval Station as the site of the capital in Trinidad, Williams undertook an aggressive campaign to reclaim Chaguaramas and oust the Americans, who held a ninety-nine-year lease that they had signed with the British in 1941. Williams argued that the Americans had no moral right to remain in Chaguaramas and that the demand for their evacuation was not driven by anti-American sentiment, indicating he was willing to provide an alternative location in Trinidad.

This chapter describes the rejection of Trinidad and Tobago over the “golden handshake”—that is, the parting gift on the nation's independence from the United Kingdom. The golden handshake was designed to be an expression of Britain's goodwill to the new nation as well as to help the former colony grapple with economic problems. Williams, convinced that Britain should provide a generous golden handshake to his country, provided the United Kingdom with a detailed plan outlining his country's specific needs and the amount of money required to fulfil each objective. However, Britain was unable to provide the kind of financial support he was requesting for the new nation.

This chapter addresses the economics and politics of race in Trinidad and Tobago. It discusses the ethnic diversity of the nation, the evolution of a racialized tone to political culture, racial tensions that manifested themselves in political behavior, and Williams's interest in the roots of racism and its historical links with colonialism and imperialism. The chapter also shows how the language of race became a metaphor for the society's ills.

This chapter analyzes violence against women (VAW) and intimate partner violence (IPV) using contextual factors of intersectionality and familial, political, and sociocultural paradigms as the lens to analyze violence. Targeted evolution of social, cultural, and political frameworks is needed to elevate the status of women in Trinidad and Tobago, educate men and women about violence and IPV, and equip people with tools to break generational cycles of violence. The adverse health effects on women and children who experience violence and IPV are long-lasting and severe. Although the government of Trinidad and Tobago seeks to create policies that combat IPV, changes in attitudes and societal stigma have a stronghold. More grassroots campaigns, bold statements by pop culture, and subsequent sociocultural progression of attitudes toward VAW and IPV are needed to create a culture of consent during Carnival.

In this chapter, Rhoda Reddock analyzes women’s mosque movements globally as a backdrop to a historical exploration of the changing position of women in Islamic religious practice in Trinidad and Tobago during the twentieth and early twenty-first century. With specific emphasis on their use of masjid (mosque) space, t Reddock concludes with three case studies of contemporary negotiations and struggles by women over access to masjid space and the paradoxical way in which restrictions on women’s performance of congregational piety by the new Islamists results in the emergence of a consciousness of resistance and feminist agency within the paradigm of Islam.

This chapter situates Afro-Trinidadian women within the complex ethno-history of the nation and highlights their roles as cultural agents over time. In the Caribbean, the music world and public culture in general has been male-dominated, and for the most part this continues to be the case. In the music scene of Trinidad and Tobago, however, there has been remarkable progress in achieving gender equality within certain expressive realms. Over the course of the cultural history of Trinidad and Tobago, musical practices that were based in communal spaces such as the gayelle and drum dances changed with the emergence of the professional calypsonians and became essentially male-dominated art forms. This chapter examines the ways in which gender and music intersected in Trinidad's cultural history, showing in particular how the prosperity, optimism, and relative liberalism of the 1960s and 1970s set up the conditions for women to (re)emerge in the country's expressive culture.

Leaders of the various islands of the West Indies Federation—Grantley Adams of Barbados, Norman Manley of Jamaica, and Eric Williams of Trinidad and Tobago had fundamental differences over the federation's structure and certain policy issues. Following his announcement in January 1962 that Trinidad would seek independence, Williams invited some of the other islands to join his country in a political union. This chapter describes how Williams undertakes the futile tasks of integrating Grenada into a unitary statehood with Trinidad and Tobago.

This introductory chapter examines Dr. Eric Williams from several perspectives: as a political trailblazer, a charismatic personality, the embodiment of a nation’s aspirations, a social enthusiast, and a complicated man of genius. In illustrating the varied dimensions of both the man and his homeland—Trinidad and Tobago—the chapter also explores the effects of nations’ recent rejection of imperialism (the post-colonial), along with their postmodern and contemporary global participation (the postcolonial). The term post-colonial refers to a country that has recently gained independence from an imperial nation-state, and it implies all the ordeals faced by a newly founded country emerging from under an oppressive power. Meanwhile, postcolonialismimplies more substantial formations of national identities, and has more deterministic political and sociocultural ramifications for nation-states attempting to carve out their own places within global contexts.

This chapter examines the operations of FIFA in the CONCACAF zone. In this regard, it examines three main areas: (i) the use of public or celebrity type diplomacy, courtesy of David Beckham, as part of the English bid to host the 2018 World Cup; (ii) the blurred nature of the distinction between state and non-state actors in the context of Caribbean soccer, given the fact that a former senior vice president of FIFA was also a senior member of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago; and (iii) the implications of this overlap for the workings of the state and the governance of the game. In addition, it is argued that FIFA has practiced a dark form of soccer diplomacy in this area, be it in relation to state or non-state actors, which has been marked by adherence to its “own rules of the game” to the general detriment of the sport.

This introductory chapter briefly discusses an in-depth study of the US Navy Steel Band and its relationship within the scope of two overarching narratives: the development of post-WWII military public relations and recruiting, and American popular culture's fascination with Latin and Caribbean music over the past century. The chapter then explains what a steelpan is, along with the steelband movement in Trinidad and Tobago, and how it impacted the development of steelbands in America. It also explores how the American calypso craze of the late 1950s influenced the formation of the US Navy Steel Band.

This chapter shows how the conceptual distance between the idea of pan as the persecuted invention of poor black people on the one hand, and as the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago on the other, was bridged in the late 1940s and 1950s by intellectuals and steelband supporters who effectively integrated the steelband movement with the nationalist movement. A decisive factor in this integration was middle-class participation in steelbands, which produced a transformation in the social and cultural status of pan that was dramatic not only because of its speed, but also because of the deeply ingrained prejudices and class barriers that were challenged in the process.

This chapter traces the emergence of the Black Power movement in Trinidad and Tobago, arguing that for all its shortcomings, the “February Revolution” of 1970 had a discernible impact on Trinidadian politics, society and development. It examines the emergence of the National Union of Freedom Fighters (NUFF), the effect of the Black Power movement on the country's Indian population, and the response of Prime Minister Eric Williams, showing how he used the revolution to push through long-delayed reforms. The Black Power revolution of 1970 can be seen as part of a longer historical struggle for meaningful emancipation.

This book examines how women became significant contributors to the performance of calypso and soca, as well as the musical development of the steel pan art form, in Trinidad and Tobago. Drawing on the author's fieldwork in Trinidad that began in 1997, the book considers the ways in which the cultural environment of Trinidad and Tobago was making women more visible and audible than at any previous time in its history. It explores the role that women have played in the creation and maintenance of various genres of music and performance contexts; the role of popular culture, especially musical performance, in sustaining Caribbean feminism and related struggles to overcome gender-based oppression; the dimensions and limitations of women's political agency through musical performance in Trinidad; and whether increased access and agency through expressive forms such as popular music improve other domains of life for women.

This chapter focuses on the careers and performance strategies of the three most successful female calypsonians in contemporary Trinidad: Calypso Rose, Singing Sandra, and Denyse Plummer. Each woman has had to overcome the sexism inherent in the Caribbean music scene, as well as the critiques of the media and audiences, in their pursuit of a musical career. They have come to serve as role models for their contemporaries and as cultural ambassadors for the women of Trinidad and Tobago. The chapter examines the career trajectories of Calypso Rose, Singing Sandra, and Denyse Plummer as well as their participation in musical competitions in Trinidad and Tobago, particularly the Calypso Monarch and the Calypso Queen competitions. It also considers the various competitions for calypsonians of all ages in contemporary Trinidad, designed to find the next generation of calypsonians.

As the steelband approached middle age in the 1980s, it was diagnosed with a malady called the “Panorama mentality” or “Panorama syndrome,” which manifested itself as an unhealthy and exclusive obsession with adjudicated competition. Steelband supporters not only mourned the disappearance of pan on the road and in fetes, and complained of formulaic arrangements; they also lamented that Panorama’s technical demands were creating legions of “one-tune panmen” whose musical activity was largely restricted to the task of memorizing a ten-minute arrangement once a year. Such a musical dead end would of course be antithetical to the steelband movement’s spirit of progress and to the ambitions of a new generation of pannists who want to be seen as trained and versatile musicians. This chapter acknowledges some signs of Panorama’s decline, or at least fundamental changes in its cultural role, and discusses alternative models of musicianship that complement or compete with Panorama.