An Unconquerable Spirit

Description

Helen Francis-Seaman’s seminal study details the history of resistance to settler colonialism demonstrated by the Kalinago, Garifuna and Maroon communities in Dominica, St Vincent and other Eastern Caribbean countries appropriately depicted in the title An Unconquerable Spirit. Following the arrival of Christopher Colombus in 1492 and the subsequent genocide of the Arawakan communities (Tainos) and the marginalisation of other indigenous ethnic groups of the Caribbean, Francis-Seaman describes the nuanced political and militaristic actions taken by the Kalinagos and other indigenous communities as they fought to retain their culture and right to the land. Treaties, landownership, and firsthand accounts of the events after 1492 are examined, exposing not only the physical violence they endured but also the internal displacement and other strategies of colonialism that are still affecting these populations today.

For over 500 years, the Kalinago, Garifuna and Maroon communities have had to navigate the pseudo-scientific racial caste system imposed by imperialist nations mainly Britain and France. This book re-frames the deep-rooted falsehoods of Caribbean historiography concerning the encounters between Europeans and the indigenous communities of the Eastern Caribbean. Helen Francis-Seaman finally tells the stories of these unsung heroes without the burden of traditional imperialist history.