The Anglo Caribbean refers to the former British colonies of the Caribbean region. They are English - speaking countries. The Anglophone Caribbean was colonized by the United Kingdom. Colonialism has left its lasting mark on the Caribbean states in terms of race and social stratification. The Caribbean society is full of class consciousness and struggle is always defined by race. The Caribbean is identified by whites, Blacks and Brown. Beside race, an individual’s social beliefs and cultural associations define classification.
Fifty years after independence hostility still exists between the browns and blacks who were oppressed during colonial times. One of the pioneers of Black Nationalist movement, Marcus Garvey pointed out that an attitude of jealously and inferiority holds them back from being empowered (John, McLeod, 2007:1-10).
Decolonization process refers to the undoing of colonialism. The process of decolonization is related to the historiography of decolonization. The epoch of decolonization is divided in three phases. The first phase corresponds to the period prior to 1930’s. It is the time where there was slow movement towards more representative government.
The second phase was between 1934-1962 when the labor rebellions put democracy and set government on the agenda and the process of constitutional decolonization developed. While the third phase, of decolonization, was between 1962-1980’s during which all colonies gained independence from the United Kingdom. The decolonization process in Caribbean has been uneven, therefore, resulting in subdivision of the territories into two, broader categories that are Aricom states and Semi independent states of Haiti. (John, McLeod, 2000:25-56)
Economically, Caribbean is almost totally dependent on foreign aid, corporate capital and technology especially from USA. Majority of the states continues to languish in poverty. Poverty in this region has been caused by the inheritance of the colonial economic policy. They inherited the plantation farming which is believed to be the genesis of their problems. The plantation economy has left the countries under-developed, dependent, and flattering on the edge of the capitalist system. The prices of raw materials are always determined in the world market hence the region has got no say on its products that fetch very little.
The road to decolonization is not easy. Apart from the flag independence, the Anglo Caribbean has achieved very little in terms of decolonization. The process of decolonization must go beyond political decolonization. Social and economic decolonization is important because the region is not yet economical independent.
WORK CITED
John, McLeod Rout ledge companion to postcolonial studies. New York: Routledge, 2007.
John McLeod Beginning post colonialism. Manchester University Press, 2000
