Abstract
The historiography of the West Indian Federation largely reflects the top–down approach that characterized its implementation. Scholars have focused chiefly on the roles and perspectives of political elites, namely colonial officials, political leaders, other politicians and top civil servants, while the masses have been given short shrift. Through an analysis of personal interviews, letters to the editor, editorial cartoons and articles found in contemporary newspapers, literary works and calypsoes, this chapter begins to insert a ‘history from below’ perspective in the historiography of the West Indian Federation. Popular perspectives in Trinidad show great interest but also great scepticism in this grand attempt to integrate the Caribbean.
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Peters, D. (2017). The Masses Speak: Popular Perspectives on the West Indian Federation. In: Pantin, S., Teelucksingh, J. (eds) Ideology, Regionalism, and Society in Caribbean History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61418-2_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61418-2_2
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