ABSTRACT
Compared to most of the nations just cited, the small nations of the Caribbean have experienced relatively little in the way of serious and sustained ethnic conflict. For the fact of the matter is that with the passing years ethnicity seems to be emerging as an ever more salient feature of national and international politics, probably a cause of more strife and disunity than any other element in human social organization. Any sustained expressions of ethnicity extending beyond those judged to be essentially harmless “cultural” activities are perceived as threats to national identity and may be vigorously repressed. Ethnic boundaries in the Caribbean are defined by Black identity and its counterparts, most particularly White and East Indian, but the meanings of affiliation in these domains vary significantly. Many progressive Blacks in Trinidad and Guyana especially would undoubtedly welcome East Indians who made the same kind of decision—who opted, that is, for Black identity as affirmation of a political stance.
