The Empowering Impulse

In Barbados, national identity emerged in response to economic, political and cultural forms of domination. This text shows how Barbadian attitudes and modes of behaviour have been shaped by class rule and hegemony, state policy, public institutions and class resistance.

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The Empowering Impulse is a significant contribution to the historiography of Barbados and will inform discourses on Barbadian nationalism. In Barbados, as elsewhere in the Caribbean, national identity historically emerged in response to economic, political and cultural forms of domination. The authors of these chapters proffer comments on how Barbadian attitudes and modes of behaviour have been shaped by class rule and hegemony, state policy, public institutions, and class resistance. The book makes available data on the Barbadian nationalist enterprise, with the hope that it will stimulate more research by other historians, social scientists and social commentators on the issues addressed in the work.