Consuming the Caribbean: From Arawaks to Zombies (International Library of Sociology) [Paperback]

Mimi Sheller (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415257603 | ISBN-13: 978-0415257602 | Publication Date: April 13, 2003 | Edition: 1

From sugar to indentured labourers, tobacco to reggae music, Europe and North America have been relentlessly consuming the Caribbean and its assets for the past five hundred years. In this fascinating book, Mimi Sheller explores this troublesome history, investigating the complex mobilities of producers and consumers, of material and cultural commodities, including:

• foodstuffs and stimulants - sugar, fruit, coffee and rum
• human bodies - slaves, indentured labourers and service workers
• cultural and knowledge products - texts, music, scientific collections and ethnology
• entire 'natures' and landscapes consumed by tourists as tropical paradise.

Consuming the Caribbean demonstrates how colonial exploitation of the Caribbean led directly to contemporary forms of consumption of the region and its products. It calls into question innocent indulgence in the pleasures of thoughtless consumption and calls for a global ethics of consumer responsibility.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'This is a stunning book! It is beautifully reasoned and well-documented and demonstrates Sheller's mastery of her material, but it is much more. It is original in its approach ... and above all, it is elegantly and sensitively written.' - Janet Abu Lughod, New School of Social Research, USA

'Beautifully written, clearly argued and well exemplified, Consuming the Caribbean illustrates the importance of historically embedded and geographically extensive narratives of interconnection in helping to foster more ethical global relationships. My hope is that the book will serve to encourage greater reflexitiviy among both those who work on the Caribbean region and those who do not, but imagine that it must be 'fun' to do so. Consuming the Caribbean is a wonderful book that deserves considerable attention from geographers.' - Cultural Geographies

'Sheller tracks some of the transatlantic pathways of people, goods, images and ideas, and in so doing unearths a number of links between - as it were - then and now' -British Bulletin of Publications

About the Author

Mimi Sheller is a Lecturer in Sociology at Lancaster University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (April 13, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415257603
• ISBN-13: 978-0415257602
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #629,544 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very academic but throughtful and sophisticated, November 6, 2007

By 

Richard R. Wilk (Bloomington, IN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Consuming the Caribbean: From Arawaks to Zombies (International Library of Sociology) (Paperback)

This book breaks new ground by asking how the Caribbean has been created as an imaginary place, a commoditized image in he minds of the outside world, over the centuries since the islands were first plundered and looted by European adventurers. The paradox is that a part of the world which has been the scene of horrible and brutal genocide, followed by centuries of slavery and colonial exploitation, has developed a public image as an innocent island playground, full of sun & fun.

At times the prose is a bit heavy, and the usual array of thick French theorists are paraded through the streets, like an academic carnival. There is nothing particularly unexpected if you know the literature on the region. I would not recommend this as an introduction to the sociology of the Caribbean, but it should be required reading in any advanced course on the area, and it would be useful to read it along with some books on Hawaii, Bali, Israel and Rome to see how identity and tourism have intersected in different ways along different historical trajectories.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lost in America's shadow, December 6, 2006

By 

Newton Ooi (Phoenix, Arizona United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Consuming the Caribbean: From Arawaks to Zombies (International Library of Sociology) (Hardcover)

The island nations of the Caribbean Sea share an awkward relationship with the USA, and one that is an extension of the former's relationship with European colonial powers. The primary theme that runs thru this history is consumption; specifically the consumption of goods, people, and the environment of the Caribbean by white outsiders. Starting with the initial encounters of Columbus and the spaniards, and progressing thru the dictates of the United Fruit Company and tour companies, this book examines the economic relationship between the Caribbean and outside powers.

The book is divided into several chapters, and each focuses on one theme of this relationship. One chapter examines the natural goods originating in the Caribbean that have been exploited for foreign consumption, to the point that many Caribbean nations cannot feed themselves with the food they grow. Another chapter looks at how colonial and now Western economic policies have created a social structure that destroyed the local natives, and replaced them with a mix of black slaves and their descendants, creoles, and mulattoes; all living in poverty. All of this benefitted the European and American consumer. Another chapter examines the images of the Caribbean, and how they have been formed and transformed to suit the needs of Westerners, whether they be cruise lines, hotel companies, or fruit companies.

The book itself is not too long, but the text is quite condensed with lots of references. The subject matter is a conglomeration of history, economics, sociology, and geography. The topic is interesting, and the approach is innovative. A warning though, the book assumes the reader has some initial historical knowledge of the Caribbean from the 1500's onwards. Overall, a good read but not great.