Recent discussion of postmodern culture describes a movement from center to periphery, privileging cultures that were formerly marginalized. Women and Change in the Caribbean, a study of women marginalized by both gender and race in a region such as the Caribbean—itself marginalized in global terms—attempts to extract insights relevant both within and beyond geographical confines. This volume offers a feminist interpretation of a multicultural society emerging from colonialism and in the process of change and restructuring. The nineteen chapters include case studies of fifteen different Caribbean territories including Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados, Puerto Rico, Grenada, and Guyana. The book is divided into two sections: the first looks at women's status and gender relations in the private and public spheres; the second looks at women's economic activity. Taking a broad pan-Caribbean comparative view contributors discuss territories with American, British, Dutch, Danish, French, and Spanish colonial traditions and current political links. The contributors come from a range of disciplinary backgrounds including agriculture, anthropology, economics, geography, history, sociology, and women's studies.

A collection of essays by a number of outstanding women of the Caribbean on the situation of women in the region, in the period since the Beijing Conference of 1995. Examining a range of issues including education, poverty, decision-making, and violence, the authors expose continuing burdens and disadvantages faced by women.

"This is a very exciting collection that will fill an important gap in what has emerged in comparative studies of women and Latin American democracies. Maier and Lebon provide provocative overview essays, and the chapters trace a range of cases from Argentina and Brazil to Nicaragua and Venezuela, showing how institutions. leaders and culture all shape the opportunities and challenges women face."---Jane Jaquette, editor of Feminist Agendas and Democracy in Latin America --

This volume represents more than just a collection of chapters and bibliographic sources. For us, it provides another example of collective solidarity, hard work, and a relentless commitment to contribute to the process of advancing and transforming knowledge about women's condition. It attempts to update and assess how scholarship on women has impacted different disciplines and fields and examines the multivariate conditions and responses to immediate and long-term realities generated by women from different LatinAmerican and Caribbean countries. The editors hope that this publication, modest as it may be, will be a useful tool to other researchers, educators, and students in their efforts at pursuing and expanding the knowledge and visions that will make our different societies more just and liberating for all their citizens.

" Sánchez Korrol considers the shifts in women's roles between the 1880s and 1930s and accompanying societal transformations.