Non-Sovereign Futures

In this book anthropologist Yarimar Bonilla examines labor activism in Guadeloupe as it sheds light on issues of colonialism and sovereignty. Specifically, she shows how Guadeloupean workers use ideas from anti-colonial resistance movements as part of their strategy to promote workers rights. She shows how concepts such as "marronage" or the legacy of the Caribbean rebel slave are worked into contemporary labor union discourse in order to develop a new, Guadeloupean political consciousness. Bonilla calls for a reevaluation of contemporary political theorizing about the Caribbean and suggests that her model of a non-sovereign future calls into question the idea that political entities like Guadeloupe are exceptional; rather, she argues, that notions of political sovereignty are deeply problematic, especially in the Caribbean with its long history of European and U.S. domination. Combining rigorous ethnographic research with a careful critique of so-called postcolonial sovereignty, Bonilla sets the standard for future anthropological work in Caribbean societies."