Document Type
Dissertation
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Major/Program
History
First Advisor's Name
Okezi Otovo
First Advisor's Committee Title
Committee Chair
Second Advisor's Name
Jessica Adler
Second Advisor's Committee Title
Committee Member
Third Advisor's Name
Alexandra Cornelius
Third Advisor's Committee Title
Committee Member
Fourth Advisor's Name
Andrea Queeley
Fourth Advisor's Committee Title
Committee Member
Keywords
20th Century, Race, Colonialism, Eugenics, Science, British Caribbean, Jamaica, Trinidad, Academia
Date of Defense
11-2-2018
Abstract
This dissertation explores the intellectual discourse on race in the early twentieth century, particularly from 1919 to 1958, examining how British and American eugenicists and Caribbean nationalists debated the limits of colonial politics in the British Caribbean using academic and scientific language. These discussions emerged in the aftermath of World War I, the economic crises that led to the Great Depression, the political and labor unrest in the British Caribbean, and consequences of the Second World War. The dissertation’s goal is to examine how residents of the British Caribbean understood, appropriated, and challenged some of the principles of eugenics, particularly those espousing ideas of white superiority. The dissertation has taken great consideration of both private and published sources from white and black intellectuals in the Anglophone Caribbean to document the dissemination of concepts of race, ethnicity, and identity in the region during the interwar period. Additionally, focusing on such critical areas as education and social policies, it explores whether eugenic ideas influenced the twentieth-century governance of British West Indian colonies.
Identifier
FIDC007008
ORCID
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2630-311X
Recommended Citation
Davis, Christopher Anderson, "The Racial Equation: Pan-Atlantic Eugenics, Race, And Colonialism in the Early Twentieth Century British Caribbean" (2018). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 3899.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/3899
Included in
Caribbean Languages and Societies Commons, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Commons, Intellectual History Commons, Other History Commons, Political History Commons, Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons
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