The Caribbean Philosophical Association
- LAST REVIEWED: 28 October 2011
- LAST MODIFIED: 28 October 2011
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199766581-0024
- LAST REVIEWED: 28 October 2011
- LAST MODIFIED: 28 October 2011
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199766581-0024
Introduction
The Caribbean Philosophical Association (CPA) is an organization of scholars and lay-intellectuals dedicated to the study and generation of ideas with emphasis on encouraging South–South dialogue. The CPA was founded on 14 June 2002 at the Center for Caribbean Thought at the University of the West Indies at Mona, Jamaica, after a major conference dedicated to the work of Jamaican novelist, literary critic, and theorist Sylvia Wynter. This event was one of a series of exchanges and collaborations among a group of Caribbean scholars teaching at the University of the West Indies and intellectuals of the Caribbean diaspora teaching in universities in the United States. The CPA has an executive board and secretaries who cover different areas of scholarship, regions of the Caribbean, and exchanges with other regions. Although the focus is on engaging philosophy and critical thought that emerges in the Caribbean, membership is not limited exclusively to scholars with degrees in philosophy, and any region and historic moment can be subject of the exchange of ideas. In similar kind, anyone with an interest in engaging ideas and playing a role in the development of new ideas can become a member. The principal goal of the CPA is to “shift the geography of reason,” by which it means approaching the Caribbean and the “global south” in general as zones of sustainable practices, sources, and producers of knowledge. This includes South–South exchanges, including the South in the North, analyses and critiques of multiple expressions of the legacy of slavery and global coloniality, and critical and creative engagements with mainstream and marginalized theories and forms of knowledge. Finally, though not exhaustively, the CPA is also dedicated to assisting with the development of institutions that will preserve thought in the Caribbean and cultivate new ideas. The following is a selection of texts that either established the case of a need for an organization such as the CPA, emerged in or benefitted from discussions among members of the CPA and in CPA meetings, or exemplified important sources for themes that are central to the CPA.
General Overviews
The CPA has particular strengths on Anglophone, Francophone, and Hispanophone Caribbean philosophy, more or less in that order, as this bibliography itself attests. Major areas of emphasis are Afro-Caribbean and Africana philosophy; see Henry 2000 and Gordon 2008. The authors are both founding members of the association, and Gordon was voted as its first president. While Henry 2000 offers a typology to understand the work of various important and influential Anglophone and Francophone Caribbean thinkers, Gordon 2008 provides an overview of philosophers from Africa and its diasporas in the Caribbean and the United States. Sharpley-Whiting 2002 focuses on the contributions of women intellectuals in the “négritude” movement and contains primary sources in translation. Torres-Saillant 2006 departs from the focus on the African diaspora per se and focuses on constructions of and responses to demeaning views of the Caribbean. It also tackles questions about the practice of theory and leadership in colonial contexts. Lewis 1983 is a classic in the field and traces the main political ideologies in the region from 1492 to 1900. Rojas Osorio 1997 focuses on the positivism and utilitarianism that was predominant in the 19th and parts of the 20th century in the Hispanic Caribbean. He focuses on territories that include parts of Central America and specific authors from those regions. One of the challenges of the CPA is to establish more connections with the Dutch- and Papiamento-speaking Caribbean. It currently has linkages with the National Institute for the Study of Dutch Slavery (NiNsee) and its legacy in the Netherlands and is in the process of working on translations that will facilitate the introduction of ideas from the Dutch- and Papiamento-speaking Caribbean to discussions and debates in the association.
Gordon, Lewis. An Introduction to Africana Philosophy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Introduces Africana philosophy by interrogating the meaning of philosophy and its exploration in the African diasporic context. Along with extensive analysis of figures such as W. E. B. Du Bois, Franz Fanon, and Anna Julia Cooper, it provides subtle overviews of Afro-Caribbean philosophy, African philosophy, African American philosophy, and influential Africana philosophical schools of thought in the United States and Britain.
Henry, Paget. Caliban’s Reason: Introducing Afro-Caribbean Philosophy. New York: Routledge, 2000.
Through an act of historical recovery and theoretical sophistication, this book identifies and brings to light the often hidden tradition of Afro-Caribbean philosophy. This introduction through careful consideration of Afro-Caribbean intellectual responses to colonialism locates Afro-Caribbean philosophy in literary criticism, psychoanalysis, history, poetry, and other endeavors that challenged the presuppositions of colonialism and its theoretical and material apparatuses.
Lewis, Gordon K. Main Currents in Caribbean Thought: The Historical Evolution of Caribbean Society in Its Ideological Aspects, 1492–1900. Johns Hopkins Studies in Atlantic History and Culture. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983.
Substantial overview of dominant political ideologies in the Caribbean. Focuses on ideas of discovery and conquest as well as on critical responses to them, proslavery and antislavery ideologies, and the growth of nationalism in the region.
Rojas Osorio, Carlos. Filosofía moderna en el Caribe hispano. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1997.
Overview of positivism and utilitarianism in the continental and insular Caribbean in the 19th and part of the 20th centuries. Useful introduction to myriad of thinkers, their major works, and contributions in ethics, aesthetics, politics, and epistemology, among other areas.
Sharpley-Whiting, T. Denean. Negritude Women. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2002.
Discusses the contributions of women to the negritude movement. Intervening in the movement’s predominantly masculine genealogy, it includes in-depth discussions of works by Lascacade, the Nardal sisters, and Roussy-Césaire. A welcomed deepening of the intellectual history of the negritude movement, this book is valuable for scholars who study gender, social movements, literature, and intellectual traditions in the African diaspora.
Torres-Saillant, Silvio. An Intellectual History of the Caribbean. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.
This text examines writings by both Caribbean scholars and non-Caribbean writers that have influenced its culture and cultural production. A prominent theme is the challenge created by the perceived epistemic status of the Caribbean, which implies the lack of legitimacy to produce knowledge about itself and others. Investigates the art, literature, and thought produced in Caribbean regions at the same time that it problematizes Western conceptual frameworks.
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login.
How to Subscribe
Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here.
Article
- Abolition
- Abortion and Infanticide
- African-Descent Women in Colonial Latin America
- Agricultural Technologies
- Alcohol Use
- Ancient Andean Textiles
- Andean Contributions to Rethinking the State and the Natio...
- Andean Music
- Andean Social Movements (Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru)
- Anti-Asian Racism
- Antislavery Narratives
- Arab Diaspora in Brazil, The
- Arab Diaspora in Latin America, The
- Argentina in the Era of Mass Immigration
- Argentina, Slavery in
- Argentine Literature
- Army of Chile in the 19th Century
- Asian Art and Its Impact in the Americas, 1565–1840
- Asian-Peruvian Literature
- Asunción
- Atlantic Creoles
- Baroque and Neo-baroque Literary Tradition
- Beauty in Latin America
- Bello, Andrés
- Black Experience in Colonial Latin America, The
- Black Experience in Modern Latin America, The
- Body, The
- Bogotá
- Bolaño, Roberto
- Borderlands in Latin America, Conquest of
- Borges, Jorge Luis
- Bourbon Reforms, The
- Brazilian Northeast, History of the
- Brazilian Popular Music, Performance, and Culture
- Buenos Aires
- Cali
- California Missions, The
- Caracas
- Caribbean Philosophical Association, The
- Caribbean, The Archaeology of the
- Cartagena de Indias
- Caste War of Yucatán, The
- Caudillos, 19th Century
- Cádiz Constitution and Liberalism, The
- Central America, The Archaeology of
- Chaco War
- Children, History of
- Chile's Struggle for Independence
- Chronicle, The
- Church in Colonial Latin America, The
- Chávez, Hugo, and the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela
- Cinema, Contemporary Brazilian
- Cinema, Latin American
- Colonial Central America
- Colonial Latin America, Crime and Punishment in
- Colonial Latin America, Pilgrimage in
- Colonial Legal History of Peru
- Colonial Lima
- Colonial New Granada
- Colonial Portuguese Amazon Region, from the 17th to 18th C...
- Comics, Cartoons, Graphic Novels
- Contemporary Indigenous Film and Video Production
- Contemporary Indigenous Social and Political Thought
- Contemporary Maya, The
- Cortés, Hernán
- Costa Rica
- Cárdenas and Cardenismo
- Cuban Revolution, The
- de Alva Ixtlilxochitl, Fernando
- Dependency Theory in Latin American History
- Development of Architecture in New Spain, 1500–1810, The
- Development of Painting in Peru, 1520–1820, The
- Disability
- Drug Trades in Latin America
- Dutch in South America and the Caribbean, The
- Early Colonial Forms of Native Expression in Mexico and Pe...
- Economies from Independence to Industrialization
- Ecuador
- Ecuador, La Generación del 30 in
- Education in New Spain
- El Salvador
- Enlightenment and its Visual Manifestations in Spanish Ame...
- Environmental History
- Era of Porfirio Díaz, 1876–1911, The
- Family History
- Film, Science Fiction
- Football (Soccer) in Latin America
- Franciscans in Colonial Latin America
- From "National Culture" to the "National Popular" and the ...
- Gaucho Literature
- Gender and History in the Andes
- Gender during the Period of Latin American Independence
- Gender in Colonial Brazil
- Gender in Postcolonial Latin America
- Gentrification in Latin America
- Guaman Poma de Ayala, Felipe
- Guaraní and Their Legacy, The
- Guatemala and Yucatan, Conquest of
- Guatemala City
- Guatemala (Colonial Period)
- Guatemala (Modern & National Period)
- Haitian Revolution, The
- Havana
- Health and Disease in Modern Latin America, History of
- History, Cultural
- History, Food
- History of Health and Disease in Latin America and the Car...
- Honor in Latin America to 1900
- Honor in Mexican Public Life
- Horror in Literature and Film in Latin America
- Hospitals
- Human Rights in Latin America
- Immigration in Latin America
- Independence in Argentina
- Indigenous Borderlands in Colonial and 19th-Century Latin ...
- Indigenous Elites in the Colonial Andes
- Indigenous Peoples of the Andean Region during the Colonia...
- Indigenous Population and Justice System in Central Mexico...
- Indigenous Voices in Literature
- Japanese Presence in Latin America
- Jesuits in Colonial Latin America
- Jewish Presence in Latin America, The
- José María Arguedas and Early 21st Century Cultural and Po...
- Las Casas, Bartolomé de
- Latin American Independence
- Latin American Multispecies Studies
- Latin American Theater and Performance
- Latin American Urbanism, 1850-1950
- Law and Society in Latin America since 1800
- Legal History of New Spain, 16th-17th Centuries
- Legal History of the State and Church in 18th Century New ...
- LGBT Literature
- Literature, Argentinian
- Machado de Assis
- Magical Realism
- Maroon Societies in Latin America
- Marriage in Colonial Latin America
- Martí, José, and Cuba
- Menchú, Rigoberta
- Mesoamerica, The Archaeology of
- Mestizaje and the Legacy of José María Arguedas
- Mexican Nationalism
- Mexican Revolution, 1910–1940, The
- Mexican-US Relations
- Mexico, Conquest of
- Mexico, Education in
- Mexico, Health Care in 20th-Century
- Migration to the United States
- Military and Modern Latin America, The
- Military Government in Latin America, 1959–1990
- Military Institution in Colonial Latin America, The
- Mining
- Mining Extraction in Latin America
- Modern Decorative Arts and Design, 1900–2000
- Modern Populism in Latin America
- Modernity and Decoloniality
- Montevideo
- Music in Colonial Latin America
- Musical Tradition in Latin America, The
- Mystics and Mysticism
- Native Presence in Postconquest Central Peru
- Natural Disasters in Early Modern Latin America
- Neoliberalism
- Neruda, Pablo
- New Conquest History and the New Philology in Colonial Mes...
- New Left in Latin America, The
- Novel, Chronology of the Venezuelan
- Novel of the Mexican Revolution, The
- Novel, 19th Century Haitian
- Novel, The Colombian
- Nuns and Convents in Colonial Latin America
- Oaxaca, Conquest and Colonial
- Ortega, José y Gasset
- Painting in New Spain, 1521–1820
- Paraguay
- Paraguayan War (War of the Triple Alliance)
- Pastoralism in the Andes
- Paz, Octavio
- Perón and Peronism
- Peru, Colonial
- Peru, Conquest of
- Peru, Slavery in
- Philippines Under Spanish Rule, 1571-1898
- Photography in the History of Race and Nation
- Piracy
- Political Exile in Latin America
- Ponce de León
- Popular Culture and Globalization
- Popular Movements in 19th-Century Latin America
- Portuguese-Spanish Interactions in Colonial South America
- Post Conquest Aztecs
- Post-Conquest Demographic Collapse
- Poverty in Latin America
- Preconquest Incas
- Pre-conquest Mesoamerican States, The
- Pre-Revolutionary Mexico, State and Nation Formation in
- Printing and the Book
- Prints and the Circulation of Colonial Images
- Protestantism in Latin America
- Puerto Rican Literature
- Quipu
- Religions in Latin America
- Revolution and Reaction in Central America
- Rosas, Juan Manuel de
- Sandinista Revolution and the FSLN, The
- Santo Domingo
- Science and Empire in the Iberian Atlantic
- Science and Technology in Modern Latin America
- Sephardic Culture
- Sexualities in Latin America and the Caribbean
- Slavery in Brazil
- São Paulo
- South American Dirty Wars
- South American Missions
- Spanish American Arab Literature
- Spanish and Portuguese Trade, 1500–1750
- Spanish Caribbean In The Colonial Period, The
- Spanish Colonial Decorative Arts, 1500-1825
- Spanish Florida
- Spanish Pacific, The
- Spiritual Conquest of Latin America, The
- Sports in Latin America and the Caribbean
- Studies on Academic Literacies in Spanish-Speaking Latin A...
- Telenovelas and Melodrama in Latin America
- Textile Traditions of the Andes
- 19th Century and Modernismo Poetry in Spanish America
- 20th-Century Mexico, Mass Media and Consumer Culture in
- 16th-Century New Spain
- Tourism in Modern Latin America
- Transculturation and Literature
- Trujillo, Rafael
- Tupac Amaru Rebellion, The
- United States and Castro's Cuba in the Cold War, The
- United States and the Guatemalan Revolution, The
- United States Invasion of the Dominican Republic, 1961–196...
- Urban History
- Urbanization in the 20th Century, Latin America’s
- Uruguay
- US–Latin American Relations during the Cold War
- Vargas, Getúlio
- Venezuela
- Venezuelan Literature
- Women and Labor in 20th-Century Latin America
- Women in Colonial Latin American History
- Women in Modern Latin American History
- Women's Property Rights, Asset Ownership, and Wealth in La...
- World War I in Latin America
- Zapatista Rebellion in Chiapas