faculty member contributes to new book on aspects of the african diaspora from latin america

ronald harpelle's latest publication "transplanted west indians: forgotten people on the western shores of the caribbean sea” appears in the book another black like me: the construction of identities and solidarity in the african diaspora. the book explores the complexities of the lives of black people over various periods of history, as they struggled to build lives away from africa in societies that, in general, denied them the basic right of fully belonging, such as the right of fully belonging in the countries where, by choice or force of circumstance, they lived.

ronald harpelle's contribution is a survey of west indian immigration and settlement in central america. the migration to the central american isthmus began in 1850 with the construction of the panama railroad and it all but ended in the 1920s and 1930s, when factors like the end of the major construction projects, political agitation by hispanic central american nationalists, and the onset of great depression closed what were once open doors to foreign labour. french attempts to construct the panama canal in the 1880s and 1890s attracted labourers from across the caribbean, as did the u.s. phase which lasted from 1904 to 1914. throughout central america, railways, along with opportunities in and around the banana and mining industries, and access to land attracted many thousands more in the same period. most of those who ventured to the region moved on in search of greener pastures elsewhere when employment opportunities dried up, but hundreds of communities were built along the coast from panama to belize and they are still home to many thousands of people of west indian descent.

more information about the collectoon can be found at http://www.cambridgescholars.com/another-black-like-me