Description

pp. 285, b/w photographs, “Part ethnography, part oral history, and part autobiography, this book explores the reinterpretation of Martinique’s history through the personal and collective memory of several generations of its inhabitants. Price (history and anthropology, Coll. of William and Mary) brilliantly weaves together archival material, interviews, and long-term ethnography to describe the political corruption that led to the 1925 election-day massacre of ten people, including one of the candidates. In the second and third chapters, Price draws on similar sources to tell the story of Medard Aribot, a “Robin Hood” folk artist who lives in a cave and is later banished to Devil’s Island penal colony for “impertinence.” We also read Price’s own story, that of a young anthropologist who first began fieldwork in Martinique in 1962 and who witnessed the modernization of the island and its people. Throughout his engrossing narrative, Price reminds us that historical events are constantly reinvented and that the failing memories of subsequent generations may often turn history into legend and folklore. This book reads like a novel and is required for anyone interested in Caribbean studies”