Beyond Boundaries

Beyond Boundaries

Selwyn R Cudjoe, Calaloux publication, P.O. Box 429, Amherst, MA 01004 www.umass.edu/umpress 2003 ISBN 1-55849-318-2. TT$ 250. Paper back.

Beyod Boundaires: The intellectual tradition of Trinidad & Tobago in the 19th century written by professor Selwyn R. Cudjoe showcases a series of prose gathered together as profound evidence refuting the idea that we supposedly lack a distinct erudite “Trini” ethos. Professor Cudjoe its author, famous for his work in the area of Caribbean literature and Caribbean intellectual history, is a professor of Africana Studies at the Wellesley College Massachusetts . Apart from being an academic he is also known as an advocate for African people as a founding member of the “National Association for the Empowerment of African people” (Cudjoe).

The chapters of beyond boundaries tell us the individual stories of a select group of people. What is interesting is that it shows the cosmopolitan nature of Trinidad at the time which came about through different factors such as miscegenation, emigration, the slave trade and indentureship. One can therefore notice the struggles of different races and ethnic groups under the hand of a white colonial master. Their individual literary accounts paint a picture of the oppression and strife which existed between the groups on the basis of class and race. Although there was a general lack of fluidity from chapter to chapter one can observe a general theme in Cudjoe’s writing; that is one of Eurocentrism. The author can be praised for his ability to capture the the essentials of each composition making it easy to see through the eyes of each sect. From their individual literary accounts one can truly envisage a 19th century day in colonial Trinidad as ...

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... board. For what? To prevent me from enquiring… “

One significant evolution brought to fruition is the development of a free person of colour. This had no apparent place in a European ideal to them being black meant that one was destined for a substandard life, to be ruled by the white man. It is quite comical to think that in their doctrine and philosophy of white supremacy that a white man was possibly the most powerful creature alive and seen as the epitome of hegemony, but when mixed with the blood of a supposed inferior and weaker species even too one drop that all this power is lost and one is considered impotent.

Works Cited

Cudjoe, Selwyn R. beyond boundaries. amherst: Calaloux publications, 2003. text.

Cudjoe, Selwyn R. Beyond Boundaries. Amherst: Calaloux publications, 2001. text.

—. www.trinicenter.com. 04 April 2001. internet. 02 November 2013.