Caribbean Reasonings: Rupert Lewis and the Black Intellectual Tradition recounts the work of a renowned scholar and activist who has made an indelible mark on Caribbean life. Through a collection of academic papers and personal reflections, primarily proceeding from a 2013 conference, some of the leading contemporary political minds in the Caribbean have converged in this volume to put forward a collection of essays that detail Rupert Lewis’s impact on issues such as black nationalism and identity, social and racial equality, and Caribbean and human liberation.
The volume boldly highlights Lewis’s earnest study of the political teachings of Marcus Garvey, Walter Rodney and the African-Caribbean experience, to promote understanding the realities of blackness and to chart a course forward for African people throughout the diaspora. It also expertly details his contribution to the discourse on the Grenada Revolution, Caribbean sovereignty, globalisation, capitalism, radicalism in art and the media, and black feminism in political activism.
In a career spanning decades, Rupert Lewis has amassed a legacy which details his rise from a student activist at the UWI to a stalwart of Caribbean political thought who has guided the Department of Government at Mona, the Institute of Jamaica and its African-Caribbean Institute of Jamaica as well as institutionalising Liberty Hall and the Museum of Marcus Garvey among other contributions.