Political Uncertainties And Natural Disasters

Montserratian Identity and Colonial Status

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3329352
AutoresTracey Skelton (autor de correspondencia)
Año2000
Volumen2
Número1
Páginas103-117
Fecha de publicación2000-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaInterventions (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1369-801X • E-ISSN: 1469-929X
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/136980100360823
OpenAlexW1966922540
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas15
Referencias citadas2

When a violent and unpredictable volcano erupted on the small Caribbean island of Montserrat the implications for the people who lived there were to be profound. Not only was this a natural disaster which forced people out of their homes and, for many, away from their island, it was also a point of conflict of political and cultural identity. Montserrat is a British Dependent Territory (BDTO) and Montserratians currently have no formal citizenship rights. However, the constitutional status of the BDTOs is the subject of a British Government White Paper published in March 1999. The potential changes to be introduced are that all residents of BDTOs (not just those in Gibraltar and The Falklands) will have British Citizenship and that the territories are renamed simply as British Territories. It is a reinscription of colonialism which at the same time is constructed around a political rhetoric of partnership and mutual concerns with positive futures. Indeed, the rewriting of the constitutional arrangements between Britain and the BDTOs is very much a reflection of the desires and political articulations of the majority of people who reside in these remnants of colonialism. The majority of Montserratians have lost everything they have ever owned, they have lost their homes, their villages, and communities have been totally destroyed. Two-thirds of the island lies under molten rock and ash, and the devastation is intense. Yet, literally, out of the ashes, Montserratians, those who remain on the island and those who have relocated to other places, are maintaining their cultural identities and forging new ones as a resistance to the profound damage wrought by the natural disaster. This essay explores the cultural, political and constitutional fall-out which has revolved around this colony, the local Montserratian Government, the British Government, neighbouring Caribbean island states and the Montserratians themselves

Aesthetics · Citizenship · Colonialism · Ethnology · Geography · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Climate Change, Adaptation, Migration · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Gender Studies · History · Island Studies and Pacific Affairs · Law