General Reading

George Lamming is one of the best known, certainly one of the most highly regarded contemporary writers from the Caribbean. Spanning nearly 60 years and encompassing fiction, poetry and critical essays, Lamming's writing covers the length and breadth of Caribbean intellectual, cultural, political and literary life. Credited as a part of that group of Caribbean activists who awoke the Caribbean to its identity and more specifically to its cultural identity, his works have focused on finding new political and social identity. Indeed, Lamming was a seminal figure in the Caribbean 20th century intellectual tradition and radical anti-colonial tradition. Lamming is best known for his novels. In the Castle of My Skin and The Emigrants take place in England and are largely autobiographical. Of Age and Innocence and Season of Adventure are set on the fictional Caribbean island of San Cristobal. In Water with Berries, the plot of Shakespeare's The Tempest is used to unmask the imperfections of West Indian society while his final novel, Natives of My Person, gives account of the voyage of a slave-trading ship on the triangular trade route from Europe to Africa to the New World colonies. In The Aesthetics of Decolonisation, friend and colleague Anthony Bogues pulls together Lamming's critical works, some previously published, some given as addresses, lectures and interviews. This is accompanied by critical reflections on Lamming's work by noted scholars such as Andaiye and Sandra Pouchet Paquet as well as a foreword by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o. This much needed reader on Lamming and his work examines the history of the Caribbean and the categories which continue to shape and influence Caribbean identity in our contemporary world.

"In CARICOM: Policy Options for International Engagement, the contributors bring a wealth of experience and knowledge in putting forward the critical questions policymakers must consider and answer, in charting the course and laying the framework for this coordinated structure and foreign policy plan. Divided into four sections, the volume firstly presents the perspectives that corroborate the need for collective action. The second section focuses on the emerging powers and the need for South to South Cooperation while the third section discusses the external trade negotiations and the impact of the loss of EU preferences and subsidies; the EPA and trade negotiations in the WTO; and the new CARICOM-US trade relations. In the fourth and final section, the volume is rounded out by an examination of the kind of cooperation that is needed first at the regional level to sustain economic development. The need for harmonisation of fisheries policies and the prevention of maritime degradation; the preservation of the environment and the need to reverse the effects of climate change; the need for a cohesive regional security policy and a viable air transportation industry as well as the legal framework to implement multilateral treaties are all examined as imperative to CARICOM's development of a coordinated regional foreign policy plan. "

This book immerses prospective administrators in the realities of practice. Problem solving and decision-making skills are addressed through the use of open-ended case studies. Effective practice in school administration requires both leadership and management. In today's reform-minded, information-based society, practitioners must be able to frame problems correctly and then make effective decisions to ameliorate them. As leaders, district and school-level administrators are expected to focus on what should be done to improve schools; as managers; they are expected to focus on how to do things successfully. The cases in this book are designed to make students think about common problems of practice by encouraging them to bridge theory and practice. More precisely, the cases are intended to hone four essential practitioner skills.