UC Irvine

This exciting volume fills gaps large and small and points to directions for future research. I emphasize one such direction here - the connection between liberal ideology, free trade, and new forms of exclusion - which may become more important, with the rise of regional free trade agreements that leave out the Leeward Islands and the globalization of finance and production that weaves them in. Regardless, this book affords an opportunity to reflect on emancipation and rethink liberal conceptions of freedom. As Olwig writes, "(t]he ability to absorb the contradictions of freedom may well be one of the most important legacies of emancipation for Caribbean societies" (p. 7).