Includes bibliographical references (pages 197-207) and index.

Beyond nationalism : literary nation-building in the work of Earl Lovelace and Michael Anthony -- Men go have respect for all o' we : Valerie Belgrave's Invention of Trinidad -- Willi Chen and carnival nationalism in Trinidad -- Samuel Selvon and the chronopolitics of a diasporic nationalism -- Neil Bissoondath and migrant liberation from the nation -- V.S. Naipaul and the pitfalls of nationalism -- C.L.R. James and egalitarian nationalism in the Caribbean -- Conclusion : Mud mas : playing identity.

The nation-state of Trinidad and Tobago offers a unique case for the study of the forces and ideologies of nationalism. This book reveals how this ethnically diverse nation (40% African origin, 40-45% East Indian origin, plus those of Syrian, Chinese, Portuguese, French and English descent), independent for less than forty years, has provided fertile ground for the creative tension between the imagination of the writer in his or her search for a habitable text of identity and the official discourse on nationalism in Trinidad and Tobago. This discourse has in turn been embedded in a struggle that propels the nation's story. Following on from this background, the study examines the changes and influences on the sense of nationalism and peoplehood caused by migration and the ethnicization of migrant communities in the metropoles.

Adding to the comparative tone of much of this book, models of nationalism and ethnicity, often based on other societies, are tested against the imaginings of Trinidad by such essayists as V S Naipaul, C L R James, Willi Chen, Valerie Belgrave and Earl Lovelace.

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