Document Type
Journal Article
Date of this Version
1-1-2013
Publication Source
Journal of Transnational American Studies
Volume
5
Issue
1
Start Page
1
Last Page
20
DOI
10.1163/22134360-08801011
Abstract
For many observers, the violent and often spectacular crime that takes place in particular Caribbean areas is evidence of a failure to create a growth-oriented economy and morally progressive ethos. It is a problem of culture, a mark of backwardness, an unsuccessful movement from savagery, or a failure to take advantage of post-World War II opportunities for development in political, economic, and socio-cultural fields. At the very least, it is something that marks the eScholarship provides open access, scholarly publishing services to the University of California and delivers a dynamic research platform to scholars worldwide. Caribbean—as well as some spaces within Latin America—as seeming to have taken a different path in relation to other New World trajectories. This article uses the case of Jamaica—itself often portrayed as exceptional within the region—to think through how, when, and why the US is, on one hand and from one perspective, written out of these narratives and, on the other and from alternative vantage points, central to them. In doing so, Thomas emphasizes the long-standing transnational dimension of violence in the postcolonial Americas, situating the New World as a single sphere of experience, in order to say something about the relationships among violence, the exploitation and settlement of the New World, sovereignty, and the various phases of modern capitalism.
Copyright/Permission Statement
Copyright 2013 by the article author(s). All rights reserved.
Keywords
American Studies, Caribbean, Transnational, Violence, Exceptionality, Sovereignty, New World
Recommended Citation
Thomas, D. A. (2013). The Problem With Violence: Exceptionality and Sovereignty in the New World. Journal of Transnational American Studies, 5 (1), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1163/22134360-08801011
Date Posted: 18 October 2016
This document has been peer reviewed.