Canadian-Caribbean Relations: Aspects of a Relationship ed. by Brian Douglas Tennyson (review)

$08 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW The papers differgreatly asto levelandapproach. Some arelarge and perhapsratheremptyexercises in abstraction, wherethe multiplication of abstract nouns serves asa replacement forconcrete knowledge andspeci• analysis. Somepapersreport ongoingresearch. SylviaOstry provides a helpful survey oftheinternational background toN.•^. Some ofthepaper• aredescriptive, oftensomewhat superficial butnonetheless revealing forthose scholars who are not expertsin all aspects of the subject. The numerous paperson Mexicoare especially interesting to any Canadianscholar who wantsto knowmoreaboutMexican political economy. To suchpeople the volumecancertainly be recommended withenthusiasm, eventhoughthe utility of eachchapterwill vary asbetweenone reader and another.I, for instance,wasimpressed by the accounts of the maqu//adora zonesandof recentinternalreformwithinMexico;I wasdisappointed tofind thatsolittle was saidaboutthe debt crisisof the 1980s,and I thought the several immigration papers could havebeenmoreinsightful. It mustalsobesaid that theseveral papers whichfocus ontheprocess ofnegotiation, thevarious ends and means thatmightbeembodied in N.•FT^, andthelikelihoodof success or failure,havein general beenovertaken byevents: since N•,•r.•hasnowbeen devised, andhastakendefiniteform,suchspeculations havelitfie to tellus. In general thebookisa credittotheeditors of theUniversity ofCalgary Press.However,there are someminor slips,both in the writingsof the anglophones and,rathermorefrequenfiy, in theworksof the francophones and allophones. It is alsoquiteeasyto find sentences, usuallyfocusing on abstract nouns,ofwhichthemeanings areobscure atbest.Onecontributor is twice awardedan officeshehasnever held, and whichindeed doesnot exist, whileon oneoccasion theuniversity agency to whichshebelongs islabelled incorrecfiy. The SSHRCC: suffers the samefate.A morecarefulcopy-editing, therefore, wouldhavebeenappropriate. Nevertheless, these litfieglitches do not detract fromthegeneral utilityof thevolume.Somereaders willregret that the volumeofferssolitfieby wayof generalconclusions or reflections. Otherswillbe gladthattheeditors haveleftthedrawingofsuchconclusions to thereadersthemselves. Stillotherswillbe gratefulfor thelargeamount of informationthathasbeen'packaged' for theirstudy. IANM.DRUMMOND University ofToronto Canadian-Caribbean Relations: Aspects ff a Relationship. EditedbyBRL• DOUOL• r•NNVSON. Sydney: Centrefor International Studies 1990.Pp. viii,380 For at least two centuries, Canadians and their antecedent British North Americans havepr•x:eeded tander thebelief thattheyhaveshared a 'special' relationship withtheCaribbean. Trade,a common legacy of European colonialism ,immigration, tourism,aid, and a sharedambivalence towards the REVIEWS •09 hemispheric dominance of theUnitedStates havethrough timeserved to bindthetworegions. Forallthepersistence ofthisbelief,ourunderstanding oftherelationship is akinto a hodge-podge of snapshots froma holidayin thesun.Takenindividually, eachis wellfocused and composed. We thus have articles, some monographs, andtheses onCanadian-Caribbean relations, butthereislittlesense of overallintegrity.Until BrianTennyson, no onehas troubled to drawthe collage of snapshots intoan album. This is the secondcollection of essays drawntogetherby Tennysonon Canada's ties with the Caribbean.The first, focusingon Commonwealth relations, appeared in 1988.Together withthecomprehensive bibliography appended tothis volume, these collections bring uscloser toanoverarching appreciation ofwhathaskeptCanadians coming back tothisregion. Forthe historian, therealvaluehereliesin Tennyson's excellent survey of Canada's concern for theCaribbean fromthe 1860sto the 1960sandinJamesGuy's perceptive concluding essay on the currentstatus of therelationship. If nothingelse, thesetwo essays furnish thoseteachingCommonwealth/ Caribbean historywith a lucid,encompassing surveyof thislong-drawn-out aspect ofourexternal relations - something hitherto unavailable. Tennyson andGuydomuchtodisabuse usofsomeofourmisconceptions about the Caribbean. Guywarnsusto be waryof any'holistic' approachto theregion; onclose examination it isnota region in anycohesive sense, but acollection of economically and culturallydiversefragments. 'A centrehas never developed in theCaribbean,' Guyconcludes. 'Theislands arescattered without a core.'Byimplication, therefore, wehavebeenfoolish to predicate ourperceptions and policies on the presumption that thereis someeasy commonality to this'widearcof somefortydistinctive islands.' That wehave repeatedly fallenintothistrapisperhaps a reflection of Guy's observation that 'untilveryrecently,' theCaribbean region hasremained 'apassive rather thanactiveagentin an international system of politicalinfluenceand economic productivity.' It isa regiononwhichothers havealways sought to impose theirwills:Spaniards, British, andAmericans forcefully, Canadians more gently. OnlynowistheCaribbean shifting social andeconomic national policies 'fromexternally orientedto internally orienteddevelopment.' One might notethatMcGill-educated Michael ManleyofJamaica hasbeenin the forefront of this movement. BrianTennyson convincingly demonstrates thattherehasneverreally been a 'special' relationship between Canada and the Caribbean; we have .spent a gooddealoftimeandmoney tiltingafterCaribbean windmills. With thepossible exception of our banks and insurance companies, Canadian hopes of improved trade,effective aid,andeven, at times, political union have amounted tolittle.Forboththe Caribbean and Canada, anyrealmove towards regional bonding, such asthe1921trade agreement, hasinvariably 310 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW come apart because itjeopardized theirmutual 'all-important relationship with the United States.' When one sweeps asidethe emotionaltiesof the Commonwealth, ourrelationship withtheCaribbean hasbeena peripheral onepacked withexpectation butdelivering littleadvantage. Tennyson leave, uswitha veryCanadian message: wewill continue to dispatch tourists and aid to theCaribbean, andin doingsowecanplaya 'useful role'which perhaps 'moderate' American behaviour in theregion. Betweenthe thematic workof Tennyson and Guyarethreeessays of historicalinterest.Certainly,Harold Barratt'ssurveyof the West In'•dla•:. immigrant...