Global Guyana: Shaping Race, Gender, and Environment in the Caribbean and Beyond

Global Guyana examines the environmental impacts of modern-world resource extraction and the ways in which intersectional race and gender formations circumscribe Caribbean womens lives in the overlooked nation of Guyana. It exposes the symbiotic relationship between Guyanese womens gendered labor and global racial capitalism and warns of the looming threat of global environmental calamity.

Format: Hardback
Length: 256 pages
Publication date: 09 April 2024
Publisher: New York University Press

The world faces a grave threat from an environmental catastrophe that impacts the lives of Caribbean women in the overlooked nation of Guyana. Once considered one of the poorest countries in the hemisphere, Guyana is now emerging as a global leader in per capita oil production, a transformation that holds immense promise for the nation. However, this shift also brings forth unique opportunities to examine the environmental consequences of modern-world resource extraction and the ways in which intersectional race and gender formations limit the lives of Caribbean women.

Drawing from archival research and oral histories, Global Guyana explores the marginalized nation as a hub of social and economic activity, shaping popular culture and ideas about sexuality while reshaping the geopolitical and literal topography of the Caribbean region. Oneka LaBennett employs the powerful analytic of the pointer broom to unravel the symbiotic relationship between Guyanese women's gendered labor and global racial capitalism. She sheds light on how oil extraction and sand export are implicated in a longstanding practice of plundering the Caribbean's natural resources, while obscuring the ecological consequences that disproportionately affect women and children.

Global Guyana also exposes how ecological erosion and gendered violence are deeply entrenched in the extractive industries originating from this often-overlooked but pivotal country. It raises alarm bells about the dire repercussions that ambitious development plans will have on the nation's people and its geographical terrain. By highlighting the experiences and perspectives of Caribbean women, Global Guyana contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the complex web of factors that shape their lives and the region's future.

Weight: 517g
Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781479826995