Global Decolonisation and Non-Sovereignty

Non-sovereign territories today account for more than half the states in the Caribbean but regional and global histories of the twentieth century tend to exclude them from narratives of protest and change. This book argues that our current understanding of global decolonisation is partial. We need a fuller picture which includes both independent and non-independent states, and moves beyond a focus on political independence, instead conceptualising decolonisation as a process of challenging and dismantling colonial structures and legacies. Decolonisation is neither an inevitable nor a linear process, but one which can ebb and flow as the colonial grip is weakened and sometimes restrengthened, often in new forms. Using the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Martinique and Guadeloupe as case studies, Grace Carrington demonstrates that a focus on the processes of decolonisation in these non-sovereign states enriches our understanding of the global experience of twentieth century decolonisation.