Selling the Caribbean: An Introduction

Taking the cue from the widespread metaphorical use of economic concepts such as or in both sociolinguistics and cultural studies, the present introduction sets out to discuss more literal aspects of the financial value of languages and the economy of the literary marketplace in the – mostly ‘Anglop...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inZeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistik Vol. 63; no. 2; pp. 139 - 156
Main Authors Mair, Christian, Mühleisen, Susanne, Pirker, Eva Ulrike
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Leipzig De Gruyter 01.06.2015
Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Subjects
Anglophones
Business
Caribbean culture
Caribbean literature
Colonialism
Cultural studies
Culture
Diaspora
Globalization
Language
Linguistics
Metaphor
Nobel prizes
Postcolonialism
Sociolinguistics
Tourism
Walcott, Derek
Germany
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Summary:Taking the cue from the widespread metaphorical use of economic concepts such as or in both sociolinguistics and cultural studies, the present introduction sets out to discuss more literal aspects of the financial value of languages and the economy of the literary marketplace in the – mostly ‘Anglophone’ – Caribbean. Globalization, in particular a globally operating media and entertainment industry, and increased mobility – both in the shape of migration from the Caribbean and tourism into the region – have led to the widespread commodification of the region’s natural, linguistic, and cultural resources. These developments have shaken up the traditional colonial and early post-colonial order but ushered in new inequalities. This introduction and the present special issue of explore the potential and dangers of this state of affairs from a cross-disciplinary perspective, bringing together approaches from (socio)linguistics, literary, and cultural studies.
ISSN:0044-2305
2196-4726
DOI:10.1515/zaa-2015-0015