Jonathan Skinner

British Constructions with Constitutions: The Formal and Informal Nature of 'Island' Relations on Montserrat and Gibraltar

This article explores social, economic and political relations on two British Dependent Territories (BDTs) -- Montserrat and Gibraltar. This article notes that though BDTs are British colonial constructions, created, sustained and modelled upon and by Britain, they differ from Britain in that they have political constitutions. They also exhibit an ambiguous dependence and independence upon and with Britain. This article goes on to look at social and economic relations on Montserrat and Gibraltar before comparing and contrasting the political climates on each BDT. Throughout this article, it is suggested that there is a dynamic tension between formal and informal aspects to managing life. Finally, this article concludes with a discussion about the suitability of the split between Executive and Legislative Councils in these two BDTs.

Community and Creativity in the Classroom: An Experiment in the Use of the Guest Interview, Focus Group Interviews and Learning Journals in the Teaching and Learning of the Anthropology of Modern Dance

This article assesses the experimental teaching and learning of an anthropology module on ‘modern dance’. It reviews the teaching and learning of the modern dances (lecture, observation, embodied practice, guest interview), paying attention to the triangulation of investigation methods (learning journal, examination, self-esteem survey, focus group interview). Our findings suggest that—in keeping with contemporary participatory educational approaches—students prefer guest interviews and ‘performances of understanding’ for teaching and learning, and that focus groups and learning journals were the preferred research methods for illuminating the students’ teaching and learning experience.

Interning the Serpent: Witchcraft, Religion and the Law on Montserrat in the 20th Century

This article is an examination of the uneasy relationship between religion and witchcraft (the worship of the serpent/obeah) on the British colony of Montserrat in the Eastern Caribbean. It looks at obeah in the 20th century as practised by colonial British subjects and prohibited by British law imposed by British expatriates. Colonial governance is examined first through correspondence at the start of the 20th century, and then through newspaper archives and fieldwork reports and experiences throughout the century. The continued use of anti‐obeah laws by the British is shown to be an irrational but effective colonial technology of control.

Taking Conspiracy Seriously: Fantastic Narratives and Mr Grey the Pan-Afrikanist on Montserrat

This is a chapter about Mr Greys anxieties. It is a detailed account and examination of a conspiracy theorist who revels in revealing hidden political agendas, colonial conspiracies. It is about a man who is harassed by the British for proposing an alternative future to theirs, for protesting his present colonial condition under them, and for teaching a blackened history of his islands slave past. In telling his story, in particular a current broadcasting conspiracy he and others are struggling with, this chapter hopes to achieve several things, namely: to present conspiracy theories as fantastic narratives; to exemplify and evaluate conspiracy theorizings as a mode of reasoning; and to call for contemporary conspiracy theory research to be more interdisciplinary.

Grassroots Post-Modernism: Remaking the Soil of Cultures

* Contents * 1. From the Global to the Local * 2. Beyond Neo-Liberalism to the International of Hope * 3. Beyond the Self: Regenerating Ourselves. * 4. Human Rights: The Trojan Horse of Recolonization? * 5. Peoples Power: Radical Democracy for the Autonomy of their Commons * 6. Epilogue: The Grassroots Post-modern Epic