Political scientist advocates for decolonising international relations through Caribbean perspectives
In a pioneering article published in the Review of International Studies in 2023, Head of the Department of Government, Sociology, Social Work & Psychology, at Cave Hill, Dr. Kristina Hinds argues that Caribbean intellectual traditions can significantly contribute to decolonising International Relations (IR). Her work, titled Invisible on the globe but not in the global: Decolonising IR using small island vistas, challenges mainstream IR by incorporating perspectives from the Caribbean, a region historically marginalized in global discourse.
Dr. Hinds proposes that to truly decolonise IR, it is essential to include scholarship and thought from outside the Global North. She asserts that the Caribbean, despite often being invisible on maps, has played a crucial role in shaping the world, particularly through its contributions to capitalist, racialized, and gendered global structures. Caribbean intellectual currents, she contends, offer valuable theoretical insights that can enrich and diversify IR.
One key example Dr. Hinds explores is the use of Offshore Financial Centres (OFCs) by Caribbean states and territories. While OFCs are often perceived negatively as mechanisms for illicit financial activities, Dr. Hinds suggests that they can be seen as strategic tools employed by Caribbean jurisdictions to navigate and exploit the opportunities within an increasingly global capitalist system. This perspective challenges the mainstream view of the Caribbean as merely a problematic region needing regulation and highlights its active role in globalizing capital and capitalism.
Dr. Hinds argues that Caribbean states and territories have utilized their autonomy and strategic positions to contribute to the expansion of global capitalist processes, thereby influencing global dynamics while being influenced by them. She emphasizes that Caribbean intellectual traditions provide critical appraisals of a world structured by inequities and colonial legacies, and these insights can offer alternative ways of understanding and engaging with global relations.
In conclusion, Dr. Hinds calls for the integration of Caribbean and other non-traditional perspectives into IR not as peripheral footnotes but as central elements that can significantly enrich the field. By applying Caribbean thought to study, teach, and transform IR, she advocates for a more inclusive and just approach to understanding world affairs. This subversive step, she suggests, is crucial for decolonising the discipline and recognizing the valuable contributions of regions like the Caribbean to global processes.
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https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/review-of-international-studies/article/invisible-on-the-globe-but-not-in-the-global-decolonising-ir-using-small-island-vistas/1A9C87EB8A250DE5531CF1538B8EF88F