ETHNOLOGY 627

What I find most lacking about the book proposal of an “emic” model for under-
is any recognition of alternate careers avail- standing Caribbean social organization. This
able for self- and family-betterment. We find model rests on the key terms “respecta-
nothing here about the tremendous impor- bility” and “reputation,” two complemen-
tance of the male system of reputation-seek- tary value complexes on Providence.
ing, which runs counter to the respectability “Respectability,” based on the inequality of
route surrounding sensible continence, the islanders, involves the valuing of wealth,
abstinence, and more education. Thus, the education, color, and a “respectable life
“rudies” (“rude-boys,” or hipsters) are not style.” “Reputation,” based on equality,
discussed as operational models for the encompasses the valuing of strength, virility,
emulation of young men. Nor do we find and a good name. Taken together, these two
any discussion of native, community-based opposing value complexes explain how the
modes of education that, in some ways, were same individual can struggle to climb the
drawn upon by the national educational social ladder and yet spurn others who show
system. signs of upward mobility. So the behavior of
In the introduction by Raymond Smith, islanders is analogous to the “antics” of
Foner’s mentor, he notes the Jamaican crabs in a basket, each attempting to climb
peasant tends to rate himself as “poor” and out, but clawing and pulling at others who
that this betrays a low self-evaluation, which have climbed ahead of them.
he attributes t o the heritage of colonialism. The reader’s major obstacle t o under-
Few would want to argue that imperialism standing this thesis is Wilson’s imprecise use
left much good in its wake, but this low of key theoretical terms. He vacillates
self-definition is not demonstrably such a between describing “respectability” and
residue. In fact, a good deal of recent “reputation” as value complexes (p. 222)
research in other similar West Indian com- and as values (pp. 165, 221), when, in fact,
munities has demonstrated the ambivalence they can only be value complexes. Moreover,
inherent in a negative self-image, for appear- they entitle two sets of values that serve as
ing t o be low, poor, or bad often provides different standards for achieving the single
individuals with rhetorical strategies other- goal of social prestige. This relationship of
wise unavailable uis 6 uis those t o whom they these value complexes to social prestige is
make such admissions. Coming on “poor” t o missing in Wilson’s model. Second, Wilson
a white researcher asking questions with uses the terms “equality” and “inequality”
notebook in hand can hardly be regarded as inconsistently, sometimes meaning value
low anything without relating such behavior premises (p. 145), other times meaning
t o the role- and interactional-systems of the values (p. 184) and even “ideal(s),” sup-
community. We are given very little such ported by “reputation” and “respectability”
information in this study, and it is the (p. 9). “Equality” cannot univocally mean
poorer for it. both a value premise, i.e., a principle
supporting a system of values, and also an
ideal supported by a value. Though he,
himself, may be aware of these distinctions,
Wilson has failed to define these key words
Crab Antics: The Social Anthropology of properly and use them consistently.
English-Speaking Negro Societies of the
The core of Wilson’s thesis is that
Caribbean. PETER J. WILSON. New
Haven: Yale University Press, 1973.xvii + “respectability,” being a foreign value com-
plex, and “reputation,”
258 pp., figures, tables, appendix, bibliog- complex, are dialectically an authentic value
raphy, index, notes. $10.00 (cloth). opposed in
Providence, as well as in other West Indian
Reviewed by WILLIAM WASHABAUGH societies. Wilson might be correct in offering
Wayne State University this analysis for West Indian “plural soci-
eties” (pp. 188-214), where Englishmen
Cmb Antics is at once an ethnographic came t o live temporarily and formed exclu-
description of Providence Island society in sive Anglo-aristocracies, but Providence
the western Caribbean, and a well-integrated Island is historically unlike the West Indies.
628 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST
Englishmen settled permanently on
Providence, identified themselves more with
Providence than with England, and SO
fostered the growth of a creole identity. In
this respect, Providence resembles the homo-
geneously creole societies that developed in
the Spanish Caribbean more than the other
English islands of the West Indies (Mintz
1971:487). Moreover, Providence differs
from the West Indies socially. In the West
Indies, the upper classes do not share the
values of the lower classes (p. 229). But on
Providence, the upper class is just as con-
cerned with the values of the lower class as is
the lower class itself (pp. 170-177). Both the
historical and social evidence suggest t o me
that on Providence, at least, the two value
complexes are symbiotically integrated (p.
220), rather than dialectically opposed (p.
221). The argument for symbiotic integra-
tion seems to be supported by Wilson’s own
dissertation (1961:161-183), written im-
mediately following his investigations on
Providence Island. There Wilson claimed that
there are two different scales of social
prestige, “social class” and “ranking” (equi-
valent t o “reputation”), that are described as
complementary without a hint of dialectical
opposition.
Wilson concludes his book by projecting
an increase in the dialectical tension between
“reputation” and “respectability,” with
“reputation” eventually replacing “respecta-
bility.” While such a view implies a refresh-
ing model of dynamic rather than static
social systems, Wilson’s version also implies a
rather rigid unilinearity of change. This
unilinear view is consistent with Wilson’s
apparent conviction that values influence
behavior without constraint by social or
economic factors (p. 135). But since social
and economic factors do influence behavior,
there will be not one, but many directions of
change. For some societies, “reputation”
may supplant “respectability.” For others,
like Providence Island, symbiotic integration
is the outcome.
Cmb Antics is a well-researched, well-
reported description of the social behavior
of Providence islanders. However, the
descriptive material is interpreted with a
simplistic theoretical model that makes me
question the worth of the revolutionary
strategies proposed in the final chapter.
[ 76,19741
References Cited
Mintz, Sidney
1971 The Socio-Historical Background
t o Pidginization and Creolization. In
Pidginization and Creolization of Lan-
guages. Dell Hymes, ed. London:
Cambridge University Press.
Wilson, Peter J.
1961 The Social Structure of Provi-
dencia Isla, Colombia. Unpublished
Ph.D. dissertation. Department of An-
thropology, Yale University.
The Dutch in the Caribbean and on the Wild
Coast, 1580-1680. CORNELIS CH.
GOSLINGA. Assen, the Netherlands: Van
Gorcum, 1971. xvi + 647 pp., maps,
illustrations, bibliography, index. Dfl.
65,OO.
Reviewed b y
ANNEMARIE DE WAAL MALEFIJT
Hunter College, CUNY
An apt subtitle of this book would be
“The Rise and Decline of the Dutch
Empire.” The author describes that fasci-
nating period in which one of the smallest
European countries began its activities in the
Caribbean area. While struggling for indepen-
dence from Spanish rule, it built up a
veritable hegemony of trade and, at one
time, possessed colonies not only in the
Caribbean archipelago, but also in Brazil, on
the “Wild Coast” of Guianas, in North
America, on the west coast of Africa, in
Java, in Ceylon, and at Capetown. Ironically,
when Dutch independence was finally
recognized by Spain in 1648, their position
as a world power declined, until in 1678
they had very few possessions left.
Although this is clearly an historical
book, it presents much more than the cold
facts of war and peace. Throughout its
pages, Goslinga carefully analyzes the inter-
acting forces of economy, politics, religion,
and ideology. Moreover, his descriptions are
lively, and real personalities emerge.
The author explains how the war with
Spain, which was a struggle for political and
religious freedom, precipitated Dutch in-
volvement in the Caribbean area. Spain