Caribbean Cultural Heritage and the Nation

Centuries of intense migrations have deeply impacted expressions of cultural heritage on the ABC islands: Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao. This volume queries how cultural heritage on these Dutch Caribbean islands relates to the work of nation-building and nation-branding. How does the imagining of a shared political “we” relate to images deliberately produced to market these islands to a world of capital? The contributing authors in this volume address this leading question in their essays that describe and analyze the expressions of the ABC islands. In doing so, they compare and contrast nation-building and branding on the ABC islands to similar practices taking place in the wider Caribbean. The expressions of cultural heritage discussed range from the importance of sports, music, literature, and visual arts to those related to the political economy of tourism, the work of museums, the question of reparations, and the politics and policies affecting the Caribbean Diasporas in the North Atlantic. This volume adds to the understanding of the dynamics of nation, culture, and economy in the Caribbean.