The Parish Behind God's Back

Download or read book The Parish Behind God's Back written by Sharon Bohn Gmelch and published by Waveland Press. This book was released on 2012-04-06 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For this latest edition, the authors returned to Barbados to update the changing face of life in St. Lucy, the parish behind Gods backthe islands most rural district. After discussing Barbadoss colonial history as a plantation society based on slavery and the economys recent conversion from sugar to tourism, they turn to everyday life in St. Lucy: patterns of work, gender relations, religion, and the meaning of community. The book concludes by examining the global forces and mediatelevision, tourism, travel, and the Internetthat connect villagers to the outside and most directly affect their lives. Written with students in mind, this highly readable, illustrated, and thought-provoking account is ideal for courses in cultural anthropology and Caribbean studies. An appendix describes the changes North American students experienced as a result of participating in the anthropology field schools the authors ran in Barbados over a twenty-year period.