David Trotman | York University (original) (raw)

Papers by David Trotman

Research paper thumbnail of Cinema and Contestations for the Imagination in Late Colonial Trinbago

Journal of Caribbean History, 2020

Research paper thumbnail of Rompiendo el silencio sobre la Revolución Haitiana

Cuadernos Americanos: Nueva Epoca, 2008

Research paper thumbnail of Reflections on the Children of Shango: An Essay on a History of Orisa Worship in Trinidad

Slavery & Abolition, Aug 1, 2007

... The channels for the successful transmission of the tradition became increasingly truncated a... more ... The channels for the successful transmission of the tradition became increasingly truncated and vulnerable due to the loss of autonomy and became increasingly under attack. A ma bu Sango yeye: A Century of Debilitation, 1870–1970. ...

Research paper thumbnail of Performing the History: Contesting Historical Narratives in Trinidad and Tobago

Canadian journal of Latin American and Caribbean studies, 2007

Abstract This article examines the popularization of historical ideas and the cultivation of an h... more Abstract This article examines the popularization of historical ideas and the cultivation of an historical consciousness and imagination in post-independence Trinidad. It focuses on the way in which a particular version of the past—the Creole nationalist narrative—was constructed and popularized by a nationalist movement. It then examines the emergence, dissemination, and popularization of a contesting Afro-centric narrative in the post-independence period. The emphasis is less on the content of the narrative than on the method of dissemination. It argues that those narratives that were dependent only on the scribal method for transmission could not compete with those that utilized the oral mode. The article therefore focuses on the use of the local calypso tradition in the popularizing of historical narratives.

Research paper thumbnail of Women and Crime in Late Nineteenth Century Trinidad

Caribbean quarterly, Sep 1, 1984

Research paper thumbnail of Remembering Africa and its diasporas: memory, public history and representations of the past

Chapter on "Imagining the Past at Great Zimbabwe"

Research paper thumbnail of Acts of Possession and Symbolic Decolonisation in Trinidad and Tobago

Caribbean quarterly, Mar 1, 2012

Research paper thumbnail of Transforming Caribbean and Canadian Identity

Atlantic Studies, Oct 1, 2005

... V. Trotman * pages 177-198. ... For a bibliography up to 1985 but with numerous entries not r... more ... V. Trotman * pages 177-198. ... For a bibliography up to 1985 but with numerous entries not relevant to its subject, see Anderson, Caribbean Orientations. See also Anderson, Caribbean Immigrants. For a recent comprehensive ethnography, see Henry, The Caribbean Diaspora. ...

Research paper thumbnail of The Yoruba and Orisha Worship in Trinidad and British Guinea: 1838-1870

African Studies Review, Sep 1, 1976

The search for the African origins of contemporary socio-cultural forms found in black population... more The search for the African origins of contemporary socio-cultural forms found in black populations in the South Atlantic region is a well-established scholarly pursuit. Most scholars have argued that certain institutions and ideas brought from Africa were retained over time and ...

Research paper thumbnail of Crime in Trinidad: Conflict and Control in a Plantation Society, 1838-1900

The American Historical Review, Apr 1, 1988

Trinidad's plantation system, David Trotman argues, exerted a profound effect on the rat... more Trinidad's plantation system, David Trotman argues, exerted a profound effect on the rate, pattern, and characteristics of criminal activity. Rather than merely trac-ing the historical, biological, or psycho-logical causes of crime, this book delin-eates the organic link ...

Research paper thumbnail of Africa and Trans-Atlantic Memories: Literary and Aesthetic Manifestations of Diaspora and History

Research paper thumbnail of Trans-Atlantic Dimensions of Ethnicity in the African Diaspora

African Diaspora Archaeology Newsletter, 2005

Research paper thumbnail of Spectacle and the Colonial Imagination

Research paper thumbnail of Women and Crime in Late Nineteenth Century Trinidad

Caribbean Quarterly, 1984

Research paper thumbnail of Women and Crime in Late Nineteenth Century Trinidad

Research paper thumbnail of Kitch and Kin 1993

Research paper thumbnail of Spectacle and the Colonial Imagination

Research paper thumbnail of Public History, Landmarks and Decolonization in Trinidad1

The Colonial PeriodUsually when historians refer to public history they refer to their efforts at... more The Colonial PeriodUsually when historians refer to public history they refer to their efforts at seeing public monuments - statues, public buildings, bridges, etc. as texts that can be read, interpreted and mined for insights into the minds of their creators and their times. Invariably, of course, a ruling or governing elite commissions these public monuments and they are designed to impose a hegemonic vision of the world on the society. This has been so in imperial, metropolitan societies as well as in their colonial appendages. In metropolitan societies the statuary has reminded imperial citizens not only of the majesty of their "social superiors" but also of the grandeur to which they belonged as citizens of far-flung empires. In colonial societies public monuments have been used to testify to the power and superiority of the colonizer.2The urban landscapes of many former colonial societies are littered with a plethora of public monuments celebrating imperial victories...

Research paper thumbnail of Ways of Remembering: Many Africas, Many Diasporas

Research paper thumbnail of Remembering Africa and its diasporas: memory, public history and representations of the past

Chapter on "Imagining the Past at Great Zimbabwe"

Research paper thumbnail of Cinema and Contestations for the Imagination in Late Colonial Trinbago

Journal of Caribbean History, 2020

Research paper thumbnail of Rompiendo el silencio sobre la Revolución Haitiana

Cuadernos Americanos: Nueva Epoca, 2008

Research paper thumbnail of Reflections on the Children of Shango: An Essay on a History of Orisa Worship in Trinidad

Slavery & Abolition, Aug 1, 2007

... The channels for the successful transmission of the tradition became increasingly truncated a... more ... The channels for the successful transmission of the tradition became increasingly truncated and vulnerable due to the loss of autonomy and became increasingly under attack. A ma bu Sango yeye: A Century of Debilitation, 1870–1970. ...

Research paper thumbnail of Performing the History: Contesting Historical Narratives in Trinidad and Tobago

Canadian journal of Latin American and Caribbean studies, 2007

Abstract This article examines the popularization of historical ideas and the cultivation of an h... more Abstract This article examines the popularization of historical ideas and the cultivation of an historical consciousness and imagination in post-independence Trinidad. It focuses on the way in which a particular version of the past—the Creole nationalist narrative—was constructed and popularized by a nationalist movement. It then examines the emergence, dissemination, and popularization of a contesting Afro-centric narrative in the post-independence period. The emphasis is less on the content of the narrative than on the method of dissemination. It argues that those narratives that were dependent only on the scribal method for transmission could not compete with those that utilized the oral mode. The article therefore focuses on the use of the local calypso tradition in the popularizing of historical narratives.

Research paper thumbnail of Women and Crime in Late Nineteenth Century Trinidad

Caribbean quarterly, Sep 1, 1984

Research paper thumbnail of Remembering Africa and its diasporas: memory, public history and representations of the past

Chapter on "Imagining the Past at Great Zimbabwe"

Research paper thumbnail of Acts of Possession and Symbolic Decolonisation in Trinidad and Tobago

Caribbean quarterly, Mar 1, 2012

Research paper thumbnail of Transforming Caribbean and Canadian Identity

Atlantic Studies, Oct 1, 2005

... V. Trotman * pages 177-198. ... For a bibliography up to 1985 but with numerous entries not r... more ... V. Trotman * pages 177-198. ... For a bibliography up to 1985 but with numerous entries not relevant to its subject, see Anderson, Caribbean Orientations. See also Anderson, Caribbean Immigrants. For a recent comprehensive ethnography, see Henry, The Caribbean Diaspora. ...

Research paper thumbnail of The Yoruba and Orisha Worship in Trinidad and British Guinea: 1838-1870

African Studies Review, Sep 1, 1976

The search for the African origins of contemporary socio-cultural forms found in black population... more The search for the African origins of contemporary socio-cultural forms found in black populations in the South Atlantic region is a well-established scholarly pursuit. Most scholars have argued that certain institutions and ideas brought from Africa were retained over time and ...

Research paper thumbnail of Crime in Trinidad: Conflict and Control in a Plantation Society, 1838-1900

The American Historical Review, Apr 1, 1988

Trinidad's plantation system, David Trotman argues, exerted a profound effect on the rat... more Trinidad's plantation system, David Trotman argues, exerted a profound effect on the rate, pattern, and characteristics of criminal activity. Rather than merely trac-ing the historical, biological, or psycho-logical causes of crime, this book delin-eates the organic link ...

Research paper thumbnail of Africa and Trans-Atlantic Memories: Literary and Aesthetic Manifestations of Diaspora and History

Research paper thumbnail of Trans-Atlantic Dimensions of Ethnicity in the African Diaspora

African Diaspora Archaeology Newsletter, 2005

Research paper thumbnail of Spectacle and the Colonial Imagination

Research paper thumbnail of Women and Crime in Late Nineteenth Century Trinidad

Caribbean Quarterly, 1984

Research paper thumbnail of Women and Crime in Late Nineteenth Century Trinidad

Research paper thumbnail of Kitch and Kin 1993

Research paper thumbnail of Spectacle and the Colonial Imagination

Research paper thumbnail of Public History, Landmarks and Decolonization in Trinidad1

The Colonial PeriodUsually when historians refer to public history they refer to their efforts at... more The Colonial PeriodUsually when historians refer to public history they refer to their efforts at seeing public monuments - statues, public buildings, bridges, etc. as texts that can be read, interpreted and mined for insights into the minds of their creators and their times. Invariably, of course, a ruling or governing elite commissions these public monuments and they are designed to impose a hegemonic vision of the world on the society. This has been so in imperial, metropolitan societies as well as in their colonial appendages. In metropolitan societies the statuary has reminded imperial citizens not only of the majesty of their "social superiors" but also of the grandeur to which they belonged as citizens of far-flung empires. In colonial societies public monuments have been used to testify to the power and superiority of the colonizer.2The urban landscapes of many former colonial societies are littered with a plethora of public monuments celebrating imperial victories...

Research paper thumbnail of Ways of Remembering: Many Africas, Many Diasporas

Research paper thumbnail of Remembering Africa and its diasporas: memory, public history and representations of the past

Chapter on "Imagining the Past at Great Zimbabwe"