Synopses & Reviews
Omens of Adversity is a profound critique of the experience of postcolonial, postsocialist temporality. The case study at its core is the demise of the Grenada Revolution (1979–1983), and the repercussions of its collapse. In the Anglophone Caribbean, the Grenada Revolution represented both the possibility of a break from colonial and neocolonial oppression, and hope for egalitarian change and social and political justice. The Revolution's collapse in 1983 was devastating to a revolutionary generation. In hindsight, its demise signaled the end of an era of revolutionary socialist possibility. Omens of Adversity is not a history of the Revolution or its fallout. Instead, by examining related texts and phenomena, David Scott engages with broader, enduring issues of political action and tragedy, generations and memory, liberalism and transitional justice, and the possibility of forgiveness. Ultimately, Scott argues that the palpable sense of the neoliberal present as time stalled, without hope for emancipatory futures, has had far-reaching effects on how we think about the nature of political action and justice.
Review
"Omens of Adversity is a deeply impressive and critical meditation on temporality, political action, memory, and history. It is a significant contribution to multiple fields, particularly Caribbean studies, and to ongoing theoretical debates about colonialism, postcolonial studies, and temporality."
Review
"The strength of Omens of Adversity lies in its ability to productively and persuasively move across interpretive practices, weaving together a diverse array of sources.... The work has deep implications for thinking about imaginations of the future"
Review
"Scholars struggling with similar questions and concepts will find here food for thought."
Review
“Omens of Adversity is a grim, sobering, and tragic book that should be required for all graduate and advanced undergraduate courses in postcolonial theory, Caribbean history, cultural anthropology, and others dealing with the “end of history” or political transition theory. Scholars with those interests should consider it a must read. It is not only a cautionary tale to constantly take stock of the past lest we live in a recurring catastrophic present but also one of the most intellectually gratifying and adventurous books of recent years.”
Review
“This conceptually very dense book is surely pioneering in the way that it redefines temporality and political action and gives a language and method to study past and/or failed revolutionary actions.”
Synopsis
Omens of Adversity is a profound critique of postcolonial temporality. David Scott argues that the palpable sense of the present as time stalled, without hope for emancipatory futures, has had far-reaching effects on how we think about justice and the nature of political action.
About the Author
David Scott is Professor of Anthropology at Columbia University. He is the author of Conscripts of Modernity: The Tragedy of Colonial Enlightenment and the editor of Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Criticism, both also published by Duke University Press.
Table of Contents
Prologue. Aftermaths 1
Part I. Tragedy, Time
1. Revolution's Tragic Ends: Temporal Dimensions of Political Action 33
2. Stranded in the Present: The Ruins of Time 67
Part II. Memory, Justice
3. Generations of Memory: The Work of Mourning 99
4. Evading Truths: The Rhetoric of Transitional Justice 127
Epilogue. The Temporality of Forgiving 165
Acknowledgments 173
Notes 177
Index 215