Book review : The Caribbean in the wider world : commentaries on my life and career

Abstract

Sir Alister McIntyre is a retired Caribbean academic and technical expert who served at a very high level in several United Nations agencies and regional organisations. His autobiography is divided into five parts. The first covers his childhood and adolescence in the 1930s and 1940s in Grenada as well as his university education in Britain. This section is of particular interest for its glimpses into colonial life in the 1930s Caribbean and the structural obstacles and opportunities encountered by the author in the course of acquiring an education, entering the labour market and pursuing the elusive dream of higher education overseas. There are numerous insights into life in a very small society, balancing personal initiative, intelligence and determination against the risks of rocking the boat and incurring societal or workplace sanctions. Chapter Three is instructive on the growth of a shared regional identity and professional networks among West Indians educated abroad in the 1950s whose student encounters often laid the foundation for lifelong friendship and collaboration. The writer’s narrative demonstrates that, throughout his professional career, he was able to draw on the extensive collegial networks of people from developed and developing countries with whom he had studied and worked in Europe and North America.