This article aims to provide a synoptic account of the cultural writings of the West Indian intellectual and activist C.L.R. James. I aim to make a case for greater recognition of his work among cultural sociologists. I go on to show how James’s original, historicizing account of cultural forms relates closely to his wider political interventions including, specifically, his ground-breaking discussion of mid-20th-century black politics in America.
JamesC.L.R. (1977 [1959]) ‘The Artist in the Caribbean’, in The Future in the Present: Selected Writings. London: Allison and Busby.
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JamesC.L.R. (1977 [1961/2]) ‘The Mighty Sparrow’, in The Future in the Present: Selected Writings. London: Allison and Busby.
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JamesC.L.R. (1980 [1938]) The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution. London: Allison and Busby.
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JamesC.L.R. (1980 [1948]) Notes on Dialectics: Hegel, Marx, Lenin. London: Allison and Busby.
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JamesC.L.R. (1980 [1950]) ‘Two Young American Writers’, in Spheres of Existence: Selected Writings. London: Allison and Busby.
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JamesC.L.R. (1980 [1962]) ‘Marxism and the Intellectuals’, in Spheres of Existence. London: Allison and Busby.
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JamesC.L.R. (1980 [1969]) ‘Learie Constantine’, in Spheres of Existence: Selected Writings. London: Allison and Busby.
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JamesC.L.R. (1984 [1966]) ‘Kanhai: A Study in Confidence’, in At the Rendezvous of Victory: Selected Writings. London: Allison and Busby.
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JamesC.L.R. (1985) Mariners, Renegades and Castaways: The Story of Herman Melville and the World We Live In. London: Allison and Busby.
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JamesC.L.R. (1990 [1954]) ‘Popular Art and the Cultural Tradition’, Third Text10: 3–10.
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JamesC.L.R. (1993) American Civilization. Oxford: Blackwell.
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JamesS. (2001) ‘The C.L.R. James I Knew’, Sunday Express (Trinidad)23September: 42–6.
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KingwellM. (2002) Practical Judgements: Essays in Culture, Politics and Interpretation. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
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LarsenN. (1996) ‘Negativities of the Popular: C.L.R. James and the Limits of “Cultural Studies”’, in FarredG. (ed.) Rethinking C.L.R. James. Oxford: Blackwell.
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LazarusN. (1999) Nationalism and Cultural Practice in the Postcolonial World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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LemertC. (2004) Social Theory: The Multicultural and Classical Readings. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
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McLemeeS. (ed.) (1996) C.L.R. James on the ‘Negro Question’. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.
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NielsenA.L. (1997) C.L.R. James: a Critical Introduction. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press.
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OborneP. (2004) Basil d’Oliveira, Cricket and Conspiracy: The Untold Story. London: Little, Brown.
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OkaraG. (1963) ‘African Speech … English Words’, Transition10: 15–16.
42.
RentonD. (2007) C.L.R. James: Cricket’s Philosopher King. London: Haus Publishing.
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RosengartenF. (2007) C.L.R. James: Urbane Revolutionary. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press.
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SWP Conference Resolutions (1939) ‘The Right of Self-determination and the Negro in the United States of North Americas’. URL (consulted February 2008): www.marxists.org
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SmithA. (2006) ‘Beyond a Boundary (of a Field of Cultural Production): Reading C.L.R. James with Bourdieu’, Theory, Culture & Society23(4): 95–112.
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SmithA. (2010) C.L.R. James and the Study of Culture. London: Palgrave.
47.
SoyinkaW. (1975) ‘Neo-Tarzanism: The Poetics of Pseudo-tradition’, Transition49: 38–44.
48.
StoddartB. (1998) ‘West Indies’, in StoddartB.SandifordK.A.P. (eds) The Imperial Game: Cricket, Culture and Society. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
49.
SurinK. (1996) ‘“The Future Anterior”: C.L.R. James and Going Beyond a Boundary’, in FarredG. (ed.) Rethinking C.L.R. James. Oxford: Blackwell.
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WaliO. (1963) ‘The Dead End of African Literature’, Transition10: 13–15.
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WilliamsE. (1944) Capitalism and Slavery. Richmond: University of North Carolina Press.
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WorcesterK. (1996) C.L.R. James: A Political Biography. Albany: State University of New York Press.
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YoungJ.D. (1999) The World of C.L.R. James: His Unfragmented Vision. Glasgow: Clydeside Press.