The Bahamas: “Land of Milk and Honey”

Dr. Sherouse''s insightful study provides "insider" details of the transition in The Bahamas from British colony to independent country. He analyzes the ongoing process of legitimation and delegitimation of Bahamian political parties and of the transfer of authority from the white minority to the black majority. It is a story of social and political struggle that takes place within the quarter century following Word War II. These struggles are analyzed within a theoretical framework which focuses on the meaning of symbols used to support claims to authority, and/or which function to delegitimize alternative claims. Specifically, this study looks at the delegitimization of the institutions of colonialism and the concurrent profession of symbols to support both independence and a fully enfranchised democracy in the Bahamas. The research methodology includes interviews, an extensive analysis of official British colonial documents, private governmental memos, and contemporaneous newspaper articles. The sources were primarily the P.R.O. of Great Britain; the Archives of the Bahamas; and the Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of the West Indies.