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Beyond a Boundary James, C.L.R. Publisher:  Duke Year Published:  1983   First Published:  1963 Pages:  268pp   Price:  $28.50   ISBN:  978-0-8223-1383-0 Resource Type:  Book Part memoir of a boyhood in a black colony (by one of the founders of African nationalism), part passionate celebration of the game of cricket, this book raises serious questions about race, class, politics, and the realities of colonial oppression. Abstract:  How does an apparently coercive instrument of British imperialism, used to civilise and indoctrinate colonial subjects, become a means of challenging the colonial order? While cricket has been regarded as a metaphor for the British Empire itself, for C.L.R. James it is also a site of dissent and integral to the move toward self-determination in the West Indies. James argues that sports cannot be reduced to mere entertainment, and offers instead a view of cricket in which it appears as dramatic spectacle and visual art. James situates his account of cricket in a broad social and political framework which begins with his childhood in the town of Tunapuna, Trinidad. Literature and cricket were James' dual passions and inculcated in him a British moral and ethical code. Understanding the political dynamics of cricket in a specifically West Indian colonial context helped prepare James for entry into the political sphere. Membership in cricket clubs was mediated by hierarchies of race, class and skin-hue where club owners and financiers dictated the inclusion or exclusion of players. The exclusion of black captains and the control of cricket by a privileged white minority were symbolic of the barriers to independence and crystalised national sentiment. James draws attention to an incident where spectators threw bottles at a test match, bringing into focus the publics' increasing frustration with the racism inherent in cricket. James' discussion of cricket reform stands as a metaphor for national political reform, making the victory on the cricket pitch more than a victory of representation or a gesture to inclusion, but a source of hope in the movement towards independence and liberation. [Abstract by Diana Canning] Topics Caribbean Caribbean Culture Class Class Conflict/Class Struggle Class Consciousness Colonialism Colonies/British Cricket Cultural Studies Race Relations Revolution Socialism Sports Sports History State Capitalism

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