"Chanting Down Babylon" explores Afro-Caribbean popular culture as
political protest. The forms of
protest examined particularly include those
directed against colonialism, local political corruption, and

economic globalization. Roots reggae, for instance, is considered in
part as musical critique of Jamaica's
afflicted inner-city life. Cuban Santeria is
examined as religious, self-affirming identification with the African
continent.  Locally produced fiction, non-fiction, and film – drawn
from all across the islands -- will be analyzed throughout the course
for their advocacy, in various terms, of a "fully" postcolonial
Caribbean society.