A Small Place

Nonfiction book by Jamaica Kincaid

A Small Place is a work of creative nonfiction published in 1988 by Jamaica Kincaid. A book length essay drawing on Kincaid's experiences growing up in Antigua, it can be read as an indictment of the Antiguan government, the tourist industry and Antigua's British colonial legacy, which includes slavery. The book, written in four sections, "combines social and cultural critique with autobiography and a history of imperialism to offer a powerful portrait of (post)colonial Antigua."

In 1493, Christopher Columbus became the first European to visit Antigua on his second voyage. He named it Antigua after the Santa Maria de la Antigua, an icon found in Seville's cathedral. Sir Thomas Warner from England was able to colonize the island in 1632 by starting plantations that included tobacco and sugarcane. Warner also introduced slavery to the island. Slaves from West Africa worked on these plantations. Antigua became known as the English Harbourtown for its great location in the Caribbean. In 1834 slavery was finally abolished, but black peoples' economic conditions failed to improve due to “land shortages and the universal refusal of credit”. In her work, Jamaica Kincaid presents her own perspective on her home country, Antigua, while it was under colonial rule and self governance. She focuses on the impact of tourism and government corruption, both of which became prevalent after independence, on the citizens of Antigua and the consequent changes/continuity in their lives. This social critique led it being described as "an enraged essay about racism and corruption in Antigua" by one reviewer. Kincaid is very unapologetic in her critique of these times, and challenges readers to face the reality and uncomfortable truths of power and oppression.

Part One: In this section, Kincaid speaks directly to the reader. She refers to the reader as "you" and describes the experiences of a tourist of Antigua. She begins with landing in the airport and follows the tourist through their stay in Antigua. In this section, Kincaid emphasizes the idea that "A tourist is an ugly human being" (14). Kincaid emphasizes how the tourism industry perpetuates systems of inequality in Antigua and forces Antiguans to act as servants to white tourists. She also notes how tourists just observe things at face value and do not gain a real understanding of Antigua. Kincaid suggests that tourists are oblivious to reality and use vacations as a way to escape the boredom of their own lives, which is something natives cannot do because they are too poor. "When the natives see you, the tourist, they envy you, they envy your ability to leave your own banality and boredom, they envy your ability to turn their own banality and boredom into a source of pleasure for yourself" (19). Part Two: In the second section, Kincaid reflects on the Antigua she grew up in. She starts the section by saying, "The Antigua that I knew, the Antigua in which I grew up, is not the Antigua you, a tourist, would see now. That Antigua no longer exists" (23). Kincaid is referring to colonial Antigua, which was part of the British Empire until 1981. Kincaid reflects on how the British attempted to turn Antigua into England by naming streets after Englishmen, setting up British institutions such as Barclays Bank, and forcing Antiguan children to learn about British history in school. Kincaid critiques Barclays for having ties to slavery. She also introduces the Mill Reef Club, a private club set up for tourists and white residents of Antigua that banned locals except for those who were employed as servants. She also reflects on when the Princess of England visited Antigua and the large spectacle that was made for her arrival. This section ends with a scathing critique of British actions in Antigua and explains how the imperial legacy is still affecting Antigua even after independence. Part Three: In this section, Kincaid contemplates post colonial Antigua. She discusses government corruption and focuses on the desire to repair the library. She also critiques the idea of a Minister of Culture. Kincaid also contends with slavery and its legacy in Antigua. She critiques the way people speak of and remember slavery and act as if emancipation undid all of the issues created by slavery. This section also explains the significance of the title: A Small Place. Kincaid explains that Antigua is a small place not only physically but in the sense that it is interconnected within the community. Despite being a small place, Antigua is subject to a lot of foreign investment and intervention which Kincaid critiques and ties to much of the corruption in post colonial Antigua. She discusses the drug industry, Swiss banking, French governmental aid, Japanese car dealerships, and Syrian and Lebanese investors. Part Four: The fourth section is quite short. In this section, Kincaid discusses the almost unnatural beauty of Antigua. She emphasizes the idea that Antigua is "a small place" (80). She summarizes the history of Antigua saying how it was discovered by Columbus in 1493 leading to colonization and then eventually independence. She refers to the European people who settled in Antigua, specifically the British, as "human rubbish from Europe" (80). She also states how the real Antiguans are descendants of slaves.

In the first section of A Small Place, Kincaid employs the perspective of the tourist in order to demonstrate the inherent escapism in creating a distance from the realities of a visited place. Nadine Dolby dissects the theme of tourism in A Small Place and places Kincaid's depiction of tourism in a globalized context that justifies Kincaid's strong feelings toward it. Dolby corroborates Kincaid's depiction of the tourist creating separation by "othering" the locale and the individuals that inhabit it. Furthermore, the tourist industry is linked to a global economic system that ultimately does not translate into benefits for the very Antiguans who enable it. The tourist may experience the beauty on the surface of Antigua while being wholly ignorant of the actual political and social conditions that the Antiguan tourism industry epitomizes and reinforces. Corinna McLeod points out the disenfranchising nature of the tourism industry in its reinforcement of an exploitative power structure. In effect, the industry recolonizes Antigua by placing locals at a disenfranchised and subservient position in a global economic system that ultimately does not serve them.

Kincaid and the other Antiguans are subject to continuous reminders of their colonial history. For instance, streets are named after the British who contributed to the slave trade. Also, Antigua’s main bank, the Barclays Bank, is representative of people profiting off slaves. The citizens’ yearly celebration of British holidays enforces their remembrance of the colonial rulers. While the English can distance themselves from the ramifications of slavery and colonization since Antigua is not their native homeland, they do not experience the same effects as the Antiguan citizens, who face pain and cruel reminders of the legacy of colonialism.

One of the biggest critiques Kincaid makes about Antigua as an independent state is the corruption of the Antiguan Government. The withdrawal of European colonization left Antigua in a state of poverty and corruption. Kincaid’s frustration with the Antiguan government was made clear throughout the novel, specifically when she referenced a library as a symbol of her perpetual resentment towards colonization and decolonization. Not only a symbol of Kincaid’s perpetual resentment towards colonization and decolonization, but the library is arguably “the chief image of decline and corruption” for Kincaid. To her the island library was once a sacred space and a retreat away from the colonized world that plagued her homeland as a child. More importantly, the library acted as a sort of opening to the greater outside world away from the island. It was unfortunately destroyed by an earthquake in 1974, but after all these years has lacked any sort of reconstruction, only a sign posted that says "Repairs are Pending." This is likely because “the library provides the language and the texts by which Kincaid can learn how to attack the white world." Therefore Kincaid alludes to the reality that in the eyes of the corrupt government there should not exist any sort of tools, such as these library books, which could undermine their rule. In addition to this, Kincaid makes references towards illegal activities that the Antiguan Government was involved in such as drug smuggling, prostitution, and offshore bank accounts in Switzerland. In Kincaid’s novel, poverty and corruption are seen as products of Europe’s colonization and decolonization of Antigua. According to academic Suzanne Gauch, while Kincaid acknowledges the racial justifications used by white colonists to institute oppressive policies during Antigua's colonial era, she also attempts to transcend the notions of an inescapable racialized past for Antigua. In doing so she attempts to shape readers’ view of Antigua by creating a sense of agency. Some of her overall reactions in the United States were characterized as immediate and enthusiastic.

In 1988, A Small Place was criticized as a vitriolic attack on the government and people of Antigua. New Yorker editor Robert Gottlieb refused to publish it. According to Jamaica Kincaid: Writing Memory, Writing Back to the Mother she was not only banned unofficially for five years from her home country, but she voiced concerns that had she gone back in that time, she worried she would be killed. Jane King, in A Small Place Writes Back, declared that "Kincaid does not like the Caribbean very much, finds it dull and boring and would rather live in Vermont. There can really be no difficulty with that, but I do not see why Caribbean people should admire her for denigrating our small place in this destructively angry fashion." Moira Ferguson, a feminist academic, argued that as "an African Caribbean writer Kincaid speaks to and from the position of the other. Her characters are often maligned by history and subjected to a foreign culture, while Kincaid herself has become an increasingly mainstream American writer."

The Library represents colonialist ruins that continue to exist in Antigua. Kincaid reflects how the library used to hold books that pictured England in a positive light. Now, the library speaks to the government’s lack of outreach to the Antiguan citizens. After the library was damaged by the earthquake, the government simply put up a sign about pending repairs. Furthermore, the library symbolizes the government’s lack of intervention in improving the situation for Antiguan citizens, and instead, their focus on developing areas into commercial property for the enjoyment of tourists.

The Mill Reef Club is another symbol of colonialism that represents how foreign control still impacts life in Antigua. This club is a segregated place for white visitors who come to Antigua and embodies the past racist divisions of the British Empire. Ultimately, Kincaid and other citizens are dependent on the Mill Reef Club for money, such as library repairs, which testifies to a similar dependence as seen during the British’s control of Antigua during colonialism.