Local political upheaval and global cultural appropriation

Abstract

The political path of the Caribbean island of Grenada after the country’s independence from Great Britain in 1974 has been marked by two major upheavals. After five years in power, the government of the first Prime Minister, Eric Gairy, was overthrown by the Marxist New Jewel Movement in 1979 and Maurice Bishop was chosen to head the People’s Revolutionary Government. But, also in 1979, Grenada was one of the first countries authorized to issue stamps with images of Disney characters, to honor the United Nations International Year of the Child, setting in motion an era of what we call “postal profiteering.” The Bishop government was not deemed radical enough for military hardliners and, in 1983, he was placed under house arrest that caused riots in the streets, takeover by the military, Bishop’s death by firing squad, and the establishment of martial law. Philatelic evidence of both the Gairy and Bishop coups is highlighted. The Reagan administration, concerned about another Marxist government emerging in the Western Hemisphere invaded Grenada in late 1983, removed the military government and restored order. It was not until 1995, however, that a set of stamps and souvenir sheets were printed that bore Reagan’s image. Memories of both the autocratic Gairy and the martyred Bishop have faded, but they are present in the philatelic record. Such stamps are, however, overwhelmed by the cultural appropriation of thousands of Grenadian stamps issued that depict international popular culture icons.