Part One; Introduction; 1: Migration and Modernity; 2: From the Panama Canal to the Regent's Canal; 3: Family Narratives and Migration Dynamics; 4: Narratives of Exile and Return; 5: Gender and the Narratives of Migration; 6: Absence and the 'Consolation of Freedom'; Part Two; Introduction; 7: Family One; 8: Family Two; 9: Family Three; 10: Family Four; 11: Family Five

In this original and compelling book, Mary Chamberlain explores the nature and meaning of migration for Barbadians who migrated to Britain and elsewhere. It is a unique oral and social history, based on life-story interviews across three or more generations of Barbadian families. Locating migration within the contemporary debate on modernity, Narratives of Exile and Return highlights the continuing role of migration in shaping the culture and history of Barbados. But it does more by providing post-modern theorizing with concrete national and ethnic settings.