This remarkable description of Jamaica in the 1680s was written by a contemporary English observer, John Taylor, who spent some months on the island. The original manuscript is held by the National Library of Jamaica, and has rarely been used by scholars. It contains information about Jamaica under the Spaniards, about the English invasion of 1655 and about the formation of the subsequent society, including the treatment of slaves. There are sections on the islands settlement and architecture, including a particularly full description of Port Royal. John Taylor sets out fifty current laws, many of them unknown to other such collections. He also carefully explains the nature of Jamaicas birds, beasts and plants.

Taylor offers an image of the island before the general spread of sugar cultivation, citing some creatures now extinct in Jamaica; he also makes many suggestions about the medical use of natural products. His world is still one in which certain places are enchanted, though he also describes an island whose main features will be entirely familiar to modern Jamaicans. His language is a piquant mixture, drawn from medieval England, from North America and even from the Orient, reflecting the fact that this was the first period of major English commercial expansion.

Presenting a wide range of perspectives and approaches, this book grew out of presentations at two groundbreaking events on the Jamaican campus of the University of the West Indies: a symposium discussing LGBTQ experiences and research in Jamaica, and a conference that expanded the focus to provide a regional scope. Activists, artists and academics came together to challenge and change the narratives about LGBTQ issues in the Caribbean, exploring sexualities, gender identities and queer practices beyond the discourse of violence, as well as the stereotypes, assumptions and limitations presented by conventional norms around gender and sexuality.

Beyond Homophobia combines a variety of academic disciplines with poetry and prose. Its contributions move from cyberspace to the dancehall, from literary analysis to ethnographic research, from pedagogical to methodological concerns, and from thoughts on the past to ideas about the future. The collection presents a range of perspectives on and techniques with which to interrogate notions of identity, sexualities, victimhood, agency, activism, fluidity, fixity, visibility, invisibility, class, homophobia, coming out, belonging and spirituality.

By illuminating the lives, experiences, and research of and about the queer anglophone Caribbean, this volume represents a concerted attempt to move Beyond Homophobia.