While being confronted with dehumanisation and structural violence, Beryl Gilroy, Claudia Jones and Sylvia Wynter challenge and critique humanism s binary structures and an exclusive concept of the human. They go beyond a mere critique, however, and discuss, imagine and express distinct Caribbean conceptions of the human within their literary works, may they be narrative, dramatic, lyrical or autobiographical texts. Their work, which spans from the 1940s to early 2000s, does not aim at replacing humanism, or dissolving its main elements and trains of thought; rather the three intellectuals focus their critique on humanism s origins in colonial and racial structures and ideologies that continue to permeate modern society up until today. Reading humanism through its historic development repositions its standing as an acclaimed universal approach within academia.
