Black Flags of the Caribbean: How Trinidad Became an ISIS Hotspot

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Description

The Caribbean does not immediately come to mind when we think about ISIS and yet, in 2017, Trinidad and Tobago ranked first place in the list of western countries with the highest rates of foreign-fighter radicalization, with over 240 nationals travelling to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS caliphate. Simon Cottee investigates how ISIS came to gain such an unlikely, yet significant foothold in Trinidad. Based on a three-year investigation in the country, featuring interviews the families and friends of those who left to join the jihad, Muslim activists and community leaders, imams, politicians, and intelligence agents, this book presents the social forces and communities in Trinidad that have been affected by ISIS.

Reviews

Cottees book offers us new and original insights into the surprisingly understudied world of Trinidadian ISIS members. With such a relatively high proportion of its population joining ISIS, Trinidad offers a useful case study in better understanding the global reach of the movement. Cottee takes on the challenge of analysing this with passion and an eye for detail. * Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens, KCL, UK *
Easily the most original book on the ISIS phenomenon to date. A riveting detective story with deep insights on human behavior, this is social science at its best. * Thomas Hegghammer, Senior Research Fellow at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment and the author of The Caravan: Abdallah Azzam and the Rise of Global Jihad (2020) *
Simon Cottee has written a valuable contribution to our understanding of the foreign fighter phenomenon: i.e. those who leave their countries to join terrorist groups abroad. Based on significant in-country data collection and analysis, Cottee sheds much needed light on the situation in Trinidad and Tobago, a small Caribbean nation with a wildly disproportionate number of citizens who left to become part of ISIS. This is a concise addition to a small, but growing literature. * Phil Gurski is a former Canadian security intelligence analyst and the author of Western Foreign Fighters (2017) *

Author Bio

Simon Cottee is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Kent, UK, and a contributing writer for The Atlantic. He is the author of The Apostates: When Muslims Leave Islam (2015), and ISIS and the Pornography of Violence (2019).