Module 1

Topic 1: Locating and defining the Caribbean

Locating and defining the Caribbean

Locating

The Greater Antilles

• Jamaica 🇯🇲

• Cuba 🇨🇺

• Haiti 🇭🇹

• The Dominican Republic 🇩🇴

• Puerto Rico 🇵🇷

The Lesser Antilles

It is East of Puerto Rico to Trinidad and also the ABC islands. It is divided into 3 sub-regions. These are; The Leeward Islands, The Windward Islands and the Leeward/ Netherland Antilles.

The leeward islands

• St Kitts and Nevis 🇰🇳

• Antigua and Barbuda 🇦🇬

• St Maarten 🇲🇶

• Anguilla 🇦🇮

• Montserrat 🇲🇸

• US Virgin Islands 🇻🇮

• British Virgin Islands 🇻🇬

Windward islands

• St Lucia 🇱🇨

• Dominica 🇩🇲

• St Vincent and The Grenadines 🇻🇨

• Grenada 🇬🇩

Netherland/ Leeward Antilles

• Aruba 🇦🇼

• Bonaire 🇧🇶

• Curacao 🇨🇼

• Saba

• St Eustatius

The Mainland Territories

• Guyana 🇬🇾

• Belize 🇧🇿

• Suriname 🇸🇷

• French Guiana 🇬🇫

The Other Territories

• Trinidad and Tobago 🇹🇹

• Barbados 🇧🇧

• Cayman Islands 🇰🇾

• Turks and Caicos 🇹🇨

• The Bahamas 🇧🇸

The Caribbean is also divided based on languages:

• Anglophone/Commonwealth Caribbean- territories whose official language is English.

• Hispanophone Caribbean- Spanish-speaking territories.

• Francophone Caribbean- French-speaking Caribbean territories

• Netherland Caribbean- Dutch-speaking Caribbean territories.

Defining

Girvan argues that the Caribbean has definitional issues.

There is no one standard definition of the Caribbean.

Geographical Definition of the Caribbean

It argues that the Caribbean is any area washed by the Caribbean Sea which would be all the countries in the Lesser Antilles, Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Belize and The Cayman Islands. Yet, some countries washed by the Sea are not deemed Caribbean, for instance, Venezuela, Panama, Costa Rica etc. The Bahamas, Guyana, Turks and Caicos, Suriname and French Guiana are entirely washed by the Atlantic Ocean but are deemed the Caribbean. Cancún in Mexico called itself the Caribbean Mexico because they are the only part washed by the Caribbean Sea.

There are arguments that Barbados is completely washed by the Atlantic Ocean and others say the West is washed by the Caribbean Sea (soft water) and the East is washed by the Atlantic Ocean(rough water).

It also defines the Caribbean based on lines of Longitude and Latitude. Which is 21 degrees North and 78 degrees West.

The Geological Definition of The Caribbean

Refers to the area defined by the Caribbean Plate, that shares similar systemic, tectonic and volcanic features. So basically any territory sitting on the Caribbean Plate. Not every Caribbean territory is volcanic hence flaws in this definition as well. Based on this definition Trinidad, Belize, Turks and Caicos, Bahamas, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana are excluded. The countries don’t share the same rock types, some are Volcanic and some are coral-typed.

The historical definition of The Caribbean

The Caribbean is the area that experienced European Colonisation, slavery, indentured ships and the plantation system. This definition would include more countries than the Caribbean for example the continents Africa, South America, countries in Central America and the USA. This definition is too broad because the only part of the world that was affected by this is Europe(colonisers)

European Nations that would have ruled the Caribbean:

Spain, Britain, Holland and France

What is Colonisation

This is the settlement of a group of people who seek to take control of territories. It also involves large-scale immigration of people to a new location and the expansion of their civilisation and culture into this area. There was violent resistance from the indigenous people, the natives were used for labour.

Influence of European Colonisation

• Language

• Rule of law

• Buildings and Infrastructure

• Food

• Religion

• Names of Some Countries, places, rivers

• Education System

• Government Structure

The Political Definition of the Caribbean

Refers to the Caribbean’s socioeconomic and other groupings found in the region. For instance, the countries share or have shared a similar political system of which there have been three dominant types; Independent States, Associated States and Colonial Dependence or dependent territories.

Economic Unions

• Caribbean Community

• Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States

• Association Caribbean States

The Diasporic Definition of the Caribbean

Argues that the Caribbean includes people who have migrated from the Caribbean to other parts of the World, in addition, the descendants of these migrants who have been born outside of the Caribbean are also considered to be part of the Caribbean. Institutions that are linked to the Caribbean are considered to be a part of the Caribbean.

Topic 2: Historical Process

Historical Process

One of the first places the British Europeans settled in was St Kitts in 1623 and then moved to Barbados.

1838 was the end of slavery in the British Colonies.

Amerindians

Indigenous Tribes

• Tainos (Arawaks)

• Kalinagos (Caribs)

• Mayas

• Garifuna (offspring of Kalinagos and an African tribe or in Guyana they are called Buffiana)

Impact of the Indigenous Peoples in the Caribbean

• Demographic Effects

  • Kalinagos in Dominica

  • Garifunas in Belize and St Vincent

  • Descendants of Mayans in Belize

• Language

  • Guyana- Land of Many Waters

  • Xaymaca (Jamaica)- Land of Wood and Water

  • Caiman (Cayman)- Crocodile

  • Barbeque

  • Hammock

  • Tobacco

  • Canoe

  • Hurricane

• Food

  • Pepperpot

  • Cassava Bread

  • Jerk/ Barbeque

  • Crabs/ Lobster

  • Chocolate

  • Sweet Potato

  • Cassava

  • Maisie

  • Cacao

  • Pineapple

• Recreational Activities

  • Fishing

  • Rafting

  • Canoeing

  • Smoking of tobacco

• Tourism/ Business

  • Mayan Site visit

  • Taino site visit

  • Museums

Europeans

Impact of The Europeans in the Caribbean

• Demographic Effects

  • Racial Mixtures between Europeans and the Indigenous Peoples (Mestizos)

  • Racial mixtures between the Europeans and the Africans (Mulattos)

  • Descendants of Europeans living in the Caribbean

  • Genocide of some indigenous groups

• Language

  • Official languages are of European languages( English, French, Dutch, Spanish)

  • Names of countries (Hispaniola, St Vincent, St Lucia, Trinidad)

  • Names of places ( Westminster, Georgetown, Kingston, Uitvlygt, Vergenoegen)

• Religion

  • Christianity

  • European Denominations

• Education

  • Uniforms

  • Syllabus models the Europeans

  • Caribbean Exams model the Europeans exams

  • Admiration for European scholarships and universities

• Political System

  • Wearing of wigs in court

  • Parliaments model the European Parliament

  • Political Parties

  • Branches of Government

  • Constitution (Supreme Law of the land)

• Justice System

  • Laws

  • Privy Council (UK court is the final court for most of the Anglophone Caribbean

  • Senior lawyers are awarded with title of King’s Council

  • Structure of the courts

• Architecture

  • They impacted our architecture

  • Georgian architecture

• Food

  • Tea

  • Pastries

  • Escovitch fish

  • Black cake / fruit cake

• Dress

  • Suit and tie

  • Frilly dresses

• Musical Instruments

  • Piano

  • Guitar

  • Hymns

• Festivals

  • Christmas

  • Easter

Africans

Impact of The Africans in the Caribbean

• Demographic

  • Racial Mixtures between Africans and the Kalinagos

  • Racial mixtures between Africans and Europeans

  • Over 80% of Caribbean are people of African descent

• Medicine

  • Teas (mint, peppermint, fever grass)

• Food

  • Conkie

  • Breadfruit

  • Cook up Rice

  • Yam

  • Dasheen

• Music

  • Tambourine

  • Drum

  • Flutes

  • Gyration of the hips and shaking of the rear

• Dress

  • Dashiki

  • Cornrows

  • Head ties

  • Bantu knots

• Language

  • Creole languages

  • Words

    • Pickney

    • Suss

    • Nyam

    • Unno

    • Gyal

    • Mi

• Religion

  • Obeah

  • Voodoo

  • Shango

Topic 3: Characteristics of Society and Culture

Society

A society is a group or collection of people living and interacting in a defined geographical area. There is a sense of belonging and these people can work towards a common goal. The members of the society are called citizens.

The Caribbean can be considered a society because it consists of people with similarities and common goals. It consists of interrelated social institutions. It has a defined geographical location and a sense of permanence in the Caribbean Region.

Characteristics of a Society

-Shared common purpose

Society is often defined as a group of people who share common experiences, interests, objectives and values. In the Caribbean, the people of the Caribbean territories share a common history of colonialism, slavery and the plantation system. The experiences have gone there to community in culture, norms and value systems that help to structure people’s interactions and relationships. For example, in the Caribbean, racial discrimination is not promoted and the principle that all persons have equal opportunities to improve their standing in society is also generally accepted.

Despite the ‘big picture’ commonality, the Caribbean is viewed as culturally diverse.

Many groups also operate under one societal umbrella, acknowledging and accepting each other while also understanding each other’s cultural practices as ‘normal’. For example, Christian, Rastafarian, Hindu and Islamic people understand that they share a common space in the Caribbean and are governed by a broad but common set of values that enable this shared society to function. However, it doesn’t deny the fact that there are tensions among some societies.

-A defined territorial space

This is the most basic characteristic, it is the sharing of a physical space by a group of people who have a similar cultural identity. This can be used to define the area where a society exists.

-Continuity over time and space

This is the existence of a group and the most permanent aspects of their culture within a specific over a particular period.

-Citizenship within a space

This identifies the group of people native to a state or country, of which they are citizens or nationals. This is a political characteristic of society. Nationals are part of society through birthright. Their proven descendants can also claim citizenship and thus membership in that society. Not all citizens necessarily live within the space due to migration. Some illegal migrants may also be considered part of a society but as a national or citizen.

Culture

Culture can be defined as the way of life, including aspects of lifestyle, products, ideas and symbols, common to members of a specific society.

Culture is multifaceted and consists of norms, values, customs, institutions and traditions that dictate learned human behaviours.

Culture is divided into two:

• Material Culture- tangible things, such as style, architecture, types of food, economic organisation and their forms of technology.

• Non-material culture- intangible things, such as cherished ideas, beliefs, values, customs, philosophies and norms which become tangible in the form of behaviour and material objects to which they give rise.

Culture also encompasses artistic creations and expressions such as popular music, festivals and traditions. Various terms have been coined to express different forms of culture. Some examples are:

• Mass Culture is culture consumed by large numbers of people and one of its features is that it is generally understood with very obvious themes and does not require a great output of thought. E.g. Text language, TikTok, Coca-Cola

• Popular Culture Mainstream culture is based on the tastes of ordinary people rather than elite culture high culture ( for example, popular music corms rather than classical music). Popular culture therefore entails cultural products that are enjoyed by a large number of ordinary people who do not pretend to be cultural experts.

• Folk Culture localised and traditional aspects of everyday life, usually in a defined area, this refers to the culture of ordinary people, especially those living in preindustrial societies. Folk culture includes oral traditions such as folk songs and stories that have been handed down from generation to generation, e.g. Anansi, Old Higue

• High culture or Dominant culture- refers to the cultural creations that are essentially the culture of the dominant group or coloniser. It doesn’t reflect the statistical majority but it reflects those with the most power and status. The influence of dominant culture is far-reaching it has the potential to influence such issues as education, media and public policy.

• Ideal Culture- refers to the values and standards of behaviour that people in a society claim to hold that are worthy of aspiring to. For example an ideal of abstaining from sex before marriage.

• Real Culture- refers to the values and standards that people follow in society as opposed to the cultural ideal. What people do is different from the cultural ideal

• Subculture refers to groups of people that have something in common with each other that distinguishes them in a significant way from other social groups. For example, the Rastafarian movement and the Maroon company beliefs and lifestyles set these groups sort from the rest of the Jamaican society.

Characteristics of Culture

-Learned behaviour (common to all human beings)

Culture shapes our behaviour and is learned, we are not born knowing how to behave. Enculturation is the process by which culture is passed on from one generation to another, and from one society to another. The teaching of socially acceptable behaviours are things we mostly learn through primary socialisation (family), and later secondary socialisation (schools or churches)

Culture is passed on and learnt through the use of symbols such as language and value systems. Cultural systems are verbal and nonverbal, unwritten and written indicators of the material and non-material things that a society values. For instance, language is used to pass on the history of a society, communicate the laws of a society and even the religious beliefs of a society. Traditional dress or meals, national flags showing specific colours, a history syllabus, festivals and celebrations, gestures such as the giving of gifts, hugging and kissing and even the drinking of alcohol at certain events such as wakes are all examples of Caribbean cultural symbols.

Sometimes the practices can become ritualistic behaviours or customs that seem normal to all in a society, and even subgroups that may not share the same beliefs. These practices or ‘normal behaviours’ are termed cultural norms. For example, Church attendance by Christians is deemed an acceptable and normal practice which even non-Christians have become accustomed to witnessing.

-Customs and Traditions

These are expressions or cultures that are based on practices that have been passed on from generation to generation. Traditions and customs preserve and maintain Caribbean cultural identity. They also help to determine in the minds of Caribbean citizens what they stand for, while at the same time enabling other societies to identify people from the Caribbean. Examples of such are dance, arts and crafts, festivals and celebrations.

Norms and values (which provide a guide to behaviour)

Both Values and beliefs act as a guide of acceptable social attitudes and behaviour that help to form what is considered behaviour, or norms. Adherence to these norms usually brings rewards and advancement while going against them persons may find themselves disadvantaged.

Value systems and norms are upheld and protected by sanctions (positive and negative) and laws. For instance the punishment for theft.

Values and Norms can change over time, however, many Caribbean territories have buggery laws which outlaw any act deemed to be homosexual. The Bahamas was the first Caribbean country to abolish the buggery law

-Institutions which prescribe behaviour

Social institutions are an important part of the socialisation process. They serve to teach and influence what is accepted as normal behaviour and help determine the value placed on particular attitudes and behaviour. They also play a role in determining and meeting out the sanctions and rewards associated with values and norms. These institutions are the main defenders and upholders of a society’s cultural form as they perpetuate their usage and reinforce their value and significance to, members of that society.

In the modern world, globalisation seems to be an irresistible force. In the Caribbean, North American cultural traits and patterns have become pervasive.

It is the institutions such as religion, family and education in the Caribbean that continue to promote and protect local forms of culture in the face of this cultural incursion. Indigenous and African forms of culture have been retained in the region mostly due to these institutions, in particular the family.

-Gendered practices (for example, child rearing, employment)

Gender is a factor that determines one’s identity. A cultural influence exerted by societal institutions, especially the family, is in gender ideologies and gendered practices. Children observe and emulate the behaviour of adults in the home.

Young boys take on the roles of ‘protector’ by being exposed to the elements through being allocated outdoor chores, while young girls practice their roles as caregivers and nurturers by taking in the indoor chores of cooking and keeping house. Young boys are uncultured from an early age by being n encouraged to have sexual relations only with women. Caribbean Males are ridiculed or sometimes even physically abused by their families and neighbours for expressing feminine or homosexual tendencies. This is done to ensure that the commonly held conservative Christian beliefs of the Caribbean are upheld.

Education also aids the perpetuation of traditional gendered practices in the choice of subjects both at secondary and tertiary levels that students tend to make. Girls tend to the arts and ‘caring’ subjects and boys usually do more technical or scientific subjects. In this way, education reinforces the norms, values and beliefs about gender roles already learnt in the family.

This then in turn influences the employment opportunities open to each sex, notwithstanding the traditional family roles of the woman/ mother as the caregiver and the main child rearer and the man/father as the provider and protector.

In summary, child-rearing I still considered a predominantly female-led function in Caribbean societies. In terms of employment, the line was blurred on what was considered traditional male and female jobs.

Topic 4: Identity and Social Formation

Culture diversity

The nature of Caribbean Culture

Caribbean culture cannot be deemed homogeneous, this is because the established cultures are adapted from the various groups that came to the region. It has also been greatly influenced by the historical experiences of the region’s people (colonisation, plantation slavery, indentureship, resistance), migration (voluntary) and contemporary events (globalisation).

Indigenous People

Limited cultural impact due to their decimation by the mid-1500s by the Europeans.

Their contributions:

• The use of slash-and-burn systems helped to shape the initial development of the Caribbean.

• Smoking of Tobacco

• Tangible cultures, Hammock etc

• The technique of barbecue

• Initial economic development Spanish Caribbean. Indigenous labour was used to clear dense forests, build ports and create cathedrals

• Led the first response to oppression in the Caribbean despite its overall failure and its culmination into their decimation.

Europeans

They had the most established impact on Caribbean society and culture because they were able to direct the development of the region politically, economically and socially.

• The decimation of the indigenous people

• Introduction to Christianity

• Opened the Caribbean to Europe, Africa and Asia and paved the way for the importation of Africans (as slaves) and Asians (indentured servants)

• Created the systems of governments and legal systems in the Caribbean

• Introduction of languages (French, Dutch, Spanish and English)

• Brought diseases

• Introduced and created the plantation system up to the 1900s

• Introduced skills (metal, leather, irrigation, factories

• Introduced the majority of animals, which led to the extinction of indigenous plants and animals because of the change in the ecosystem

Africans

• Economic development of the plantation society- expansion of sugar production and its byproducts (molasses and rum)

• African culture was not erased by the plantation- African religious practices, languages, food, folklore, and music. The African slaves practised their culture secretly and taught it to their children.

• Assimilation of African and European cultures; through acculturation which created a Creole society

• Syncretism of several religions- revivalism, Shango, Voodoo and Rastafarian

• Economic diversification of the Caribbean in the post-emancipation period through peasantry

• Creators of contemporary music, literature, arts

Asians

• brought religions (Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism)

• Contribution to the creation of a creole society

• Brought festivals (Diwali and Phagwah)

• Foods which expanded Caribbean cuisine (rice, Pak choi, eggplant)

• diversify the economy of the Caribbean, mainly through agriculture and retailing

• Expanded the infrastructural development of the Caribbean in the post-emancipation period. The colonial government created some infrastructure because of the large influx of Asians.

Cultural Diversification in the Caribbean

What is cultural diversity?

This is the existence of subcultures within a main culture or different cultures in a large area such as the Caribbean. Because of the existence of a variety of cultural or ethnic groups Tigris the Caribbean, we can be described as being culturally diverse. Caribbean countries acculturate (absorb the culture of other groups) giving rise to a mixed culture. The Caribbean can be defined as a plural society because many cultural groups occupy the same territory but maintain their separate cultural identity.

Positive impact of cultural diversity in the Caribbean

• a variety of cultures that enrich the people of the Caribbean who enjoy a variety of food, festivals, art, music, ideologies and cultural expressions

• Increased tolerance to different cultural expressions because Caribbean people are a melting pot of various cultures.

• Various perspectives on the cultural changes and development of Caribbean society

• Creates a Caribbeanness among the region’s people

• Divers cultures in the Caribbean make it more appealing to outsiders. This is why the Caribbean is a keen tourism area

• Learning new cultures

• Increase harmony among differing groups over time

Negative effects of cultural diversity in the Caribbean

• animosity between various cultural groups due to the different ways in which they practice their culture

• Prejudice and discrimination over certain cultural practices particularly regarding religion

• Ethnic hate is caused by a perceived ethnic superiority. These ethnic prejudices can be perpetuated in Caribbean society due to socialisation

• Creation of a plural society in which the cultural groups do not integrate and tend to live apart

• Can separate Caribbean countries and cause insularity

• Social stratification is based on culture; ie some cultures are more desirable than others and this can lead to some form of stratification between the region’s people

• Risk of loss of indigenous culture to a dominant culture

Ethnic and cultural differences in the Caribbean

The cultural mix and diversity in the Caribbean is because of colonisation, migration (forced or voluntary) and social mobility. As such, hybridisation and syncretism are important tenets of cultural diversity.

Stratification

Social stratification refers to the division of society into layers or strata. Stratification is the ranking and dividing of groups in society based on race, prestige, age, wealth, class, gender, ethnicity, caste, historical background, religion and even naturalisation or citizenship. Stratification has nothing to do with equality.

Social mobility both upward and downward the class structure is a fairly common feature of class stratification. Intrageneration refers to the movement up and down the scale within one’s life. Intergenerational refers to movement up and down the scale across generations.

Results of social stratification

Stratification is society’s way of placing a fire on individuals our groups. Therefore, doctors and politicians are usually high up on the skill ladder of any society because healthcare and making of policy and laws are crucial skills required. These rules are rare in the spectrum working class they are not usually high and social because they are considered easily replaceable as require no specialised training time and their poor remuneration does not enable them to buy infants are required skills required for operating social mobility.

A stratification is a form of discrimination of status as the status of individuals tends to be assessed and summed up based on general assumptions about the ethnic, racial, class or religious grouping that they belong to. Chinese are deemed to be living in extreme wealth in countries like Jamaica and Guyana. Africans in the Caribbean are generally assumed to be of the poor labouring class because of their history as unpaid menial labourers. Sometimes even social stratifications outside of the Caribbean region emerge as features in the Caribbean society. The East Indian castes system was brought with indentured immigrants and is still quite influential in Guyana and Trinidad, and even determines if individuals are suited for marriage or business relationships

Impact of plantation society on social stratification

The plantation developed an insular social structure in there was sharply differentiated access to land, wealth and political power and the use of physical differences as status markers. There was no social mobility.

These experiences have created multiracial societies with mixed cultures and a social stratification based on race, education, and wealth.

Closed System - a social structure in which there is no place for mobility and the pattern of inequality in the society persists from generation to generation.

Ascribed social status- a position in society based on attributes you were born with, such as race, colour, or caste.

The role of education as a basis for new class and upward mobility

Census papers, bank loan applications and even some social club applications require you to state your level of education. This is to aid in determining one’s ability to acquire wealth because your level and type of education are major factors in the job and pay scale you can achieve. This is the reason society advances educated individuals on the social ladder. There is also a high value placed on the contributions that educated individuals can make to society, whether in medicine, law, engineering, business or science.

Concepts in social stratification

• Plantocracy: belonging to the planter class and also members of the representative and crown colony governments. In the Caribbean, the term describes the political, social and economic power wielded by plantation owners and other wealthy whites in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

• Intelligentsia: a social class of people engaged in complex, mental and creative labour directed to the development and dissemination of culture, encompassing intellectuals and social groups close to them (e.g. artists and school teachers)

• Bourgeoisie: upper middle class. According to Marx, a member of the property-owning class i.e. a capitalist

• Middle class: the economic class between the working class and the upper class, usually including professionals, highly skilled labourers, and lower and middle management

• Working Class: the socio-economic class consisting of people who work for wages, especially low wages, including unskilled and semi-skilled labourers and their families.

• Underclass: a class beneath the usual social scale consisting of the most disadvantaged people, such as the unemployed in inner cities

• Caste: any social class or system based on such distinctions as heredity, rank, wealth, race and profession

Causes of social stratification in Caribbean Countries

1. Historical experience- slavery

2. Historical experience- indentureship

3. Colonisation- dominance of power, influence over another territory and (imperialism)

4. Unequal distribution of resources or wealth

5. Inaccessibility to educational resources and opportunities

Factors promoting Social mobility in the Caribbean

1. Access to education

2. Promotion of intellectual perspectives or traditions (Feminism, Pan-Africanism and pay equality, negritude)

3. Emancipation of the enslaved

4. Process of achieving independence

5. Industrialisation

6. Shift in ideologies/ values/ norms

Creolisation and hybridisation

Hybridisation

This is the deliberate or unintentional development of new cultural forms out of the integration of cultures, in the case of the Caribbean, these cultural forms were imported through the migration of the Amerindians, Europeans, Africans and Asians. Another term for this is syncretism. Hybridisation also refers to mixtures in terms of people’s racial, heritage and cultural expression:

• Religion

  • Vodou

  • Santeria (mix of Roman Catholicism and Yoruba beliefs and traditions)

  • Rastafari

  • Pocomania/ revivalism

• Language

  • Creole/Patois

    • Basilect (most raw and least socially prestigious form)

    • Acrolect (the form considers most clearly related to standard English)

• Race

  • Racial admixture- Racial mixing has been a significant part of this process. Even before the Europeans arrived, there was evidence of a developed Arawak-based language among the Caribs. Pointing to the mixing of indigenous ethnic groups; which is probably because of the capture of Taino women who taught their own Arawak language to their children born to Carib fathers. When the Spanish arrived, the process of racial mixing between Europeans and Amerindians began. Then followed the mixing of the Europeans and Africans. The arrival of East Indians, Chinese, Indonesians and others brought more to the potential mix. This mixing naturally brought with it new forms of cultural hybridisation.

    • Mulatto- European and African ancestry

    • Mestizo- Latin American term used to describe people of mixed European(Originally Spanish) and Amerindian ancestry.

    • Garifuna (Black Caribs)- mixed ****African and Amerindian descent.

    • Douglas- a mix of an African and East Indian

    • Creole- used to describe a person (usually a slave) born in the Caribbean

Cultural Change: No culture is a sealed entity. All cultures are influenced by and in turn, influence other cultures. Nor is any culture changeless. Our changing ideas for ourselves and our societies impact our present cultural practices, and in turn, culture acts on us. Material and non-material forms of culture undergo processes of erasure, retention or renewal.

Cultural erasure: refers to the diminishing or discontinuance is cultural practices

Cultural retention: the continuation of cultural practices of the past into the present. It is the preservative of an aspect of culture.

Cultural renewal: this is when practices discontinued have been revived. It is usually an attempt to salvage parts of our past or aspects of our culture that have been latent( dormant)

Creolisation

This is a term specific to the Caribbean, used to describe a kind of fusion of disease, beliefs, culture, customs traditions and even people resulting from hybridisation. Creole forms can appear to be very similar to or different from the original.

Creolisation is a process of change and adaptation that takes place in the way of life or culture of a particular region or society. Creolisation of the Caribbean culture and society is represented by the mixtures of languages, religious rituals, musical expressions and cuisines in the region

Acculturation: cultural modification of an individual, group, or people by adapting to or borrowing traits from another culture ( a dominant culture).

The inferior group takes on the traits of a superior group. This causes creolisation to occur (the blacks and the whites)

Plural society thesis- M.G Smith

He formed the view that Caribbean society developed into a plural society. This is when various cultures or ethnic groups share the same geographical area, but they separate themselves from each other.

He argued that the various cultures and ethnic groups in the Caribbean share the same geographical area but do not integrate. He says that this is the product of plantation slavery and colonialism. He believes that there is disunity among the cultural groups in the Caribbean.

The plural society thesis focused on how the cultural groups have merged to create unique cultures in the region.

Topic 5: Impact of Geographical Phenomena

Geographical processes are events related to the Earth’s physical environment, how they change over time and human responses to them.

Our cultural, historical and political systems and unique island culture are dependent on the natural and Human Resources found in each country. Observing and interpreting these geographical features and processes allows us to relate them to our lives and by doing so, control our response to future natural events. There are five main geographical phenomena which affect people’s lives in the Caribbean:

• Plate tectonics

• Hurricanes

• Soils

• Coral reefs

• Droughts and floods

Geographical phenomena affect the non-material component of culture via learnt values and norms centred on our need to protect the physical environment. The material part of culture is also impacted as there can be damage to architecture and settlement patterns.

Plate tectonics

This concept relates to the composition of the Earth’s crust. The crust is not one continuous mass, but rather it is broken up into several pieces that move on top of the mantle below. The Caribbean plate is bordered by the Atlantic plate in the east and its western margin lies off Central America in the Pacific. The plates move and adjoin other plates at their margins and boundaries.

Types of Tectonic Margins

• Divergent plate margin(constructive)- when the plates are moving apart or away from each other. This causes the magma from the mantle to surface. Which then may result in gentle volcanic eruptions and some earthquake activity. (Found in the Cayman Islands)

• Transform(fault)when plates slide past each other. When the plates are passing each other, as the rocks move to release the stress of movement and friction with other plates, earthquakes occur. Found in the Northern and Southern margins of the Caribbean Plate in areas such as Trinidad, Jamaica, Haiti and Puerto Rico.

• Convergent (destructive) is when two plates move toward each other and collide where one is forced back down into the mantle (subduction). This poses environmental hazards: volcanic, earthquake and other seismic activities. Found along the line of the Lesser Antilles in areas such as St. Vincent, St. Lucia and Martinique.

Plate movement

Plates move in 3 distinguishable directions. Divergent margins are areas of seafloor spreading and rifting; convergent margins(subduction zone) in oceanic environments, are regions of dominant volcanic activity and mountain building; and conservative margins (transform) are areas of seismic activity with slip faults being the observed landform. The 7.0 magnitude hurricane in Haiti in 2010 was a result of the strike slip-faulting on the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault system. The fault system is accommodated by the overall motion between the Caribbean plate and the North American plate along its northern conservative boundary.

All plates appear to be moving at different speeds and independently of each other, however, the entire mechanism of plate movement is interconnected.

Plates of the world

There are seven major plates on the Earth’s surface. These include the African Plate (Transform), Antarctic Plate (Divergence), Indo-Australian Plate (all 3), Eurasian Plate( Divergence and Convergence), North American Plate (Divergence and Convergence), South American Plate (all 3) and Pacific Plate (all 3).

There are minor plates that are inclusive of Cocos, Nazca, Scotia, Arabia, Philippine, Fuji, Caroline and Caribbean. The Caribbean plate is the 2nd largest of the significantly named minor plates.

The Caribbean Plate

It is a small section of crust under the Caribbean Sea. This slab pushes between the North and South American plates. It has a prominent island arc; as the Caribbean plate moves eastwards it creates a destructive plate boundary, or volcanic zone in the Lesser Antilles. Another volcanic zone is around Central America on the western boundary of the Caribbean Plate with the Cocos and Nazca Plates.

A transform fault is the boundary between two adjacent crustal plates where they move sideways past each other in a tearing action, which results in frequent small tremors and occasionally severe earthquakes.

A strike-slip fault is made of large cracks or a fault zone. Strike-slip Earthquake zones on the Northern and Southern boundaries of the Caribbean Plate, where there are transform plate boundaries, have shaped the Greater Antilles and Northern America.

Coral reefs such as Barbados, The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos islands have been created by a combination of uplift as the Caribbean plate moves and sea-level rise caused by climate change. The severity of earthquakes tends to be greater on the west of the plate in Central America, next in severity is the Northern Boundary and east experiences the least movement. Volcanic activity occurs only along the destructive boundaries to the west and the east.

Positives of plate tectonics in the Caribbean

• Soils rich in nutrients are useful to agriculture (volcanic islands)

• Attractive scenery and fold mountains (St. Lucia) bring tourists

• Tourist attractions such as Sulphur Springs in St. Lucia generate income along with associated merchandise(volcanic mud masks)

• Access to valuable minerals; gold, silver, and nickel (Dominican Republic); bauxite(Jamaica) and oil and gas (Cuba, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago).

• Source of Geothermal energy in Montserrat and Nevis.

Negatives of plate tectonics in the Caribbean

• Tsunamis (Jamaica 1692)

• Earthquakes (Haiti 2010 and Guadeloupe 1843)

• Explosions of hot lava, ash and gases from erupting volcanoes smother everything in their path (Martinique 1902)

• Mudflows resulting from the volcanic ash and rainfall mixing

• Poisonous gases around the volcanic vent prevent plant growth and cause acid rain.

• Flash floods are caused by the removal of vegetation from upper slopes and then heavy rainfall.

• Damages to beaches and coastal vegetation as lava flow creates new land

• This can set back development because of the cost and need to rebuild

• Disruption to the economy if business and markets close

• Loss of working-age people (migration; for economic reasons (Montserrat, 1995), Safety reasons because of an immediate physical threat (Montserrat 1995-97) or to escape from disease outbreaks after a natural disaster)

Earthquakes, Volcanoes and the threat of tsunamis

The Caribbean is extremely vulnerable to the impact of natural hazards because these countries are small and resources are scarce. In affected countries, political decisions have to be made and this puts leadership under pressure. Tourism also takes a blow anytime this is a natural disaster because tourists view the Caribbean as a whole. To help combat negative impacts, individual countries invest in local offices and regional bodies such as The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), which coordinates emergency management systems.

Earthquakes

These are due to the movement of the Earth’s crust, pressures build up at the junction where two plates meet. When they cannot take them, they snap into a new position and this vibration is an earthquake. Some earthquakes have a volcanic origin, occurring below volcanic vents and are less destructive.

Most tremors are slight and can only be detected by seismographs, but some are strong and can cause buildings to collapse trapping people inside (Jamaica 1903 and 1993; Haiti 2010).

The earthquake zone extends from Grenada to St. Kitts and up to Jamaica and west of Trinidad.

In 1907, the capital city of Kingston in Jamaica was flattened by an earthquake. A secondary impact in the form of a fire caused further damage. Another example is Oort Royal in Jamaica which was the richest city on earth. It was home to the Pirates of the Caribbean who looted gold and valuables from colonial ships. After two consecutive earthquakes, Oort Royal was destroyed and today only a small museum and sunken building remain. The once rich village is now a poor fishing village.

Impacts

• They are destructive to life and any property

• This causes portions of the saw to rise above the water level resulting in flooding.

• Earthquake tremors can cause mudslides and catastrophic rockfall

• Tsunamis or gigantic waves also result from earthquakes and these result from depressions or large holes in the sea floor, they usually are cut along the coastal regions. In 1962, Tsunamis damaged on the north coast of Jamaica.

• In 2010 in Haiti, nearly 230,000 persons died and 300,000 were injured. It took at least USD 11 Billion to repair the damage. 1.3 million people were displaced. Four persons were killed by the tsunami. Then when the peacekeepers came they brought cholera which would have killed millions of people. Money was raised appropriately 13 billion USD of what we know and only $6 billion made it to the country. 10yrs after the earthquake (2010-2020) journalists who would been there directly after it happened and then returned to observe how the country looks now claim that much has not changed since that horror some day.

Volcanoes

A volcano is an opening in the Earth’s crust which allows ash, lava, steam and hot gases to escape to the surface, creating an atmosphere dangerous to plants and animals around its vent. Over time these eruptions build a cone-shaped mountain. Volcanoes are natural vents of fissures or gaps linking the Earth’s interior to the surface through which an assortment of pyroclastic materials of hot ash, lava, debris and poisonous gases are ejected. These are created from divergent plate margins.

Usually, a tremor may be a warning of a volcano erupting soon. Active volcanoes have been erupting for hundreds of years and are quite unpredictable in terms of their length and degree of severity. Sometimes major towns are destroyed (Plymouth in Montserrat 1995).

When the molten rock of the volcano is in the Earth’s crust it is called magma, when it erupts and is now on the Earth’s surface, then it is classified as Lava.

Types of Volcanoes

• Stratovolcanoes

• Shield

• Calderas

• Mid Ocean Ridges

Impact

• They can obliterate large areas with people and buildings buried under tons of hot ash and lava.

• Some are not explosive but still hurt the human environment. For example the air quality because of the smoke that may be coming out from the volcano.

• The islands of the Eastern Caribbean which are formed from volcanoes are vulnerable to eruptions.

• Volcanic eruptions in Montserrat in 1996 caused the population to decline from 11,000 to 5,000. Those who did not migrate moved to the north-east of the island which was least affected.

• Destroyed property, crops and lives and even after it has erupted the air pollution impacts a person

• Overpopulation in other Caribbean countries and certain parts that are deemed safe because of fear that it may happen again and for a better life.

• Disrupts tourism and tourism revenue and inevitability the ability to rebuild because of the changes in weather pattern, decreases sunlight intensity.

• Flooding causes landslides, usually low-lying coastal areas are flooded.

• In St. Vincent and the Grenadines after the volcano (La Soufrière), over 12000 people needed life-saving supplies. All of the area which was affected was agricultural wealthy land as well as animal rearing lands therefore causing a shortage in food supply and revenue for the country. As well as freshwater supply.

Positive impact

• Land formation- some islands in the Lesser Antilles were formed from volcanic eruptions

• The Sulphur gas can cause atmospheric cooling after the eruption

• Valuable minerals such as gold, nickel and copper in areas such as Pakaraima area in Guyana

• Good farming soil from weathers volcanic rocks and materials e.g slopes of Mt Misery in St Kitts

• Hot springs have potential for thermal energy (St Lucia and Dominica)

• Tourist attractions- sulphur springs in St Lucia, boiling Lake in Dominica

• Creates consciousness among Caribbean people as to the threat of natural disasters

• Causes governments to enforce building codes to mitigate the effects of earthquakes and other natural disasters

Tsunamis

A tsunami is a series of high sea waves which may be the result of an undersea earthquake or more rarely, a volcanic eruption that triggers a giant landslide on the seafloor. A tsunami maybe 3 metres or more in height and can flood coastal areas and travel up river valleys, washing people and property away.

Tsunamis had the least threat on the Caribbean region than the other types of natural disasters. The main threat would’ve been from an undersea earthquake (Dominican Republic, 1946,1943) or a volcanic eruption that could potentially cause a tsunami (for example kick’ em Jenny submarine volcano just north of Grenada)

Historically, tsunamis have been recorded in Jamaica 1907, Puerto Rico 1918, Montserrat 1997 and Dominican Republic 1946

(1790 persons died in this tsunami).

How tsunamis occur

• the ocean floor is raised or increased debris and rock material in the ocean

• Once the ocean rises (in the form of waves) the water moves towards land

• The wave movement is sometimes barely noticeable in the deeper parts of the ocean but as the waves nears the shore, where land is shallow, the height increases dramatically. The basin area drains, exposing sand where seawater once was and the incoming wave plunged forward- often far inland.

On average, tsunamis range from 1 to 35 metres in height.

How to Mitigate the effects of natural disasters

• Take advantage of new risk assessment technologies: conducting scientific studies may allow to setting of safety standards in risky areas.

• Take a multi-dimensional approach to vulnerability and the responses it: Urbana and national development must be incorporated into Rick’s management.

• Strengthen learning networks: cities can employ information webs to exchange experiences and improve decision-making.

• Plan for uncertainty

• Think creatively

• Ecological limits are not bound by jurisdictions

• Using early warning systems can save lives

• Modernise infrastructure

• Work with people inside and outside government

Hurricanes

A hurricane is a large rotating severe storm that occurs in the tropics normally between early June and the end of November. This is usually around the rainy season in the Caribbean. A warm sea surface temperature of 26 to 27°C is necessary to maintain the weather system as well as a considerable depth of warm water below the surface of the sea surface, atmospheric instability, such as thunderstorms cumulonimbus clouds. The most dramatic atmospheric condition is a high wind speed which must be over 190 km/h for the system to be called a hurricane otherwise it is just a tropical storm depression or easterly wave. The Safir Simpson scale of 1 to 5 classifies hurricanes according to their wind intensity and can be used to estimate how damaging a hurricane will be.

Hurricanes have a doughnut ship if viewed from above, the eye of the hurricane is at the centre and is usually the calmest region of low pressure. when a hurricane is close to the land it can cause storm surges that better coast lines high-velocity wins and sometimes tornadoes can blow roofs off and damage windows. Torrential rain can also cause flash flooding and trigger landslides unlike volcanoes and earthquakes which only occur on and around the plate margins, hurricanes can affect all parts of the Caribbean region countries to the salts including Ghana surname and Trinidad are affected as they lay outside the atmosphere conditions that favour the strong wind rotation of a storm. countries such as Haiti are particularly at risk of hurricane damage as many people live in poorly constructed buildings.

To mitigate a disaster from happening residents must be warned about the pending approach of a hurricane. This is usually done through systems of monitoring by meteorologists at the National Hurricane Centre in Miami Florida. As well as the of use satellites, buoys, aircraft and computer models to predict the track of the hurricane. When it seems that a hurricane will strike an area within 24 hurricane warning is issued.

Social and economic impact of hurricanes

• Increase of homeless people (depression)

• Threats to human life (flying debris, floodwaters and contamination of drinking water)

• They destroy 10-25% of property and infrastructure (Hurricane Ivan: Grenada, Jamaica, Cayman Islands 2004)

• Communications, roads and utilities are shut down, leaving people cut from emergency services.

• Interrupted life and livelihood

• A potential breakdown of social order with general lawlessness and looting.

• Destruction of parts of the environment, agricultural industry, forest and gardens, resulted in a shortage of local crops. Hurricanes can also cause beach erosion and damage to the marine ecosystem as well as the fishing and leisure industries. However, on the plus side the rainfall replenishes aquifers, for example in Barbados, increasing available water and relieving drought.

• Severe weather results in cancelled airline flights and cruise ships which impacts the tourism industry, foreign exchange earnings and inevitably the economy.

Ways to plan for the impact of hurricanes

• Improve housing by securing roofing, storm shutters, racing electrics out of range of flood water and installing sewer floors to avoid water contamination.

• Have a system in place to evacuate areas likely to be hit by flash floods, such as settlements in river valleys.

• Improve Hurricane defences at ports

• Reinforce telecommunication structures and power lines

• Plant trees and mangroves to act as a natural windbreak

• Increase awareness of the need to take out adequate insurance to help recovery

• Educate citizens to maintain a stock of emergency supplies and how to use them

• Plan for emergency broadcasting to keep people informed during and after

• Anchor fishing boast

• Secure oil drums; trim trees to reduce the risk of damage and injury from flying debris

• Cover wells to prevent water contamination

Responses to hurricane

• Promotion of education of citizens and emergency personnel on how to prepare for the impact on themselves, their homes and communities.

• Some economic activity is stimulated as citizens buy emergency items and construction materials.

• The fostering of community spirit amongst neighbours

• Foreign aid

Droughts

There is a distinct dry and wet season that occurs due to climate cycles in the Caribbean. Drought is an extended dry period that leads to a drop in the water table and the lowering of lakes, rivers and reservoirs. Droughts place limitations on supply and restrictions on usage and sometimes this means that public institutions lack sufficient water for optimum sanitation.

In February 2010, the Caribbean experienced a prolonged drought. In Jamaica, affects social and economic functioning. Water lock-offs from the main lines were constant in Kingston. Classes were suspended at educational institutions and some business and public services had to reduce activities. In Trinidad, the water and sewage company reduced the amount of water released from its reservoirs from 75 million gallons daily to 50 million.

In Guyana water had to be trucked to farms and the government spent thousands of dollars in mitigation techniques. Drought is a condition of moisture deficit sufficient to have an adverse effect on vegetation, animals and man over a sizeable area.

Responses to drought

• Catch water from the roof

• Storing water in water tanks

• Governments may borrow money or divert capital from other sectors

• The government may reduce water usage by the use of restrictions

• The government may create tax incentives for people to install more water tanks.

Cause and impacts

• Loss of fertility

• Loss of stabilising vegetation in the lower evaluations.

• Effects cultivation of plants

• Population pressure

• High levels of pesticide

• Climate Change ( El Niño Southern Oscillation)

• There is no rainfall (the greatest indication of a drought)

Floods

This occurs when heavy and continuous rainfall overwhelms the soil or river systems. Water builds in places where it is normally dry, which affects homes, crops, and businesses. Storm surges can result in floods in castle areas and river valleys. Guyana is located in the inter-tropical convergence zone which can experience heavy downpours lasting days and this may be beyond the capacity of drainage systems.

Guyana’s worst natural disaster was the flooding in 2005. The country was engulfed by 1268mm of rainfall when the average amount of rainfall in January wasthe 178mm. The coastal strip was covered in water. 70% of the total population at that time was affected. “The cost of flood Damage in the Caribbean is astronomically high and has continuously crippled economic activities in many Caribbean nations. The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management (CDEMA) has identified flooding as the most common natural hazard affecting the socio-economic development of many Caribbean countries.

Causes

• drainage system is blocked (flash flood)

• Clay soils (where water does not permeate easily

• Steep slopes (where saturated soil makes it prone to landslides. An endangered lives and property

Impacts

• 34 lives were lost in the 2005 Guyana flood.

• The damage cost of the January to February floods of 2005 was estimated over 93 Billion Guyanese dollars

Responses to flooding

• Planting of more trees

• Irrigation of drains regularly

• Educating the public on anti-littering as well of the dangers of dumping and squatting.

• How to protect oneself from mosquito bites and how reduce the breeding of them

• Residents need to be warned in advance of flood threats and know where there is an emergency shelter

• Improvements to buildings

• Installation of underground cables for utilities

• Flood insurance

• Fostering a strong community amongst neighbours

Impacts of Natural disasters as a whole

Social and political effects

• Loss of life- increases mortality

• Disturbance of social activities

• Migration as people migrate to other countries that do not experience natural disasters

• Conflict over scarce resources

• Health risks- polluted water, lack of water, food shortage, diseases

• Causes food insecurity

• Regional/ International cooperation to facilitate recovery

• Weakened stability of a government due to worsening public poverty and increased borrowing from and dependence on other countries

• Increase Poverty

• Widen the gap between the rich and poor widens

Economic effects

• Displacement causes loss of jobs, loss of capital/ raw materials/ machines

• Damage to property- farms as factories

• Damage to facilitating infrastructure, such as telephone lines and roads as well as loss of electricity

• Opportunities for short-term as well as long-term employment in rebuilding and recovery efforts- create work for social workers, engineers etc

• Increase in the cost and/ or importation of some goods, such as those used in rebuilding

• Increase poverty due to loss of jobs or unemployment

Environmental effects

• Enhancement of soil fertility- volcanoes

• Pollution of water bodies- from silting, soil erosion and landslides etc

• Air pollution from volcanic emissions, such as ash and toxic gases

• Enhance land pollution

• Improve air quality in the case of a hurricane

• Change in the landscape, resulting from the landslides or the effects of floods (coastal and riverine)

• Influence climate change

Soils

What is soil erosion?

This is the displacement of the upper layer of the soil. It is caused by natural processes but human activities accelerate it. It is a very gradual process that occurs when water or wind detaches and removes soil particles which deteriorates it (denudation). When the ground is covered with some kind of vegetation, only normal erosion takes place which is unavoidable and is going on everywhere around the globe.

Soil erosion can be caused or aggravated by bad farming practices, such as:

• Shifting Cultivation: cleared by fire therefore no protection from heavy tropical rain

• Overgrazing: the number of animals that can be grazed depends on the carrying capacity of the pasturage which is the number of animals which can graze on the pasture without completely killing out the grasses or other plants.

• Deforestation: land cleared for cultivation or timber

• Slope cultivation: soil erosion is always enhanced when the cleared area of the land is on a steep slope.

• Quarrying and mining: major problems in countries like Jamaica which heavily rely on bauxite.

• Deforestation- a major problem in Haiti and the Dominican Republic due to a productive logging industry

• Housing construction- accelerate deforestation

• Agriculture practices- shifting cultivation, mono-cropping, overgrazing and ploughing, slash and burn, making charcoal.

• Poor drainage- this is particularly true of the Caribbean

• Poor Farming practices

• Rainfall

• Dry Season

Effects of soil erosion

• Removal of valuable topsoil which undermines crop production and reduces land productivity

• Land may become useless over and overgrown with secondary vegetation i.e. bush or carved into gullies or ravines

• Soil erosion near rivers from hillsides may increase sediment buildup in river beds reducing river capacity

• Pollution of rivers, lakes and water supplies

• Breakdown of infrastructures, bridges, roads and buildings

• When coupled with hurricanes, earthquakes or any other natural disaster eroded hillsides are more prone to create landslides or mudslides.

Soil conservation

Soil is of primary importance to the Caribbean society since they downed heavily on agriculture and reducing soil erosion is very important. The process of reducing, preventing and managing soil erosion is referred to as soil conservation.

Successful soil conservation addresses issues of soil fertility such as lack of nutrient balance, organic content, salts and pH balance, as well as pesticides and other toxic controls. It aims to maintain and improve soil fertility or the top layer of the soil for sustainable plant growth. Due to the hilly nature of the Caribbean, barrier methods are commonly used: retaining walls, Gabion baskets, terracing, hedgerows and grass strips. Combinations of these as well as cover methods are also used. Mulching, mixed cropping, crop rotation and agroforestry are encouraged, both for soil conservation and farming diversification.

Restorative measures and prevention practices:

• Afforestation Vegetation or topsoil if brought to an eroded area produces a dense network of roots to bind the soil together, prevent water and wind erosion and create new organic matter to make new soils.

• Replanting of vegetation after mining and quarrying activities

• Landscaping- An entire area may have to be re-sculpted into an undulated land before afforestation

• Controlling lumbering and monitoring the logging industry- control cutting of trees with strict penalties for illegal lumbering.

• Contour ploughing- ploughing at the right angles to the hill slopes, following the natural contour of the slope

• Terracing slopes may be cut into a series of terraces or steps with sufficient space between each to allow cultivation and an outer wall (retaining wall) at the edge to retain the soil and to down the flow of rainwater down the slope

• Strip cropping: whereby crops are cultivated in alternate drips, parallel to one another.

• Cover cropping: cover crops may be interplanted between young trees. These crops parent the topsoil from the full force of the tropical downpours.

Effects

• Hilly and Remote terrain in the interior of Caribbean Countries can limit settlement

• The thin soils are not favourable to the expansion of farming here and this has historically made the flatter areas more useful

• Eroded soil carried by the river spreads fresh sand and slit into the floodplain, increasing soil fertility and making these areas prime sites for farming and settlements close by.

• Make agriculture less sustainable when large amounts of soil are washed away.

Coral Reefs

These are large strips of wave-resistant coral rocks made from the skeletons of marine animals called polyps (carbonate organisms) lying close to the surface of the sea, cemented together to form a physical structure. They are underwater ecosystems. Coral atolls exist offshore and are circular reefs enclosing a lagoon, as in The Bahamas. As sea levels were lower in the past, some reefs, such as the Belize Barrier Reef, are now far offshore and have created large lagoons for fishing and the collection of seafood, including lobster. Most reefs are fringing reefs, which grow close and are often attached to the shore and enclose a small lagoon. Coral polyps need sunlight, few nutrients and saline seawater to grow well, so are not found near large rivers or in polluted water. It takes 100 years for 3cm of coral to grow.

Types of Coral Reefs

• Barrier- are found parallel to the coast and are usually separated by shallow but wide areas of water called lagoon. The second largest barrier reef in the World is located off the coast of Belize

• Fringing- low platforms of coral, lying close to the shore of an island or continental shelf but separated by narrow lagoons. They are in Caribbean countries such as Jamaica, Barbados, Tobago and Antigua

• Atolls- tend to form a horseshoe. They are usually linked to a sunken volcanic cone

Values of Coral Reefs

• Tourism promotes ecotourism- Bucco Reef in Trinidad and the Coral Gardens in Dominica.

• Coastline protection from wave erosion protects coastal villages, coastal lowlands and hotels from marine destruction

• Act as a storm barrier

• Feeding ground for fishes- parrot fish. This enhances fishing in the Caribbean and ensures a rich supply of seafood

• Beaches aesthetic value- Biodiversity, many of the sand in many Caribbean beaches, derived from wave-broken corals

• Medical Value- anti-cancer drug and anti-biotic, bone implants

• Recreation for locals and tourists

• Employment (service-oriented)- sightseeing, boat operation, resorts, hotels, jet skiing

• Income

• Taxation

• Scientific studies

• Breathing for fish and other marine life

• Beneficial to the indigenous people

• Multiplier effect (150 million is approximately accumulated once a year in Belize from coral reefs and tourism)

Threats to Coral Reefs

• Climate Changerising tides

• Tourismsnorkelling, deep diving etc

• Fisheriesoverfishing

• Deforestationincreasing water turbidity (cloudy) from erosion etc. Corals need clean water

• Water pollution may disturb the ecological connection of the reef and fisheries

• Harvesting the reef itself for sale

• Sewage near the coast causes eutrophication, killing and choking coral

• Poisonous industrial waste

• Hot water from plants affects sea temperatures

• Destructive fishing techniques such as dynamite fishing

• Coastal development

• Cruise ships and water sports

• The overuse of agricultural pesticides and fertilisers

• Improper sewage disposal in the sea causes the growth of algae over the reef

• G**lobal warming (**high sea temperatures)

• Harvesting of coral sand

• Removal of mangrove forests

• Too much fresh water ( they need an amount of salt)

Coral Reef Protection

• Sustainability of the fishing industry-

  • governments can pass legislation to protect certain species from extinction, such as the sea urchin.

  • As well as the use of quotas to control the number of seafood exported or consumed.

  • Government can also ban dynamite and cyanide fishing, and the mining of coral for construction materials and souvenirs for the tourist trade. Some countries have implemented such, however, poaching is a problem in some.

  • Protected areas, or marine parks, which can prohibit fishing and pollution and allow the ecosystem to thrive.

• Development of a proper sewage system

• Careful environment management

  • Monitoring water quality and the state offshore coral reefs.

  • Educating the public and advising on shore protection and management these activities exist in Barbados

• Engineering methods such as well-designed artificial structures can reduce wave energy and protect beaches from erosion ( earthen embankment, Seawalls)

• Education- Save the reef educational programs, adding it to the educational curriculum

• Legislation

• Treatment plants

• Research

• Planting mangroves

Topic 6: Impact of Societal Institutions on Caribbean People

Family

Families are a social institution that exists in all societies and cultures. It represents the various ideas and beliefs that people in a given community have about raising children and socialising them into the norms of that society. The distinct experience of Caribbean society, combined with a plethora of cultural, economic, political and religious influences that have come to carry on the region over time, has resulted in a variety of family structures, none of which can be described as standard.

“The primary social unit that socialises and infants and children in the morals, values and practices of the unit and the wider society. It exits as a group of people, usually living under the same roof related by blood, marriage or through adoption.”

The Caribbean Family

• Europeans- nuclear family

• Afro-Caribbeans- matrifocal, common law, visiting, extended, nuclear

• Indo-Caribbean- extended, patriarchal

• Chinese, Syrians, Lebanese, Jews- extended, patriarchal

• Mixed- nuclear, extended. Patriarchal

Nuclear Family

Also known as the traditional family consists of two adults, a mother and father and their unmarried offspring. It was introduced to the region by the Europeans (White Christian Colonisers). It was considered norm of the ideal family form. The nuclear family supported the idea prevalent among the colonial authorities of the supremacy of the male within the household.

Nowadays it has become more mainstream globally. It is common amongst the upper and middle class.

The extended family

Consists of members buying the mother, father and their children. There may be several married siblings and their children together with grandparents and other relatives. This family form is predominant among East Indians particularly Hindus and Muslims, it is patriarchal in authority and is often patrilocal.

Strong kinship ties exist and arranged marriages and practice of endogamy are customary.

There are two types namely; the vertical extended (consanguine) and the horizontal extended (joint). The vertically extended family may have one, two or even three generational families. Horizontal extended families are those that are extended as a result of the siblings introducing their spouses into the households and it is further extended to include their children as well.

Single Parent Family

Occurs when one parent, either the mother or father lives and takes responsibility for raising the children. In the Caribbean the number of such households headed by mothers has outweighed those headed by fathers.

In the early 1980’s figures showed that 44% of all households in Barbados were headed by a woman while the figures for the first half of the 1990’s in Antigua and s Barbuda stood at 42%.

Visiting Family

Involves the mother and children living separate from the father, often in her parent’s home and the father visiting them there. The parents still maintain a sexual and often emotional relationship. This originated from slavery where planters forbade couples forming family units. A research showed that such relationships were found mainly among lower-income Afro Caribbean families and the women entered the relationship for economic support.

Common Law

These involve a couple committing to each other in a lasting relationship without any form of registration of the marriage.

Reconstituted/ Blended Family

Formed to the union of people who were previously married to others. In some instances, each partner comes into the new marriage with their children from their former marriage.

Historical factors that influence the structure of the family

There is a clear relationship between the plantation system, especially in the era of slavery and the current structure of the Caribbean households. The economic arrangement had a significant impact on how Caribbean society and attitudes evolved. There have been some changes in Caribbean society over time, especially with the arrival of industrialisation and the modern era. These change are mainly because of migration and education.

Colonisation and the establishment of the plantation system

The white plants brought their families to the Caribbean and introduced and promoted the Western European idea of the nuclear family. It became a part of us, the Caribbean people society under the colonial rule, because of the superiority of the whites and the economic power during this period. During this time the nuclear family considered to be “ideal” family structure. Even surviving to this day.

Slavery

Planters did not allow slaves to bond and marriage among slaves was banned. The practice of polygamy, brought from Weat Africa Influenced patterns of sexual activity among slaves, with men often fathering children by different women. Slave owners often fathered children by female slaves. Slaves could be bought and sold at anytime. Which also mitigated against the formation of traditional family ties. However, they were allows procreate with forming a family unit. These factors all resulted in the formation of matrifocal households, and were later to manifest themselves in visiting-type union and common law unions.

Indentureship

East Indians establish the joint household, a strong patriarchal family structure that prioritises early marriage, as the for the extend family. Among East Indians, the extend family continued to hold a dominating role both during and after indentureship. In societies like Guyana and Trinidad, this family structure was well established. These days, rural areas are dominated by this family structure. Due to socioeconomic mobility, many Indo-Trinidadians have opted for nuclear families rather that extended families.

Emancipation and Migration

After the abolition of slavery, the free blacks, especially in the smaller territories did not have access to land and economic resources that were there for their survival. From this, some migrated to where land was more available. Later on, the arrival of industrialisation created an avenue mostly for male Afro-Caribbeans as well as Indo-Caribbean and Chinese-Caribbean, to migrant to mostly North America and Britain in search of work to support their families. The already-matrifocal characteristic of the Caribbean family was maintained by this enormous migration. Furthermore, as a result of the efforts made by the families of former slaves to become prosperous small-scale farmers, children were forced to labour or take on child rearing duties for their younger siblings at a relatively young age. Therefore, it is reasonable to argue that the financial struggles that followed slavery had a significant impact on the composition of many Caribbean houses belonging to the lower classes.

Independence

Changes in family relations were also brought about by independence: as more Caribbean nations gained their independence, additional prospects for social mobility arose.

For people who want to improve their socioeconomic circumstances, education has become essential to achieving upward social mobility. The primary causes of the rise in nuclear families are social mobility and acceptance of middle-class and upper-class values. For instance, in Trinidad and Tobago, the middle and upper classes practise the ideal form of family, which is the nuclear family.

Modernisation

Influences from modernisation have after the institution of the family. Governments throughout the Caribbean now recognise common-law relationships as a result of modernization. Laws have been enacted to acknowledge spouses and kids in this partnership. Nowadays, children have the legal right to inherit family assets and other possessions.

According to sociologist T.S. Simey, common law unions in the Caribbean represent "faithful concubinage." More equal marriages and the ascent of more women to higher educational and important positions have also resulted in changes to gendered roles within the family structure.

Functions of the family

• The reproduction or procreation function - through procreation, the family serves to provide new members for society, and, at a fundamental level, it ensures the continuation of the human species in order for societies to survive. It also provides a framework for and means of regulating sexual activity and gratification within society.

• The emotional support function - the family provides its members with love, comfort and help in times of emotional distress. This is important to the mental, intellectual and social well-being of its members. Children need adequate love, care, affectionand attention to develop healthy stable personalities.

• The economic function - the family provides its members with certain basic needs, such as food, shelter and clothing, and practical support in the shape of finance where possible.

• Socialisation - teaching and instilling of culture, norms, values, practices, religion, politics.

Trends affecting the Family

• Migration- The Caribbean region has traditionally had a high level of migration. The majority of the Caribbean diaspora lives in the United States or Europe. According to research, such mass migration has far-reaching repercussions for families.

  • Children and families are uprooted from their home villages and relocated abroad (typically in major cities like New York or London).

  • Parents abandon their children in the Caribbean to seek employment in the United States or Europe. Even when these “barrel children' are cared for by extended families, they may nevertheless feel abandoned, lonely, or unloved.

• Changing family structure- Traditionally, Caribbean families have been characterized by strong kinship ties, extended family networks, and communal living arrangements. However, modernization, urbanization, and globalization have led to shifts in family structures. While extended families and multigenerational households are still prevalent, there is a growing trend towards nuclear families, single-parent households, and cohabiting couples, particularly in urban areas

• Family Size- Women who pursue careers tend to delay childbirth, leading to smaller family sizes. Their focus on career advancement often means fewer children.

• Authority Dynamics- With both spouses working, decision-making within the household becomes more equal, this leads to the traditional concept of a sole breadwinner to diminish.

• Gender Role Resentment- Some men may resist women entering traditionally male-dominated jobs, leading to hostility or abuse. This resistance can stem from a desire to assert dominance within the household.

• Evolving Household Responsibilities- Men are taking on more household duties as women contribute financially, though they still typically do less housework. Childcare responsibilities may be shared more equally.

• Decrease in Family Time- Families spend less time together due to career demands, leisure activities, and work-related commitments. This decline in quality family time is a result of various obligations outside the home.

• Poverty

• Health (Cancer/ HIV)

• Crime

• Father Absenteeism

Education

An important institution in the socialisation of Caribbean people.

Pre colonial

• Informal education within the indigenous communities

• Survival skills

Pre colonial- Pre Emancipation

• Formal Education for whites

• Development of Elite Trust Schools

• Enslaved were not allowed to attend formal school. Some planters tried to include them

• Slaves who taught themselves had to keep the accomplishment to themselves

• Ten years before Emancipation, education was provided to the slaves through Churches

Colonial Post Emancipation

• Negro Education grant provided funding for missionaries to teach former enslaved persons

• Low enrolment for blacks, mostly whites, coloured and middle class blacks were enrolled

Post Independence

• 1973 CXC

Colonial Education as the Caribbean

• System of Certification (GCE, O Level, A Level)

• Language of instruction (Standard English)

• Uniforms (ties, gowns, robes, badges)

• Girls Guide, Scout, Cadet

• Curriculum (British History and Literature)

• Religious Devotion and prayers

• European Norms and Values

Impact of Education

• Social Mobility

• Curriculum

• Access to Education at

• Role of Church in school

Religion

Impact of religion on the Caribbean

• Cultural diversity

• Identity

• Religious holidays are national holidays

• Prayers in schools

• National anthems

• Arts and music

• Laws are structured around Christian morals and ideals

Justice System

Comprises of the legal body of rules, legal institutions and machinery which operate within the particular country or jurisdiction.

Topic 7: Caribbean Arts and Popular Culture in the Region and its Diaspora

Art forms Vs Pop culture

• Art forms- vehicles for cultural expression, includes ‘high art’ forms such as classical approaches to painting. Sculpture and music or can be interpreted more widely r include various forms of popular and folk culture. The three main categories of art are; literary (literature and poetry), preforming (music, dance, drama) and visual (painting and sculpture)

• Popular culture- mainstream culture based on the tastes of ordinary people, or the masses, rather that elite culture or high culture (popular music forms rather that classical music)

Some shared Caribbean values are:

• informality or camaraderie;

• hospitality;

• valuing kinship bonds;

• neighbourliness in times of disaster or death.

• good education

• freedom

Some shared norms are:

• "dropping in' by friends and family without prior notice;

• cooking more than is needed 'just in case' someone drops by;

• having relatives come to stay for extended and undetermined periods - maybe to be closer to work or school.

• recreation, sports

• Liming with friends

• Use of creole

The popular culture of the Caribbean is seen through our music, festivals and the arts. Our music includes: calypso, reggae, punta, soca, salsa zouk etc. Festivals include: Carnival, Crop over, Joncannu, Reggae Sumfest and Jazz. The Caribbean has produced noted writers of literature and poetry, such as Derek Walcott and V.S Naipaul- Novel Prize winners

Sports along with music, festivals and arts highlight the Caribbean cultural identity. Our prowess in athletics, football, cricket and boxing has established the Caribbean in the world scene. These ideas and other factors have enabled the Caribbean to be a prime international tourist destination.

Caribbean arts and pop culture have taken various forms, some unique to the region such as calypso, steel band and reggae whereas other are common items of the global village such as music videos. In some instances we have lost indigenous or traditional art forms to modern and recent media.

Beyond the inherited European art forms, there are many examples of hybridisation and even indigenous creations. As one writer stated “ like the people, art forms in the Caribbean demonstrate an electric variety harmoniously combining elements of Europe., African, Asian and Indigenous American traditions.

Literary Arts

The Caribbean has contributed a large body of both prose and poetry to the world’s literature collection. Derek Walcott (1992) and V.S Naipaul (2001) are well recognised for the excellence of their work. Walcott at the age 81 won T.S Elliot Poetry pose in 2011. Both Walcott and Naipaul live and work in the Diaspora. Louise Bennet and Martin Carter tug at our Caribbean self identity.

Caribbean women writers have also much to the body of Caribbean Literature. They would have sought through their fiction to illuminate issues and conflicts of being female in the Caribbean as well as in the diaspora.

Professor Richard Allsop outstanding seminal work Dictionary of the Caribbean English, with various cross referencing throughout the region has given the region a way of understanding each other’s dialect forms. It also has French and Spanish supplements to allow for multi linguistic heritage of the Caribbean. It also has a musical layout of the steel pan. Allsop was a Guyanese-born Barbican resident.

Performing Arts

Most Caribbean Countries, rich and poor, have centres for performing arts. For instance; Trinidad and Tobago’s National Academy for the Performing Arts; Barbados’ Frank Collymore Hall; Jamaica’s Ward theatre; Belize’s Bliss Centre for the Performing Arts and Guyana’s National Culture Centre. Amid poverty and crime and the challenges of daily life in the Caribbean, the performing arts form an integral part of Caribbean Culture.

Theatre

Formal theatre arts are performed in the Caribbean although they may have incorporate distinctly Afro centric drumming and forms of call and response. Plays by Caribbean playwrights have been widely performed throughout the region and the diaspora.

Music

The late Bob Marley is the best-known Caribbean artists. His reggae songwriting and musical genius gave voice to Caribbean people’s feeling of oppression and sometimes despair. The music of the Caribbean has helped to define the region as a whole and has placed in on the world map. Most kinds of music in the region can be traced back to its migratory history. Whether it is Reggae or Soca. Caribbean music gives Caribbean people their identity, whether they reside at home or are part of the diaspora.

Calypso- represents the chanting or singing of the griot with its roots in the same African oral tradition as dialect poetry. Calypsonians such as the Roaring Lion, Lord Kitchener and the Mighty Sparrow of Trinidad were the voices of generations of their people. Entertaining, protesting government action and generally expressing the longing and feelings of their people. The Popularity of the Mighty Gabby’s Calypso ‘Jack’ played a part in protecting the beaches of Barbados. Other great songs like David Rudder’s ‘Rally round the West Indies’ and Dave Martin’s ‘Not a blade of Grass’ are all songs that would speak about struggles gone through in the Caribbean or specific Caribbean countries, these songs give persons a sense of patriotism as well as understanding their collective identity.

The steel pan is the only musical instrument invents in the 20th century. It was mad of recycled oil drums, struck with sticks to create music. Calypso Rose and Sparrow are also to good names to remember when talking about Calypso. One of Calypso Rose’s songs was sung in 9 different languages.

Reggae- is the most internationally famous style of Caribbean music. It has its origins in Jamaica in the late 1960s. Professor Peter Manual (1998), “ Reggae can be considered to a reinterpretation of American Rhythm and Blues”. It also has evidence of Jazz, Calypso and African Music and is sung in Jamaican Patois and Jamaican English.

Reggae was popularised in the 1970s by Bob Marley with his Rastafarian lifestyle. His album Exodus was listed by Times Magazine as the album of the century. The music has become popular among young people because of the message it carries- a message of peace and love that they can identify with. It is also an outlet of for documenting social and political criticism. Bob Marley a reggae artist would solved so many political issues with his music and concerts. In 1978 in a spur of the moment he would brought the two leaders of Jamaica together, hand in hand at his one love concert, that simple gesture and moment would’ve settled the Great War between the two political parties in Jamaica. He also pushed some freedom movements in Zimbabwe and other African countries. Reggae and Bob Marley is also a major earner of foreign exchange in Jamaica.

Dance- is one response of Caribbean people to music in all its forms. African or Indian drumming, steel pan or hymns, calls up the urge to move our bodies in time to the music.

Each island has its own particular context in which dance occurs. Two main types of dances may be identified; the formal classical forms of ballet and the fluid, vibrant, folk dances. Many hybrid dance forms exist, merging the European colonial past with the African heritage of the slaves. Caribbean dance is generally marked by bold, assertive steps, high energy celebration and often teasing interplay of the sexes.

The Spanish/African meld of salsa, mambo and rumba are well known and form part of many ballroom dance competitions.

Other examples of hybridisation and the dynamic electric art forms in the Caribbean include: soca (soul/calypso), soca chutney (East Indian variation of soca), parang(Spanish-derived Christmas singers), and stick fighting ( a banned slave-originating rhythmic parrying with long sticks)

Visual Arts- the Caribbean has produced many artists inspired by the bright light and colours of the Caribbean landscape and people. Pairing and sculptures abound throughout the region but those of Haiti are particularly noteworthy. In some cases, art was produced purely for the artist’s satisfaction but often art was caught up in controversial and political issues, in Cuba and elsewhere. More recently, there has been the development of textiles and screen painting targeting the tourist market. There has been some resurgence of Amerindian poetry and textile crafts in Guyana and Suriname.

Some notable Caribbean artists are Trinidad’s Carlisle Chang, Jackie Hinson, Pat Bishop and Jamaican diaspora Edna Manley whose statue ‘Negro Aroused 1935’ speaks to the desire for personhood of the freed slaves. She also encouraged and influenced others in aiding to establish the Jamaican School for Arts and Crafts, now expanded as Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts.

Another aspect of the visual arts is:

Culinary practices- in the Caribbean is wide and varied and based on those brought here mainly by the Amerindians, Europeans, Africans. East Indians and Chinese. Caribbean cooking is usually hot and spicy, which is a feature of both African and Indian cooking. Many dishes are common across the region but there may be a difference in preparation or sometimes the preparation but different name.

• Indigenous People- corn beer, the art of cooking wild meet (barbecued and jerked), pepper- pot soup (today, hot sauce is used in many dishes), the use of roots and tubers and the making of cassava bread.

• A staple in the diet across the Caribbean is salt fish. It was imported by the British to feed the slaves. Today, this has developed into regional variations such as; fried fish cakes (Barbados), salt fish and dumpling, salt fish pelau, salt fish Accra (Trinidad), salt fish and roast breadfruit (St Vincent) and ackee and saltfish (Jamaica)

• Dishes such as peas and rice, salted meat, smoked herring, black pudding and souse (made from discarded animals parts- and fed to slaves) all have a long regional heritage

• Various root crops (such as cassava, yam, dasheen or eddoes) that were part of the slave’s diet are still very popular. So, too, is breadfruit.

• East Indians- Curries, pepper, lentil peas and various herbs and spices that are widely used in cooking, while pholourie, doubles and dhal-puri roti are generally consumed by all.

• Chinese- ever popular Chinese- style fry rice, fry chicken, vegetables and dumplings.

• The British- English/Irish potato which is a staple diet today in the Caribbean. Drinking of teas as well as porridge for breakfast.

• Rum, angostura bitter and jerk seasoning have all became lucrative export products.

Human and cultural development via the arts

There is link between artistic and creative expression and human development. Creative expression has a great impact on both the creator and audience, but it is also the driving force of human civilisation. In the Caribbean, all of life can feel like a creative journey and people struggle to survive with inadequate materials. Reggae music blaring from the poorest hovel may seem incongruous but music is know to soothe emotions or perhaps give vent to the frustrations of poverty.

The arts are know to affect human development, both artists and the audience. Many studies have explored the impact of music on human growth and academic performance; art therapy for troubled people is well recognised.

For the Caribbean artist, art is an attempt to try to establish the validity of their own exotic the environment context of their county. Beryl McBurnie’s parents wanted to practice but she adamant that she wanted to dance and dance she did. Paule Marshall said that her writing was a healing experience for her.

Even more importantly, the audience see their own reality reflected in the arts. This is especially for colonised people who have long been acculturated to accept the inferiority of their own artistic expression. Naipaul has often sneered and spoken with disdain of any notion of Caribbean Culture, referring to the region as one mimicry. It is exactly that self loathing that Caribbean Artists try to penetrate. Derek Walcott embraces his European Heritage but weds it to the Caribbean Reality.

For the audience, the arts give a feeling of collective belonging and shared experience. In sharing, we lessen the pain and find things to celebrate. The arts confirm a sense of identity and the place of the individual in that society.

Human development

is a holistic term, with people as the mechanism to create both economic and sustainable development. The Arts foster human development. They:

• Empower and unite the people

• Increase people’s productivity

• Create greater equity in society

• Create sustainability

Empower and unite people

The Arts:

• Allow people the stage to develop and display their talents and allow them to develop their human potential

• Provide people with an important means of creative self-expression and intellectual growth and act as therapy

• Develop and establish group and community cohesion and unity via street festivals

• Can also help engender a sense of pride and identity in the heritage of the Caribbean, which in turn aids resistance to cultural imperialism. Individuals such as Rez Nettleford, Louise Bennet and Aubrey Cummings help us to comprehend ourselves and our place in the world by shaping the Caribbean identity and sense of self.

Increase people’s productivity

• create opportunities for people to be gainfully employed and they also create a multiplier effect

• Increase the overall level of employment in the economy

• Increased trade and foreign exchange can also result artistes travel and the works bought and sold internationally as well as locally

• Along with pop culture, they also provide a form of relaxation and recreation, which contributes to promoting a sense of wellbeing which then heightens people’s productivity

Create greater equity in society

• Arts and pop culture represent a valuable aspect of Caribbean heritage. They are the tool used to express both the Caribbean people’s struggles for justice and against oppression, by various forces both within and outside the region, and a celebration of their culture.

• A sense of self-worth can be fostered through the Arts individuals achieve recognition in the international stage or in their area of accomplishment or expertise.

• It can be liberating to society that tend to still be tied to its colonial past and legacy of attitudes towards gender, race, colour and wealth associated with this.

• Discuss persons like Bob Marley, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj

Create sustainability

• People are agents through which development can take place and be sustained. It is through the arts that language, customs, dress and way of life can pass from one generation to another.

• Human Capital can therefore be developed through the Arts.

• Many Caribbean governments are making an effort to keep cultural traditions alive by promoting folk festivals. This is a form of cultural retention and can be marketed to promote economic and sustainable development via tourism.

Contribution made by individuals

Rex Nettleford

His master project has been the decolonisation of the Caribbean spirit and imagination. His writings, letters and choreographies reflect a profound conviction in the creative power of the peoples of the region, a power struggling to unleash itself from the conjunction of historical and neo-colonial forces.

The commitment to contesting the idea of the colonial found expression through the creation of an indigenous form promoted by the National Dance Theathre Company of Jamaica, Nettleford co-founded and has been, artistic director since 1963.

• Was a Jamaican scholar, historian, social critic, choreographer and poet

• Was a co-author of a seminal study of the Rastafarian movement in 1961

• His artistic work. Particularly his choreography, was based on the concept of ‘cultural marronage’, which represented the spirit of resistance to the colonial rulers shown by the maroons.

His works- he was not only the lead dance and choreographer but incorporated the Jamaican folk dance/ religions forms Kumina and Pocomania, with their intense drumming. He trained and mentored many dancers in the region.

He was the main force behind the early work of UWI Extra Mural Development and development of the creative arts on the Mona Campus. Yet he found time to found the Trade Union Education Institute of the University College as it then was, in 1962, which offered free classes to agricultural and factory workers. Along with M.G. smith and Roy Augier, he wrong the seminal work on Rastafarianism - The Rastafari Movement in Kingston, Jamaica. He gave credence to the movement as being far more than just a few unwashed vagrants, as some people had presented it.

Louise Bennet

Jamaica’s most loved Folklorist, writer, artiste. She played many lead humorous roles in several Jamaican television shows. She traveled throughout the world promoting the culture of Jamaica by lecturing and performing. She was:

• A Jamaican educator, poet, writer and folklorist

• Traveled throughout the world publishing areas of Jamaican culture through her performances and textures and her work has been translated into foreign languages

• She gained international popularity and recognition for herself and most importantly, Jamaican culture.

• Her work provided a perspective on the lives of working class women in the colonial and post colonial world

• Write her poems in Jamaican Patois and enabled Patois to be regarded as a national language

Beryl McBurnie

Was a Trinidadian dance legend. She established the Little Carib Theatre and promoted the culture and arts of Trinidad and Tobago as her life’s work. McBurnie helped to promote the cultural legitimacy of Trinidad and Tobago as her life’s work. She helped to promote the cultural legitimacy of Trinidad and Tobago that would ultimately aid its people to handle independence psychologically and healthily. She dedicated her life to dance. Becoming one of the best influences on modern Trinidadian pop culture.

• A Trinidadian dancer and teacher

• Was responsible for the promotion of the culture and arts of Trinidadian and Tobago

• Articulated Trinidadian culture and heritage through her dance and was the first person to promote primitive and Caribbean dance.

• Taught West Indian dance in New York and performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music

• Formed the little Crab Dance Company. Which gained an international reputation and was instrumental in spreading Caribbean culture to Canada, paving the way for Caribana.

Paule Marshall

Wrote a series of poems reflecting impressions of Barbados, later, she turned to fiction. She has published short stories and articles in various magazines. She is best known for novels and collections of stories: Brown Girl, brownstones, Daughters

• An American author who has Barbadian roots

• Her writings are an attempt for black Americans to reclaim their African heritage

• Many of her books have a Caribbean Context or themes running through them

• Her works feature strong, black, working class women

One striking theme in her work is the search for a meaningful identity. Although her context is that of the migrant black woken in a dominant white male culture, the feelings of alienation and self loathing can transferred to any person or of persons who feel they do not belong to the ‘main’ cultural stream. For example Rastafarians .

Aubrey Cummings

An important commentator that the most innovative sector of music in Guyana during the 20th century was in the pop music/dance music sector. These bands created the soundtrack for rites of passage- falling in love, marriage, christenings and death. Some personalities are indelibly associated with the bands.

• Was a famous Guyanese musician, artist and singer

• Believe popular contributed to the healing of Guyana during the 1960’s and 1970’s. around the time of independence and general political upheaval.

• The influence of race, class and colour in Guyana during the 20th century can be found in his music.

Martin Carter

Martin Carter (1927-1997) was a Guyanese poet and political activist. Widely regarded as the greatest Guyanese poet, and one of the most important powers of the Caribbean region. Carter is best known for his poems of protest, resistance and revolution. Carter played an active role in Guyanese politics, particularly in the years leading up to independence in 1966 and those following immediately after.

He was famously imprisoned by the British government in Guyana in October 1953 under allegations of “spreading dissension” and again in 1954 for taking part in a PPP procession. Shortly after being released from prison the first time, Carter published his most well known poetry collection, Poems of Resistance from British Guiana(1954).

• Has been widely regarded as the greatest Guyanese poet

• Is best known for his poems, which were based essentially on the themes of protest, revolution and resistance

• Played an active role in Guyanese politics, being detained for a time because of his support for the People’s Progressive Party, which the British view as communist. He lasted briefly became Minister for information.

Festivals and art forms in the diaspora

Festivals and street parties in the Caribbean take on a unique form, combining the artistry of costumes and dancing of participants and interaction with the audience. A Guyanese born Trinidadian Peter Minshall was hailed and won an Emmy award for costume design at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Throughout the region, celebrations Trinidad Carnival, Barbados Crop Over, Bahamian Junkanoo, Vincentian Vincy Mas, bring large numbers of locals and visitors in a unifying outpouring of art, dance and song. These festivals are mirrored in the diaspora, such as. Notting Hill Carnival (England), Caribana (Canada) and Labour Day celebrations in the USA.

Art forms in the Diaspora

When Caribbean nationals have settled they have influenced the economic, social and cultural life of that society. The mass media has contributed to this. Music in particular is an art form that has reached across the huge distances that exist between the diaspora and their homelands, and has helped ease the settlement of Caribbean people in their new home as well as cement their sense of identity in new societies. In this way, music has contributed to the phenomena of transnationalism.

Major expressions of Caribbean art forms in the diaspora are carnivals:

• The Notting Hill Carnival (London, Uk)- the largest street festival in Europe, it began in the mid 1960’s. It allows cultural for the London West Indian Community and makes the people of London, and more generally the UK and even the world, aware and appreciative of the cultures and traditions of Afro- Caribbean communities.

• West Indian Day Parade (Brooklyn, New York)- also called Labour Day Parade, held since 1969 in Brooklyn (but the earliest known carnival parade was in Harlem 1947), it celebrates Caribbean culture with dance, dress, music and culinary delights as the focal points of the parade.

• Caribana (Toronto, Canada)- a musical street festival that depicts Caribbean culture. It began in 1967 and has developed into the largest cultural festival in North America.

These events have impressed Caribbean Culture upon metropolitan countries and create a link with the various carnivals and art forms of the Caribbean. Artistes from the Caribbean travel to take part in all these celebrations.

Topic 8: Caribbean-Global Interactions

Caribbean Influences on Extra-regional Countries:

Leaving the Caribbean

In the early 1900s, the demand for workers on the Panama Canal drew thousands of migrants from the Caribbean both for skilled and unskilled labour. There were movements before this of labourers to Coast Rica, London and other European countries but not in as large numbers as those who went to Panama. In the post-Second World War era, rebuilding an economic boom employed thousands of Caribbean migrants overseas. From farmers to teachers and doctors, the entire spectrum of the Caribbean labour force has impacted the workforce and economics of the developed world.

The creation of a Caribbean diaspora in Europe (particularly the UK) and North America in the 20th and 21st centuries has deepened and strengthened the global Caribbean. The term Diaspora refers to the scattered or grouped migration of people away from their country of origin. Usually, the country of migration becomes the migrants’ new home; however, many may choose to live in Caribbean enclaves as a means of identifying with their Caribbean Roots.

It is a dynamic twist of faith that the people who came from diverse backgrounds are again on the move, but this time not as Europeans, Africans or Asians but as West Indians with different influences and impacts from when they arrived. Louise Bennet wrote of this dynamic twist in her poem ‘Colonisation in reverse’.

Reasons for leaving

Caribbean territories are experiencing a decline in their economies with the depreciation of local currencies to the US Dollar. This decline started for some as early as post-independence. The recession in North American and European countries in 2008 exacerbated the situation. Contributing to the further downslide of economies like Haiti, Jamaica, Dominican Republic and Guyana. Declining economies contribute to growing poverty, widening of the inequality gap, social displacement, an increase in crime and violence and many instances of political instability. Some

Caribbean regions have experienced all of the above and so the push of emigration is much greater. Based on data from the United Nations Population Division, the net migration rate for the Caribbean is one of the highest worldwide even though great regional variations exist. Between 1950 and 1990, the net migration was 5.6 million people. In 2005, of the 20,274 documented migrant workers in Canada. 8476 were from the Caribbean and 11,798 from Mexico. Jamaica accounted for 5916 of the Caribbean total.

The formation of diaspora communities

The Caribbean has one of the largest diaspora communities outside of its region. The Caribbean and Latin America have become the primary source of migrant labour to the economies of Canada and the United States. In North America and the UK, residents, citizens and temporary workers contribute to the strong Caribbean presence. This does not, of course. Take into consideration undocumented workers, of which there are large numbers. The presence of Caribbean people is evident in the public display of cultural expression, small business enterprises like the dollars in Brooklyn, the street festivals like Caribana in Canada, the restaurants and markets in South London and the close-knit communities through Europe and North America.

In 2000, 31.1 million foreign-born residents in the US, and 2.9 million were of Caribbean origin. In 2001, 503,890 Caribbean-born residents lived in Canada. In the same year, there were 590,400 Caribbean-born residents living in England (West Indian names popularly used in England). The growth of the Caribbean population in Canada, for example, reportedly grew by 11% between 2001 and 2006, even though the overall population only expanded by 4%. In England, particularly South London, West Indians, have a strong presence. They are also the group with the largest interracial marriage and offspring, that is, mixing with other ethnic groups. In the United States, Caribbean immigrants have etched our significant space in key cities like New York and Fort Lauderdale for themselves. 86% of the Caribbean lives outside of the Caribbean.

In the UK, the common settling areas are:

• Brixton

• Tottenham

• Lewisham

• Catford

Political Influence

Caribbean people living all over the world, especially in the UK, US, and Canada have been, and are, making a significant impact on the societies. In the Americas and parts of Europe, Caribbean-born and Caribbean descendants have been visibly making history, and contributing to the economic, social and political landscape of those countries. Several researchers have found that Caribbean immigrants have made a significant contribution to the advancement of minority ethnic groups (especially) in the UK, and the US, have seen an impact on policies and leadership. Policy adjustments have been made, especially those that affect immigration movements and the rights of immigrants. Notwithstanding, there have been negative issues associated with a Caribbean community overseas, the most outstanding of these has been drug trafficking and illegal immigration.

Some important contributions of Caribbean people and culture on political issues

These population trends have been regarding the Caribbean have been identified in the US:

• By 2000, Cubans made up the largest proportion of Caribbean-born people, followed by people from the Dominican Republic Jamaica and Haiti since the 2010 earthquake the number of Haitian recorded immigrants has increased significantly

• In 2005, 30 400 Caribbean residents and the USA were on Visas, mostly work permits, and student visas. In the same year, 108, 500 Caribbean born people became lawful residents.

• The highest number among recent migration groups from the Caribbean are people from Guadeloupe, Dominica, the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas.

• New York, Florida New Jersey, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and California have the greatest concentration of Caribbean-born residents.

• Caribbean-born immigrants are more likely to become citizens than other ethnic groups.

The majority of influential black immigrants in the US, UK and Canada are from the Anglophone Caribbean, especially in Canada. They have carried a strong voice in major political issues, especially race relations and immigration rights. Caribbean people boldly challenge these issues and have influenced numerous changes, they have:

• Increased social and political diversity, especially in large cities

• Globalised domestic political policy in both regional and extra-regional countries

• Creased and diversified the voting population – pay more attention to the needs of Caribbean voters

• Immigration policy and social reform.

• Increased the labour supply, especially for specialised skilled areas.

• Influence the flow of aid and grant packages to the Caribbean region

Influence of the Cubans politically and culturally:

Note they are common in Miami, Florida( US) and have affected voting and governance in the US. This has been going on since the days of Jose Marti in the 19th century E.g. the Spanish-American war, and the Bay of Pigs incident.

• migrant supported the 1996 Helms-Burton Act against the Castro government in Cuba.

• Migrants ensure that their concerns receive international attention e.g. the case of the child Elian received international publicity

• Cuban immigrants have influenced language policies in some North American States.

• Cuban- U.S. relations have become a U.S. national concern. States like Miami have been transformed into Little Havana. Cuban and Puerto Rico artists and music have become part of US culture. Spanish is acknowledged as the second language of the U.S

Influence of the Haitians politically and culturally:

“Boat people” of Haiti and the Dominican Republic- thousands of people from these countries leave and risk sea journeys to the U.S. These groups have greatly contributed to US immigration policy on ‘refugees’. US Navy patrols the area and these migrants have become a priority in the US domestic and foreign policy. Some migrants do succeed and become part of the labour force which the metropole has been- affected by the migration process.

The impact of Caribbean festivals and music on festivals and pageants in North America and Europe.

Like the people and culture, Caribbean music is diverse and has influenced the development of other genres internationally. Reggae, calypso and salsa have had a deep impact on the cultures of other parts of the world.

Reggae Music

The reggae song “One Love” by Bob Marley was named Song of the Millennium by the BBC in 1999 and the Album “Exodus”, from which it came, was chosen by Time magazine as the greatest album of the 20th century. That has been the ultimate reach of reggae music and to award the man responsible for taking the to the World was most fitting. Earlier exposure to reggae in the mid-1960s came from record sales in the UK and USA from artists like Prince Buster and Jimmy Cliff.

The music of Marley is used in great blockbuster movies, the most recent being I Am Legend and Marley and Me: there are streets beamed in his honour like Bob Marley Boulevard in East Flatbush of Brooklyn, New York. He was credited for spreading Rastafarianism in Europe and North America. Through his soulful music, lyrical expressions and dreadlocked hair, Marley helped spread the philosophy of ‘Rasta’ influencing the 1970s ‘Hippie’ movement in Europe and North America. During the 1970’s, many white hippies started wearing dreadlocks, the signature Rastafarian look. It is also now a common hairstyle amongst Black Feminists.

Bob Marley’s music was heavily used as liberating music and during revolutionary movements. For instance Zimbabwe. Eddie Grant, Chronnix, Buju Banton.

The Impact of Rastafari on Countries Throughout the World

It is suggested that Rastafarianism began in the 1930s in Jamaica as a result of the protests for improved living and working conditions for the black masses. In this socioeconomic and political; context arose a millenarian movement that spoke of imminent escape from the harsh realities of life in Jamaica to a better life in Ethiopia, Africa.

Chevannes sums up the main elements of Rastafarianism as follows: as a spiritual philosophy Rastafarianism is linked to societies of the runaway slaves or maroons, and derives from both the African Myal religion and the revivalist Zion Churches. Similar to the revival movement, it embraces the 400-year-old doctrine of repatriation. Rastas believe that they and all Africans who have migrated are but exiles in “Babylon” and are destined to be delivered out of captivity by a return to Zion or Africa- the land of their ancestors, the seat of Jah Rastafari himself: Haile Selassie I former emperor of Ethiopia.

Beliefs

• They believe that Haile Selassie I is God

• Repatriation of black people to Ethiopia, Africa is pre-ordained

• The bible of the Judeo-Christian faith offers spiritual insights and truths about the history of Africans

• Marijuana is a sacred herb that God has approved for use in rituals

Practices

• Extensive use of the first person singular pronoun ‘I’ in their speech e.g. “I and I” or “Iman”

• A general withdrawal from mainstream society (Babylon). In Maracas Trinidad there is a commune known as the “Bobo Ashanti” (an offshoot of Rastafarianism) which has almost completely withdrawn from participation in the social, political and economic activities of the rest of society.

• The weaving of the hair in “dreadlocks” that are uncut and enhanced using natural substances like aloes.

• A highly patriarchal family system and social organisation in which women play a subordinate role

Impacts

• The global appeal of Rastafarianism was partly initiated by reggae superstar Bob Marley. He helped forge tolerance in the Rastafarian “cult” via his music even beyond his death in 1981. The dreadlocks are something that stands out heavily today.

• Influence of language and ideology of cultures of many countries using Rasta terms and Marley general messages of peace

• The ideology and spirit of the Rastafarianism movement have been used to oppose dictatorship in Africa and apartheid in South Africa.

• The Rastafarian’s brandishing of the symbol of protest against Babylon and European hegemony was worn on their heads, with the growing of locks, released from their tongues, through the creation of a new indigenised Creole Lexicon, and embodied in their walk, which valorised the kings and queens of a regal African lineage. The significance of their presence in the pivotal moment of Jamaica’s independence cannot be underestimated.

Influence of extra-regional societies on the Caribbean

Since the mid-20th century, and the achievement of independence, other external forces have come to bear on the region in the form of globalisation, which fosters and even imposes, homogeneity in aspects such as culture, norms and values, economics politics and so on. This homogeneity is ruled by the cultural forms and policies of powerful industrialised states such as the US and Western Europe and its promotion is referred to as cultural imperialism or neocolonialism. “The US is everybody’s business”

Consumption Patterns

What are remittances

These are the transfer funds between parties as a bill, an invoice or even a gift. However, remittance refers more broadly to the funds migrants send to their relatives in their home country while working and living abroad. These are also referred to as worker or migrant transfers.

People who live in small, developing countries with slow economic growth depend a lot on remittances because family members who work abroad and a big chunk of their money this way.

These monies contribute to the GNP. In countries like Jamaica, remittances accounted for 15% of GDP. US 16B remittances in 2009 for the Caribbean region.

Rather than stemming the tide of migrants, remittances tend to encourage the outflow of new migrants. This has relatively deepened the culture of emigration that acts as a disincentive to home investment and human capital formation. The problem also relates to the structure of accumulation in the sending societies. The problem is that traditionally the injection of foreign capital has had low levels of retention and is therefore unlikely to generate new business and employment in the sending societies.

In Guyana, 2015, the remittance total was $316 million (10.6% of GDP). Not only do they provide financial support for family members still located in the home country, but they are also an important source of foreign exchange. In 2022, Guyana saw its highest remittance rate of $549 million (34% of GDP).

Remittances cause demand to go up which could cause a kind of inflation.

Your change in taste of goods may also be heavily influenced.

Goods and services

While the majority of Caribbean countries have moved away from depending heavily on agriculture, the region is not producing manufactured goods and exporting as much when compared with the intense production that took place in the sugar and banana industries, and of even greater concern is the reduction in production for local consumption. Many Caribbean countries’ imports exceed their exports. The Caribbean territory not only competes for a fair place in the trading market but is seen as a target for the consumption of goods and services being sold by others. The consumption in the Caribbean is affected by extra-regional elements. Caribbean society has been open to other cultures and in the name of modernisation, consumerism is evident. And it has felt the impact of international consumption patterns.

The metropole still has control over our economic practices (Exon Mobile), just like the colonial mindset we believe that they have better expertise than us.

Art Forms

The impact of colonisation

Often, ‘high art’ is the form that most reflects that of the colonial powers, while more popular or grassroots cultural forms have uniquely Caribbean characteristics. Monday of the religious festivals celebrated across the region are Christian and were originally imported with the colonists and even the archetypal Caribbean festival- carnival- derives from Christianity.

Music, theatre arts, visual arts

The more internationally popular Caribbean music types, such as reggae and calypso, as well as the steel pan bands all originated at a popular and grassroots level as a response to colonialism and the restrictions imposed by authority. At the other end of the cultural scale, ‘high culture’, represented by classical music, fine art and so on, was and still is identified with colonial traditions and upper classes. Both ends of this cake have experienced a form of ongoing evolution, with the traditional or grassroots music, such as Punta, changing to make them more accessible and palatable to those outside their place of origin and ‘high’ cultural forms being given a local flavour, often a conscious post-independence statement of a separate Caribbean Identity.

Typically Caribbeans, many involved in the ‘high’ cultural and art forms add a local twist to their work. Jamaican composer Peter Ashbourne has written and performed classical works and Jazz as well as working with popular musicians such as Burning Spear. Theatrical or modern dance is also an art form originating in the West but adopted in the Caribbean to express the region’s own culture and traditions; as through the National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica, confounded by Rex Nettleford.

In the visual arts, there is a discernible division between mainstream artist movements related to Western stylistic trends, and often grass rooted in national development, and self-taught artists whose works reflect folk culture and show less exposure to foreign influences. Even so, artists have recently found ways to fuse both forms, giving rise to art that is unique to the Caribbean identity and experience.

Poet and dramatist, Walcott gives expression to the Caribbean situation and search for identity through his work; in particular. Addressing the post-colonial liminal status of the region. He uses aspects of Caribbean culture and motifs with traditional art forms.

Our language comes from the colonist and even today we also use their modern slang. Many US and UK-produced films and situation comedies (sitcoms) use Caribbean expressions in performances e.g. the heavy influence of slang on the south Londoners in the Netflix series Top Boy (Wah gwan) etc. and vice versa in the Caribbean we use words like (bunda, lowkey, rizz, dawg, great, yo, innit)

Education

Our education was shaped by the history and values of the colonisers (British, French, Dutch, Spanish and some may argue American) and thus distant to Caribbean culture and needs of a Caribbean society. One in which:

• Only the geography, history and literature of the Empire are taught in the schools of the colonies

• The language of the imperial power, with allows fits accompanying ideology, is emphasised

• The imperial culture is taught to be superior to that of the colonies

• Is racist, and ethnocentric, in content, which emphasises the superiority of the white ruling group and dehumanises the African and Asian heritage.

Institutions that facilitated Colonial Education: Schools- e.g. ‘Trust’ Schools, Catholic Schools. Cricket, Gentleman’s Clubs. Established Church: Anglican, Roman Catholic, Methodists. Law Courts, Police Service. Military, Scouts, Guides, Boys Brigade and Cadets.

CXC (1972) and educational changes

• Provided the publication of Caribbean texts based on Caribbean realities

• Created syllabi that speak to Caribbean history, geography, environment, sociology and culture

• Provided examinations set in and examined by Caribbean people

• Facilitated networking by Caribbean academics-lectures and teachers to provide stimulus materials

• Brought together Caribbean teachers for the marking exercise who share ideas experiences and knowledge about their territory.

Impact of Colonialism

Access was restricted and only after Emancipation was it progressively granted to the children of ex-slaves, with universal secondary education only achieved post-independence. Since independence, efforts have been made to bring the education system and its curriculum more in line with the needs of the people.

The Information Age

Increased use and penetration of information technology, particularly the internet has both contributed to and been a result of the general and ongoing process of globalisation. For the Caribbean, this has meant more open exposure to external cultural influences, but also, for a scattered island region, it has facilitated communications, the sharing of information and distance learning, especially at the tertiary level. A challenge for educational organisations is increased competition from extra-regional bodies in the provision and delivery of self-study and distance learning programmes.

Curriculum Reforms

We still have a stronghold of British in our school system and curriculum even with the establishment of the Caribbean Examination Council. We still wear uniforms that aren’t exactly relaxed, ties (which are usually imported from the UK), skirts, pants, and shirts.

Sport

The Caribbean is internationally famous for its sports and sportspersons, particularly within cricket and track and field, though the region’s teams have enjoyed success in other sports. All major international sports come to the Caribbean through Colonial powers or later through the influence of neocolonial powers such as the US.

Cricket

was introduced by the British in the 19th century and was at first played only by the white elites. Even today, it is a game mostly associated with Britain and her ex-colonies. Over time, its popularity spread and the first combined ‘West Indies’ team toured Canada and the US in the 1880s. From there, the game spread to eventually embrace Caribbean people from all walks of life and many Caribbean players play for foreign-based clubs around the world (such as India, the UK and Australia). In the UK, until recently, it was traditionally viewed as a ‘gentleman’s game’ and it would be true to say that it was in the West Indies that it first became more a sport of the masses, with flamboyant personalities and styles of play, and spectator involvement through various rituals and music. It can be argued to have become a Caribbean institution.

Football

was also originated in the UK, supposedly. The game has its roots firmly in the traditional football games played at the public schools of England. In 1863 some of the English football clubs met up to form the (FA) and set the rules since there was always disputes on the rules of the were is the most popular game today. Internationally Caribbean countries are represented individually and not regionally, as with cricket. Only Haiti, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago reached the World Cup. The region is achieving more recognition at the international level, however, as shown by Jamaica being invited to participate in the 2016 Copa America.

Basketball

recent and fast-growing addition to the Caribbean sports repertoire due to the influence of the US and its media. It is relatively short and fast-paced so appeals to the youth. Many Caribbean players are inspired to apply for sports scholarships to the US due to the vast amount of contracts and scholarships available through the sport.

Track and field

the sport the region is more famous for internationally. It has inspired a form of sports tourism, attracting visitors to watch athletes training and to view the training regime and facilities that have created so much success. World-leading athletes include Kirani James of Grenada, Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce of Jamaica. We were influenced by this through mass media.

Religion

Extra-regional religious influences include both directly imported religions, such as Christianity, Hinduism and Islam and the many syncretic religions that exist across the region.

Syncretic religions are the merging of European Christian Beliefs with traditional African beliefs. Different religions have merged the components in differing ways to different degrees. For example, Shouter Baptists view themselves as Christians with elements of African traditional worship, while Orisha, Obeah and Voodoo are more strongly based within the African tradition and have taken on aspects of Christianity, such as the merging of Roman Catholic Saints with African ancestral spirits and deities in Orisha.

Christianity was imposed on the African slaves by their masters and, post-emancipation, continued to vary a sense of social acceptance and superiority. Thus, for many in the Caribbean, there emerged a religious duality: outward confirmation to one of the established forms of Christianity coupled with more private adherence to African-based traditions.

<aside> <img src="/icons/news_gray.svg" alt="/icons/news_gray.svg" width="40px" /> UK Hegemony

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<aside> <img src="/icons/news_gray.svg" alt="/icons/news_gray.svg" width="40px" /> US Hegemony

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Political Influences

The US today is the main power to exert political influence over the region. It controls much of the financial aid received by countries through institutions such as the IMF and until the end of the Cold War had a vested interest in keeping the Caribbean nations ‘on the side’ and away from communist influence (Cuba). The US launched the invasion of Grenada in 1983, after internal affairs there reached a crisis point with the overthrow and execution of Maurice Bishop, ostensibly to restore democracy, however, in terms of systems of government, the Caribbean still follows European Models.

Westminster system

the parliamentary system of government (named after the home of the British Parliament) is in use today in many former British colonies in the Caribbean. Like the judicial system, it is part of the British colonial rule legacy, it is important to note there are many variants on the basic system, in structure and where specific powers lie worldwide and even with the Caribbean Region itself.

Many Caribbean states are constitutional monarchies that still recognise the British sovereign as head of state, represented by a governor-general. Many British ex-colonies around the world adopted, and adopted, the Westminster System and together made up the British Commonwealth with the British Monarch as its head.

The system is a democratic parliamentary system modelled after that of the UK system. The system is a series of procedures for operating a legislature.

It is also used, or was once used, in most commonwealth and ex-commonwealth nations, beginning with the Canadian provinces in the mid-19th century. It is also used in former colonies of Britain in the West Indies e.g. Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Barbados and Guyana.

It is made up of the legislature, judiciary and executive.

There are four main parts to a Westminster-type system of government:

1. The head of state- the monarch (king or queen), represented in the British Commonwealth by a governor-general, or a president, the role of whom is mainly ceremonial. They also form part of the executive.

2. The executive arm- the government, responsible for administering laws and mainly consisting of key members of the legislature in ministerial positions, who form the cabinet (or executive council) led by the head of government, usually called the prime minister, premier or first minister.

3. The legislative arm- the elected parliament that makes laws, approves budgets and to whom the executive is accountable.

4. The Judiciary- the judges, responsible for the application and interpretation of laws. They are independent of the executive and the legislature. The government is supported by a permanent and politically unaffiliated civil service.

Guyana uses the proportional representation system, the ones who still follow the system while heartedly (the head of government is the prime minister) use the first past the post system.

Rule of Law

this principle emanated from the constitution. It can be dated back to Ancient Greece and its principles lie behind such formative political statements as the Magna Carta in the UK and the American Constitution. This principle is also entrenched in the the structure of governments and is evident in the way these systems restrict or limit the arbitrary exercise of power of any elected or nominated member of parliament, member of the judiciary or their bureaucrats and technocrats.

The rule of law is the principle that governmental authority is legitimately exercised only by written, publicly disclosed laws adopted and enforced by established procedures. The principle is intended to safeguard against arbitrary governance.

In commonwealth law, the most famous exposition of the concept of the rule of law was laid down by Albert Venn Dicey in his Law of the Constitution.

It’s a system of checks on those in power because people can become egotistical when given power.

Three main principles:

• They are not going to apply the law arbitrarily

• No one is above the law

• The person who enforces the law is the court

Electoral Processes

Caribbean countries have elections every 5 years. The first-past-the-post electoral system that is used in most of the English-speaking Caribbean was adopted by the colonies even before they gained independence. This system divides the electorate into constituencies. These constituencies are contested in a general election by a representative from each of the major political parties vying to lead the country. Independent candidates may also contest constituencies in general elections.

The first past the post electoral system does not rely on the total popularity to determine the party that will form the government, as does the system of proportional representation system. The government is determined instead by the party that wins the most constituencies through the country, and therefore seats in parliament. It is credited for its simplicity in terms of administration as well as the speed it allows in vote tabulation and dissemination of election results. Jamaica’s Michael Manley and Grenada’s Maurice Bishop were seen as having a compromising relationship with social Cuba. This brought about an infiltration of US intelligence into the region and specifically Jamaica during general elections in the 1970s. In 1983, Grenada was invaded by the US-led military team after a coup overthrew the Maurice bishop led pro-socialist government. The outcome of the electoral processes in these two countries might have been different had there not been outside influence on the ideology and political culture of the region.

Only Guyana uses the proportional representation system.

Criticisms of the system include:

• Members of parliament, once elected, focus on voting along party lines, rather than truly representing the needs and rights of their constituents, so that the policies and laws desired by their party can be passed.

• This may lead to gerrymandering where the sitting government manipulates constituency boundaries to ensure continuous general elections.

• The fact that elections are held every five years, and the winning party gains almost complete control of the legislature and the executive, results in the complete exclusion of others from participation in Government.

• It is also criticised for favouring the development of political parties and policy platforms based on clan, ethnicity or religion

The US/ Caribbean relationship

US foreign policy since the Munro Doctrine of 1823 has been to exclude foreign powers from the Caribbean as the Caribbean represents a vulnerable point of entry to US Borders. In 1959, Cuba, in a revolutionary move, drove out US interest and shortly after became allied with the Soviet Union. The USA subsequently increased its military and political presence in the affairs of the Caribbean countries, while feeling and strengthening diplomatic relationships. As time evolved, the interest was not just to keep out 'foreign powers' but became multi-focus:

• to defeat anti-American revolutionaries including terrorism

• to prevent civil unrest and promote stability

• to defend human rights

• to gain respect for US investment, the American flag and US citizens

• to promote and oversee peaceful political change

• to reinforce democracy

• to foment economic development.

These interests are all in the interest of well well-being of the USA and its citizens. While good relationships with its neighbours. Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, the landing of US Marines at Santo Domingo in 1965 and at Grenada in 1983, the invasion of Panama in 1989 and the landing of Marines at Haiti in 1994

The Influence of Migratory Labour

It is twofold:

• the Caribbean is influenced by those who come to work in the region from other countries, who may dwell in the Caribbean for long periods at a time depending on their contractual arrangements. To facilitate the use of these foreign workers. Caribbean governments need to legislate for aspects such as work permits, residency and tax.

• There are those Caribbean nationals who migrate to other countries in North America and Europe for work and live there for extended periods at a time. They may not only have developed a taste for foreign goods and services but also become politicised. Thus, on their return, they may add new ideas to the political mix