History, Culture and Society

1. Caribbean Studies History, Culture and Society

2. Periods of Caribbean History • The Encounter: the Age of Discovery • The Settling Down: Colonization • Emancipation: Engaging in Freedom • Globalization: the Changing Encounter

3. Theme in Caribbean History • Migration • Genocide/Oppression • Resistance/Resilience

4. The Settling Down: Colonization • This was the 17th, 18th and 19th century. • Other Western Europeans challenged the authority of the Spaniards in the 'New World' • This brought a number of conflicts: looting;plunder; raids and attacks from privateers,pirates and buccaneers • An emphasis was made on colonization: by the French, British and the Dutch. • Colonization meant that each Caribbean territory was ruled or governed by Western European Country

5. The Settling Down: Colonization • The significance of Historical Events and Processes: • European settlement and colonization • Slavery • The Sugar Revolutions (around 1640)‏ • The Development of the Plantation and Economy and Society

6. The Settling Down: Colonization • Some significant historical events were: • Various rebellions, maroon wars • The Haitian Revolutions • The Abolitions of the Slave Trade (1807 in the British Colonies)‏ • Emancipation (1834 in British Colonies)‏

7. The Settling Down: Colonization • The Treaty of Tordesillas, 1494- divided the 'new world' between the Spanish and Portuguese. • This blocked other Europeans from the wealth of some islands. • Then the ruling colonizers could not supply the region with the goods that was needed. • The trading agreementAsiento allowed: the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British to trade.

8. The Settling Down: Colonization • The treaties were too weak to allow the Spanish to continue the dominance because: • The Britain and Netherlands disregarded the treaties because they were ex-Roman Catholics and it was the Pope who assign authority to the treaties. • France was Roman Catholic, but was in conflict with the Vatican about the leadership in the France Church. • The wealth of the Indies made it impossible for the Spanish to keep other countries out. Wealth was too attractive for one Country to have it all

9. The Settling Down: Colonization • The British, Dutch and French who came to the Caribbean to pillage, steal and smuggle defying the treaties were, therefore, interlopers- they were there illegally. • They were successful at there quest because the empire of the Spaniards was too huge and unwieldly for the Spanish to police, govern and supply effectively. • The Europeans then started to migrate to the Indies in large masses of people. They laid claim to the settlement where these immigrants settled.

10. The Interlopers • The first that came was: • 'Poor white' • Criminals • Farmers • Victims(of war, poverty and hardships in Europe)‏ • They were contracted as indentured servants • Indentured servants were to: • Plant tobacco • Other crops • The claims were not enough because of the constant raids from other Europeans • War broke out both in Europe and in the Caribbean.

11. The Result of the Wars The treaty arrangement often involved handing over territory to victorious European powers. Colonization

12. Discussion • Identify countries of the Caribbean that were colonies of France, Britain, Spain and Dutch European countries. • Are there any countries in the Caribbean that are still colonies of any of the above? • Discuss using indentified territories how colonization influence the country's culture and society.

13. The Settling Down: Colonization cont'd • Migration: African Slavery • The Indenture Servants were reluctant and unable to work. It was too hard for them • Indentureship became very expensive • There was a swift change from tobacco cultivation to Sugar • This was called the sugar revolution-1640. • This created a enormous and mammoth vacuum for labour that was cheap and efficient. • This change affect life then and is still having a significant impact on society and culture even today.

14. The Migration: African Slavery • Reason for African slavery: • Slaves even though they are expensive to buy they eventually were far more economical • Indentured servants could not cope with the bulk of work • Little maintainance • They were regarded as inferior to other races • They were made for the climate. • They were physically built for hard work.

15. The Migration: African Slavery • Slaves came primarily from West Africa: • The gold coast • The guinea coast • Benin

16. To the 'New World' • The connection between sugar and slaves are seen clearly in the Atlantic Triangular Trade system around two 'commodities' . • Ships left British 'slaving' ports of Bristol, London and Liverpool laden with manufactured goods of gun, cloth and utensils and made for the West African Coasts. • There they traded these goods for captured slaves. They then made their way across the Atlantic to the Caribbean and North American-this leg being known as the Middle Passage- • Where the human Cargo was traded for raw sugar,rum and molasses in the Caribbean and cotton and tobacco in North America.

17. To the 'New World' • The ships then made their final leg to Britain carrying these product to be refined, feeding the industrialization. • It was noted that over 20 million African slaves were captured and forced into the journey of the Middle Passage • It is posited that this was the official genesis of globalization- through the slave trades.

18. Genocide and Oppression:Slavery • More advance European weaponry gave European slaver master superiority thus they dominated the slaves. • The Africans were treated harshly,overworked, beaten, tortured, and killed at the whim of European.

19. Genocide and Oppression:Slavery • African were regarded as chattel, that is, as property, not Human, and once born into slavery could not escape. • Christianizing the slaves was apart of this process.

20. Influence of slavery • It most be noted that slavery has a social, cultural and economic impact on the Caribbean both now and then. • THEN refers to the 17th, 18th and the early 19th century. • NOW refers to the contemporary life in the Caribbean.

21. Influence of slavery • Economic- THEN • The plantation system- slave labour • This was the economic life- agricultural system. • Plantation was a business • Plantations monopolize the flat fertile coast, where roads settlements and ports were established. • Economic- NOW • Sugar still dominate- Guyana, Barbados, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Cuba,Santo Domingo and Belize. • Slavery was not abolished in some Spanish colonies until the 19th century- labour was by freed slaves or indentured servants.

22. Influence of Slavery • Social- THEN • Demographic changes: • From white dominating Caribs and Arawaks • To White dominating a large enslaved population • Social life became stratified according to class and colour. • Social- NOW • African dominated • Whites in the minority- top of the social strata. • Ethnic group at the top through social mobility • Majority of people living in poverty are African and East Indians.

23. Influence of slavery • Cultural-THEN • Cultural life, that is, the dress, the religion, food, language, music developed as a syncretic mix of European, Indigenous and African Traditions • Cultural- NOW • African traditions are at the helm. Examples: • African dress and fashion. • Revival of the Orisha and other Afro-centric religions. • Rastafarianism as an African- based philosophy in opposition to eurocentric values

24. Response to Slavery: Resistance and Resilience • You should note that they were few rebellions that were successful during Slavery. • However, they showed resilience and resistance. • “African slaves resisted their predicament, even when they appeared to be happy and contented. Their forms of resistance could be describe as passive, active, and a combination of both known as maroonage.”

25. Response to Slavery: Resistance and Resilience • There were three ways that the slaves resisted on the plantation: • Non-Violent • Violent Resistance • Maroonage

26. Non- Violent Resistance • Refusal to work • Evasion of work • Malingering • Deliberately losing tools and implements • Misunderstanding instructions • Composing songs that mimicked the whites life style • suicide

27. Violent Resistance • Individual or group acts against white persons. • In Jamaica there were numerous rebellions between 1673 to Emancipation in 1834. • The revolution in Haiti mushroomed into war between France and the slaves in 1791, the slaves being victorious. • Read up on the Haitian revolution and its impact on the society of slaves then.

28. Maroonage • Slaves ran away far from European society • They would wage wars in the form of attacks, raids and inspiring rebellion on Estates. • In Jamaica maroon settlement were successful in defending runaway slaves from being recaptured. • They lived in inaccessible territories such as the Blue Mountain and the Cockpit countries.

29. Resilience • Maroon communities maintained African Culture as a way of life; • The slaves maintain life as usual: • By establishing families; • Support network of friends; • Organize subsistent provision grounds; • Sold some of their produce; • Engage in forms of recreation for enjoyment.

30. Society and Culture Today • Caribbean people continue to resist oppression through music and song- reggae and similar movements in Jamaica music originated among the poor and the oppressed and so too did the steelband and Calypso in Trinidad. • Resilience and resistance are shown through our propensity to adapt. • European traditions may dominate, for example, Christian faith, but they have been syncretized by other traditions, example Rastafarianism.

31. Any questions? The End

32. History, Culture and Society. Emancipation: “Engaging” Freedom

33. What happened? • The British parliament abolished slavery in 1834, to take effect 1840. • The Apprenticeship System- designed to facilitate the transition from a slave society to one of a free man. • This was more to facilitate the planters more than the slaves themselves.

34. Caribbean Response • Barbados and Antigua abolished slavery without the apprenticeship system. • This created difficulties: • Constant tension between whites and blacks • The rights of the newly freed were with held because there were no representation in the early emancipation. • Sugar price competition: from India, South Africa,Australia(all apart of the British Empire) and Cuba and Belize.

35. What Resulted? • The response of the ex-slaves varied across the Caribbean. • Barbados and Antigua ex-slaves had no choice but to continue working on the Estates for wages • Wages were extremely low thus the Majority of Africans lived in abject poverty.

36. What Resulted? • In larger territories such as Jamaica, Trinidad and Guyana, the ex-slaves could move away and set up their own small provision grounds and maintained a resilience, self-sustaining living. • The planter class in these countries faced labour shortage. • The turn was to Indentured Servants.

37. Indentureship • Free labour was sourced from Africa, India and china. • They were to work for 5 to 7 years for small wages. • They were promise a free passage back home or a piece of land. • They were treated harshly and inhumanely.

38. Indentureship • Most of the labour came from India. • Between 1838 and 1917 half a million were sent to Guyana to work on sugar estates. • Approximately 145000 migrated to Trinidad • 38000 to Jamaica; 2500 to Grenada and smaller numbers to St Vincent and St Lucia. • Thousands of Chinese came to Trinidad, Jamaica and Guyana.

39. Intra- Caribbean and Metropolitan Migration • Over-population occurred due to the depression in the economics of the plantation system. • There were several mass migration. • Thousands of Jamaican went to Cuba as Labourers on newly established plantations. • Many Barbadians, Jamaicans and others went to Panama in the 1900s to build the Panama Canal

40. Intra- Caribbean and Metropolitan Migration • The Caribbean benefited immensely from remittances. • Many of the people did not return. • The largest migration was to the 'Mother country' Britain. • This happened in the aftermath of World War II (1939 – 1945). • The migration facilitated the rebuilding of the country.

41. Intra- Caribbean and Metropolitan Migration • In the 1960 and 1970s Britain and France established stringent qualifications of entry. • The economic condition were not getting better thus in the same period they turned to Canada and the United States of America. • These countries followed the trend of the British and France government.

42. Oppression • Indentured servants faced harsh living • They were given crowded barracks, meagre wages, long hours of heavy manual labour. • Incurred many debts. • East Indian Indentureship ended in 1917 because of the harsh treatment of Indians living abroad. • There was constant strain between the Africans and the East Indians and the Planter Class.

43. Resistance and Resilience • The African invested in Alternatives and made attempts at economic diversification. • There was a great highlight of extreme resourcefulness and entrepreneurial skills. • The development of a dynamic and independent peasantry.

44. Resistance and Resilience • The settled in Free Villages and bought out bankrupt or abandoned sugar estates. • Some simple squatted on vacant land. • They cultivated traditional food and cash crops, and banana, coconut, rice, and arrowroot. • They also accept seasonal labour on the estates.

45. Other Things • The East Indians introduced Rice: • Produced cocoa and ground provisions. • The Chinese moved into local commerce, shops, laundries and restaurants.

46. Conclusion • The period of Emancipation: Engaging Freedom saw increasing culture pluralism in the Caribbean. • The aftermath of slavery and Indentureship also saw the different groups brought by the Europeans making a bid to settle down and resist the negative influences Europeans domination. • The economy became diversified as Caribbean people became more resilient. • Freedom also meant emancipation from oppressive economic policies and political freedom. • This era saw Caribbean people struggling for economic survival, for the establishment of Trade Unions and their own political parties.

47. The trend and occurrence of migration, oppression resistance and resilience continues in the 21st century. Globalization: The Changing Encounter

48. Globalization • Connotes the following: • Deepended interconnection and relationship between all countries of the World. • Cheap and efficient transport. • Increase accessibility to the mass media. • Increase in Information and Communications technology (ICT).

49. Globalization: Caribbean style • Drug trade has levied sanctions from the United States of America • The Shiprider Agreement gives the United States armed forces the right to enter our sovereign sea and air space to pursue and arrest suspected drug traffickers. • There is increase deportation of Caribbean nationals. • Globalization enables metropolitan countries to intervene in the movements of Caribbean people I and out of the region.

50. Oppression • The impetus of Globalization came from the industrialized world. • The tenets of globalization is in their interest to eliminate trade barriers, to be able to move capital quickly and locate their operations anywhere they wish. • They are help in all this by the innovations of the ICT. • Multinational Companies (MNCs) headquarters in industrialized countries- dominated the world economy. • Globalization made their presence hegemonic.