Caribbean Studies Notes

• Inter-Island Migration


  With slavery abolished in 1838, ex-plantation workers began to move within the Caribbean region for economic opportunities
• Intra-Regional Migration


  Movement of people within the Caribbean region, often from rural to urban areas, in search of economic opportunities
• Extra-Regional Migration


  Movement of Caribbean people to countries outside the region, often to Europe and North America, in search of economic opportunities
• Indentured Labour


  System where workers from India and China were brought to the Caribbean to work on plantations after the abolition of slavery
• Destinations of Indentured Labour


  • Trinidad
  • Guyana
  • Jamaica
• Caribbean society began with migration
• Bahamas encompasses all historical practices; chattel slavery, encomienda
• Bahamas includes territories excluded by geographical and geological definitions
• Political systems adopted by territories that experienced colonization


  • Westminster system of government - British
  • Overseas department - French
  • Tripartite kingdom - Dutch
• Diasporic


  Individuals who have migrated from the Caribbean and established communities within their host countries
• Diasporic communities


  • London
  • Toronto
  • New York
• Inter-island migration after slavery abolished in 1838


  1. Ex-plantation workers moved within the region for economic opportunities

  2. Went to Costa Rica, Panama, Trinidad, Venezuela, British Guiana, Santa Domingo, Cuba
• Reasons for inter-island migration


  • Desire for socioeconomic improvement
  • Failure of plantation society to meet social, economic, political needs
• In contemporary Caribbean, strong economics attract migrants
• Contemporary migration patterns


  • Trinidad migrants primarily from Windward Islands
  • Bahamas migrants primarily from Leeward Islands (to work in tourism)
  • Dominican Republic migrants primarily from Jamaica, and Eastern Caribbean (1980s)
• Caribbean nationals went in very large numbers to Europe in 1948 after end of WW2 to participate in economic activities to rebuild UK
• Diasporic Caribbean


  Large groups of individuals with similar heritage/culture who have moved from their homeland/region to settle elsewhere, but still acknowledge the region as their home
• Groups that immigrated to the Caribbean


  • Amerindians
  • Europeans
  • Africans
  • Indentured servants (Indians)
• Amerindians


  • First crossed Bering Straight during the Ice-Age, following their food
  • Came up from the Orinoco in Venezuela
  • Went as far as Cuba and the Bahamas
  • Settled on island coasts for easy food, travel, protection, and access to clay deposits
  • Tainos (Arawak) in Greater Antilles, Barbados
  • Kalinagos (Caribs) in Lesser Antilles
  • Exploited by Spanish to extract labour using the Encomienda System
  • Had their own political, economic, recreational, social, and agricultural systems
  • Gender division of labour
• Europeans


  • Came in 15th century (1492) in search of lust and greed (Gold, Glory, God)
  • Enslaved the Amerindians via Encomienda
  • Settled in Spanish, French, English, Dutch territories
• Africans


  • Used as labour after failure of Encomienda
  • Brought from West Africa
  • Worked where there was slavery/colonialism: British/Spanish/French West Indies
  • Exploited using Slavery (until 1838) and the Plantation System (after emancipation)
• Indentured servants (Indians)


  • Came post emancipation (1838) to satisfy labour demands
  • Most came from Calcutta and Madras in India
  • Worked under contract for 5, 7, or 10 years
  • Brought new cultures and Religions
  • Worked under horrible conditions, small wage, wages penalized for frivolous reasons
• Reasons for emigration from the Caribbean


  • Panama Canal construction
  • Sugar & Banana Plantations in Cuba, Honduras, Costa Rica, British Guiana, Santa Domingo
  • Railroads in Costa Rica
  • Oil Industry in Trinidad, Venezuela
  • Migration to US, UK, Canada 1910-1924, 1960s
• Outward migration has led to the Diasporic Caribbean
• Slash and Burn


  Cutting down and burning of natural vegetation to clear land for agricultural production, also known as swidden or shifting agriculture, traditional farming method used with domestic crops, rotation of several plots of land in a planting cycle
• Encomienda


  Method of control and enslaving indigenous people (Amerindian enslavement by Spaniards), allowed for allocation of Tainos in the area to one man who was to collect commodity tribute and had rights over them, resulted in devastation of agricultural crops, sexual exploitation, reduced native birth rates, increased death rates, resistance against Spanish domination, near extinction of the Amerindians
• European Indentureship


  In first 20 years of colonization, French and English employed primarily white labour force, tobacco and cotton plantations were worked by European indentured labourers who worked as free persons under contractual obligations
• Chattel Slavery


  The slave was defined as property without legal and civil rights, the status of slaves was passed from mother to child, only the master has the right to manumit (release from slavery) the slave, system began and was expanded with the introduction and continuation of the Sugar Revolution
• Oppressive behaviours


  • Corporal punishment
  • Lack of adequate food
  • Deprivation of customary allowances
  • Restriction of movement without permission
  • Wagers deliberately kept low
  • Limited health care
  • Wages withed for frivolous regions
  • Being overworked
  • Denied opportunity to practice their culture
  • Separation of families
  • Economic control - had limited opportunities to own land
• Responses to oppression


  • Suicide
  • Infanticide
  • Destruction of property
  • Maroonage - to run away
  • Poisoning
  • Arson - burning of cane fields
  • Open warfare - the revolts
• In the post-emancipation period the desire to break away from colonial rule to political independence was a major focus for Caribbean people, because although slavery was abolished in 1838 there was hardly any improvement in the lives of the ex-plantation workers
• Responses in post-emancipation period


  • Emigration out of the Caribbean
  • Peasant farming - (economic enfranchisement) as a means to sustain themselves and to be independent of the plantation
  • Open confrontation - Eg. The 1876 Confederation Riots in Barbados, the 1865 Morrant Bay rebellion in Jamaica, the rise of the 1930s
• Political enfranchisement


  • The right of a people to determine their own affairs
  • Rise of trade unions dedicated to better working conditions, improvements in health & education
  • Lead to emergence of political parties who negotiated constitutional changes for the people
  • Universal adult suffrage
  • Internal self-government
  • Political independence
• Economic enfranchisement


  The condition in which a country may determine how it develops its systems of production
• Modern-day oppressive behaviours


  • Lack of promotion
  • Supersession (unfair promotion)
  • Sexual harassment
  • Poor working conditions (ventilation, bathrooms)
  • Pay inequality (race, gender)
• Responses to modern-day perceived oppression


  • Strikes
  • Work to (exact) rule
  • Extended sick leave
  • Malingering
  • Extended lunch break
  • Non-participation in workplace activities
• Entrepreneurial activities


  Enabled persons to get away from having to work for someone
• Savings societies


  Accept deposits to save money, provide loans, replaced by banks in modern-day
• Characteristics of Caribbean society


  • Shared, common purpose
  • Defined territorial space
  • Continuity over time and space
  • Citizens within a space
• Characteristics of Caribbean culture


  • Learned behaviours
  • Customs and traditions
  • Norms and values which guide behaviour
  • Institutions would have emerged to prescribe behaviour (church, school, courts, government)
  • Gendered practices (child rearing, employment)