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This portfolio reflects facts and opinions on issues related to gender as it relates to the Caribbean, the prevalence of child marriage as an issue of regional importance and the influence of history on Trinidad and Tobago which drives Carnival.

I did not want to study Caribbean Civilisation because I despise knowing the destruction brought to my ancestors and the evil which they went through. But I had no choice but to sign up for this class as I was off from work in those particular days.

Monday 29th May was the first day of class which we had an introduction to Caribbean Civilisation. To my surprise I was amazed and very much interested to know more about my country and neighbouring islands. As I listened attentively I taught to myself that maybe this is why the people of the Caribbean are mildly independent which may have stemmed from the supremacy which was brought upon them when Christopher Columbus came in 1942. Such evil desire to conquer people for the love of gold and riches by any means necessary. The Europeans were bold and aggressive people that sailed to the New World and was invited into the native’s community with such noble and peaceful welcome. But their greed forced to manipulate the island for their profits and colonisation. Christopher Columbus was no hero to me, any other person could have found the Caribbean islands. Instead he brought great destruction among the natives which remains in our history that I choose not to bare.

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                       SCHOOL OF NURSING

     Faculty:Medical Science

Student Name: Melanie Romany

Student ID: 816006115

Degree Program: BScN

Date: 7th July,2017

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"CHATTEL"

Work, work, work
With no pay, only flog or death
Rich, rich, rich
Britain slave owners awaits.
The high and mighty did not care
if you are European, Chinese, Indian or African.
Just work, work, work
Because you are my property.

Countless sweat fell on the Demerara plantation
to bring huge profit to Britain.
Brutality at its highest causing increasing rate of mortality,
even voluntary suicide .
But wait, wait, wait where is my money.

10,000 slaves down tools and torched the cane fields
But were confronted and killed.
There dead bodies left hanging to deter others,
but why no mercy for one another.

Abolition of slavery 1834,
Brought sadness to their greed and inhuman practice.
Slave owners gathered to collect their compensation,
as we watch our profits
help shape the world we know today.

Wait, wait, and wait, where is my money?
I am here to make a claim on behave of my indigenous people.
The racial comment still stains mentally,
after 200 years under total misery.

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Application of learning in the course to understanding a problem of regional importance as reflected in news and current affairs literature/programs in the region.

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Application of learning in the course to understanding a problem of regional importance as reflected in news and current affairs literature/programs in the region.

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Beyond the blues seas and green vegetation that is perfectly made and admired by all is the global issue of child marriage which is influence by culture and religions. Child marriage refer to any formal marriage or informal union involving a boy and a girl under the age of eighteen, in which it disproportionately affects girls.Child marriage tends to happen more in rural areas and in poverty contributing to this vulnerable practice. Countries that practice child marriage has the highest rates of adolescent pregnancy in the world, early pregnancy, sexual violence among minors in which are closely linked, either as a driver or a consequence of one another.
The prevalence of child marriage percentage in Latin America and the Caribbean are as follows: Nicaragua 41%, Dominican Republic 37%,
Brazil 36%, Honduras 34%, Guatemala 30%,  Belize, Cuba, Panama 26%,
Uruguay; El Salvador 25%, Colombia; Guyana; Mexico 23%, Bolivia; Ecuador 22%, Costa Rica 21%, Peru; Suriname 19%, Haiti; Paraguay 18%, Barbados 11%, Jamaica; Trinidad& Tobago; Saint Lucia 8%.

Child marriage traps girls and their family in a cycle of poverty and often results in profound physical, psychological, sexual and emotional consequences. As a result, early pregnancy present significant health risks for girls, including obstetric fistula, higher child morbidity, and unsafe abortions. These girls are at greater risk of contracting HIV and sexually transmitted infections than their unmarried counterparts.

In the last two years, some countries have changed their laws to delay marriage. In 2017, Costa Rica passed a new law prohibiting marriage under 18. In 2015, Ecuador raised the legal minimum age from 12 for girls and 14 for boys to 18 for both, without exception. In Mexico, the Federal Civil Code was approved and will harmonised the national legal age to 18 for both boys and girls. In Mexico City, however, while the legal minimum age if 18, girls can still marry at 16 with parental consent or at 14 if they are pregnant. Panama changed the law to set the legal minimum age at 18 while it used to be 14 for girls and 16 for boys with parental consent. Guatemala also removed an exception that allowed girls and boys to marry respectively at 14 and 16 with parental consent, but girls can still marry at 16 with a judge’s permission. A number of organisations have sought to raise public awareness of the issue and call for legal reform in the region. In 2016 civil society organisations reacted against opposition to amending the Marriage Act in Trinidad and Tobago, which allows children as young as 12 to marry. In January 2017, the Attorney General announced the development of a new bill to raise the legal minimum age to 18.

The video below gives a story of child marriage as a practice in the world. These children are clueless to what is about to happen and is persuaded by their own parents. These children, mainly the girls are violated physically if they resisted marriage and then sexually assaulted after marriage. Being a girl came with a high price and shows great gender inequality. There are not enough words to explain this life experience that girls has to go through all over the world because of poverty and cultural practices. I believe in freedom of choice and being of a mature age which will enable acceptable decision and reduce the risk of violence and health complications. An innocent child placed in the hands of a male, having no escape is no question of if this is rape. No matter married or not, it’s just a respectful way of calling it. Who can be so evil to perform the act of sex on a  child crying for mercy but you rather your own pleasure? This can never be the act of God but of the devil.

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Too Young to Wed: The Secret World of Child Brides

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Critical thinking on an issue of importance to Caribbean Civilisation.

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Critical thinking on an issue of importance to Caribbean Civilisation.

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Feminism in the Caribbean refers to the collection of movements and ideologies aimed at defining, establishing, and defending a state of equal political, economic, cultural, and social rights for women in the Caribbean.
As early as the 15th century, black male labour was largely favoured to that of black female labour. Eventually, though, the notion of women as indentured servants was introduced as a means to maximise economic profitability. This meant that, historically, females were valued largely for their reproductive capabilities which was thought to be an integral part of plantation sustainability.

Post-emancipation, Caribbean countries assumed the patriarchal societies of their colonisers. Women would remain subordinate to men for most of Caribbean history. However, in the 21st century, both women and men are in the process of adapting to newly emerging gender relations in both the material and ideological dimension of gendered life. These relations are modified by changes brought about by the restructuring of the global political economy, by a changing cultural landscape, and by the profound impact of the global discourse on gender.

We are seeing noticeable gender role change and leadership for example:The first female Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago was on 26th May 2010. Needless to add, more female are dominating jobs that once were done by males only, like construction work. Not only are they dominating but providing for our male companion and house whole.

According to Trinidad and Tobago census 2011 approximately 55% of the population practice Christianity. Christianity as confirm certain traditional gender roles.I believe in equal opportunity for both gender but some jobs are best suited for either a male or female.
Ephesians 5 also speaks of the wife’s role in the marriage. Ephesians 5:22-24 says, "Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything."

The artefact fact below displays the brutality in gender inequality that transpired on the plantation to females. The females were auctioned off as if they were objects, they focused on her curvaceous body maternal age and if not obedience a good licking would do. It is blatantly clear that the woman was there for the master's satisfaction and to produce children that will soon work on the plantation to increase the labour force. I cannot imagine being in a situation like this. Even though this was centuries ago, today woman are facing domestic violence and viewed as the inferior of both gender.
Moreover, the European people came to the Caribbean also to spread Christianity but yet their behaviour was not anything close to that of the scriptures.

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Application of learning in Caribbean Civilisation, to students understanding of their social or geographical environment.

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Application of learning in Caribbean Civilisation, to students understanding of their social or geographical environment.

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The Caribbean is a region that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean and the surrounding coasts. Situated largely on the Caribbean Plate, the region comprises more than 700 islands, islets, reefs and cays. The Caribbean islands, consisting of the Greater Antilles on the north and the Lesser Antilles on the south and east (including the Leeward Antilles), are part of the somewhat larger West Indies grouping, which also includes the Lucayan Archipelago (comprising the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos islands) north of the Greater Antilles and Caribbean Sea. In a wider sense, the mainland countries of Belize, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana are often included due to their political and cultural ties with the region. Trinidad and Tobago is known for its Carnival and is the birthplace of steel pan, limbo, and the music styles of calypso, soca, parang, chutney soca, chut-kai-pang, cariso, extempo, kaiso, parang soca, pichakaree, and rapso.

Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad's carnival is a beautiful example of how carnival can unite the world. For in this small nation, the beliefs and traditions of many cultures have come together; and for a brief five days each year, the whole country forgets their differences to celebrate life!

Like many other nations under colonial rule, the history of Native Americans and African people in Trinidad is a brutal, sad story. Spain and England at different times both claimed Trinidad as their colonies. Under British rule, the French settled in Trinidad, bringing with them their slaves, customs, and culture. By 1797, 14,000 French settlers came to live in Trinidad, consisting of about 2,000 whites and 12,000 slaves. Most of the native peoples (often called the Amerindians) who were the first people to live in Trinidad, died from forced labour and illness.

Carnival was introduced to Trinidad around 1785, as the French settlers began to arrive. The tradition caught on quickly, and fancy balls were held where the wealthy planters put on masks, wigs, and beautiful dresses and danced long into the night. The use of masks had special meaning for the slaves, because for many African peoples, masking is widely used in their rituals for the dead. Obviously banned from the masked balls of the French, the slaves would hold their own little carnivals in their backyards using their own rituals and folklore, but also imitating their masters’ behaviour at the masked balls.

For African people, carnival became a way to express their power as individuals, as well as their rich cultural traditions. After 1838 (when slavery was abolished), the freed Africans began to host their own carnival celebrations in the streets that grew more and more elaborate, and soon became more popular than the balls. Important to Caribbean festival arts are the ancient African traditions of parading and moving in circles through villages in costumes and masks. Circling villages was believed to bring good fortune, to heal problems, and chill out angry relatives who had died and passed into the next world. Carnival traditions also borrow from the African tradition of putting together natural objects (bones, grasses, beads, shells, fabric) to create a piece of sculpture, a mask, or costume with each object or combination of objects representing a certain idea or spiritual force.

Feathers were frequently used by Africans in their motherland on masks and headdresses as a symbol of our ability as humans to rise above problems, pains, heartbreaks, and illness to travel to another world to be reborn and to grow spiritually. Today, we see feathers used in many, many forms in creating carnival costumes.

African dance and music traditions transformed the early carnival celebrations in the Americas, as African drum rhythms, large puppets, stick fighters, and stilt dancers began to make their appearances in the carnival festivities.

Today, carnival in Trinidad is like a mirror that reflects the faces the many immigrants who have come to this island nation from Europe, Africa, India, and China. African, Asian, and American Indian influences have been particularly strong.

Carnival is such an important aspect of life in Trinidad that many schools believe that sponsoring a carnival band is a way to teach young people about their roots and culture. In Trinidad’s Kiddies Carnival, hundreds of schools and community organisations participate! In this way, communities work together to develop stronger friendships and greater respect for the many cultures that make up Trinidad.

The video below shows Mac Farlene Carnival 2017 called Cazabon: The Art of Living. Mac Farlane Carnival 2017 calls on the nation to join together as we break the muted silence to present splendor, beauty and revelry with a purpose, while acknowledging our profoundly rich heritage and history. In the tradition of the resilience of our people, we choose to strip away frivolity and embrace our valiant, poetic history,” says the record-holding 7-time consecutive Band of The Year The Year artisan.
Even with his good intentions Brian Mac Farlene received lots of criticism since unveiling his provocative plantation inspired presentation stating that the white costuming was a throwback to the days when African slaves were subjected to a life of servitude under the whip of their colonial masters .
Trinidadians and Tobagonians are to deceitful and looks at imagines and events which are closely related to slavery in a negative way. May it be that they are still hurt as the burdens still remains as mental slavery. I remembered distinctly when i first saw these costumes, I have never played Mas and had no interest in it, but looking at the costume and the graceful designs I felt compel to follow up the feedback the band got. "A picture paints a thousands words", even though the models were perfectly made up their facial expressions wore the distress experienced by the slaves.

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Brian Macfarlane carnival 2017 controversial REMOVED PICS

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Self evaluation of learning for the semester.

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Self evaluation of learning for the semester.

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Initially i was wishing for this semester to be over very soon. But i grew an interest over time in which every class was informative and increased my perspective and knowledge on Caribbean history. I felt l  need to know more about my country and appreciate my culture and tradition that exist today.
The first assignment "one man truth is another man's bias", was a good project which encourage me to research. I received a wealth of knowledge in which i was able to share with family members and colleagues. i learnt about the untruths in Caribbean history that was told in order to justify the European "civilised" behaviour and the discrimination against the Caribbean people. I am ecstatic that Historian David Olusoga is uncovering the untold stories of Britain's slave owners which gives to true picture of the term "Chattel' slavery.
The evolution of Caribbean people have come a long way to independence and the beautiful islands still remain of great increase to tourist as they visit our warm beaches and white sand. It was a great struggle for indigenous people but it is cherished as it paved the way to present time. One of the greatest events coming out of slavery is Carnival. It is celebrated each year and generates the largest amount of income trough tourism.
I am grateful for the opportunity to complete this course and the knowledge i have gained which would be shared with others.
A special thanks to Ms. Sampson for making classes enjoyable and the special passion she showed for the love of Caribbean history which engaged my attention to explore even deeper. This was six weeks in my life that i did not regret and will help to shape my future. Truly inspiring!

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Brides, Girls Not. "Trinidad and Tobago - Child Marriage Around The World. Girls Not Brides." Girls Not Brides. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 June 2017.

"Caribbean." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 30 June 2017. Web. 01 July 2017.

CarnivalPower.com. Www.allahwe.org, n.d. Web. 1 July 2017.

History and theory of feminism. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 July 2017.

"Http://ljournal.ru/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/a-2017-023.pdf." (2017): n. pag. Web.

PulitzerCenter. YouTube. YouTube, 14 June 2011. Web. 20 June 2017.