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24/11/2017

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INTRODUCTION

This is a course that seeks to inform its participants about history. To help us maintain our sense of identity by reminding us of who were here before us and what they went through for this civilisation to exist presently the way it does. For history paints a picture, calls to mind certain instances in time, that remains suspended because it is exactly that 'The Past'
The course is prepared to encourage critical thinking skills, the focus is on the Caribbean and its peoples. Who were here, why people came here from other lands to this region of the world and who remained and why. Throughout the course many myths and misconceptions about what one thought was 'fact' is cleared up by the information that is imparted.
The Caribbean is a melting pot of historical events. Full of diverse ethnicities, it is because of this diversity that different cultural practices, norms and faiths has arisen. We as a people, appreciate each other, and respect our differences and thus has contributed to a unique existing civilisation.

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11/10.2017

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Female Exploitation/Feminism

Having done Caribbean History in the past at secondary school level, references to slavery in the Caribbean was not new but rather a refresher of what was already known. What was actually surprising was what was deemed 'known' is not always what is necessarily 'true'. This is why it is important to question things and critically analyse what is being fed to us through informers whether it is by way of books, social media or teachers.
For teenagers at secondary school, the high point of doing the course Caribbean History, really is all about the stories that are inside the text book and students look forward to each lesson to learn more. It never occurs to question that the Caribs were not actually 'man eaters'. So many things came out of Caribbean Civilisation  that on reflection  revealed that critical thinking could not of been taking place in those years gone by.
Many aspects of modern day living are significant of past slavery historical occurences in the Caribbean and still occur in Trinidad and Tobago. Only just recently, we have seen legislation implemeneted to discontinue the practice of 'child bride' Marriages. And where as before it was more open and legal to traffick whole communities of humans from one area of the planet to the next. Today, human trafficking is illegal but people are still being kidnapped, stolen from their families to support a booming 'female sex trade' or for whatever the reason, though on a smaller scale.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the female gender because of the time was always frowned upon as weaker and had to remain subservient to the male.  One unifying element was the constant sexual degredation of female slaves whether through forced position or through force breeding, rape as it still is was used to empower white males and reafirm their authority over females. Female slaves were treated as much as property as white women were. They were more violently beaten along side having no legal rights.
This may have contributed to the rise of feminism after abolition of slavery. The fact that female slaves sometimes worked along side men in the fields and may have been dealth the same punishments may have taught females that they were just as capable as men. The gender treatment may have worked well for some women. It enabled them to have leverage over their masters through their sexuality and allowed them to be set free in some circumstances. It also enabled them to bargain for a better quality of life especially if they birthed their masters bastard children.

Citations
1. Illustration from
BiBB. H. Narrative of the life and times of Henry BiBB. An American slave written by himself. documenting the south
accessed 24, Nov. 2017
HTTP://DOCSOUTH.UNC.EDU/NEH/BIBB/BIBB.HTML

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27/11/2017

The Circum Caribbean consists of the caribbean sea its islands and the surrounding coasts locateded southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and North America, Northeast of the south American country of Panama, east of the central American countries of costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize and Mexico and to the North of the south American countries of Venezuela and Columbia, south of the greater antilles ( Cuba, jamaica, Hispaniola and Puerto Rico), and of the Lesser Antilles.

Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caribbean

No, I do not think these countries should be part of the Caribbean

Carnibals and Civilization
http://yamaye-mike.blogspot.com/2009/08/cannibals-in-caribbean.html
Caribbean Civilization
http://www.theintegrationistcaribbean.org/functional-cooperation/caribbea

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Carnibals and Civilization
http://yamaye-mike.blogspot.com/2009/08/cannibals-in-caribbean.html
Caribbean Civilization
http://www.theintegrationistcaribbean.org/functional-cooperation/caribbea

Comment:
The reading in the blog above on canibals and civilisation made for very interesting reading. It leaves one to question what had Christopher Columbus to fear from those people if they were not actually canibals. The only thing was that these people were war-like in nature and this most likely was because they had to defend their places of abode. Christopher Columbus had'nt met canibals but he had to justify the need to enslave an mutilate a people in order to claim riches for his mother country, I guess that was applicable for the spanards to tell this tale of an evil man-eating uncivilized people at that time.

Cited: The intergrationist Caribbean

A civilization is often composed of many societies, nations, and peoples. But there usually is an identifiable cultural, and often geographic, centre, around which others revolve, feed off, rebel against, or feed into. The details are less important than the effect or purpose. A civilization provides for its peoples a primary point of reference and orientation, its people are sure of the standards it sets, while constantly questioning and challenging them, if the civilization is dynamic. The Caribbean does not fit this definition. It remains a collection of satellites. Its states and peoples revolve around centres of authority outside of the Caribbean. The frequency of external reference in Gonsalves’s definition, for example, should give one caution. Indeed, Gonsalves expresses many fears for the survival of the Caribbean, even of its identity.

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Mercantilism, Religion and Colonisation

Mercantilism: also called commercialism is a system in which a country attempts to amass wealth through trade with other countries, exporting more than it imports and increasing stors of gold and precious metals.It is often considered an outdated system.
https://www/vocabulary.com>dictionary

Religion: is belief in a god and the activities that are connecte with this belief, such as praying or worshipping in a bulidig such as a church or temple.
http://www.collinsdictionary.com.relig....

Colonisation: A process by which a central system of power dominates the surrounding land and its components.
http://en.wikipedia.org>wiki>coloniz...

PARAGRAPH:
Mercantilism and Religion are both exceptional reasons why the Caribbean is today a diversified society of people. For the purpose of commercialism and trade, labour requirements saw migrations of indian, chinese and portuguese immigrants into the Caribbean diaspora. Forced migrations of Africans into the Caribbean was the cheapest form of labour and slavery resulted in much economic success for a time, hence the reason why this ethnicity today is one of the most dominant races in this region. Colonization was use by domination entities such as Great Britain, France, Spain and the Dutch to lay claim to these lands that was deemed colony possessions for the wealth they could of brought the motherland. Religion was another reason to inhabit these lands and would be a contributing factor to the diversity of the peoples that exist in theis area of the world. Religion offered a away to transform the way of thinking of the existing people by placing foriengn ideas into the heads of people to make them conform to the ideals of the doominant colonizers. if there was resistence, then entire indigenous colonies could of been anialated.

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3 ways that US imperilism has impacted the Caribbean even onto today

US Military Bases:  Establihment of theses bases to this day remains in many countries with the presence of US troops.

Nationalism: is the main process through which the government is able to shape public opinion. Propaganda in the media is strategically placed in order to promote a common attitude among the people.

Cultural imperialism is the innocent result of globalization, which allows access to numerous U.S. and Western ideas and products that many non-U.S. and non-Western consumers across the world voluntarily choose to consume.

cited
http://history105libraries.wsu.edu>ame...

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This course has been a learning experience. Having done Caribbean History at the secondary school level I thought that this would just be a refresher. It was more than that! It was an eye opener and it increased my thirst to read.  It is an attention grabbing, time consuming, pleasantly surprising course. It is my desire that this course be taught at secondary school level so that young adults would be informed about the truth of their existence in this part of the world.
During the course I had some mishaps with logging on to the Black Board Collaborate site for some of my lectures but though frustrated, I looked forward to each and every session. I learned about the diversity of the caribbean peoples, why many of us as a people are where we are. I learned that there are certain things that unite us as a people to make us a caribbean society, Cricket, the music, the food, carnivals.
But I also came to the resolve that we could never truely be one Caribbean society, because I considered that there are separate island nations, these all have borders and boundaries and many of us feel nationalistic pride of each island in which we live. Because there is something special about each island that each islander considers specific and unique to that place and that place alone.
So while it is without question to me that the Caribbean shares a past through history, because of how this region was colonised for economic and personal gain of those who were persuing wealth and possession. It is my resolve that there is no one Caribbean society. It cannot be helped that these islands fall into the same geographical area and is bounded by various bodies of water to keep them where they are.
Some of the issues encountered in the course was that there were a lot of activies for students to do and at times I felt like what should be done in a year was being given in three months since Caribbean Civilisation was not the only course students were persuing the simester. However, It was very well placed together.