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Topic: Applicability of the ideas shared by this author, to students' knowledge of and/or experiences in the Caribbean

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Topic: Applicability of the ideas shared by this author, to students' knowledge of and/or experiences in the Caribbean

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(runtime: 18 mins 49 secs)
(Google search: Ted Talks Chimamanda Adichie The Danger of a single story)

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Please [contact us](https://www.ted.com/contact) and let us know what happened.

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Commentary and Learning Artifact (Dated Entry: 23/09/17)

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Commentary and Learning Artifact (Dated Entry: 23/09/17)

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In the video, Chimamanda N. Adichie mentioned that a single story is dangerous, because it can be created by constantly showing a people as a certain depiction, which results in them eventually becoming that image. She also added that, without a doubt, power is directly associated with the single story (00:09:25 – 00:10:11). The author continued by introducing an Igbo noun, “nkali”, which means “to be greater than another” and this relates to a theory which was learnt in the Caribbean Civilisation course. Paul-Michel Foucault is a French theorist, who addressed competing discourses, which are ideas that are different but compete against each other. His theory includes the linkage between the two discourses, power and knowledge, where both are different, but power is used to control and define knowledge. An example of this is: nothing is right or wrong, what makes it so are the power of the people who have the idea (refer to Artifact 2). This is also apparent at the 00:10:11 mark in the video, which states that if a person with power tells the single story of a people, that story will automatically define the people.

This important issue of Caribbean Civilisation was evident in 1492, when Columbus, one of the powerful groups, “discovered” the Caribbean. There was a civilisation existing in the Caribbean before him, which he took advantage of and destroyed (refer to Artifact 1b). He was very biased, especially since he divided and labelled the people as “Caribs and Arawaks”. Those titles were loaded with ethnocentricity and were in his perspective of them (refer to Artifact 1a). Since he had power, the NeoIndians inevitably became “Caribs and Arawaks”, who were apparently cannibals and docile people respectively, when in reality, they were just a civilisation.

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Topic: Applicability of Culture and Diasporic Double-Consciousness to students' understanding of their social environment

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Topic: Applicability of Culture and Diasporic Double-Consciousness to students' understanding of their social environment

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Commentary and Learning Artifact (Dated Entry: 24/10/17)

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Commentary and Learning Artifact (Dated Entry: 24/10/17)

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My grandparents and great grandparents, from both my parents’ sides, were all born in India but came and settled in Trinidad. From an understanding of my social environment, they then each taught their children and grandchildren about their culture from India. This is how culture is shared between generations and it was taught in the Caribbean Civilisation course. Similarly, it is a form of cultural retention where the culture is retained, but when culture is being transmitted within generations, it is also transformed as it is passed on, which has to do with the group’s personal experiences (refer to Artifact 3a). In the Caribbean, culture is always evolving and this then, relates directly to diasporic double-consciousness. W.E.B. Du Bois, a pan-africanist from America, describes double-consciousness as a feeling of “twoness, an American, a Negro;” (refer to Artifact 3b). In my relatives’ case, they have a hyphenated identity called Indo-Trinidadian, where their homeland is India and their diaspora is Trinidad.

Diasporic double-consciousness is responsible for culture being transformed as it is being passed on because those individuals had to come to terms with two different identities. An example can be used by using one of their personal experiences as they lived in Trinidad, where my grandmother had 8 children and she made the 6 boys get an education while she forced her 2 daughters to stay at home to care for the younger siblings. After my mother personally experienced a childhood with no education and having to stay at home to cook or clean, even if it was part of her culture, she did not want that for her children, hence the culture was transformed. However, some of the culture was retained when my mother cooked food with curry and other Indian spices, or when she taught me how to cook roti, or how to sew my own clothes.

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Topic: Historical perspective on Haiti's contemporary society

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Topic: Historical perspective on Haiti's contemporary society

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Commentary and Learning Artifact (Dated Entry: 07/11/17)

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Commentary and Learning Artifact (Dated Entry: 07/11/17)

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The modern-day Haiti is what it is today because of its history. The Haiti revolution was taught in the Caribbean Civilisation course, and it is seen as one of the most successful slave rebellion. In the video, Paul Burke explained that “Haiti is a poor nation, because Haiti is an exploited nation” (00:03:11 – 00:03:15). One day before rebelling, the people of Haiti gathered to discuss their freedom and independence, and then 12 years after, they succeeded (00:03:25 – 00:03:42). As a result, Haiti became the first free black Republic in the world and this had encouraged other slaves and gave them hope that freedom was possible. With them being freed, the United States did not recognize the Haiti as a country worthy of trading with. Many countries like France, the US, Spain, Germany, Holland, etc. felt challenged by Haiti, and they wanted to defeat Haiti, therefore, they all “ganged up” on Haiti (00:06:05). After all the wars that took place which threatened to invade Haiti, they won all but 20 years after; France re-grouped to take down Haiti. This was unfortunate because Haiti’s resources were low and they were still recovering from all the wars years before, so they could not fight back France. Consequently, France gave Haiti a choice: either pay an extortion fee (which was the profit that France lost when Haiti gained Independence) or they will re-invade and re-enslave the people of Haiti. Haiti obviously chose to pay and this ruined Haiti. They had to shut down schools, health care, etc. and this caused them to become underdeveloped as they could not afford to build good infrastructure because any money they made, had to go to France. This was the basis of why Haiti’s society is like that today. Haiti had to constantly pay debts and loans throughout their life, and then Earthquakes starts hitting their country.

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Commentary and Learning Artifact (Dated Entry: 28/11/17)

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Commentary and Learning Artifact (Dated Entry: 28/11/17)

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The Caribbean Civilisation course, FOUN 1101, was a very enlightening experience for me and it changed my perspective on a lot of issues discussed throughout the units covered. Prior to this course, my expectations were low. Being a science student, I never found interest in subjects such as Caribbean Studies or History which I did at my secondary school, and assumed Caribbean Civilization to be very similar to the mentioned subjects.

During the course, my learning experience was a very enjoyable one, and quite convenient. The course lectures were all done online, unlike my other courses, and I had the benefit of listening to the lectures comfortably from my home. Even before the online lectures, I attended the first orientation lecture with Ms. Lynette Sampson and was very impressed. I immediately focused my attention on this course after that first lecture, which changed my outlook of the course. Furthermore, Dr. Campbell had a very unique style which captured my attention and his storytelling ability was captivating. I liked that both lecturers used their personal experiences as perfect examples throughout the sessions. In addition, the tutorials were very beneficial since it allowed a face-to-face interaction with my tutor, Ms. Rea Anne Alexander, and any questions or misunderstandings I had, were made clear to me. Her sessions were very helpful and entertaining as she put us in groups to answer her questions. That helped me to understand other students’ perspective on a topic (refer to picture attached).

Overall, this course has shed light on historical misconceptions as well as issues of today, and completely changed my opinion on how it would have been. Now that I have completed this course, I can finally understand politics and other current affairs. It has been an unforgettable experience and very distinctive compared to my other courses.

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Adichie, Chimamanda N. “The danger of a single story.” TED Talk, 2009, https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story/details. Accessed 23 November 2017.

“Haiti The Untold Story.” YouTube, uploaded by iam Cheyna, 24 July 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nskDm2yhPA.