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The University of the West Indies
Foun 1101
Caribbean Civilization
Portfolio

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Group Members:                      Shaquille Odwin-Moore (416002319)
Sade Brathwaite (416001692)
Adrian Hinds (416001307)
Lahdail Horne (409001260)
Christopher Sealy (416000659)
Group no#:                                 Group - 4
Faculty:                                  Humanities and Education
Campus:                                 Cave Hill Campus
Date of Submission:             November 28, 2016
Professor:                              Gillian Downes-Alleyne

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The general aim of the portfolio is to show both the individual and combined knowledge gained from students taking the Caribbean Civilization course. The portfolio is also used to see if students can take this acquired knowledge and then use it in order to gain new perspectives on issues either plaguing or common place within the Caribbean.

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In Caribbean Civilization we learnt of the Caribbean’s turbulent past and centuries of oppression; everything from the introduction of the encomienda system to the enslavement  and migration of African people who endured the horrors of the middle passage, and there lives from then onward, if they survived. Once enslaved the Europeans would impose there beliefs, practices and systems into Caribbean society. This imposition of European laws and legal system was the most effective way for Europeans to control and dictate what Caribbean people could and could not do.

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Now in present times when the majority of Caribbean countries have obtained their independence from their former European oppressors, the region is well on its way to forming its own unique Caribbean identity.

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However, there remain areas in Caribbean's society where we are still dependent on our previous colonizers; the main area being that the legal system still revolves around the Privy Council despite the Caribbean possessing its own Justice System, the Caribbean Court of Justice (C.C.J). Only 4 countries have adopted the Caribbean Court of Justice as their highest court of appeal. This issue is hotly debated throughout the Caribbean and their are several views both for and against making the C.C.J the regions highest court of appeal.

Picture of The Caribbean Court Of justice in  Trinidad and Tobago.

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There is the view that even though the majority of countries in the region are independent, this independence is not completely final since decisive power in most islands still lies with the Privy Council, which is located in London and is made up almost exclusively from judges who have little affiliation with the Caribbean, yet  so much faith in them.

However, there are judges that sit on the C.C.J that have received invitations to sit on the Privy Council. Furthermore the C.C.J has gone on in the past years to garner praise and recognition on an international scale based on decisions that were made in various cases, such as in the case of Shanique Myrie v.s The State of Barbados. This was one of the most popular and influential cases decided by the court as it forced countries to change domestic laws and policies with regard to immigration. So here we see that the CCJ is in fact capable and competent in their ability to adjudicate on matters of regional importance.

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Despite all of this, there are some that use the basis of technical competence when justifying why we should use the Privy Council instead of the C.C.J. Some stating there to be no major difference between the two.

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When Europeans explorers first set off to uncover new lands, they carried with them three criteria with which to consider it a successful voyage, those being to find: Gold, God and Glory. These three criteria are what sentenced the Caribbean to centuries of hardships.

The Caribbean covered all three of the Europeans criteria for exploration. Gold, in the form of the fertile lands for agriculture, Glory, in the sense that none of the islands where yet to be claimed by any large European kingdom(as well as posing a small, controllable work force with which to enslave), and God, in the form of people with which to en-pose there religious beliefs upon.

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Generally, the British used the term Obeah to describe all slave acts and practices that were considered supernatural or evil in nature, such as rituals and fetishes. Ralph R Premdas argues that with slavery came residual retention and synthetic combinations that gelled into autonomous indigenous anti-establishment faiths and spiritualist groups.

The Spiritualist go by many names across many Caribbean islands such as  Shango (Trinidad), Santeria (Cuba), Vodun or Voodoo (Haiti), Ju-Ju (Bahamas), Obeah (Jamaica). Giraldo further states that modern historians believe that Obeah originated from the Ashanti and Koromantin tribes of Africa on the Gold Coast, and that imported slaves introduced it to the Caribbean as early as the mid 17th century. They played a prominent role in the Caribbean slave societies from the beginning of the slave trade as they functioned as community leaders and teachers of the African folk’s cultural heritage.

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The elementary schools in Barbados grew out of the modest attempts by the Anglican, Moravian and Methodist Churches to give a Christian education to the slaves in the period preceding emancipation. These efforts were intensified in the post emancipation period, that is, after 1834, and the setting up of small schools near the church became a common feature of the work of the church in those days.

Although the legislature gradually took into its own hands the financing and administration of education, there has remained a close association with the Anglican, Moravian and Methodist Churches as far as education is concerned. The cooperation between church and state has produced a sound education system.

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Despite all of these hardships placed upon the Caribbean and its people they both still found ways to perceive against there oppressors and move forward. One of the anchors which helped the people of the Caribbean to march onward was a festival, each independent and unique to the other, such as the the Trinidadian J’Ouvert festival which was created by the enslaved as their own carnivals as a result of being banned from the ‘superior’ French Masquerade balls.

After emaciation the former slaves kept there festival, however, instead of the continuation of using these carnivals to ridicule and mock the Europeans who had robbed them of their freedom, the diasporic Africans allowed these festivals to evolve into something more.

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The Caribbean festivals became an outlet for the Caribbean's talent. The creation of beautiful bright costumes, the playing of Caribbean music such as Soca and Calypso, and the dancing in the streets of the Caribbean islands all became something to be proud.The many festivals that occur in the Caribbean that where once used to show that its peoples can prosper on there there own, to this very day can still show the same message despite not appearing as a did centuries ago.

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Junkanoo, a festival that is celebrated in the Bahamas, is a parade that moves throughout the streets of Nassau in the early morning hours. Junkanoo was believed to be developed in the days of slavery, when slaves were given three days off for Christmas.

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Sade Brathwaite - "At the beginning of the semester, I honestly expected that this course would be an extremely boring one with little to nothing to offer. However, during this semester, I have learnt a great deal of both my Caribbean past and present and the relationship between the two. Although the online lectures were a different, and quite frankly, difficult learning experience for me, I was able to find a deeper appreciation for the Caribbean as it relates from where we came from and how we got to be the diverse people that we are."

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Adrian Hinds - "When I first began Foun 1101 I was very skeptical of what the course had to offer. This was due to the fact that I did History and Caribbean Studies and so therefore had a very good understanding of Caribbean society culture and history.
Now that I have completed the course I can say that I was familiar with the majority of the material taught, however the course was still beneficial as it allowed me to refresh my memory in topics such as the middle passage and Caribbean migration and identity. This it not to say however that I did not learn anything new. I learnt several new and interesting facts during the semester, for example the fact that the native people should not be referred to as Caribs or Arawaks but Neo-Indian. I also learnt about the theory that the first people to arrive in the Caribbean was not actually the European’s but, as evidence suggests, the Africans. Furthermore the book, The Haunted Tropics Caribbean Ghost Stories, that we were required to read was very interesting as it gave me a better understanding of the different cultures that exist within the Caribbean.
I can therefore conclude that although I started this course with reservations about what Foun 1101 had to teach me, now that I am at the end I can report that although there were several hiccups and bumps in the road I found the Foun 1101 course to be both interesting and informative."

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Lahdail Horne - "The course FOUN 1101 Caribbean Civilisation was very informative, insightful, and knowledgeable. One of the advantages of this course is that the plenary sessions were readily available for use at any time for those who were unable to listen to it live, also the availability of the slides for the respective plenaries were also helpful. Additionally, the music videos at the beginning and at the end of the plenaries sought to make the learning experience easier and the plenary and tutorial sessions were very interactive, easy to follow and informative. Additionally, the assignments were helpful in bringing to light the concepts highlighted throughout the course. The assignments helped to engage not only what was taught but also engage us in our opinion.

Most of the information built upon the foundation that was taught in High School except for a few areas. The term Neo Indians is a new terminology as I was accustomed to using the term Caribs and Arawak. Additionally, the fallacy that the Caribs were portrayed as cannibals and uncivilised and the notion that Europeans were the first nation to arrive in the Americas when the Neo Indians were already in the region. Also, African civilisation existed in this part of the world prior to the arrival of the Europeans negating the notion that the Europeans were the first settlers in the Western part of the world. One would recommend that primary and secondary school curriculum be revamped to introduce this information to avoid several misconceptions of the Neo Indians as well as slavery and our Caribbean Identity.

The course  helped me to better  appreciate and understand our Caribbean identity and understand better the conceptions of ethnicity, language, religion and culture. It illustrates how to better understand our Caribbean dynamics through understanding the past and how it helps to shape our past."

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Christopher Sealy - "At the beginning of the course for Caribbean Civilization I was expecting the class to be mostly a basic look at the history of the Caribbean.  Unexpectedly the course provided various information of different cultures and religions that were caused by various event from the past.  The issue with the course was that the plenaries were quite unbearably boring and had little interaction.  During the course I have now learnt about the complex history behind the cultures of the Caribbean and how diverse it can be."

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Moreover, one may argue that religion has always played a pivotal role in the education system during colonial times and this notion still pertains to this day. Sunday schools were perhaps the earliest introduced level of education for the entire Caribbean population. These were intended to provide a morality and education rooted in Christianity and were intended to ensure a passive and diligent subject group of God-fearing believers.

Prior to the British abolition of Caribbean enslavement, the few educational institutions that existed in the region were run by religious institutions and catered to a minority of privileged whites.  A study entitled the historical development of education in Barbados 1686-2000, prepared by the Planning Research and Development Unit of the Ministry of Education, Youth Affairs and Culture noted that the foundations of education were laid by the efforts of private individuals and by the humanitarian interest of the Churches.

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Shaquille Odwin-Moore - At first when i began the Caribbean Civilization course I was a little underwhelmed at the thought of taking the course due to me having the mind set of "if it doesn't relate to my degree then it is waste of valuable time". After completion of the course, while I still don't view it as beneficial, i found the tutorials to be thought provoking, informative and all around an enjoyable class to partake in. The lectures left room for improvements, with them mainly having the issue of being either hard to access or hard to learn from.

The assignments placed throughout the course, more so the book report, were difficult to complete but not due to the level of work which had to be done but more so because the book which had to be reviewed did not cater to my interest and thus for the most part i found it uninteresting.

If i knew what I know not at the beginning of the course, I would have looked for alternate course options, but overall I am grateful for the experience I gained and hopefully will be able to use that experience in the future.

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Giraldo, Alexander. "Slave Resistance: A Caribbean study." 2000. http://scholar.library.miami.edu/slaves/Religion/religion.html#Anchor . Electronis. 28 Septemebr 2016.

Ethnicity and Identity in the Caribbean: Decentering a Myth, Ralph R. Premdas, Working Paper #234 - December 1996, Pg 28-33.

Historical development of education in Barbados 1686-2000, Prepared by the Planning Research and Development Unit of the Ministry of Education, Youth Affairs and Culture November  2000.

Religion, Education, and Caribbean Family Life: the Foundation of ‘Respectable’ Caribbean Society, pg 6.