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Unit 4  continued  Beyond the Rivers of Babylon

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Unit 4  continued  Beyond the Rivers of Babylon

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“By the rivers of Babylon where we sat down, and wept when we   remembered Zion.”

Psalm   137:1

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The fact that slavery existed in West Africa made it easier for the enslaved Africans to accept their captivity and their lot in the plantation structure. The elite enslaved peoples sort not to remove the Plantation system totally but to get the persons who govern the plantation system to realize that they were human.  Resistance was not always to reclaim their lost freedom but to reclaim their humanity. The enslaved sort to coexist in the plantation system; to show that there are some boundaries that were not to be crossed. They tried to regain the dignity that they thought an enslaved person deserved.

http://discoveringbristol.org.uk/slavery/people-involved/enslaved-people/enslaved-africans/africa-slavery/

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Who am I?

Learning Activity 6.1

There are many individual tags that a person can place on themselves however, their identity is linked to all the tags as if even one of the tags are removed, they would be given another identity.
Race= African

Gender= Female              Language= English        Geographic Origin = Caribbean

From the above tags, I can be identified as a female of African descent, who speak English and is from the Caribbean. Tags I choose are basic identity tags that can be attached to me immediately upon interaction with any random stranger. Each of these tags can be used to identify me however, singly they can Identify almost anyone. For example, the first tag Race = African can identify any one on the planet who has an African phenotype. The same can be done with her gender tag which is part of the identity of almost 50% of the world population. The same can be said for the language tag and the geographic origin identity tags. Even collectively these tags cannot be used to specifically identify who I am. A lot more tags would be needed to properly identify who I am.

Caribbean Identity

Defining a Caribbean identity is difficult because instead of using a primary identity tag that identifies us a Caribbean people we use racial and diasporic tags. To identify ourselves in the Caribbean, our primary identity tag is race. This is a problem since as long as we use race as a primary identity marker, the Caribbean cannot move forward as a people, in being able to proudly wear our caribbean identity tag.

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Caribbean Song

‘Rally Round the West Indies’

David Rudder

Rally round the west indies was used as a catchy sporting chant to encourage West Indian support of the cricket team even though they were not winning as they use to. It has historical significance as it alludes to instances of great cricket fame while assuring fans that another player will arise that will make the team as proud as the retired cricket legends who held the cricket cup for ten years. The use of warrior and battle are used in the song include the fans and show them that their role as supporters is necessary to bring the team to victory.
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Caribbean Festival
Origin

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’ behavior 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 increasingly elaborate, and soon became more popular than the balls.

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 organizations participate! In this way, communities work together to develop stronger friendships and greater respect for the many cultures that make up Trinidad .
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UNIT 7 RELIGION, EDUCATION AND HUMAN LIFE

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UNIT 7 RELIGION, EDUCATION AND HUMAN LIFE

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Religious conversion of the peoples of the new world to Christianity was one of the objectives of Spanish colonialism. This objective was achieved and is evident by the large Christian population in the region. There is also the formation of new syncretic religions which are unique to this region.  These syncretic religions although they are parts of Christianity, are considered to be beneath that of the traditional Christian denomination. The hierarchy of religion in the Caribbean is based on who practices the religion. The religion practiced by the plantation owner was seen as superior to that of the enslaved or indenture. Religion has been tied to almost everything in our social construct and societal norms. In the lecture the irony of the church, school and cemetery being near each other as an allusion to the structure religion plays in both our life and education.

 Following the end of colonialism bastard laws that prevented natural children from inheriting their parent propertied had to be changed to accommodate children in these circumstances allowing them to inherit their father’s surname. These and many other laws had to be adjusted away from that of the church to accommodate the citizen of the country. These implementations in the law that realizes that everyone does not share the same religious values does not mean that all the laws that are of religious values have been remove.  Very recently the addition of laws that would allow the LGBT community the same rights to marriage enjoyed by the heterosexual community. This suggestion was denied based on the religious construct of Caribbean society which holds high values of religious belief even if it may be encroaching on human the rights of some citizens.

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The Role of Religion in Caribbean History

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The Role of Religion in Caribbean History with Patrick Hylton - From Amerindian Shamanism to Rastafarianism The islands and continental territories of the Caribbean showcase as wide a diversity of religious beliefs and practices as can be found in any other region of the world.

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http://countrystudies.us/caribbean-islands/8.htm

THE SUDDEN ACQUISITION OF A CONSCIENCE

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SECTION 1: BRITISH EMCIPATION PASSING INFAMY

During the 18th century profit margins in the sugar production industry saw a constant decline until it was simply no longer profitable. This was the signal the British needed to start the emancipation of the enslaved Africans whom it was no longer feasible to keep as property. The conscience of Britain, in the form of abolitionist, were now allowed to voice exactly what they felt about the failing industry that encroached on the human rights of an entire race of people. With the testimonies of both the enslaved and the enslavers the plantation owner could receive the necessary compensation as a settlement to prevent the industry from crashing. The enslaved received the tag of freedom and were then released into a society where they had to fight long hard years to integrate themselves. This form of telling the events of emancipation may seem cryptic but it was essentially what occur. The other factors leading to the abolition of slavery; the riots and revolts of the enslaved and the work of the abolitionist would not have worked to convince the British government to abolish a thriving trade. The only way to achieve freedom would have been a successful revolt like that of Haiti whose freedom was attacked to a ridiculous fine.
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Tutorial Question
"From your understanding of Caribbean Chattel Slavery, give one myth that you still believe still persists about that period."

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Myth About the Africans

They had no souls

They had no power because they were slaves and as such  had no way of resisting the Europeans

Slavery started on the west african coast.

Slavery is connected to race

Enslaved Africans lost their culture when they left their motherland.

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" Cruelty, like no other vice requires no motive outside of itself it only requires opportunity."
George  Eliot

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Fixed Melancholy

In the recent studies of Plantation life a picture of death gloom and despair has become the setting of plantation society. A society in which the enslaved were robbed of their humanity by the merciless white gentry who felt the weight of their power and abused it.  The conditions on West Indian plantations often  left the enslaved in a state of depression so great that they willed themselves to death. This will to be dead lead to the enslaved deliberately seeking death at the hands of the cruel slave owners or by taking their own life. It is ironic that instead of improving the lives of the enslaved africans to lift them out of their fixed melancholy they choose instead to take away the final solace of death from the already hopeless people.

When reading the first book of the 'Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill ' the description of the middle passage was on of both despair and hope. The protagonist showed a will not to die in the "ass of a lion' passage to the new world. The crushing of that determination and hope is what happens when the enslaved realizes that there were worse things than dying the the 'ass of a lion'. This will to determine where and when they died remained with the enslaved. In a society where they were striped of all human rights, belonging and wellbeing, the enslaved retained the right to determine their deaths. This right was used by the enslaved people where they took their time to plan their demise;  to choose auspicious days on which they would depart from the world and regain their freedom in death.

Although the enslaved were on the receiving end of the abuse on the plantation, the white gentry also used the route of suicide as a means of escaping their own problems. The atmosphere on the plantation was on that did not inspire hope in the 18th Century. The reducing profitability of sugar as well as the increased labour cost, left plantation owners in a state of constant anxiety as one wrong decision could lead to their ultimate ruin. The flaunting of the right to take their own life by the enslaved in a situation as such was bold and foolhardy move. The cruelty of punishing the an enslaved for expressing their want to part with  life was senseless as the enslaves that intended to die , planed in advance and concluded the act in privacy.

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The first Europeans came to the Caribbean with three goals. For glory, the Spanish conquistadores came in search for new lands to colonise in the name of their monarch. For gold, the main purpose of the voyage to the new world was to find more bullion for the crown. For god, the final purpose of the voyage was to take the religion of Christianity to the people they encountered. On the arrival of the Europeans to the Caribbean, they discovered after torturing the natives that there was not much gold to be found in these lands instead they would have to use the land to get the gold they wanted. This is the point where the goal of collecting bullion shifted to that of industrialization. A shift from mercantilism to cultivation.

These changes of plans required a lot of labour and land. The Europeans then began the desperate task of capturing territories and establishing plantation on them. The first labourers were the native people however they were not suitable for the task so other labour was sourced. With the sugar revolution, these plantations became quite large and the need for more labour beyond that of the few indentured whites was needed. African labour was then used to supplement all labour needs, the creation of the triangular trade route was then established until the use of enslaved Africans for labour was no longer feasible. This period of following emancipation saw the restarting of indentureship as the failing industry needed new cheap labour. They supplemented labour using both the Chinese and East Indian peoples.

At this point the major groups that are recognise for their contributions to the diversity of the region had arrived into the colonies of the Europeans where they were introduced to Christianity. To fulfil their goals for the amassing of wealth, power and spreading their religion the Europeans introduce many diverse groups to the Caribbean during the 17th and 18th Century. These groups have since interacted with each other, the results are new cultures as well as new races of people; more diversity added to the Caribbean.

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A civilization is described as the broadest cultural entity that a people can have . They can be defined by common objectives, elements like language, history, religion, customs, institutions as the subjective identity of its people. Civilizations share no clear cut boundaries, precise beginnings or endings. Civilizations can redefine their boundaries and change over time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEcpdKARAig

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The belief that the neo indians were cannibals was named as the primary reason that the Spanish explores used for their treatment of the native people. Who could blame them, even at present this myth is persistent and well accepted by many of the older generation. On an episode of Bar Tab, the question was asked ' who discovered Trinidad and Tobago'. This lead to a discussion with my family about the Amerindians who are believed to be the first people of this region. It will be no surprise to anyone that the talk of them being cannibals came up. The relevance of this is to state that there is a problem that is affecting the Caribbean where we have no idea about our history. The past events that are today governing the very choices we make for our future.
Looking back in history, the Neo- Indians are not the only peoples who were labeled as savage and cannibalistic to suit the needs of conquerors who inevitably needed reasons for their cruelty. Considering this, it should hardly be a surprise that the native peoples of the Caribbean were thus scandalized and maligned. It can simply be seen as an invention to warrant the crimes committed against them since it would not sit well with any moral person to think that they were destroying the lives of men, women and children to satisfy their own greed. How were they to maintain the Christian like facade of cleansing if the people they were purging were no more sinful than themselves? Without the use of the stereotypes and lies attached, the deeds of the European would be seen for the cruel inhumane acts they were.

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https://debate.uvm.edu/dreadlibrary/mclean.html