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1. The Danger of a Single  Story, November 11th

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1. The Danger of a Single  Story, November 11th

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Chimamanda has summarised the objectives of the Caribbean Civilization course. To teach regional and international students the numerous stories of the Caribbean and its history, otherwise known as revisionism. By doing this we can help make these less talked about stories main stream, narratives that don’t start with when the Europeans arrived. And this is an important first step, to educate the Caribbean region. For how can we begin to succeed if we’re taught that our history only came into existence because of foreign invasion. Keeping us under indirect rule has altered our Caribbean identity.

This course has the ability to facilitate the appreciation and acknowledgment of a regional Caribbean identity. It can achieve this due to the demographic diversity present in our online plenaries. The danger of a single story as expressed in the video isn’t only how outsiders perceive us but also how we ourselves reciprocate it towards other social groups. For example Annecka Marshall write about homophobia in the Caribbean (which was almost disregarded in this course besides being a subset of masculinity), shows that even within our region we have given people who identify with LGBTQ+ groups a single story.

To remove oppressive terms from our vocabulary such as ‘Pre-history’, ’Arawak’ and ‘slave’ and replace them with their denotative meaning is an exercise that needs to be taken to a global level. Understanding why the change to ‘history’, ‘Taino’ and ‘enslaved person’ is essential, is because language is an important component of culture. And if our culture is based off of a single story then we can never progress politically, economically, socially and culturally.

My artifact for this objective is the poem 'I come from the Nigger yard' by Guyanese poet Martin Carter. I've chosen this because it captures the reality of what has come from the Caribbean being told with a single story.

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I come from the nigger yard of yesterday
leaping from the oppressors' hate
and the scorn of myself;
from the agony of the dark hut in the shadow
and the hurt of things;
from the long days of cruelty and the long nights of pain
down to the wide streets of to-morrow, of the next day
leaping I come, who cannot see will hear.

In the nigger yard I was naked like the new born
naked like a stone or a star.
It was a cradle of blind days rocking in time
torn like the skin from the back of a slave.
It was an aching floor on which I crept
on my hands and my knees
searching the dust for the trace of a root
or the mark of a leaf or the shape of a flower.

It was me always walking with bare feet
meeting strange faces like those in dreams or fever
when the whole world turns upside down
and no one knows which is the sky or the land
which heart is among the torn or the wounded
which face is his among the strange and the terrible
walking about, groaning between the wind.

And there was always sad music somewhere in the land
like a bugle and a drum between the houses
voices of women singing far away
pauses of silence, then a flood fo sound.
But these were things like ghosts or spirits of wind.
It was only a big world spinning outside
and men, born in agony, torn in torture, twisted and broken like a leaf,
and the uncomfortable morning, the beds of hunger stained and sordid
like the world, big and cruel, spinning outside.

Sitting sometimes in the twillight near the forest
where all the light is gone and every bird
I notice a tiny star neighbouring a leaf
a little dropp of light a piece of glass
straining over heaven tiny bright
like a spark seed in the destiny of gloom.
O it was the heart like this tiny star near to the sorrows
straining against the whole world and the long twilight
spark of man's dream conquering the night
moving in darkness and fierce
till leaves of sunset change from green to blue
and shadows grow like giants everywhere.

So I was born again stubborn and fierce
screaming in a slum.
It was a city and a coffin space for home
a river running, prisons and hospitals
men drunk and dying, judges full of scorn
priets and parsons fooling gods with words
and me, like dog tangled in rags
spotted with sores powdered with dust
screaming with hunger, angry with life and men.

It was a child born from a mother full of her blood
weaving her features bleeding her life in clots.
It was pain lasting from hours to months and to years
weaving a pattern telling a tale leaving a mark
on the face and the brow
Until there came the iron days cast in a foundry
Where men make hammers things that cannot break
and anvils heavy hard and cold like ice.

And so again I become one of the ten thousands
one of the uncountable miseries owning the land.
When the moon rose up only the whores could dance
the brazen jazz of music throbbed and groaned
filling the night air full of rhythmic questions.
It was the husk and the seed challenging fire
birth and the grave challenging life.

Until to-day in the middle of the tumult
when the land changes and the world's all convulsed
when different voices join to say the same
and different hearts beat out in unison
where the aching floor of where I live
the shifting earth is twisting into shape
I take again my nigger life, my scorn
and fling it in the face of those who hate me.
It is me the nigger boy turning to manhood
linking my fingers, welding my flesh to freedom.

I come from the nigger yard of yesterday
leaping from the oppessors' hate
and the scorn of myself
I come to the world with scars upon my soul
wounds on my body, fury in my hands
I turn to the histories of men and the lives of peoples.
I examine the shower of sparks the wealth of the dreams.
I am pleased with the glories and sad with the sorrows
rich with the riches, poor with the loss.
From the nigger yard of yesterday I come with my burden.
To the world of to-morrow I turn with my strength.

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I Come From The Nigger Yard Poem by Martin Carter - Poem Hunter

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I Come From The Nigger Yard by Martin Carter. .I come from the nigger yard of yesterday leaping from the oppressors hate and the scorn of myself from the agony of the dark hut in the shadow and the. Page

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2.Embracing a woman's home. November 20th 

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2.Embracing a woman's home. November 20th 

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Just to preface: I’m living at the all girl’s hall on the St Augustine campus. And 9/10 times that I tell someone this, I am bombarded with archaic sexist comments. And it had puzzled me because the fact that they were present on campus means they were accepted to university so they shouldn’t be that ignorant. However, it proves that the education system merely acts a medium to reinforce gendered value systems(Donald, Athene).

While studying it allowed me to examine what influences gender and sexuality in the Caribbean and the ideologies that have contributed to people assuming that an all girls dorm is always buzzing with drama. It also served as a reminder that every prejudice I face as a young brown female has been socially constructed, and propagated by a social group whose basis of success relies on mirroring the plantation systems of oppression.

Learning about the role religion has played in influencing gender roles has allowed me to acknowledge seemingly ignorant comments such as “what do you expect with a bunch of girls living together, there’s always going to be gossip and squabbling”. I now understand that this comment carries the weight from decades of gendered division of labour, that began the enforcement of the subordinate nature of women.(Cunningham, Mick)

Decades later it remains problematic as stereotypes are cemented and exposed with quips of “wow the place must always be really clean since you’re all girls”. But in the same breath they laugh and ask 'why are you living there it's so ratchet'....Women have timelessly been abused, black women especially have been given a horrible stereotype that has affected them in the educational, political and economic sphere.

Frankly gender and sexuality issues and hegemonic masculinity are not regional issues and it is only the historical significance that this course has placed on it that sets us apart from the rest of the world. To reinforce this topic, I’ve taken the aid of a section speech called “We should all be feminists” by Chimamanda Adichie. This portion of her speech was featured in a Beyonce song. The relevance being; although Chimamanda is Nigerian our histories collide and are yet to be told fully by a Afro-Caribbean or African woman.

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FLAWLESS SPEECH - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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'I take it that the burden of the work is not to question the fact of there being One UWI, but to determine how that oneness might be projected and operationalised better.''-
(Sir George Alleyne, Chancellor of The UWI, April 16, 2016)

It is quiet ironic that this initiative is seemingly trying to recreate the entire reason UWI was founded. While simultaneously sharing the likeliness of CARICOM’S free movement of people initiative.

According to Dr. Beckles 2016:  “Within our UWI there is growing concern about its operational fragmentation and social segregation into campus communities that see themselves as separate and apart. Reference is commonly made to the existence of four separate universities functioning under the guise of campuses.  We must strive to achieve a unity of purposeful action and positive spirit that emanates from the rich cultural and geographical diversity of our region.”

Following his observations suggestions on how to address them were for example: harmonised technological systems and ethical prerogative. This is because ideally, One UWI must have at its core, ethical values that are interlinked with social human rights, gender justice and equity.

Particularly some suggestions that are currently trying to be implemented are: Encouraging faculty movement, where faculty members should be encouraged to spend a semester or more at a sister campus. Additionally, an interesting suggestion is to strengthen teaching about the Caribbean by reintroduction, of a common first year course on Caribbean Civilization. That would include material from more than one Caribbean country.

The manifestation of teaching about the Caribbean has obviously succeeded. I can only hope that further integration of the campuses is made possible. Ideally in ways that aren't forced on students in ways that can affect their grades grades. Doing this will allow for positive memory association with the 'One UWI' initiative; not just 'oh we were forced to do a compulsory course to graduate'

The artifact for this objective was relevant at that period of time and is still relevant now.

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Mighty Sparrow-Jean & Dinah-The Lizard-Melda-Drunk & Disorderly

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Mighty Sparrow - Federation (With Lyrics)

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People want to know why Jamaica run from the federation Well they want to know why Jamaica run away from the federation Jamaica have a right to speak she mind that is my opinion And if you believe in democracy you'll agree with me But if they know they didn't want federation And they know they don't want to unite as one Independence was at the door, why didn't they speak before This is no time to say you ain't federating no more.

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You know when you’re learning how to ride a bicycle with two wheels you always have someone behind holding onto you, stopping you from falling over, steering you in the right direction. Until one day you’re riding and you don’t feel them behind you anymore and suddenly you’re riding all by yourself. Having the opportunity to study Caribbean civilisation was like finally being let go. The metaphor of old racist ideologies holding onto me and keeping me so oppressed and docile, that I never even considered challenging them.

Caribbean civilisation can be compared to the initial feeling of not only freedom but independence. Being freed from this toxic form of mental slavery that was crammed into me from childhood making me like many- victims of internalized inferiority and self-hate; even if we couldn’t consciously acknowledge it. The independence of riding by myself has allowed me to realize the power that comes with knowledge, especially how it has contributes to the social inequality within the Caribbean.

Being able to take this course is an opportunity to reeducate the masses who are the least likely to learn this otherwise. It allows for passive advocacy of promoting home-grown thoughts and new realities. Although at times during the course there were thing that seemed quite obvious to me, it might’ve been more difficult for others to grasp. Even though ‘ignorance is bliss’, it is clear the Caribbean is not blissful due to ignorance. I think that if more of our population was informed about the units covered in the course, our regional and national identities would be explored to a fuller extent.

The artifact for this are images that convey my feelings after taking this course.

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Cunningham, Mick. “INFLUENCES OF GENDER IDEOLOGY AND HOUSEWORK ALLOCATION ON WOMEN’S EMPLOYMENT OVER THE LIFE COURSE.” Social science research 37.1 (2008): 254–267. PMC. Web. 2 Dec. 2017.

Donald, Athene. “Reinforcing gender stereotypes: how our schools narrow children's choices | Athene Donald.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 9 Dec. 2013, www.theguardian.com/science/occams-corner/2013/dec/09/gender-stereotypes-schools-children-choices.

Marshall, Annecka. “Homophobia in the Caribbean.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 29 Jan. 2014, www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/01/29/why-is-latin-america-so-progressive-on-gay-rights/homophobia-in-the-caribbean.

Report of the One UWI task force. 2015.