My Caribbean by

24/03/2017~Religion in the Caribbean

michellesoochan — 2017-04-04 13:41:56 UTC

Religion is defined as an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a God or group of Gods. The importance of religion , emphasis on Judeo to the colonization process in the Caribbean cannot be overstressed as it was expected to provide a counter to the excessive brutality and lawlessness that was traditionally associated with Caribbean frontier societies from the 16th century until now. In the initial phase of colonization and exploitation in the 15th century, Roman Catholicism was preferred for the Spaniards.

When Europeans came to the Caribbean, they brought their own religions: The Spanish and French were devout Roman Catholics, while the British were Protestants. Irish migrants from Britain brought Catholicism with them as well, and the Dutch brought both Catholicism and Dutch Reform beliefs. The region's religions became even more mixed when the islands were claimed by different nations, as they often were throughout the Caribbean's early history. But religious diversity exists even on the islands that rarely or never changed hands. Slavery and indentured servitude brought many people with many different faiths to the islands. Still, the biggest challenge (and support) to the growth of Christianity was slavery. Slaves from Africa brought their own religious and spiritual practices with them, some of which combined with Catholic practices and became entirely new religions, while some spiritual beliefs simply occurred out of sight of the white masters. Many of the Caribbean-born slaves were indoctrinated into Christianity.

In fact, the end of slavery helped encourage some religious diversity in the islands. East Indian immigrants brought their own beliefs and practices to the region. Almost a quarter of the population of Trinidad and Tobago is Hindu - one of the highest concentrations of Hindu people in the world. Small populations of Jews and Muslims also live in the Caribbean. In more recent years, Caribbean natives have even formed their own religion.This pro-African religion uses the Bible as its base text but takes a decidedly different reading than that of more traditional Christian sects. Like many things Jamaican, it also stands out for political and social causes.
Religion is used to worship a God or a group of Gods. In society today, it has been argued that religion is fading away. Scholars such as Durkheim and Comte discuss the replacing of religion in modern society with technology and science. Comte actually blames the advancement in technology for the erosion in religion.

My Social\ Geographical Environment

michellesoochan — 2017-04-04 13:43:50 UTC

For many years, it has been known that global sea levels are rising. For example, the World Heritage Site in Willemstad in Curacao in a few years will confront certain unenviable consequences if no measures are taken to adapt. Other related issues are trends of hurricanes, extreme periods of dryness, and those marked by extreme rainfall. The United Nations for many years has been creating awareness on these issues. Despite this all, only a few islands’ governments and NGOs are addressing the critical issue of climate change

Caribbean islanders described personal experiences and perceptions about climate change as increased average temperatures, severity of weather events, and changes in rainfall patterns. They had observed geographic changes including beach erosion, sea level rise, drying rivers, and reduced vegetation and ground cover. They discussed the growing regional attention to disaster preparedness since the devastation of Hurricane Ivan in 2004, including efforts to digitize and archive legal and historical documents to prevent losses like those caused by Hurricane Ivan. The discussion itself seemed to galvanize participant recognition that climate change threatens natural resources, such as rushing rivers and sandy beaches, that they take for granted.

Although preliminary, data shows that climate change is altering Caribbean life. Further research on the health impacts of climate change on indigenous peoples and in unique geographic, economic, and sociocultural contexts is needed. Governments, industries, and individuals are unlikely to respond to climate change until it threatens things they value in their own lives.

4/04/2017 Regional News of Importance

michellesoochan — 2017-04-04 13:44:48 UTC

Challenges in the Caribbean are increasing constantly, within the past few years Several issues has come up that makes life In the Caribbean a little harder for us all. These problems may have significant impact on your income, job, health and live if you live on a Caribbean island. And they don’t necessarily start in the Caribbean either: in many cases these trends are a variation of a global trend.

Self Evaluation

michellesoochan — 2017-04-04 13:49:41 UTC

Learning more about our Civilization has helped me to make a better connection to everything that's around me.

Throughout the course, I gained knowledge on different topics that allows me to have a better understanding of my Caribbean and I've come to appreciate everything a lot better because of it. I gained so many insights on topics based on our past such as the Neo Indians and Palo Indians etc. I got a better understanding of Chattel Slavery and the allocation of jobs in the Sugar industry which is a big part of our past in the 18th century. I enjoyed the class discussions where the class would share their opinions and argue our points and our thoughts. My portfolio entails several issues related to My Caribbean, I touch on issues such as Crime and Religion among other things that came to my attention throughout this Course.

Visiting Museums for our first assignment was different and I thought It was interesting.

Overall I learnt a lot and It was not as bad as I expected which I was very pleased about.

-Michelle Soo Chan

28/03/2017~Crime in the Caribbean

michellesoochan — 2017-04-21 13:48:07 UTC

A crime is any deviant act that breaks the laws of the land. It includes any anti-social conduct that is prohibited by law with sanctions that commit offenders into custody. In contemporary times, the concept of crime has been viewed as a major social problem. Although crime is found at all times and in all societies, it is a normal and inevitable phenomenon. In the Caribbean region, which is considered to be the ‘cockpit’ of Europe, the quandary of crime is becoming quite alarming since it has been increasing significantly as time progresses. Therefore an in-depth scrutiny into the causes and consequences of crime will enable us to become more aware of the adverse activity which can lead to the creation of indispensable solutions.
significantly.

According to the Guardian Media Limited, (2012) which states that crime continues to be a major source of concern in the borough of Chaguanas since it has been increasing. The adverse activity of crime has been on a scale of increasing tremendously and is deemed as perpetual which possess negative causes such as increased medical cost, loss of income, property losses, psychological effect of fear and the loss of lives. In addition, the negative act of crime in the country of Trinidad, as postulated by renowned journalist Mark Fraser (2012) states that crime is mainly caused by cultural factors and disparity in social class
and income.
Leslie Ann Jordon established a case study entitled ‘Tourism and Crime in the Caribbean,’ which investigates if the frequency of crime in the Caribbean territory of St. Lucia has an effect on tourist arrivals. It has been founded that mass tourism impacts on crime significantly since it serves as a constant reminder to citizens of the disparities of wealth and social class. Jordon conducted this research via an interview with citizens of St. Lucia. Additionally, this study by Jordon revealed that types of crime on the island of St. Lucia against tourist were mainly property related crimes such as stealing and house break-ins. In the end, the information necessary for the case study was gathered from local police reports of St. Lucia which were analyzed to present arguments. However the information acquired and analyzed only possessed information from the territory of St. Lucia thereby making proper generalizations difficult to establish.

Introduction

michellesoochan — 2017-04-21 19:27:47 UTC

This portfolio entails different issues in the Caribbean that are important too me. It includes issues related to My Caribbean, I touch on issues such as Crime and Religion among other things that came to my attention throughout this Course. ENJOY :)

References

michellesoochan — 2017-05-07 18:19:37 UTC

• Violatti, Cristian. "Civilization." Ancient History Encyclopedia. Creative Commons: Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike, 04 Dec. 2014. Web. .

• http://www.trinidadexpress.com/business-magazine/Fix-Crime-240216941.html

• https://www.google.tt/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=leslie+ann+jordan+views+on+crime

• Jennifer Mohammed, Caribbean Studies. Location of Publishing: Macmillan Publishers Limited 2007

• Haralambos, Mike and Holborn Mike, Sociology Themes and Perspective, Sixth Edition. London. Collins, 2004.

• Costello A, Abbas M, Allen A et al. Managing the health effects of climate change. Lancet. 2009;373(9676):1693–1733 [PubMed]