Identity is a concept that can be easily misunderstood and interpreted. Identity can be passed down from society or a single individual as well as it can also be indigenous. Caribbean identity consists of religion, socio-cultural institution such as interpretation of their culture by other cultures, norms, values, music as well as dishes. The Caribbean identity boast a wide variety of these characteristics that are very evident in today's cultures and practices. The Caribbean can be identified by either its history or geography. Historically, the plantation systems and colonization have induced creolization, plural society, stratification systems, cultural erasure and enculturation. The Caribbean can be identified by its past historical events and how it contributes to the language, education, religion and festivals in the Caribbean.

 

Historical INFLUENCES ON LANGUAGE 

Furthermore, language reflects the Caribbean identity and ideas of the colonial control in the past. It is because of historical similarities between Caribbean countries they can relate in the lyrics and language used in music.” Rebel music “is music that was done to oppose the colonial power at the time. Examples of ‘Rebel music “ are Reggae and Calypso and was created to chastise as well and enjoy their culture at the same time. The Caribbean identity today is widely associated with Reggae and Calypso. We can say that Reggae and Calypso originated from the anti-colonial attempts made by the Africans and is iconic to Caribbean identity.

 

HISTORICAL INFLUENCES ON EDUCATION AND RELIGION AND ECONOMICS

 

Another point is education and religion which are not mutually exclusive from each other. Today there is a direct correlation between ‘prestige’ schools and Christianity as well as those of Christian faith would be more academically inclined than those of other faiths. This put education as a social class features of an open stratified system that is affected by religion. In addition, the first formal education system was first brought to the Caribbean by the Spanish in the sixteenth century (Gale 2006). Education at this time was not given to the slaves but was affordable by the wealthy or creolized offspring of the planters as it was still a close stratified system of mobility. The French and humanitarian revolutions during the 1790s and 1840 gave opportunities the children of slaves to attend schools in which they were thought bible readings and religious instructions. This assisted the spread of the Roman Catholic religion. Emancipation have the formers slaves the opportunity for education when the British got involved. The British education system was the only way the African could have gotten an education in the nineteenth century .Lord Harris who took governor in 1845 implied “education was essential for the lower classes in order to fit them for freedom. “This lead to the establishment of state education systems .The curriculum is based upon metropolitan ideology which reflected the colonial agenda as well as in the colonial time to slave masters used education as a means of oppression rather than liberation(Mohan 6).The advent of cxc was brought about by the British and depicted their own curriculum .Colonialism basically promoted the British education system as we can now see with the advent of CXC which forces Caribbean countries to learn more about British  colonialism than Caribbean history. It must also be noted that colonialism also promoted the stratification of the education system whereby the rich and creoles could pursue education as the planters believed that only a certain class and color could be educated. This education system allowed for lower classes to pursue and be given opportunities that the individuals of European descent would have.  

 

Another point is, based on historical influences, colonization, colonialism and the plantation are the main construction points of Caribbean identity. From the establishment of the Caribbean, the European colonists treated with the indigenous peoples in the same exploitative way regardless of those migrants’ nationalities. The resultant near genocide through enslavement and harsh treatment of the Amerindian people allows the first element of Caribbean identity to surface as a land to be exploited, to be gorged upon, not necessarily to develop or preserve (Mohan 17). The treatment of the Amerindian can then be being like the exploitative economic measures imposed upon Caribbean nations. Although there may not be harsh treatments anymore, there is the same ostracization and alienation of these people in all the islands or territories. For example, in Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad, this group is being removed from the mainstream society and still bears the original stigma of belonging to a second-class group of people in society. Evidence has shown the cultural perception of one group being perceived as superior to another. This perception then results into a manifestation of a cultural paradigm that depicts a cultural Caribbean identity (Mohan 17). It can be further stated that within Caribbean society if we take into consideration social stratification, there were different types of slavery such as African slavery, East Indian indentureship, which is both a legacy of colonialism and a societal factor for dividing and stratifying society even up to this present day. The economic stagnation which resulted from the plantation system is still reflecting because all Caribbean islands are yet struggling to find a foundation to contribute towards providing sustainable development. Hence, difficulties in a global future form shared common threats, thereby informing Caribbean identity and making it realistic. 

 

FESTIVALS IN THE CARIBBEAN

Carnivals is a festival only celebrated in the Caribbean and has a lot of historical influences. These influences include colonialism, religious conversion, and ultimately freedom and celebration (Curley 2019). When the Europeans, Spanish and French came to the Caribbean with slaves they are breathing their practices such as the Pre-Lenten tradition. When it is that slavery ended in 1834 there was mass miscegenation taking place that resulted in the Africans mixing races with French immigrants, earlier Spanish settlers, and British nationals (Curly 2019). They celebrated their free or emancipation by performing this act of Carnival which consisted on three parts. The clothing, music and dance. In addition, the dance was influenced by the by the historical events of slavery and colonization.

 

 

The Caribbean is known for having a wide variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds. The Caribbean is often known as a "melting pot”. Melting pot refers to a wide variety of different backgrounds of people blended together as one. Some positive impacts of the Caribbean history include: Cultural diversity, music, religion and even medicine.

 

The Caribbean has many ethnic groups such as African, Chinese, Indian and Europeans that all arrived during the era of slave systems. The Africans were brought to the region between the mid-17th to 19th century and the Chinese came to the region in the 19th century by their own choice. The colonization of the Europeans contributed greatly to the diversity.

 

Different ethnic groups contributed to cultural diversity such as the Indians brought spices such as curry and the Africans were known for voodoo practices’ voodoo practices were also brought to the Caribbean.

 

Medicines in the forms of herbs that contained healing properties were brought from different ethnic groups such as ‘busy" was known to help cure ptomaine poisoning and was used by the Jamaicans.

 

The Jamaicans, Africans and Indian all contributes to the music in the Caribbean. Chutney, Hindi music and reggae was all brought by the Africans and Indians as well as soca in Trinidad. African also brought their food to the Caribbean. such as cou-cou, or rice and beans etc. Africans did not only bring religious practices. They brought their rich culture, language, music, and way of life as did east Indian people.The African brought their rich culture and we can now see the African heritage in the Caribbean today. The African contributed to the Caribbean identity in the following ways: food, musical instruments, words, language, religion as well and masquerades.

 

Food

 

Foods such as plantains, ackee ,yam,eddoes,dasheen and bananas are associated with the African culture and Caribbean identity. The ackee was used in west Africa as an addition to many dishes such as dishes with meat and salt fish. Sesame seeds also known as “bene balls “as also an addition to the Caribbean dishes by the African culture .Fried salt fish and flour also known as ‘ubiquitous’ ackra is also of African heritage .Famous dishes such as “oil down “also  originated in Jamaica. The African did not have to bring all these dishes in the enslavement period, but they created and ate these dishes.

 

Language

 

The Caribbean is well known for its form of English also known as informal English or broken English. The Caribbean is easily identified by the way they speak. Some example of such words used in our language is “Allyuh” which means you all in formal English. Phrases such as “tabanka/tabaka” means lost on love as well as “Jumbi” are used to speak about a ghost.

 

Musical instruments

 

Musical instrument such as the drums ,steelpans orchestra are very iconic to the Caribbean .The steel pan is the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago .It must also be noted that the Africans brought their musical traditions with them in the plantation era from  central and west Africa to pass time on the plantation used the drums to play music which sometimes irritated the colonists and cause many fight and riots .This also caused some to perceive that carnival for which the steelpan is used , it can represent a negative stigma of violence.

 

Religious beliefs

 

Obeah as well as the belief that people can interact with spirits all came from the African philosophies. The concept that there can be interaction between the dead and living all came from African roots that made its way to the Caribbean and is now known as black magic (Connelly 2018).

 

 

 

Religion is another positive impact to the Caribbean and resulted in Islam and Hinduism being brought  to the Caribbean by Indians. The era of Europeans brought Christianity and the African brought alone with them in the times of slavery their voodoo practices .

WHY IS CHRISTIANITY SO DOMINANT?

The African however was greatly suppressed by the European which lead to some cultural erasure and enculturation of the European culture .

“The first European religion that was brought to the New World was Roman Catholicism” (Mohammed 185)and it was brought about by the fight and constant struggle between the Europeans and the slaves .In the colonial times of slavery a person will only be treated with human right such if they were roman catholic or was willing to adopt the religion  as their own (Mohan 87).The African however during times of slavery was forced to practice and covert themselves to Christianity  by their masters and it was believed by the Europeans that their religion was civilized and that their religion was the right one to follow(Mohan 99).This is known as a Eurocentric view. This suppression of the African culture as well as the many other labor schemes promoted Christianity by force. In the post-colonial era we still see how Christianity is most dominant and that the religion itself is intolerant of  other religious practices that is not directed towards Christianity .

SHIFT SYSTEM 


It is during this period the first shift system came into place where the laborers would be working day in and out to get the job completed. In Post-colonial times we can see that many if these practices such and shift system have been globalized as it is part of our lives. 

Double consciousness

 Double-consciousness is a concept in social philosophy referring, originally, to a source of inward “twoness” putatively experienced by African-Americans because of their racialized oppression and devaluation in a white-dominated society(Standford Encyclopedia Of Philosophy 2016) .

This problem was caused by the involvement of the united states in the Caribbean after the civil war. In this era of American history, the Americas wanted to keep to themselves but soon realized that there were many more opportunities for expansion. In the 1880s the decision was made that the American agriculture sector was so large scales that they had excess production of food and as a result they realized that the Caribbean region was a viable option for their new Imperial thrusts. This eventually led to the Caribbean region adopting its cultures, ideologies and even policies.

Today we can see the Caribbean taking part and following American ideologies ,music , policies regarding the environment although not applicable to our climate as well as apparel.
GENDER ROLES

During the plantation era women where in charge of harvesting the crops on the plantation such as cotton whereas the men were involved with more labor intensive tasks.it must be noted that even during the apprenticeship period men were still receiving a higher wage than women even the they completed the same tasks. Men were getting paid 25 cents a day whereas women were getting paid 16 cents a day .Gender roles were men and woman have tasks dedicted to them are well known in the Caribbean   where the men ware bread winners and the women are seen as  house wives