https://padlet.com/chevellefigaro/uefkeiuoly2r Discussion of various issues in the Caribbean highlighted in FOUN 1101 and a portfolio made up of 4 entries with artifacts to represent them :) en-us 2017-11-30 14:32:19 UTC 2024-10-08 12:23:52 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Brightnessdown.png chevellefigaro https://padlet.com/chevellefigaro/uefkeiuoly2r/wish/211978985 The Caribbean as we all know it,  is made up of various beautiful islands which results in cultural diversity. Cultural diversity in the Caribbean originated from colonial days where there were existing indigenous people and explorers from Europe in search of new land hence cultural diversity is known to result from historical factors. With this exploration they saw an opportunity to bring their traditions and religious beliefs. The Caribbean was also later populated by African slaves and indentured Indian, Chinese and European workers all bringing their differing traditional practices.
The existing cultural diversity can be seen presently in The University of the West Indies, for example. The student body is made up of persons from many regions such as Africa, Europe, Australia, America, Japan and of course other Caribbean islands. Diversity has both positive and negative effects. The positives are introductions to various traditional culinary dishes, festivals(Example, Divali from East India), celebrations(Example, On campus students from St. Vincent celebrated their Independence Day on October 27th), music (Example, Reggae originating from Jamaica) and fashion whereas the negatives include conflict with misconceptions of other races, competition, discrimination and language barriers.
Cultural diversity is interesting as we get to experience cultures other than our own.
The pictures below show the nationalities of the students staying in those rooms on Trinity Hall.]]> 2017-11-30 17:45:02 UTC https://padlet.com/chevellefigaro/uefkeiuoly2r/wish/211978985 chevellefigaro https://padlet.com/chevellefigaro/uefkeiuoly2r/wish/212058095 The video portrays a Nigerian novelist, Chimamanda Adichie highlighting the issue of stereotyping from the mere fact that a story can be untrue in one perspective. She mentioned "the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue but incomplete." When we hear a story repeatedly, we tend to believe it. The video also featured the fact that people tend to ridicule Africa and stereotype it as being pitiably poor and people are "beasts with no houses," with reference to author John Lok who sailed to West Africa in 1951.
Adichie reveals that the intellectual damage can be caused by a single story. For instance, people were brainwashed into thinking that all Africans are illiterate when in fact this is untrue. There are many achievements that goes unheard as she stated, such as successful medical procedures. This issue can be linked with colonial times where slave masters would constantly brainwash chattel slaves into thinking they were less than humans and that they were at the very bottom of the social ladder. What made me appreciate the entirety of this video was that the novelist herself admitted that when she went to America, she too was brainwashed into thinking all Mexicans were "abject immigrants." Personally this video was perfectly applied in trying to change people's perspectives in approaching narratives critically, reconsidering and rethinking these single stories no matter where they are and who tells them.]]> 2017-11-30 20:07:12 UTC https://padlet.com/chevellefigaro/uefkeiuoly2r/wish/212058095 chevellefigaro https://padlet.com/chevellefigaro/uefkeiuoly2r/wish/212058289 "CARICOM Single Market Economy is a single economic space in which individuals can move to seek employment, establish a business, move capital and offer services across the 13 CARICOM members" Hamilton, Salas. (2015)
According to Paula Byer in the voice note below, "Freedom of movement is an essential pillar of a single market of an economy. It reduces the barriers inhibiting movement of individuals in the Caribbean to member states.
CARICOM is known to mirror the movement of skilled personnel in Europe and this example shows that European influences from colonial days exist in the present. Free movement provided by CARICOM is beneficial and convenient as this is a perfect opportunity for individuals to take advantage of employment opportunities which are scarce in some Caribbean countries.

]]> 2017-11-30 20:07:38 UTC https://padlet.com/chevellefigaro/uefkeiuoly2r/wish/212058289 chevellefigaro https://padlet.com/chevellefigaro/uefkeiuoly2r/wish/212058478 I am going to be honest, at first I hated the idea of Caribbean Civilisation as Caribbean Studies for CAPE gave me a negative opinion on these topics. I saw it as boring and uninteresting but now I love it and I now know the in-depth reasons behind our diversified history. Our Caribbean history is what makes us stand out from any other region and gives us an identity. This course highlighted and provided an insight on the complexity of the Caribbean such as it's diversity, different definitions and cultures and it also broadened my views and perspective on our Western world influence which exists in society today.
What I enjoyed the most was the plenary sessions and the follow up tutorial classes to interact with my peers from different countries. As seen below in the map, although we are separated by Caribbean water we are but one people. Caribbean people.

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