COD-7 2019: Session 2 by STOSKIENE RITA

2019-06-18 19:40:38 UTC

2019-06-18 19:46:12 UTC

Lidia Blanco

Today we have had the opportunity to spend the day in the most populated city of the island: Pointe-à-Pitre. There, our first stop was at the ACTe Memorial, a museum about the history of the island of Guadeloupe that allowed to delve into its traditions and customs. Slavery has marked this island whose heritage has been intermingled with the culture of those who have occupied it. After the abolition of slavery that caused a lack of labor (especially in the sugarcane plantation), volunteer workers from India traveled there, thus converging their heritage with other cultures. All this makes Guadalupe an island rich in cultural heritage.
After this visit, the day followed with a tour of the most important markets of the capital where we have been able to observe different ingredients, prices, customs ... and where, of course, we have been able to put into practice our first lesson in French yesterday .
Gastronomy is part of the heritage of a country so when eating, after tasting yesterday different foods from the countries of origin of each member of the course (France, Finland, Germany ...), today has played typical dishes of the island: Pollo al Colombo, grilled bream, fried plantain, pumpkin puree, blood sausage (yes, blood sausage, hehe) ...
Thanks again for this experience.

2019-06-18 19:52:46 UTC

Consuelo
Visit to Pointe-à-Pitre, the most populated city on the island of Guadalupe with 16,343 inhabitants. I would highlight its buildings and its streets. Houses very pictorial, bright colors and some with great images. In the center of the city is the fish market and the market with typical products of the island.
The Acte Memorial Museum is a modern new building on the seafront very different from the buildings of the city.

Anna-Elina

anna_elina_vaisanen — 2019-06-18 20:58:08 UTC

I had just seen the film about KU-Klux-Klan, and now it was in front of my eyes. I was thinking of those youngsters seeing the history of there ancestors, how it would affect on them. I was thinking of my family, do I really have a history of slavery in my family also. I was moved. And at the very end I saw the numbers of people who are slaves in Finland today, 700.

Stefan

2019-06-18 22:04:29 UTC

Certainly, I had an idea of culture before today and of course I thought about its meanings or how one can understand the meaning of the term “culture”. But today I learned to see the meaning of this term from a very new point of view. I assumed culture to be the mix e.g. of typical traditions, traits and a common language of the people of a small or wider region which is maybe put into the borders of a nation. And as this is maybe not wrong there is another idea of culture. Culture can be a combination of very different influences from very different parts of the world mixed up in a unique way like one’s identity consisting of common traits combined in a unique way.

However, the word “culture” can be misused to raise one culture over another. This seems to have a long tradition in the history of mankind and no “culture” seems to be aware of that. Consequences of such misuse can be e.g. oppression, slavery or war.

P.S. Maybe with a deeper regard to the history of mankind both ideas of culture I mentioned above are similar or at least the same.

Nina

2019-06-18 23:16:26 UTC

Before now, I had heard of slavery as a part of a history lesson or the subject was elaborated or brought to mind in books or films. So I thought I knew and had understood the cruelty of this dark part of human history. But after the visit of the museum, I was moved by so many more things I never thought about before. Being able to touch the slave's chains for example was a strong experience. The tree of forgetting was very emotional too. Even more important for me was another focus: the way of living in the present, focusing on the future instead of grieving and looking back and getting stuck in the past. In other words: the past is very important and must not be denied or forgotten but accepted and valued, we must try and live in the present, but the only way to move on is the way towards the future - a preferably optimistic and curious look to what is coming next, filled with our experiences - whether positive or negative. The museum's architecture underlines this in a very interesting way: the metal roof symbolises roots searching for a stable ground (the importance of understanding and valueing history) and growing further from that ground (living on, gaining more insights etc). The creole culture fascinates me a lot: it embraced all the different cultures and nations and created something new - a new and incredibly rich culture full of elements taken from all over the world. The creole language, the music, the food, the dresses to name just a few of these elements. I assume that this culture and the strong feeling of belonging together and finding a sentimental "home" even very far from home made the black people strong enough to survive and to develop a caring and warm way of living. This new culture emerged and has marked a new beginning and is still in the process of changing, just as people keep changing during their lifetime. It is therefore important to understand that culture is not a fix and stable concept but fluid and flexible. I didn't know that the etymological root of the word 'culture' is Latin and means 'to care'. Last but not least: Caring for your own and someone else's culture is the basement for understanding oneself and each other - and living together.

Francisco

2019-06-19 00:39:07 UTC

Today I have had the opportunity to learn more about the slavery in this beautiful island. By visiting the museum I could experience some of the suffering of the slaves.
Apart from that, during the lunch I have been able to get to know Michellle better. He told me something about his family and he even showed us some pictures.
And during the market tour I was able to speak in French to several women. It was great and I bought some souvenirs for my family.