Ethnography of the Caribbean - Essay Example

Ethnography of the Caribbean Globalization has definitely left some significant footprints on Caribbean. As the Caribbean people can access wide range of services. For an instance, Caribbean people can easily sell and purchase any thing over internet. In addition to this globalization has also provided a platform to Caribbean investors and banks to generate revenue through bonds and stocks moreover trading money from various parts of the world and thus has supported tourism in Caribbean region as many customers can easily avail the benefits of currency trade. But tourism in the Caribbean is still an agitate scenario as described by David Timothy Duval in his book Tourism in the Caribbean. Duval has enlightened the past and recent vital issues in Caribbean tourism industry. Duval Shares his example of St Vincent Island, where he came across a family. They were travelling to St Vincent Island, which was less developed as compared to other islands. When Duval asked them about there decision for choosing St Vincent Island as their holyday destination they answered that it was suggested by their travel agent as it was untouched and less expansive in comparison to other developed tourist destinations like Barbados etc. Moreover he expressed his point of view on migration of people from Windward Islands. (David Timothy Duval, 2004, 'Preface' in D T Duval (ed), Tourism in the Caribbean (London: Routledge) The migration of people and the attachment to their country of origin was concluded by Karen F Olwig in her book Caribbean Journeys: An Ethnography of Migration and Home in Three Family Networks. Karen tries to analyze the effects of migration on three different family networks of West Indian Origin. At first she describes her interview with Matthew, who was a professional musician and an acoustic engineer and owns a recording studio in Toronto. When Olwig asked about his point of view on the Caribana which is a West Indian carnival, Matthew stated that he did not have interest in the Caribana. Moreover, when the other members of family were interviewed, Olwig came to know that many of the family members did not prefer the caribana. But Olwig drew the conclusion that the everyday life of these people was characterized by their Caribbean family background and it was not considered essentially to celebrate the carnival in order to prove their identity of the ethnic society, which they belongs to and more that that they have a mixed family back ground as primary being the African and the secondary is the British s they were brought up in British culture as their family relocated in search of better opportunities. The second interviewee of Olwig was a female Susanna and was well known to her. Olwig talks about different phases of Susanna's life and describes the consequences of the migration in terms of better opportunities. Where Susanna moved to Great Britain and fro there she moved to Nevis and then she moved back to England in search of the opportunities. Olwig selects three families a Jamaican, a Dominican and a Nevisian and enlightens there family background in regards to the Caribbean and further discuses about there moves in terms of migration, the life lived by them in different places, nevertheless Olwig also discuses relationship between family members and their shared place of origin. (Olwig, K F 2007 Caribbean Journeys: An Ethnography of Migration and Home in Three Family Networks, Duke University Press) In order to understand urbanization and urban life with the relevancy of global, regional & ethnographic perspectives on city neighborhoods and networks, let us take an example of St Lucia. The Caribbean region has been rapidly urbanized since the end of World War II. Moreover the region has accomplished higher levels in regards to prosperity and economic growth immediately after world war. When the global economy boosted, while United States on top, it left compelling effect on social life in the Caribbean region. Moreover the global economy upward swing influenced the rural communities traditionally. People from rural areas got attracted towards the growing opportunities in terms of employment and high standard of living as a result of global economic expansion. The migration of the population from rural communities to the urban areas and resulted in the separation of the rural Caribbean region. From early 16th century St Lucia has been a site of major importance in history of the Caribbean as Castries has seen many cultures of different migrants, colonists, slaves as well as invaders. This can be proven by the fact that the flags of St Lucia were changed 14 times between 1605, when the English first tried to colonize the island and till when St Lucia was surrendered to Great Britain as a result of Treaty of Paris in 1814. The rural St Lucia during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is known for dominant socio cultural patterns established by the French and their slaves, where people use to have conversation in Kweyol. Kweyol is a French-oriented language similar to the languages spoken in neighboring region like Martinique, Dominica, Guadeloupe, and Haiti. (Graham, M., 1985. Caribbean Erench Creole Survey. St. Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago: Society for Caribbean Linguistics,) In the second half of the nineteenth century, English became an exclusive symbol representing the high society, public discourse and politeness, when the dominant socio cultural norms of urban Castries were characterized by British. English was introduced as the one and only language of island in the year 1834, after the abandonment of slavery in St Lucia. The association of the Afro-French, Creole culture and Kweyol was considered to be a significant variant expressing the poverty, ignorance and backwardness. The colonial officials started imposing English language and culture through education and thus trying extremely hard to get rid of Kweyol and its associated culture, in an effort to develop the concept of civilization and progress to St. Lucia. (Alleyne, Mervyn, 1961. Language and Society in St. Lucia. Caribbean Studies 1) As a result of global influence on St Lucia, the efforts made in order to elevate the status of Kweyol were not as expected. Kweyol continues to loose its identity to English, which has also taken over most of the other languages of the world. Kweyol is overwhelmed with the poverty and ignorance by the stereotypes, though it is not spoken by many people who live on St. Lucia. At the same time English being global language has one more advantage of institutional support over kweyol. And more over as an impact of increased access to the global market and opportunities, upcoming professionals has start ignoring Kweyol as they believe that everything which turns as an obstacle on their way to accomplish success should be left. Nevertheless it can be stated that in as result of exposure to globalization more or less increased communication with the people who speak English, has been considered as a high status of English relevant to the local language Kweyol among the residents, almost every age group or irrespective of urban and rural culture of St Lucia. As the young generation of St. Lucia does not have enough opportunities on their island of birth in terms of ones future, they are getting migrated towards the urban region or more developed region as it promises many opportunities. Nevertheless the young generation is getting attracted psychologically in the search of a better life as the consequences caused by highly influential United States through different methods of media. However, the major part of the St. Lucian population has understood that if they want to explore a better life with higher living standards, they have to well verse with English and have to relocate at different places which promise opportunities. St. Lucia has undergone weighty socio cultural change at the national level like most Caribbean islands and all the developing countries throughout the world. The largest city and capital, Castries and its developing urban culture and effects, including anti-Kweyol bias, have been popular throughout St Lucia. Hence we can draw a conclusion that the people who belong to the rural region of St. Lucia are moreover like urban population of St. Lucia. And due to the consequences concluded as a result of globalization youngsters are getting attracted to English and migration. ( St-Hilaire, A 2003 'Globalization, Urbanization, and Language in Caribbean Development: The Assimilation of St Lucia', New West Indian Guide) Jean Besson has also provided an profound theory in regards to Anthropology in her book Martha Brae's Two Histories: European Expansion and Caribbean Culture-Building in Jamaica. In this theory Besson has proposed three dimensional family system, which proposes the idea of unifying the bilateral kinship with cognatic descent. AS per this theory, an individual perceives female and male relatives from both of his parent generations and reveals a new alternative of Hawaiian-Eskimo kinship terminology in cross cultural study of how "kin" is bifurcated in different cultures in regards to consecutive marital men and women. Now in Jamaican Creole language this terminology enlightens the essentiality of half sibling-ship and serial polygamy in relevancy to age and gender equality. Besson has also discussed serial polygamy which means that individuals belonging to both genders may have a series of spouses. And when integrated with several marital forms, it uncovers a more elaborated and complex marriage system. (Besson, J 2002 Martha Brae's Two Histories: European Expansion and Caribbean Culture-Building in Jamaica, University of North Carolina Press) Works Cited David Timothy Duval, 2004, 'Preface' in D T Duval (ed), Tourism in the Caribbean (London: Routledge) Olwig, K F 2007 Caribbean Journeys: An Ethnography of Migration and Home in Three Family Networks, Duke University Press ALLEYNE, MERVYN, 1961. Language and Society in St. Lucia. Caribbean Studies 1 GRAHAM, M., 1985. Caribbean Erench Creole Survey. St. Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago: Society for Caribbean Linguistics, St-Hilaire, A 2003 'Globalization, Urbanization, and Language in Caribbean Development: The Assimilation of St Lucia', New West Indian Guide Besson, J 2002 Martha Brae's Two Histories: European Expansion and Caribbean Culture-Building in Jamaica, University of North Carolina Press Read More