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© Caribbean Amerindian Centrelink, 2002 |
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© Caribbean Amerindian Centrelink, 2002 |
INTERVIEW with Roger Belix, on Partners for First Peoples Development in Trinidad and Tobago.
(1) INTERVIEW WITH ROGER BELIX
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This
month's interview:
Roger Belix of Partners for First Peoples Development in Arima, Trinidad and Tobago. Interviewer: Maximilian Forte. |
On my return to Trinidad in December 2001 I learned that a new organization had been formed centred on fostering and promoting Amerindian heritage for a national audience. This organization is called Partners for First Peoples Development and its head is Roger Belix, a business owner based in Arima. I interpreted this development as a sign that wider interest in Amerindian heritage was developing in Trinidad, with several actors and institutions engaged in its promotion, a fact that may tend to lend the endeavour as a whole greater legitimacy given the increased range of interested parties.
At a two-day workshop in Port of Spain in February of 2002, organized by the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Roger Belix presented and distributed a formal proposal titled “The Wallerfield Project”, elements of which I quote here. The Wallerfield Project is a plan that is centred on an existing state farm south of Arima, and Partners for First Peoples Development hopes to combine that with current community development in and around San Rafael, the site of the famous 1699 Amerindian mission uprising, as well as plans for a wildlife reserve. According to the wording of the plan, the project is, “driven by the commitment to preserve, educate about and thereby increase public appreciation of the natural and cultural heritage of our Amerindian past”. This plan includes the development of six component parts: (1) an ecological reserve; (2) agro-forestry and wildlife farming; (3) traditional farming including Amerindian food preparation; (4) a visitor centre, that is, a cultural and leisure complex; (5) the development of an “Amerindian Trail” linking various archaeological and other sites of historical importance; and, (6) a skills and training centre. The main thrust of the plan is the development of eco-tourism, community development, and the production of indigenous foods for the local market. To say the least, it is very ambitious. On the other hand, it is not unlike the plans of the Santa Rosa Carib Community for the development of the land which they have recently been granted from the government (see the next item).
Partners for First Peoples Development describes its aims, overall, as seeking, “to restore our First Peoples to their rightful place in our history and culture and to create a favourable environment within which modern-day descendants of these First People can regain pride in their ancestry and take their place as full and equal members of our society”. To date, the organization has included an historian, an archaeologist, and businessmen and other enthusiasts.
A few necessary notes about the interview process are in order here. First, unlike recent interviews in this newsletter, this one was conducted face-to-face and not by e-mail. However, not to put Mr. Belix at any disadvantage compared to other interviewees, we spent an afternoon planning sections and topics for the interview. I was not interested in capturing “on the spot” responses that Mr. Belix might later wish to have reworded, especially as this interview would become public. In addition, the interview was conducted within his establishment, with all the unsurprising interruptions from phone calls and people entering the office, and therefore there were several starts and stops. This inevitably affected the train of discussion and it might seem a little disjointed in parts. To make matters worse, I had a few mishaps with my equipment: cheap batteries that kept running out quickly, forgetting to press the record button, forgetting to turn the microphone on, etc., and thus some parts were lost altogether and I have had to reconstruct these from notes and from memory. In addition, we were both very rather tired. In fact, you can visually gauge this fact by the lengthy comments at the beginning, petering out into thinner and shorter comments towards the end. Actually, as planned as it was, it was one of the more roughly conducted interviews that I have done in a long time, though my usual inability to coordinate equipment checks and discussion seems to persist. I must thank Roger Belix with his patience and his generosity in accepting to be interviewed for this publication.
I hope that, shortcomings aside, readers interested in “the Trinidad scene” might find this a useful document. I present Roger Belix's comments not because I necessarily agree with what he has to say, but simply because he is one local actor, with a voice, who has been prominent and active at different times, and has a perspective which might be important to note for the record. This is especially true for those with an interest in the ways in which indigenous identification is being fostered and redefined in the Trinidadian case.
The interview took place on Saturday
16 November 2002, in Arima, Trinidad. Max Forte, the interviewer, is marked
as "MF" below, and Roger Belix is "RB."
MF: Before we start talking about
Partners for First Peoples' Development, I want to try and introduce you
to the readers. Let me start by asking what are your interests in this
whole endeavour concerning the Amerindian heritage of Trinidad. What motivates
you? What is your vision?
RB:
OK. Presently my vision, is to re-create and refocus the appreciation of
the values of the indigenous peoples-- how they lived , where they lived--in
terms of the historical, archaeological, and the way of life in which they
would have existed in each environment, and to recreate that so that people
in today's world will have an appreciation of where they live. This instead
of an assumption that what we have here is a Mother Africa or a Mother
India and that we should make it like that. This could never be a Mother
Africa or a Mother India. Thousands of years cannot be eroded by 500 years
in terms of world time. Nowhere in the world does 500 years dominate over
thousands of years. That is, unless we wish to make it so. I want to refocus
people's concepts, people's attitudes. Right now a lot of people are losing
sense of where we came from, who we are, what are our family values, their
heritage. For example, some girls came in from Sangre Grande and they said:
"we want to promote our culture," and I said, "OK, let me hear what's our
culture." And this one girl said: "you know like East Indian dance," and
I said, "no, that is not my culture." And another said, "you know like
how Africans beat their drum," and I said, "no, that's not my culture,
that is African culture. The culture of this land is none of the above.
You are all looking at somebody who may have indigenous blood and talking
about his culture. That's not my culture." So we need to understand that
Sangre Grande, that name, where it got its name, and who existed there
for it to get it's name. Big Blood. And they are coming to sell me their
culture. the culture of that area well, of course, the name
isn't indigenous, but it came from the slaughter of the indigenous people
going out to saint Joseph. So when you say your culture and you say African
or Indian, that is not the culture of the environment in which you were
born. It's the environment in which you are born that is your culture.
So even though I inherit an imported heritage of somebody else, it is not
my culture. It was forced upon us.
MF: So how did they react to that?
RB: Well no one focused them down that road. Actually they were meeting somebody who was changing their whole concept....So they wanted to come back with more people to hear what I have to say. In fact they came for fifteen minutes and ended up staying for about an hour and a half! They wanted to see pictures and they were all anxious to know what sort of lifestyle existed. A lot of research has to be done, and I'm not going to be the one to say it was so. So it gave me the urge to know more, like with that Hyarima statue that we brought here, I wanted to know why people keep saying that Arima is Carib, and in the history books it says they are Caribs. That is a misconception, it is like saying, "Coolie." That's not a race. That's a person who labelled someone in order to identify a separation. So we now need to go back and correct that, as we go into the future.
MF: Well let me ask this: it's something that strikes me...it's a question that keeps coming back to mind. I'm going to play devil's advocate for a few seconds, because I really enjoy playing that role. To put it bluntly, why should any Trinidadian care about Amerindian heritage? With all the modern social, economic, and political problems--and aspirations--engaging Trinidadians on a daily basis, then how is Amerindian heritage of any relevance? I mean even if one acknowledges that there is an Amerindian heritage in Trinidad, someone could say: "So what? What's the big deal? What good does that do?"
RB: How do we promote an environment without first understanding the past, understanding eco-tourism, understanding cultural beliefs. In today's world when we are saying that we are going into the 21st century...or as the Prime Minister [Patrick Manning] says that by 2020 we want to be a "First World country"...that "developed nation status". But we have cultural conflicts, we have disasters that we don't even want to understand because we come from a different mindset. The East Indians who came here, accustomed to living on the plains, where they don't know about building houses on stilts, so that when the floods come you live right above that flood line, like how they do within the swamplands of the Americas. OK? So they could learn something from that. But we are so stupid, we build all of our houses flat on the ground, because we don't want to understand how they existed in this environment. We don't want to understand the time or the season that we should be eating certain types of food, to create a certain type of environment in your body to sustain you for the rest of the year. We have been focused on fast foods. Is it healthy? So you can tell me we have gone into the modern age, but we have moved ten times backward. It's affecting our health. In today's world we want to understand the medicines that these [indigenous] peoples used because when the Europeans came here disease was not an issue. It became an issue when the Europeans came. And then we come down to the politics. Today we have 18-18 [Belix is referring to a year long deadlock in Parliament which added serious strains on the political system, but which had in fact been resolved by the time of this interview, with the electoral victory of the People's National Movement], we can't go forward; we had 33-3, there was a disaster; we had religious chaos, that nobody could understand; and nobody is going back to understand the one spirituality from the North Pole to the South Pole, these people had a spirituality, but they suffered no religious wars. It is only in Europe where that existed, it didn't exist here.
MF: I guess some people might ask, I'm not too sure how to put this, they might say: "OK, Roger, what do you want us to do? You want us to wear loin cloths, living in little huts again..."
RB: Nakedness was not a sin eh [laughing]. But we are going back to it! We have gone back to nakedness you know. You're laughing!
MF: OK, I guess the way some people "dress", you could say that, sure.
RB: They are going back to understanding nakedness, not as a sin but as an appreciation for the person, and not the clothes or the cloth. Wearing a loin cloth does not mean that we are pushing you back to that--we are changing your mindset, so as we are going into the future, if somebody has to see somebody they are seeing them for the value, and not how they dress or how they carry themselves. So you're looking at the person, you're studying the person's values. And when a word was given it was honoured. The Europeans had a lot of treaties, a lot of documents. Who broke them? Not the natives. We have to go back when a shake of a hand was just as good as signing a document that we consider legal today. Are we going to go for that value, or are we going to go for the world where you sign a lot of documents and it all means nothing. So that is the mindset that I am trying to set here.
MF: Do you think--from what you have been able to gauge personally, from your experiences living here in Trinidad--is there what you could call a wide public interest in discussion centred on Trinidad's Amerindian heritage?
RB: I think it is centred more on the whole aspect of aboriginal peoples in the Americas as well as in the islands.
MF: Do you think there is a wide interest in the society as a whole?
RB: Some people are so anxious, as they keep seeing Venezuela, the mainland, because that is the easiest point that we can point at, and they are linking the indigenous peoples with Trinidad, and how Trinidad was an important meeting point. When the Canadian First Nations came down here, you saw that public interest, but it just was not exposed enough. There was not enough time for people to appreciate the event.
MF: Who do you think are the kinds of people or institutions that have shown the greatest interest?
RB: I would say that it was even, across the board. You saw it from the Chinese people, even the Chinese ambassador and so on, when the native peoples came from Canada, they were anxious to give presents to the Carib Community, they were anxious to see something being fostered. Then you saw it from, well I hate to use the word, "African" people, anxious to come and hear about it. And you see it in some instances from day to day, especially when I make comments to the media, you find people tend to want to know more, refocusing their concept of Africa and India to "how can we now be a part of this? How can we adopt this?" As I tell people, Chuck Norris adopted the native spirituality, and if it was up to him he would have taken a native name, and he said it publicly. So if you have somebody who is, say, of "European blood", willing to accept where he lives and its indigenous lifestyle and spirituality, then we all, regardless of where our ancestors came from, must adopt that same thing because if I go to Rome they say "do as the Romans do". If I go to your house then I will respect how you live within your household. I cannot go with my old attitude, because then what I would be doing is degrading your home.
MF: What I am really interested in is if you have noticed that there are particular groups, meaning like school groups, the media, government and so on...
RB: Oh, you mean the institutions that exist? Oh yes!
MF: Which ones stand out as being the most interested parties?
RB: Well, we got a lot of interest when we went to the different Ministries, especially [the Ministry of] Education. They said that they would like us to present to them a package that we could now fit into the education system. If you noticed, through Culture and Tourism, when we formed the community group Gayap, through the Best Village programme, you would realize that they used the name, they used some of our concepts. They never had before a Smoke Ceremony on the launch of a Best Village programme. Whose idea was that, and why did they use the word Gayap? Now they didn't tell us directly that they were using it, they said make a presentation, but then they went off like it was community development through Best Village. But we knew that it was our concept. The Ministry of Agriculture: today, the YAPA programme, we can boast that Minister Rahael met with us, we have the dates--
MF: What programme is that?
RB: That is the Youth Education Agricultural Programme, or something to that effect. We said we wanted to train them in how the indigenous people would have focused on agriculture, and appreciating it as a value. Now agriculture at that time was not a value in terms of sale, it was a value for sustainable life. They took the programme, so Agriculture showed interest. Right now Education cannot kick off, but we saw that in the Prime Minister's Budget, they are now going to do craft training. The churches are doing a lot of research about Arima, the name Arima which they now realize doesn't mean "water" but is the name of a tree or vine--
MF: Well anyway, let's not get into that, there's a lot of confusion around that.
RB: Yeah but when we went to Guyana they said that the Arima tree is a big vine.
MF: The "Arima tree"?
RB: Yes, Arima, in Guyana they showed us the plant. So we cannot say that it exits in Guyana but the name does not exist here. In fact, there are those vines here. And then "poona" means water, so we cannot say that Arima means "plenty water". You can relate "poona" to water, if you listen to how the frogs, those toads, go off near water, they make a sound like "poona", so the indigenous peoples would have related water to the sound of the frog. Tunapuna [a town in north central Trinidad] means "way to the water".
MF: In which language does "Arima" mean vine then?
RB: You mean in what language? I believe it is the Arawak language.
MF: In terms of promoting the knowledge or visibility of Amerindian heritage, what do you think are the biggest obstacles to doing that?
RB: Biggest obstacles to date? Changing the perception that--I want to make sure I don't step too much into the racial thing of people trying to propagate their nationality--their nationality is superior, like when the Europeans came. Today, when this group is in government, all they are concerned about is their ethnic group. But throwing in little arrows and spears, you are seeing people saying, "look we truly don't own anything here you know." They [non-Amerindians?] are trying to now say "let's align with them [Amerindians?]," so what I do is say that in Africa they did live naked like the aborigines, they did live in jungles, they did the cassava, so just because of the ethnic thing you should not separate, you should adopt what you had there, but now into this environment. Just like we had the Buffalo Soldiers who adopted the Native American lifestyle, it's the same concept here.
MF: So are you talking seriously then about people adopting that kind of lifestyle as part of their everyday life?
RB: Or an appreciation for it. The politics of the day needs to focus back on the native concept of governance. I don't care what they say, it's not working today. Party politics, racial politics, they have to drop it and come up with a collective group, which you could call the power of chiefs, whereby everyone who is selected is a chief, and out of the chiefs you have a council of chiefs who will have a Grand Chief. When decisions are made, he carries out the policies. He must then give power to the chiefs within each of their constituencies, or within their region, to carry out their policy. In party politics you have to carry out the policies of the party. The chief doesn't report back to the people....So we have to adopt that and understand how they carried out their policy, that will now eliminate race. The Grand Chief, our Prime Minister, the Carib Chief of our country, needs to now empower his other chiefs to develop each constituency.
MF: Well the strange thing about what you are saying is that it assumes that people would have to be socialised into some kind of "Amerindian culture". Now where is that Amerindian culture to be found in Trinidad?
RB: We all have to become Amerindian. In our mindsets.
MF: OK, so how do you do that?
RB: Well, it will take a hundred years as I say, but, gradually our focus must be on appreciation of environment. If we depreciate the environment we have nothing to focus on. If we appreciate the environment and start from that, and each person within their area takes responsibility...and selects someone to carry out their policy and reports back to the Grand Chief, it will grow from there, because he, each councillor, is developing and preserving his constituency. Everybody must be sitting down, regardless of race or political affiliations. I think that political affiliation needs to be dissolved. We cannot depend on a party. We must be a tribal people. When you live in that area, you are one tribe, you are not affiliated to any party, because whatever affects you...you cannot have something that is good for one half of the community, and bad for the other half, it must be equal. We are all part of this tribal family here. We are in this village, this Amerindian village. So if this chief doesn't get with our policy we elect a new chief.
MF: But since "Amerindian" itself has an ethnic connotation, how do you expect people who are socialised into certain ethnic identities in this country to suddenly drop that?
RB: It would not be suddenly dropped.
MF: OK, even gradually then.
RB: We'll have to do it in modules, we'll have to change the concepts gradually. To try and change overnight, it would not be accepted. You take it in strides, you do it first with the environment, then you do it with the educational system, then you do it with the social sector, with the family values, then you will see people appreciating that. It took 500 years to destroy it; it will take 500 years to recreate it. It cannot be an overnight thing.
MF: When the Prime Minister--and of course, he's not the only one to have said this, that's the key thing to remember, he's not alone in saying this--when he says it is a national goal for Trinidad to become a developed, "First World" country by 2020. He said that. Previous governments have said that. Would you say that's the aspiration of a majority of people in this country?
RB: To see this place developed?
MF: Yes, to basically see Trinidad become a small United States.
RB: Our mindset is not ready for that, not even in twenty years. Some of us are confused of who we are. Some people say: "I'm a Trinidadian!". Next minute, "I'm a West Indian!" Next minute: "I'm a Caribbean person."--
MF: Regardless of what they may call themselves--
RB: No, no. How can we move forward and we are not even focused on who we are? So in twenty years we will still be fighting: "Am I a Trinidadian? No, I'm an African! No I'm an Indian! No, I am a West Indian."
MF: I see your point, but in terms of their chosen lifestyle, regardless of what they call themselves--
RB: How could you? When you reach a certain status here, like now, you will be kidnapped! [RB refers to the increase in kidnappings of businessmen across Trinidad] You see that lifestyle you are living? It does not fit within our environment. You will be attacked from all sides. Therefore, you cannot live comfortably, so you are not in a First World country, because in a First World country you can walk free, you can walk without fear. But if I have to drive in a bullet proof car, then I'm saying: what's First World in that? That's not First World, that is backwardness. We have to live in battle zones with armoured tanks, that's not a First World country.
MF: For the most part, what do you think Trinidadians are aiming at? In terms of lifestyle.
RB: They can go anywhere and do anything that they wish to. They can become a doctor, they can do anything within the system. That is a First World country. But with the Amerindian people there was no poor and there was no rich. The chief went through the system. They all ate and slept in the village. Sure there was envy, you cannot help that. But everyone got a meal at the end of the day. That is First World. When I have to fight a battle I have to buy them to come and fight the battle. But if you say we are going to fight a battle, people are looking at the issues that you are going to fight the battle with. That is a First World country. Right now the Americans are fighting an issue, and they are looking for support. I don't consider that to be First World. It's not an equal movement.
MF: What is that you are talking about now? I'm sorry, you've lost me.
RB: Like they are trying to get the consensus of all the peoples to attack a particular country [Iraq, I presume]. It's not equal, it's only because they are in power that they could push that. But if you take a census, it's going to be split down the middle. That's not a First World country. A First World country is that everybody understands the issue and we unite--nobody is going to fight this battle. Some people don't know why they are going to fight this battle....One mindset is that First World is, "I am rich and I can afford to buy whatever I want". That is one mindset. Another is, no starvation, I can study to make myself something within a system, without pressure of funding, and so on.
MF: Let me ask you--
RB: That's what my thought pattern is on First World. I don't know what the Prime Minister's thought on First World is. To me the Amerindian way of life was First World. Independence was then; we are not independent now. We still have people who walk into Parliament with wigs on their heads and a mace....We are depending on someone to tell us how to run our country.
MF: Let's move on. There's a question that you and I have talked about a dozen times easily. In fact, it's something that has recurred in previous issues of this newsletter, people have debated about this online, and in various e-mail discussion lists--it's a question about labels. That is, the way people invoke or announce their particular identity. Here in Trinidad, we are routinely faced with a choice between Carib, Arawak, Amerindian, indigenous, aboriginal, and First Nations...
RB: Yes, or First Peoples....
MF: OK. That is a whole menu of choices. Amongst those, perhaps including some that I haven't mentioned, do you have any particular preference? And why?
RB: At the beginning I started with the concept of "Amerindian". People could relate to it more easily. It was something that had been embellished within the concept of West Indian. As I mature more, I realise that I was propagating something that was forced upon a people, to say, "this is what you are". Doing my own research, and from my own personal belief, I don't propagate anything that was forced upon a people--meaning Indian, Amerindian, whatever, even First Peoples. We are all First Peoples of the world. If you say First Peoples of a region, then we can identify that as the native people. That is where I will focus more, on the native peoples of this land. It's easier if we are talking about First Peoples that people will understand we are talking about here; but if I go to Africa, I am talking about Africans.
MF: Do you ever get questions from Trinidadians when you say "First Peoples", asking you "what do you mean by that?"
RB: No.
MF: Oh so they understand readily?
RB: As soon as they look at me, and I realise that they judge me physically, they understand what I am talking about. If they do not see me, talking on the phone or whatever, then they question.
MF: You've never even been asked that question by children, for example?
RB: No. Actually, when I went to the Brazil High School, I went to Malabar, I went to Valencia, Sangre Grande, they were anxious to find out more.
MF: But what do they ask about "First Peoples"?
RB: What they want to know is the different tribes. We say there were no Caribs or Arawaks. Arawak was basically the language, and Carib came out of the word "cannibalism," which we should not accept. If before the Europeans came, Carib did not exist, like Garifuna, Taino, or like Hyarima was a Nepuyo chief, then why should we propagate something that somebody else labelled you with, against what was factual? We cannot say we are educating, and teach you fiction or lies against facts. This group was not a Carib group, was not cannibalistic, but yet you are saying they are Caribs. Then we are spreading propaganda and lies and fooling ourselves and fooling people. It's like saying that Cashew tree is not a Cashew tree, it's a Plum Rose tree. Students want to go do their own research, and see if what I say is a lie. This is what is pushing me more and more. The interest of people is there. If I wasn't seeing that interest, probably I might have pulled back. But I see it everyday. People tell me, "I have to come and see you, talk to you, look here's my call card...". Why didn't they keep the first language alive? If it was alive we would have known more, and we wouldn't have to go back and do research. You know, if they found a dinosaur here, a skeleton, it would have been a national treasure. We would have wanted to know how it looked, how it sounded, what it ate, we would even have started making "dinosaur sandwiches." You know why? The reason why is we want to keep it alive, we want to use it as a marketing tool. So why don't we use the native people's burial sites as an attraction to make people feel proud, even if you don't touch it? You could come and get the vibes, but don't take down anything. But we care more about a dinosaur, isn't that an insult?
MF: Let's discuss Partners for First Peoples Development...
RB: The whole concept of Partners is to propagate and promote the way of life, the environment, the preservation of the archaeological and historical sites, to let people appreciate how that could impact on their life, be it business--because we can see business being generated, the furniture, the art, the food, restaurants, we don't need to buy Chinese food, you can buy Amerindian food. Have you seen an Amerindian restaurant yet? Have we seen art form inspired by Amerindian art on sale? We could propagate the wear, to appreciate how they existed, it doesn't have to be a loin cloth, it could be a jersey, a bed sheet, a basket, whatever. The medicines can be put into productive use.
MF: Who is Partners? Who are the constituent groups or people that are the "partners"?
RB: You want the breakdown? It is far and wide. Presently I am the head of Partners. My Vice-President is Pat Elie. We have a secretary, we have trustees, we have a treasurer, we have consultants, and we have community groups. The numbers are growing every day. We also need to find ways to allow more people who are interested in the organisation to join. But until we can identify a solid base, in terms of a physical structure, where we can operate and have everybody come in, and make their inputs, then only then could we really have a membership registered on a larger scale. If this physical structure were put in place tomorrow, I can guarantee 5,000 registered members, if not 20,000, that is working participants in this organisation.
MF: I have heard of Partners for First Peoples Development and then I also heard of Gayap. Is there a difference between the two?
RB: Yes. Gayap is a community-based group that we formed to develop the Arena-San Rafael-Brazil-Cumuto-Talaparo-Tamana areas, around the national forest, which is the Arena nature park. That group will be responsible for developing and managing a project using an Amerindian concept to develop products that will come out of the forest.
MF: Who is the head of Gayap?
RB: Sandra Goveia. It's a community group with an executive of about seven, and then they have a youth arm, and the wider community.
MF: When did it start?
RB: Gayap? Gayap started two, it could be three, years ago. But officially it was registered two years ago as a CBO, or a community-based organisation.
MF: And Partners? About the same time?
RB: Partners is an NGO with a national perspective, even regional. There is interest from the outside, the Guyanas, where they had me speak on behalf of COIP [Caribbean Organization of Indigenous Peoples, now based in Guyana, though largely dormant], and I had to say: "I am coming to sell something to COIP. I am not COIP." They said, "well your vision is consonant with that of COIP, so what we will do is put you as the Secretariat to carry out the policies of COIP." But COIP needs to take that decision.
MF: Where does Partners get its funding from?
RB: Partners funding comes out of the people's energy. We have no funding.
MF: None whatsoever?
RB: Zero. All the projects we have worked on happened with zero funding. The concept sells itself. Hyarima [the monument] was work done with zero funding.
MF: How is that, when it has all those corporate sponsors?
RB: After, they sponsored the idea.
MF: Ok, good [laughing], because it's not that it had "no sponsorship."
RB: Eventually yes. What I am trying to show you is an idea, with no funding, that got funding from corporate people to see it physically put in place. In order for me to sell something further, I must have a physical something. I have identified a physical base, and soon as people can relate to that as the right thing, it would work. We need computers, raw materials, land space to grow this or that, personnel.
MF: And where do you hope to get that support?
RB: Locally, and externally.
MF: Local sources: like which ones?
RB: Hopefully people who are interested in the project, and want to be a part of it. Right now we have Gayap as a good example. People who don't have indigenous blood, even wearing the clothes, and trying to talk the talk of indigenous culture. And so I know that I am hitting the nail on the head, and with no funding.
MF: To date, where Partners for First Peoples Development is concerned, who have been your greatest sources of support.
RB: Well, definitely not government, I'm sorry to say. Basically, some business people. They are supporting us 100%. I must appreciate those corporate people. There are also certain people within the society who didn't want to label themselves as part of certain groupings, and because we called our group Partners for First Peoples, they can now associate themselves as Partners or as First Peoples.
MF: Do they also have a corporate self-interest? Aren't they getting involved because they can see a potential for a return?
RB: To be honest, I am not sure. Some of them operate on lands that they think are indigenous. They realise like the Natives of North America are reclaiming certain sites, under their national rights, and if these people are on historical sites, and they are not aligned with a particular tribal grouping, they can--I don't want to use the word "lose"--but they may not have control in the future earnings of that property. If that person doesn't protect it, when it has historical and archaeological interest, then we are forced to move in and protect it. Even though the bones and artifacts have been moved, the site, knowing it's there, give us the right to protect it. But I can't answer for these people what are their aims, their whole objective.
MF: What have you achieved thus far and what do you hope to achieve? Just a simple point by point list.
RB: Well we are two years behind, really, in accomplishing our two year plan. That was to make sure that the Partners headquarters was in place, and to have the Information Centre, and the model of the Amerindian Village in place. We have had the accomplishment of the lands, to put down the information centre.
MF: So you have secured those lands then?
RB: Yes. And the village.
MF: You mean formally, with all the deeds, and so on?
RB: Yes.
MF: Were those granted by the state or purchased?
RB: No, it was given through a sort of contract to make sure it stays as is, that's why I am saying there are certain people who are helping, but I cannot reveal them now. There are other lands that we are focusing on right now. I spoke about Arena. Then there is Paria. Madamas, Matelot, Guayaguayare, and I'm not too sure about Mayaro and where it's placed in Mayaro. With the introduction of COIP, and even though COIP right now has no motivation to move forward, because their vision is limited, because of their internal problems in how they operate, and because they have no fixed structure, I intend to "twin", that is, adopt a village, a community or group within the interior of South America, or within North America, or Central America, or the islands. We could probably twin them, I am just throwing this out, twin them with Tunapuna. We could have people from here, maybe not of aboriginal ancestry, go there, say to Dominica, and then come back and tell people what they do [in Dominica] and so on. Then we start to network throughout all of the Americas, and I consider the islands part of the Americas. I want to change the concept of "West Indian". I am getting more and more annoyed when I hear "West Indies Cricket" and they are in Europe, and they are linking us with the Americas, but we are not at the west of the Americas, we are east of the Americas.
MF: So what would you say instead?
RB: Well if a Film Festival is now taking place, the Kairi Film Festival, I will say the Kairi islands. We say Hawaiian islands, we say Philippine islands, so why should we go with "west"? If we want to change Carib, then we cannot say Caribbean, we will have to say Taino islands or a Taino country, which was the majority of the native people in the islands. That's what I am trying to change--some people will say "well it cannot change so easily"--
MF: Yes, and they're right.
RB: Well Cassius Clay went from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali--
MF: Yeah, well that's one person, that's not millions.
RB: Millions can change their mind. Look at how the Colonel's Fried Chicken went to KFC. It can change. If you don't think you are an Indian, then reject "West Indies". I tell the Prime Minister he is an Indian Prime Minister, and he says no, and I said you are a West Indian. And now you are Carib too, because you are a Caribbean man, you are a Carib, you ate people. And then he will say no, then I will say, do we accept that or do we eliminate it?
MF: When you play with and change names, Roger, what have you really changed?
RB: A mindset--
MF: Oh really?
RB: A concept. A change of attitude, of what somebody propagated, to facts. You cannot teach lies. Like I said, you cannot change a Cashew tree into a Plum Rose tree.
MF: Well, actually, now that I think of it, that is typical thing in Trinidad, to invent names or apply names in a strange ways. Like what in Trinidad is called a "plum", is by no means what a North American or European would consider to be a plum. Or when they talk about "sea grapes", or "cherries". All of these things do not even remotely resemble those things that they are named after. Plums are large and sweet and these things here are small and sour, actually closer to being olives if anything.
RB: OK, and who labelled it?
MF: I'd like to know that, tell me.
RB: Well not the native people.
MF: I doubt it was Europeans either: I don't see a European calling something small, green and sour, a "plum". Anyway, it doesn't matter.
RB: As I said, we have to study these things because 500 years is just the other day, in world time. It is not thousands of years.
MF: Well, 500 years is indeed a very long time--
RB: Yes, in terms of human life spans, but not in world time.
MF: Alright.
RB: And in terms of cultural practices, they say it takes close to a thousand years for it to become factual. So 500 years is just half of that.
MF: I read through your Wallerfield Project Proposal. One of the things that struck me, forgive me for grinding this axe, but nowhere in the proposal when you speak of future plans, activities, what you hope to develop, expand, nowhere is use of the Internet mentioned. It's interesting because a lot of indigenous groups--not all of them obviously, and certainly not the ones in poorer countries, although even that is not entirely true these days--a lot of them have been using the Internet, it seems quite successfully in terms of promoting different perspectives, providing answers, and so forth.
RB: Yes, they have now reached "First World status."
MF: And they are not relying all that much on others. I noticed you speak in the proposal of starting a publication series. Whenever you deal with print, that will cost a lot of money, printing, distributing, marketing, and so on. So how come that Internet aspect is nowhere in the proposal?
RB: As yet. Until the physical infrastructure is in place.
MF: But you mention other things there that will depend on physical infrastructure too, but you don't mention the Internet.
RB: I was going to put that down...until we do a proper, a proper hardening of the gel, and then say we have a Secretariat, and we can now put in the Internet. If we don't have physical personnel to respond to it on a day to day basis, is like building a boat and having nobody to row it. In that concept, I want to use true indigenous peoples to operate it. They are the ones that have to respond from their indigenous mindset, and not from a "freshwater" mindset--
MF: These "true indigenous peoples", would they be Trinidadians?
RB: I will say we are defeating the whole purpose of empowering the indigenous peoples in the region. And the other groups that will support us will benefit.
MF: So, these "true indigenous peoples", would they be Trinidadians or from abroad?
RB: Well if it is that we are expanding our things through the region, then it will have to be COIP.
MF: So you are talking about a COIP website.
RB: That's right, it will have to come through them, because we are just the secretariat. But the whole umbrella body for the region will now be COIP.
MF: So Partners will never have its own website for itself.
RB: Eventually, you see, but I don't want to propagate that at this point.
MF: So it's not a part of the plan at this point in time.
RB: Well, not having funding, or a physical structure, I don't want to lose focus, and Partners does not have a physical place to operate, it will be difficult to respond at this point in time. It will be difficult for us to focus, to respond, and funding to have a permanent site will be an issue at the beginning. It's better that we have a working project in terms of a physical place, where people can come physically and appreciate, than to just go on a website, understand what people are doing, but they have nowhere to visit. They [Internet users] then have nothing physical to respond to. [Another of a stream of interruptions, and I remark, "thank god this is not live."] It's like saying, I want to come visit your home, and you don't have a home.
MF: On another point in your proposal, you mention tours of archaeological and historical sites. There is a constant emphasis on the distant past, on things, that is, artifacts, not on people, and certainly not living ones. Are you not then giving the impression that this culture is simply dead?
RB: They are dead in that area. But they exist worldwide. They exist in other regions. We must understand that when the invasion took place, a lot of people who lived in these areas left and went back to the mainland. So it's not to say that the culture is dead, it's just replaced, or displaced. Like someone going into exile. So we have to recreate their presence back on that which were their ancestors' lands, and for those who exist here to appreciate. Unlike this song on the radio [he refers to a very popular song by calypsonian, David Rudder, on the unity of Africans and East Indians in Trinidad], that is propagating, "where the river flows, the Ganges meets the Nile...on this naked isle."
MF: Let me ask one of my final questions. It's a small one, but one that keeps coming back to me. Let me summarise it. There are more people than ever now challenging the notion that Tainos ever went extinct in places such as Hispaniola or Puerto Rico and Cuba. Some people might assume that Caribs went extinct in Trinidad, and there's a good counter argument against that as well. But I noticed that whenever we speak of Amerindian heritage in this country, it is always with reference to Trinidad, and never with reference to Tobago. I get the impression, let's say, that since we almost exclusively talk about Trinidad, nobody really has a problem with the notion that Amerindian culture, and Amerindians themselves, have gone extinct in Tobago. It's a very interesting idea, because Tobago is just two steps away. So why would it survive in Trinidad and not in Tobago? Or, if the extinction thesis is "OK" for Tobago, why isn't it "OK" as well for Trinidad?
RB: Because there are still those who propagate their indigenous culture here in Trinidad. In Tobago, you don't have anyone propagating their indigenous culture. They have the artifacts and the historical sites, but in terms of physical presence here in Trinidad we have the Carib Community, and the names like Arima, Mayaro, Tunapuna, Chaguanas, Chaguaramas, Siparia, and so on, so the names keep it alive. The names keep the memory alive.
MF: So you don't really have a problem with the idea that Amerindians have gone extinct in Tobago.
RB: I don't have a problem. They are extinct. Just like certain areas in Trinidad. When they realised the European onslaught, they just went back to the mainland. The islands will always be aboriginal peoples', aboriginal history, thousands of years before Columbus. Even though people are exiled from their land, it is still their land.
.
(2) ARIMA CARIBS WIN LANDS AFTER 30 YEARS
 |
 |
|
News from the source:
Report on Trinidad's Carib Community, presented by CAC Editor Max Forte in Arima. |
This is quite a momentous piece of news concerning the Santa Rosa Carib Community of Arima, Trinidad, that I myself am not sure how to relate the events. Those readers familiar with the Arima Caribs will recall that leaders of the Carib Community, such as President Ricardo Bharath, have been seeking a land grant since 1973, with numerous applications submitted, repeated promises, repeated delays, constant shelving of their proposals, new proposals drafted, endless meetings and letters, more promises, and seemingly no end in sight. So many of their plans and hopes for the future actually hinged on the award of some land, and now that it has come, in a form letter with blanks filled in by the scratches of a bureaucrat's plain blue ball point pen, I almost sense that they are stunned that it has finally come. I definitely was surprised, as I also expected yet another Government to do an excellent imitation of a crippled snail on sedatives.
On Saturday, 14 December, 2002 I met with President Ricardo Bharath at the Santa Rosa Carib Community Centre. He showed me two letters, one of 18 November 2002 from the Office of the Prime Minister indicating that they had received and were processing his request for state lands on the Blanchisseuse Road, as per his latest request of 08 July 2002. The second letter (the form letter I mentioned) came from the Lands and Surveys Division in early December, indicating that they were processing his request, lands were available, the next step is simply to allocate them.
Ricardo Bharath plans to import expertise from Guyana and Brazil to make indigenous structures, that is, Amerindian homes and meeting places. The plan is for a model village with residences for those members of the Carib Community who wish to go and live there. Bharath plans to move there himself and to vacate his current quarters adjacent to the Carib Centre in Arima. In that new village there will also be a residence for the Queen. They will produce and sell handicrafts, engage in wild game farming, reafforestation of the land, and cassava processing. The current and newly established Resource Centre will remain where it is. The Carib Centre, apart from the Resource Centre, will be used by the Government as a Counselling and Training centre for youths and the troubled; a soup kitchen for the poor; and, as a base for offering courses and vocational training for the many unemployed of this generally depressed area. In many ways then, this is a win-win situation, especially as the model village may one day serve as a hospitality centre that could generate further income for the greater Arima area, as well as further employment. Bharath indicated that there will be a need for a caretaker to remain behind in the quarters adjacent to the Carib Centre, which will still belong formally to the Santa Rosa Carib Community.
Bharath is still unsure of how many acres they are to be awarded. He also indicated that it will take years to develop the land to its full potential, as set out in their plans. Bharath also intends to ask Government to allocate funds in next year’s Budget to physical infrastructure and improvement of the land, such as a road, electricity, etc.
As I mentioned this development is of such import, that now that it has finally happened it is difficult to know what will happen next. So much of the Carib campaigning and lobbying has been centred on themes of land needed for survival, it was a centrepiece of many of their public pronouncements, having become almost routine. The expansion and internal reproduction of the Carib Community had become clearly dependent on being able to offer youths a viable outlet for their energies, an income, and a home to belong to. It seems that the Carib Community has finally taken a new road, and who knows what their situation will be like in another 30 years, but it certainly seems very promising for them.
Congratulations to Ricardo Bharath and all the members of the Santa Rosa Carib Community. I would encourage their many supporters abroad to send congratulatory messages to:
Ricardo Bharath Hernandez
Santa Rosa Carib Centre
7a Paul Mitchell Street
(Jonestown)
Arima, Trinidad,
Republic of Trinidad
and Tobago
West Indies
Fax: (868) 664-1897
**************************************************
Sadly, one of the elders of the
Carib Community, Julie Calderon, passed away on Wednesday, 20
November 2002, in Calvary Hill, Arima. She died at the age of 89. She
was the very last of her siblings to pass away. I found an old entry in
the Baptismal Registers when doing my field work back in 1998 through 1999,
pertaining to Julie Calderon:
Julie joins her sister Nen, brother
Alexander, along with the former PRO of the Carib Community, Elma Reyes,
and the former Queen, Justa Werges, in passing on since 2000. Julie was
one of the stalwarts of the Carib Community, ever present in preparing
cassava bread and making preparations for the Santa Rosa Festival each
year. She was an aunt to Ricardo Bharath. Julie Calderon was almost always
one of the first to be photographed by visitors and featured regularly
in publications and Websites as well.
.
(3) TRINIDAD CARIBS GOING TO INDIA
Report by Maximilian C. Forte, in Arima, Trinidad.
Both Ricardo Bharath Hernandez, president of the Santa Rosa Carib Community, and Cristo Adonis will be attending an upcoming conference in Mumbai, India. Also in attendance will be Australian Aborigines and the representative for the indigenous peoples of St. Lucia, Dr. Albert de Terville.
Details on this conference have been reproduced here from the official site for the event at: http://www.iccsus.org/
FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
AND GATHERING OF THE ELDERS
4th FEB TO 9th FEB 2003
Theme
MITAKUYE OYASIN
WE ARE ALL RELATED
SIOUX NATIVE AMERICAN SAYING
WORLD COUNCIL OF ELDERS OF THE ANCIENT TRADITIONS AND CULTURES
Venue: RMP International
(Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini) CAMPUS
MUMBAI, INDIA
ORGANIZED BY
INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR CULTURAL
STUDIES,
BENSALEM, PA 19020, USA
COSPONSORED BY
RAMBHAU MHALGI PRABODHINI INTERNATIONAL,
MUMBAI, INDIA
VISHWA ADHYAYAN KENDRA, MUMBAI,
INDIA
INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR CULTURAL
STUDIES, NAGPUR, INDIA
ICCS proudly announces the formation of a forum for the elders of the ancient traditions and cultures and organizing the First International Conference and Gathering of the Elders in Mumbai, India from 4th to 9th Feb 2003. World council of the elders is a non-political, non-religious, non-profit socio-cultural forum, which intends to provide a platform for the Elders of the Ancient Traditions and cultures of the world. There are over 300 members of the world council representing more than 75 different cultures of the world from over 40 different countries.
Aims and Objectives of the World Council of Elders of the Ancient Traditions:
First Conference of the Elders will be organized from 4th Feb to 9th Feb 2003 in Mumbai, India. The conference will have several programs as follows:
1. Concept and Role of Elders in
Ancient Traditions:
2. Threat to the Ancient traditions
from various sources:
3. Revival of the Ancient traditions
various experiments:
4. Spirituality-Metaphysics and
ancient traditions:
5. World Council of Elders: Role
and What next:
6. Indigenous Medicines- present
and future:
7. Introducing Ancient Traditions:
Countries represented:
Trinidad and Tobago, Australia,
Lithuania, USA, Netherlands, Denmark, UK, Morocco, Nepal, France, Canada,
South Africa, India, Malaysia, Ghana, Kenya, Belgium, Tanzania, Austria,
Guyana, St Lucia, Spain
Membership: until now 235 elders, researchers, academicians and active traditionalist have joined the world council as members. They are from 37 different countries representing 57 different Peoples (Tribes) of all the continents.
The membership includes all the major
groups of the ancient traditions and cultures including Maya, Inca, Carib,
Arawak, Hopi, Sioux and many other Native American nations. Pagan
elders and activists from England, Spain, France, Lithuania, Denmark and
other European countries. The members represent Australian Aboriginals,
Maoris, Malays, Indonesians, Thais, Buddhists of various traditions and
Hindus from India and different parts of the world.
..
(4) UPDATES ON CARIB WEBSITES
Report by Maximilian C. Forte, in Arima, Trinidad.
First, along with the revision and relaunch of the Website of the Santa Rosa Carib Community of Arima, Trinidad, a new online shop has been established for the Arima Caribs. All proceeds of sales are divided between CafePress (which runs the ordering and manufacturing), and the Carib Community which receives all profits. Here you will find posters, shirts, hats, bags, cups, mouse pads, and so forth, all featuring themes and motifs particular to the Arima Caribs.
Secondly, the Website which featured
Cristo
Adonis ' Los Niños del Mundo Parang band, has been
removed
from the Internet. The irony of that site is that it became misleading
soon after being launched, when the band was dissolved. It was maintained
for three more years for historical purposes, but, given the lack of maintenance,
updates, and persisting inadequacies in design, the site became irrelevant
and almost embarrassing. Once again, Trinidad Parang music has disappeared
from the Web, at least where band websites are concerned.
(5) TAINO CAVE DRAWINGS
Report
and Photographs by Lynne Guitar,
in the Dominican Republic.
© 2002, Lynne Guitar.
All Rights Reserved
On
Sunday October 13, 2002, I went with a small group to one of the caves
here in the Dominican Republic that I had wanted to see for a long time--Guacara
Hoyo de Sanabe above the Presa Hatillo near Cotui, which is a manmade dam
and reservoir. There is a smaller cave, also called Guacara, below the
big one, that also has Taino drawings, though not so many. We didn't get
to it because we had no boat (you can only enter the smaller cave by boat,
for it was partially flooded when the government created the reservoir)
and because we ran out of time. We also had no time to explore two other
nearby locations which are above ground with Taino drawings. I hope to
get back to Cotui soon and do so.
.
.
To get to Guacara Hoyo de Sanabe, you have to approach the north side of the reservoir via a tiny pueblo, then hike UP and down the hills for about an hour. It's a beautiful natural area of thin-soiled limestone that was once under the ocean (karst topography), with several sinkholes, indicating that are more caves in the area. You climb up and down several hills, going from well watered, green and lush valleys to desert slopes that are in the rain shadow and covered with desert plants. Goats frolic everywhere, with little "kids" bleating "maaaaaa" and following you after you pet them. Much of the hike is along high ridges with incredible views of the reservoir below.
The entrance to the Guacara is wide, located about halfway up a big, domed hill. You have to drop down about 15' into the cave, but no ropes are needed, for rock slides over the years have created natural "stairs." I could find no guardian carving at this entrance, so assume that it and the rock on which it was carved were cut away and sold to some collector--our guide confirmed that there used to be some rock carvings, but he couldn't seem to remember any specifics about them (the guide was Xenon, an old man who lives by the reservoir; he and his son guide in the 20 or so people who come here every year, mostly Germans and Americans, Xenon says). The ceiling in the cave is about 20-40' high in most places, with chimneys going up higher yet. There are a few cascade formations, stalagmites and stalactites, and one or two places with crystals, but mostly it's not what you'd call a beautiful cave. There are a few bats, but not many. The cave arcs around to the west, and there is another natural opening that appears to have been blocked by a rock slide since the Tainos used the cave, for the guardian sculptures still exist there (see photo at right) and there are not only drawings in this area, but a huge midden pile of snail shells. The "Guardian" sculptures are from the now almost totally blocked entrance at the western arc. There's one guardian complete with head, body, and one leg (his left leg may have been on a stalagmite that has since been broken off). He's about 4' tall. Above him, to the left, is the round face of a second guardian, about 6" in diameter.
Leaving the cave, we discovered a small side tunnel that obviously used to have a deep open pit (rock slides have filled it in), for the Tainos left drawings indicating that you had to climb up and down--see the photos that I labelled "Climbers."
It's in this side tunnel that I took the photo of a bizarre drawing that I have titled "Human Prey" (see photos below). At first I assumed it was a drawing of a pair of hunters with a pole carried across their shoulders upon which is trussed the animal they captured--but then I saw that the "animal" was large, with a round head, long arms, and long legs. Obviously it's not a hutia, the largest mammal on the island (about the size of a rabbit), nor a manatee (not only its shape belies a manatee, but the fact that Cotui is a long way from the ocean), and does not appear to be a goat or other Spanish-imported animal, which could have been hunted by Tainos cimarrones (those who had escaped the Spaniards by running away to peripheral, hard-to-reach areas like this). Are these Tainos who have captured a Spaniard? We can only guess. This morning, going one at a time over the photos I'd taken, I discovered a similar drawing among many others in a "mural" within the main cave, near the main entrance--I've labelled it "Human Prey2" (see below), but you can see that, while similar, it's also different, for it seems to portray two men swinging hand over hand from a tree branch, with the central figure clinging to it with hands and legs, whereas the "Human Prey" drawing from the side tunnel depicts two men walking and one trussed up. I would appreciate discussion on these two, remembering that all we can do is guess at what is really being depicted in these incredible drawings.
..
Here are some notes on the other photographs that I have included:
"Areito" is part of an isolated wall mural hidden behind a huge stalactite; it is dominated by what appears to be people dancing and taking cohoba.
"Dancer" was so graceful I just
had to take a close-up shot of it.
There are a multitude of "Baskets" drawn on the walls near the main entrance, some of them long and narrow, obviously representing the Sebucán used to extract the poisonous juice from cassabe. (The Tainos who drew the Sebucán used natural cave ridges to form their sides.)
"Big Bird" is on the ceiling.
It is approx. 6' long.
"Big Dog" is very unusual because of its size, about 5' long by 3 1/2' high, and all darkened in.
There are many depictions of the "Cohoba" ceremony here, just like in other caves I've visited.
"Corn Man" is an unusual drawing, but I have a photo of a very similar one from the Cueva Bourbon or Pomiers near San Cristobal. You may see something else in it other than corn; that's only what it reminded me of.
"Fierce Face" is kind of suspicious (did some more modern artist draw it?). I've never seen any other mask/face drawing that is so triangular. Taino faces and masks are depicted as round (the original Smiley faces!) or, in some rare instances, square, but I've never seen all these triangles before. This drawing is deep within the cave, though there are some other definitely Taino drawings on the same wall, so Tainos penetrated that far with their torches.
"Suspicious" is very suspicious. Not only is it a pattern totally unlike any others I've seen, it is drawn on with a much wider stroke and in darker carbon.
Enjoy! And I look forward to
your comments.
.
(6) TAINO TOURS
Lynne Guitar announces a new series of Taino-related educational tours in the Dominican Republic. She has put together one week, ten day, and two week tours that include visits to several of the main archaeological landmarks as well as museums and boutiques featuring Taino-inspired handicrafts.
The tour team consists of: Dr. Lynne Guitar, a Fulbright Fellow, who earned a Ph.D. in History and Anthropology from Vanderbilt University and whose fields of study are the Tainos, inter-relationships among Amerindians, Africans, and Europeans on Hispaniola in the 16th Century, and Dominican Popular Culture; Alyssa Johnson, who earned a B.S. in Environmental Science and Environmental Tourism from Western Washington University and has worked for more than six years in Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Pacific Northwest in the areas of Sustainable Tourism, Wildlife Conservation, Project Management, Documentary Video Production, and Website Development; and Severino Polanco, a native Dominican who speaks fluent Spanish, English, French, and Italian, has a Licenciatura (B.A. equivalent) in Languages and another in Tourism and Hotel Administration, as well as five years of special training and experience through Politur, the branch of the Dominican military police that specializes in keeping the country safe for tourism. In addition, we work with a variety of local experts, including professional artists, architects, ornithologists, botanists, geographers, archaeologists, etc., as needed, and, most importantly, a group of dynamic young university students and professionals from the Centro Cultural y Turístico Guanín.
http://studentservicesdr.freeservers.com/NEW! Taino Tours.htm
.
(7) NEW DIRECTIONS IN TAINO RESEARCH
An announcement of a newly published special collection, with full text articles available online in both English and Spanish, in HTML and PDF, from:
KACIKE:
The Journal of Caribbean Amerindian
History and Anthropology
December 2002
ISSN 1562-5028
http://www.kacike.org/NewDirections.html
New Directions
in Taino Research
Nuevas
direcciones en las investigaciones sobre la herencia Taína
A Bilingual Special Issue edited
by Dr. Lynne Guitar
Pedro
Ferbel & Lynne Guitar
New
Directions in the Study of Taíno Heritage:
Conference and Exhibition
Lynne
Guitar
Documenting
the Myth of Taíno Extinction
Pedro
Ferbel
Not Everyone Who Speaks Spanish is from Spain:
Taino Survival in the 21st Century Dominican Republic
Juan
Carlos Martínez Cruzado
The Use of Mitochondrial DNA to Discover Pre-Columbian
Migrations to the Caribbean: Results for Puerto Rico and
Expectations for the Dominican Republic
Fernando
Luna Calderon
Mitochondrial
DNA in the Dominican Republic
Jorge
Ulloa
Archaeology and Rescue of the Aboriginal
Presence in Cuba and the Caribbean
DIALOGUE: a follow-up editorial Discussion
This special issue is a collection of papers or proceedings from a conference held in the Dominican Republic in August of 2002, titled, "New Directions in Taino Research". The conference was organized by Dr. Lynne Guitar, who is also the editor of this special issue.
The papers themselves promise to be valuable, if not seminal, contributions to the revision of Caribbean social and cultural history in the post-Conquest era, especially with reference to what the contributors have termed the myth of Taino extinction. When so much theorizing on Caribbean culture has been premised on the dearth or absence of indigeneity, this collection holds out the possibility of a radical revisioning of theories of Caribbean cultural change and development over the past five centuries.
In her article, Lynne Guitar focuses primarily on archival sources in challenging the notion that Tainos were wiped out in the Dominican Republic soon after Conquest. The rich and provocative detail provided is only the tip of the iceberg of her research, and is conveyed in widely accessible language. Towards the end of her article, Dr. Guitar moves into the present day Dominican Republic with a consideration of modern manifestations of the Taino heritage.
Leading from that, Dr. Peter J. Ferbel expands on the contemporary Taino cultural legacy in the Dominican Republic, through an examination of popular culture, customs, food, agriculture, fishing, and various linguistic sources.
Continuing with this ground breaking research in the Taino genetic legacy in the modern Greater Antilles, Dr. Juan Carlos Martinez Cruzado presents, analyzes and expands upon his work which found that as much as 61% of Puerto Ricans today have some degree of Taino ancestry. However "technical" this paper may appear at times, it is a must read.
Fernando Luna Calderon continues this theme in his article, introducing readers to some of the background behind this genetic research, whilst also considering prospects for such research in the Dominican Republic.
Jorge Ulloa, a Cuban academic, expounds on archaeology as a means of salvaging the aboriginal history of Cuba, whilst theorizing issues of indigeneity and absence.
The final section, "Dialogue", contains editorial discussions and debates on select issues raised in some of the articles, including the importation of Caribbean aboriginal slaves into Hispaniola (with an extract from the dissertation by Lynne Guitar), the modern social context surrounding the current Taino revival, nationalism and creolization, the multi-ethnic character of the Dominican Republic, and the apparent plausibility of some theories of extinction as applied to particular locales.
We very much welcome your feedback.
.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
Readers who wish to respond to, comment, or criticise any of the items contained in this newsletter, are encouraged to send e-mail to the address below. Please indicate specifically what you are responding to and whether or not you wish to have your e-mail message appear in the next issue of the newsletter. Also, please indicate whether or not you wish your e-mail to appear with your name or as "anonymous".
Editor for
this Issue:
Maximilian
C. Forte,
Caribbean
Amerindian Centrelink
Copyright:
2002
mcforte@centrelink.org