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Caribbean integration and contemporary era
Caribbean integration and contemporary era
Impacts of african slavery on the caribbean
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There is long history of attempts at economic integration among the countries in the Caribbean region. The differences between the developed countries and under-developed countries economically and politically alter the integration dynamics of a country in the global market. Emilio Pantojas García, in his paper “Economic Integration and Caribbean Identity: Convergences and Divergences”, describes the geopolitical, economic, and cultural-historical factors that influence the fostering of a regional identity and how this shared Caribbean identity functions as an agonist and anti-agonist to the economic integration of the Caribbean. This paper is focused on analyzing the chain of arguments put forward by the author for stating that the economic …show more content…
This geopolitical view of the regions, in turn, became institutionalized with the creation of Regional Science that further constructed smaller, geographically, and historically similar places in to sub-regions. The African Diaspora created by slavery along with European settler constituted the plantation economies with analogous political and social cultures (56). An appropriate example is the Cuban santería and the Haitian voodoo (57). Although similar in historical and anthropological manner, these two religions have distinct analogous living experiences for the people and are therefore, different. People of the countries that border the Caribbean Basin marginalize in defining themselves not as Caribbean but as Andean, Central American or North American (Mexico) (62). Owing to the political and economic multitude of variables in discussing the Caribbean identity, the author rightfully quotes Gordon K. Lewis expostulating the existence of a shared Caribbean identity. Despite the absence of a shared identity, which could forge mutual trust between countries and theoretically fasten the process, there were many efforts for the economic integration in the …show more content…
The author points out that regional planning and coordination was no longer the means of integration, but rather free market competition- free from any government intervention. García is good at providing relevant and ample examples to make sure his arguments are on point and reflects a careful insight to the matter at hand. The Association of Caribbean States (ACS) in 1994 had high initial enthusiasm for regional cooperation, but it only focused on achieving modest milestones in specific areas such as transport, tourism and trade (61). Xenophobic biases against the migrant groups, seen between the Dominicans and the Haitians, and the similarity in the economic conditions of the Caribbean countries (in terms of tourism and agriculture) pose threat to any regional cooperation and integration
This week’s articles carry a couple related, if not common, themes of imagined, if not artificial, constructs of race and identity. Martha Hodes’ article, “The mercurial Nature and Abiding Power of Race: A Transnational Family Story,” offers a narrative based examination of the malleable terms on which race was defined. To accomplish this she examines the story of Eunice Connolly and her family and social life as a window into understanding the changing dimensions of race in nineteenth-century America and the Caribbean, specifically New England and Grand Cayman. While Hodes’ article examines the construction of race in the Americas, Ali A. Mazrui’s piece, “The Re-Invention of Africa: Edward Sai, V. Y. Mudimbe, and Beyond,” looks at the construction of African identity. Although different in geographic loci, the two articles similarly examine the shaping influences of race and identity and the power held in ‘the Other’ to those ends.
In order to understand the current situation of Puerto Ricans one must look at their history and retrace the sequence of events that led to the current formation of the Puerto Rican people. An important component of this history is the time Puerto Rico spent under Spanish rule. Studying this portion of Puerto Rican history forces us to acknowledge the contribution the Spaniards, European immigrants, and African slaves had on Puerto Rican identity as we consider it today. This also addresses contemporary debates on Puerto Rican identity. An example of this is evident in an essay written by Jose Luis Gonzales entitled "Puerto Rico : Th Four Storied Country". In the article Gonzales points out what he feels is a disregard toward the African contribution to the Puerto Rican identity. He argues that the first Puerto Ricans were black , based on his interpretation that Africans were the first group to come to Puerto Rico and reproduce who did not have ties to a "motherland" because they were slaves. This is unlike the Spaniard elites and Criolles that demonstrated their commitment and loyalty to Spain. Since they had no other place to go, Puerto Rico was their motherland. Gonzalez also points out that the culture of a region is always the culture of the elite, not the popular culture.
Although the natives of Borikén were Taino, it is argued that the first Puerto Ricans were black Puerto Ricans. Spanish occupation virtually eliminated Native influences by the way of the decimation of the people as a result of disease brought across the atlantic by the Spanish settlers. In this way the Taino were minimally influential in forming a new cultural identity. “The descendants of the first African slaves had already become black Puerto Ricans”(González 10) when Spaniards from the canary islands arrived to replace those who had left in search of riches in Peru and Mexico. For this reason it is feasible to accept the notion “that the Puerto Ricans were in fact black Puerto Ricans.” (González 10) The African presence was more of a factor in the formation process of the Puerto Rican identity. Of the massive numbers of slaves who survived the voyage there were those who were fortunate enough to escape into the hinterland. Here they found refuge from the hardship of plantation labor along with the opportunity to join the peasantry that also searched for refuge. The jíbaros “used the broken topography of the interior as an ally in its struggle with the expanding sugar plantations” (Scarano 6) This intermixing of the two cultures forged several similarities.
Today I bring to your forefront of thought, the island of Hispaniola. This island is the namesake for the two countries who run the land, the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Both nations hail from a joint introduction into the world market and post-European colonization, but as time progressed, each one had a different outlook to the world stage. The present day Dominican Republic and Haiti are worlds apart on an island which keeps them together. Their culture is separated by the colonial residuals that lay imbedded into their communities. They are on different sides of the spectrum of structural growth due to the resulting outcomes from decades of political ruling and policy making. On one side we have the second independent state of the Americas,
The Pandora’s box of information that I have discovered about Puerto Rico under early U.S rule provide some fascinating details on the background of contradictions that characterize debates on the political, economic and social issues concerning the island. Since its invasion in 1898, the United States has shaped the policies of the island according to its own discretion in spite of the people of Puerto Rico. The country did not have time to shed the skin of Spanish colonial rule before the United States set foot on the island to add its own layer of imperial legacy. The island was taken as a compromise to end the Spanish American War. How the newly acquired territory would take shape, and some of the local and international influences that might have contributed to the evolution of the Puerto Rican political, social and economical structure are some of the issues that I hope to address. As is customary an attempted commentary of this sort cannot be complete without the subject of identity, after all, this issue seems to be at the core of the status of the island.
In the chapter One Island, Two Peoples, Two Histories: The Dominican Republic and Haiti the present day differences of Haiti and The Dominican Republic are explained through the political, social, and ecological history of both locations. The Dominican Republic, although it is still considered a developing country, is in a objectively worse state than Haiti. Haiti’s environmental policies failed so horrendously in the past that the area is in a visible state of disarray. With only 1% of the country still forested, not only is the visual draw of the country lessened, but the prospect of wood trading that the forests once offered is almost obsolete. This greatly effects the outside world’s image of Haiti which, given the financial gain tourism
The study of the creation of Central American states is a topic that has seen relatively few academic endeavors. Early on in the academic sphere, there was a tendency towards studying the formation of states in Europe the in order to understand the nature and process of state making. However, state formation in Central America differed greatly in many ways to rest of the world, even the rest of Latin America.
Mountain ranges divide the Dominican Republic into three regions, Northern, Central, and Southwestern. There are seven major drainage b...
Green, Cencilia. (1997). Historical Roots of Modern Caribbean Politics. Against the Current. Vol. 12, (4), 34-38.
The earliest form of resistance against the contradictions inherent in the nature of the societies created by enslavement and indentured servitude can be seen long before the Haitian Revolution. There were many documented attempts against the lives of the white slave owners, but known was so critical as the events that mark the Haitian Revolution. The Haitian Revolution, which took place in the end of the 1700’s, was a defining moment that sought to end France’s control of the Island of Saint Dominique or modern day Haiti. This resistance began as an attempt to gain retribution for the hostile and inhuman conditions that the slaves were subjected to. According to C. L. R., the contradictions inherent in the nature of the societies created by enslavement, indenture and colonialism in the Caribbean created the very responses to an insurrection, by those who were being subjected to cruel and unjust
societies to reexamine their view of the Caribbean. In this paper the following topics in The
According to Trevor M. A. Farrell, author of perspective, “Decolonization in the English-Speaking Caribbean”, colonialism is when organization of resources of a country being exploited is done for the financial benefit of the oppressor. All the power lies in the hands of the colonizing country (589). The tourism indust...
The Plantation society was a closed system of stratification and this was based on the criteria of race and colour. It was seen to be an aggregate economic foundation. As indicated by George Beckford (1972) ‘Plantation Society ties everybody in its grip to the one assignment of executing the will of the proprietor or proprietors. What's more, since it is transcendent and inescapable in the lives of those living inside its limits, it is also a total institution.’ Fundamentally, it was a hierarchical structure where blacks and browns were subordinate to white control. At the exceptionally top of this social structure you would locate the white rulers or the planter class which had white estate owners and the individuals who were connected with them. This was trailed by the assorted or mullato populace alongside the more sad whites and free non-white individuals, who still would have added to social texture of the general public despite the fact that they didn't have much political power. Furthermore, at the exceptionally base of this
The Plantation society theory tries to explain the social Caribbean structure in relation to the plantation experience. According to Professor George Beckford “plantation societies are characterized by the existence of a right social hierarchy based on labour, racial and cultural differences, large areas of land denoted to production, Authoritarian management centralized, among other things”. The plantation model stresses on the existence of two classes – “a white/free class which owned the means of production and a black/slave class which owned labour”. This model shines a spotlight on the traditional Marxist argument which speaks about the unequal distribution of wealth and power. The plantation society model serves to authenticate the assertion that occupation was linked through race. Although wealth and power can be inherited, they are also the products of occupation.
Modernization theory is an unworkable guide for facilitating Caribbean growth because of the many weaknesses, which have been highlighted. The modernization theory although is without a doubt one of he most influential theory, is in fact an unworkable guide to Caribbean development as it simply describes the development process without showing how it might be achieved. The theory is in fact a unilinear, ethnocentric theory and it is with all it's shortcomings which one can conclude that it provides an unworkable guide to Caribbean development.