Annotated Bibliography
From Paradise to Prejudice: The Push and Pull factors.
Introduction:
I am a British Afro-Caribbean girl. For this project, I am focusing on my Caribbean heritage, specifically my Antiguan heritage. In order to effectively investigate the push and pull factors that played a part in my family history, I will research the history of Antigua, the viewpoint of loving those who colonize you vs hating them, the expectations of those in the Black Atlantic, the relationship between religion and the culture, and finally, cultural preservation. As a second generation Caribbean, I have a general idea of where I come from, but it is still not the same as having grown up in it. The goal of this annotated bibliography is to further mesh together my theories of why my family left Antigua. Through this research I am getting to know more about my culture and heritage, I understand where the different quirks of growing up in a Caribbean household come from, and I am forever appreciative of this project — which has turned out to be a journey of self-discovery.
“Antigua and Barbuda.”
Worldmark Encyclopedia of Nations. Encyclopedia.com. 22 Feb. 2017.
Unfortunately, when someone mentions the Caribbean, the only island that comes to mind is Jamaica, but back when Antigua was first colonized (1632) it was the island to be on. It was one of the largest sugar estates, and “by the end of the eighteenth century Antigua had become an important strategic port, as well as a valuable commercial colony known as the gateway to the Caribbean.” The island was also used as the headquarters of the British Royal Navy Caribbean fleet. You could say that business was booming until Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson enforced the Navigation Act. This act adopted the practice of mercantilism which made problems for local Antiguan merchants. Agriculture had always been one of the most important means of economic success in the Caribbean, and now the trading of the products was being restricted.The slaves who were doing all the work to make sure that the fledgling island stayed economically sound were set free in 1834, but the emancipation was simply a formality. They would be dependent on the plantation owners for decades upon decades afterward, and by the time my great grandmother [Tantilu’s mother] was born, things would have just started to lighten up. I know that they had it hard growing up, and through more research, I hope to get a historical view of what likely took place in that era of time.
Knowing my history is very important to me and the goal of this project is to become more acquainted with my Caribbean culture. In order to find out what exactly my roots are, I thought it would be best to start from the very beginning. I know that I am an Antiguan, a Caribbean gyal from the island of 365 beaches, but what else do I know? Not much, before this project at least.
“‘Scandalous’ Racism in Liverpool’s Education System.”
Boyle, Bill. The Voice, 07 May 2012.
My family moved to England with my great aunt Tantilu’s generation in the 19th century. It was also in the 19th century where slavery had already been abolished, but racism was at its height. During this time there was a lot of restriction placed on African immigration. There were build ups of groups of black communities in towns like Canning town, Cardiff, and Liverpool, where Tantilu’s father settled in upon arrival to England as seen in the records above. The idea of “scientific racism” was flourishing. The absurd notion that black people were born inferior and less intelligent was actually accepted and discrimination was justified in society. This ideology was a force that pushed my grandparent’s generation to pursue higher education despite the obstacles in their way. They instilled the importance of education in their children (my mom’s generation), and my mom did the same in me. It really hurt my great aunt’s heart that there was so much opposition to her, a minority female, getting an education, but she persevered. It was like history repeated itself; There was always something that got in the way of education. In Antigua it was money, In Jamaica, it was family issues, and now in England, it was discrimination. In England, it was still very hard to succeed considering the adversity stacked against them. In 2010, just 22 of 4,192 teachers in Liverpool were from an African-Caribbean background, which can only be an improvement from when my grandparent’s generation inhabited Liverpool, as black people were still fighting for rights. In the end they were triumphant, and that same drive is what the emphasized in how they brougt me up.
This research is important to the goal of my project because it helps me paint an accurate picture of what my family members went through. It also helps me to somewhat see the different hardships that they had to endure that might’ve influenced and shaped their lives into what they are today. Antigua has always had a majority of its population be made up of black people. The percentage is currently around 88% black. That said, I can’t imagine that Tantilu had to deal with too much racism or discrimination while growing up, but after moving, that might not have been the case. I hope to find out for sure through the information found in this source as well as the interview.
“The World Factbook: ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA.”
CIA. Central Intelligence Agency, 12 Jan. 2017.
Many people immigrate to a perceivably better land for money, work, or a better life. The focus of my project is to examine why my great aunt and her generation decided to leave in comparison to those who chose to stay. From my previous research, I know that Antigua was the island where the crops were, the sugar estates and all the rest of it, but that is not enough for the economy to rely on. Over the past 30 years, agriculture’s contribution to the GDP has fallen from over 40% to 12%. Currently, tourism contributes to over 60% of Antigua’s GDP. Antigua has flirted with bankruptcy many times in the past. It got so bad during the independence era (1981) that some of the other Leeward islands, such as St. Kitts and Nevis, opposed sharing their government funds with Antigua and Montserrat (Antigua’s sister island). Even now the US dollar is worth 2.7 of the Eastern Caribbean Dollars which is an indicator of where Antigua stands and has stood in economic history.
The economic uncertainty would explain why people would leave, but I have questions of how bad it really must have been. Many members of my family say things like “we made do with what we had” or “we trusted in God and He always provided.” They stressed relying solely on God, even though it didn’t seem realistic, and yet and still they ended up abroad in pursuit of a life that Antigua could never offer them. I plan on asking my great aunt about this topic and hopefully, I will get good answers to my questions so that I can further research the topic.
“The Colonial Heritage.”
Peters, Donald C. The Democratic System in the Eastern Caribbean. New York: Greenwood, 1992.
Antigua was first inhabited by Arawaks and Caribs. The two indigenous natives were hunters and gatherers with a political system including a chief and council of elders. Colonialism did not begin until Columbus came over in the 15th century. According to Donald Peters, “British colonialism created the Caribbean society.” The European nations were driven to colonize the islands by tales of abundant gold and their receipt of different goods and merchandise in triangular trade. The term triangular trade refers to the exchanges occurring in the Black Atlantic involving the exchange of slaves between England, Africa, and the Caribbean. The division of the different cultures and colonization of them was designed to “de-culture” them, this “Anglophication” began during slavery and it became easier to force British values. Britain viewed different Eastern Caribbean islands, Antigua included, as a major economic region for mercantilism.
One of the questions that I have in regard to this project is why my family would go back to the very people who tried to strip them of their culture simply for economic benefits. This source gives me a bigger picture, it gives me an idea of exactly why England colonized an economically struggling island. The promise of gold and potential political and physical slaves was unfortunately enough. I wonder what it was like growing up in the era where the white men were literally walking around overseeing the natives, treating them like less than dirt, and making a profit off of their hard work. When interviewing my Tantilu, I will see if she can recall any stories from her grandparents about the issue.
“36 Hours in Antigua.”
Macneille, Suzanne. The New York Times, 14 Feb. 2009.
Antigua is only 14 miles wide by 11 miles long, but size does not matter. Antiguans all over the world unite over anything relating to our area code: 268. It is crazy how the tiny island can be so full of paradise. People who know about Antigua sometimes ask me what else it has to offer beside 365 beaches and before this project, I didn’t know. After reading through this itinerary entitled “36 hours in Antigua” I see that beside the paradisiacal beaches, there is much more that can cater to one’s physical, spiritual, and even social needs. My island may be extremely small, but it has so many different things to offer. When I visited there, all I did was catch up with family. The next time I go, I will make sure to knock a few things off of my Antiguan bucket list. I found different activities like making custom rum punch, hiking up Shirley heights, visiting plantations like Betty’s Hope, seeing St. John’s Cathedral, and catching the sister islands of Guadeloupe and Montserrat by climbing Boggy Peak featuring Mount Obama.
My trip over spring break didn’t even do the island justice. I merely got to hear about the different beaches and markets, but when I go again, I will make sure that I get the full taste of the island. After reading this itinerary, I was convinced that anyone visiting there would be in for a jam-packed schedule in order to even remotely taste everything the island has to offer. It is important to remember though, that all of those things are tourist attractions. Life is and must have been so much different for the natives. I hope to uncover what it was like from different sources, but regardless I still wonder what was so bad that my family decided to leave.
“I Man Born Ya”
An excerpt from a song by Pluto Shervington
One more Jamaican gaan abroad
One more disciple leave the yaad
but if you think seh we ago stand up and wait
no way while we hold the gate fi yu
no think so at all.
Chorus:
But I man on ya, I man born ya
I nah leave ya fi go a Canada
No way sah, pot a bwayl ya, belly full ya
Sweet Jamaica
But when you stop and check out the facts
it’s a whole heap of things Jamaica lock
but when you run from a problem it neva solve
no man want fi get involved at all
we sit down and bawl
Five flight a day to Miami
Don’t mean a thing to this man
As long as, man give labour honest work fi money
There is not a man can move me from my land.
So, all you Jamaicans gaan abroad
When last you really check a yaad
Remember saltish friters pulla and tear
Wash it down with an ice cold beer
a true, it no bad at all.
This song addresses different reasons as to why people leave the Caribbean. It talks about how those who are left behind do not sympathize with those who leave “but if you think seh we a go stand up and wait no way while we hold the gate fi yu no think so at all.” (Don’t think we’re going to stand up and wait on and hold the gate for you if you leave). The song also touches on how running from problems on the island will not fix the problem “when you run from a problem it neva solve.” The song also talks about being content with just working for your living: “As long as man give labour, honest work fi money, there is not a man who can move me from my land.” Lastly, the song’s chorus reminds the listener of all the paradisiacal elements of living on the island, it paints a picture that no one would want to turn away from. This song gives the viewpoint of staying in the islands, and I agree. Although I am not thoroughly informed, I am a big supporter of Antigua and I really want to know what was so bad that my family could not be content with. I know it was hard, but as Shervington addresses, there are those who can be content.
Through songs like this, I can make inferences and educated guesses on the questions that I have about my family history. This viewpoint is relevant because half of my family stayed and half left. This song supports those who stay. The next source that I include will be the opposite viewpoint and it will address supporting those who deem it fit to go out and search for better opportunities for those to come after them. I understand both sides and I am glad that there are easily understandable songs and poems that address the issues regarding staying true to one’s heritage or leaving a part of it behind for delayed gratification.
“Evan Jones — Lament of the Banana Man.”
Patke, Rajeev S. Postcolonial Poetry in English. Oxford: OUP, 2009.
my yoke is easy, my burden is light,
I know a place I can go, any night.
Dis place Englan’ I’m not complaining
If it col’, it col’. If it raining’, it raining’.
I don’ min’ if it’s mostly night,
Dere’s always inside, or de sodium light.
I don’ min’ white people starin’ at me
Dey don’ want me here? Don’t is deir country?
You won’t catch me bawlin’ any homesick tears
If I don’t see Jamaica for a t’ousand years
This is a poem written by a Caribbean person who was obviously immersed in Caribbean culture enough to be able to speak and write fluent patois. The author, Evan Jones, shares about how he much he likes England, how much better it is. From the conversations that I have had with Tantilu, it is safe to assume that this experience was similar to hers. I know for a fact that she had to deal with some discrimination and racism in her lifetime, more so in the United Kingdom than in Antigua. I love how the author reacts to the struggles with discriminatory or racist encounters that this poem alludes to. Jones even says that He “don’ min” or doesn’t mind. I will be doing research to help me further analyze what Evan Jones was talking about in this poem “I don’ min’ white people starin’ at me /Dey don’ want me here? / Don’t is deir country?” and I am sure that the connections will do nothing short of helping me achieve the goals that I have set out for this project.
I tried to get some very diverse points of view and sources for the purposes of not being biased in my project. From the conversations that I’ve had with my great aunt and family sage “Tantilu”, I have not been able to pick up on any disdain she might have towards England. The question that I pose throughout my project is why anyone would ever leave the paradise, especially for a land far away and so much more different than what they’re used to. I never understood and still don’t quite understand it, but the research and interview, I plan on gaining the information necessary to help me find the answers to my questions.
“Young Caribbean Migrants & Growing up in the UK.”
Sissay, Lemn. Black History Month 2017. Black Cultural Archives, 21 Aug. 2015.
There were many Black communities in places such as Liverpool and Cardiff in England, but times were tough for Caribbeans, Africans, and Black people in England. After the 1950s more opportunities were presented and “migrant children began to be the standard bearers of a new identity which emerged out of the heritage of the parentage and nature of their new environment.” Most Caribbean migrants were in the age demographic of youth and young-adults. The ‘colored youth’ faced all sorts of obstacles. The League of Coloured People asked for assistance after finding out that the average employer would sooner have an alien employee than a colored one. This racism and discrimination would continue on forever. The intensity has diminished but the discrimination is still there. Those who came after the war were able to get an education but the living conditions and dangerous surrounding streets made it much harder to focus on school. In school the children were not allowed to speak in their ‘mother tongue’, the de-culturization continued wherever my people went. There was also a lot of police brutality that went on in the communities.
My Caribbean people were able to excel in a few areas: sports and music. They took what they had and ran with it. A select few were able to use the small pieces of culture that they carried with them from their islands to England to their advantage . The lack of transportation in the islands served as a natural method of training for sporting competitions. The need for music in the islands for culture, relaxation, and mental harmony primed the migrant children to become accustomed to using music to speak to others. So yes, overall they had it hard. Life was tough, racism was at its height, and there weren’t many opportunities, but my people came and made it work. They used what they could excel in, and slowly but surely made a name and a way for themselves.
“Identifying Early Anglo-Caribbean SDA Historical Sources”.
Phillips, Glenn. Adventist Archives, 20 Feb. 2014.
In addition to food, music, and different cultural traditions, the main thing that kept my family going was faith. Seventh-Day Adventism has been my family’s religion for as long as I can trace back. They had to have something and someone to hold on to with all the turmoil in their lives, and that was God. The upheaval and movement from island to foreign country, where racism and other hardships were stacked against them, was tough but God saw them through. In my research, I found that there are records of Caribbeans embracing the Seventh-Day Adventist faith dating as far back as 1883. Adventists in this time were some of the first denominations to baptize those of African descent. Some main attractions to Adventism back then and even still today are the idea of the Sabbath, second coming, and the health message. The Sabbath specifically, was interesting and something that taught my family and other Caribbeans to put their trust in God through Sabbath observance. Sabbath observance includes keeping the day holy, from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, by not doing anything business or word related. This was a problem for the agricultural workers back then because Sabbath observance tampered with their harvesting, but the religion promoted putting faith in God, and of course, He provided.
The Seventh-Day Adventist Church received a lot of opposition back then from the Anglicans, Roman Catholics, and Methodists, and Moravians, and still does get a lot of opposition, but still managed to thrive. It thrived through the use and distribution of Adventist literature — which Tantilu used to learn to read and teach reading skills with — as well as missionaries. As the islands received their independence Adventism thrived even more and it is evident in my and many other Caribbean families today.
“White Teeth”
Smith, Zadie. a Novel. New York : Vintage International, 20012000.
Times were tough for black people all over the world and they still are, but it’s always been common to turn to God. In slavery, the negro spirituals are what brought everyone together and gave them hope to carry on. In the Caribbean, Christianity is very present, and the religion of Seventh-Day Adventism is as well. I am SDA and have received all sorts of questions, comments, and concerns about my religion. People say that there are way too many rules. Some Adventist churches say women can’t wear makeup, jewelry, or pants. Other churches refuse to eat meat or unclean foods. There is also the whole idea of keeping the Sabbath, doing nothing but reflecting on and doing things that you would deem fit to do in the presence of Jesus. It is sometimes a lot, and when I fail to always abide by every single “rule” I get called a ‘badventist’. Some SDA churches are very conservative, and the youth generally are more progressive than our elders, but we don’t usually have a voice. These are just a bunch of negatives, but overall I find Adventism to be a very positive religion. I believe in the 28 fundamental beliefs of the Adventist church and finding a church family that meshes with the rules & lifestyle you’re willing to abide by is key in staying in a religion.
As an Afro-Caribbean it is hard to juggle my faith and my culture. Caribbeans usually eat a lot of meat: jerk chicken, curry chicken, jerk pork, oxtail, etc. Caribbeans also dance with a lot of focus on the hips, waist, and bottom. That type of dance would seem extremely scandalous to some older Seventh-Day Adventists. In Zadie Smith’s White Teeth, Alsana dislikes that this older Caribbean lady keeps trying to convert her to Seventh-Day Adventism. I say that it is justified to not want to join the SDA church. The issue is that people have focused too much on religion and too little on Jesus Christ. I believe that if you love God and act like him, you will be saved. Every little thing does not matter in God’s eyes and those who judge every little thing will be judged accordingly. This is all relevant to my project in that my people have had to rely on religion to get them through the hard times, the routes to where they are, and even then it was still hard to find the right religion to fit the needs of those going through life’s journey.
3 ways to speak English
link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9fmJ5xQ_mc
This video is probably one of the most relatable videos I have ever seen in regards to growing up in America and identifying as Black, Caribbean, African, British, and American. I have struggled to filter my different vernaculars. I can speak American English, British English, Antiguan patois, and African American Vernacular English. I should be able to freely switch between dialects, but unfortunately, the world still promotes the idea that anything other than English is stupid. No matter how ignorant the claim is, people still support it and it is a shame.
Jamila Lyiscott makes sure she explains the power and intelligence of her words in this video. She speaks in patois, in AAVE, in American English, and makes sure to point out that the British still view American English as improper. She touches on the wrongful societal points of view. Spoken words like these give me hope that one day my children will not be judged based on their vernacular, or the culture and heritage behind it. I know the same ignorant ideas were supported in my great aunt Tantilu’s time, as her generation was not allowed to speak patois in school. Language, one of the most integral methods of preserving Caribbean culture, has had a limit placed upon it and in the interview, I will make sure to touch on her thoughts on these issues.
“BBC — London — Faith — Caribbean London.”
BBC News. BBC News, 24 Sept. 2014.
A lot of things are forced to be left behind before different journeys, but there are some things that can be taken. These things are highly valued and passed down through the generations. Pride in one’s island is a normal and important thing to do, especially for those who are not first-generation Caribbeans, like me. I manage to preserve and keep ties to my culture through the University of Georgia’s Caribbean Student Association. I dance and fellowship with other members and I have found some of my best college friends through the bond we share over our culture. Caribbean culture is usually preserved through the practice of carnival/dance, food, religion, literature, media, language, dialect, and academia. Carnival is a celebration and memorial of the caribbean culture “back home” that incorporates dance, music, food, and fellowship. I will be going back to Antigua in the summer of 2017 for the annual Carnival. The different foods that can be bought from Caribbean supermarkets or restaurants are as close as one gets to the actual delicacies of the true Caribbean market. The religion includes a wide variety of ideologies that allow Caribbeans to meet and share the same interests in the acknowledgment of a higher power. Language/Dialect is a very common way to recognize and share culture between Caribbeans and through generations. Literature and Media are both ways to inform and promote the culture of the Caribbean to others.
I try to keep my ties to Caribbean culture in my everyday life. I do this because cultural preservation is very important to me and it is also the goal of my project. I was raised in a Caribbean manner, I have visited my mother island, I have tasted Caribbean food, and spoken patois. In Caribbean Night 2k17, hosted by UGA CaribSA, I will dance in carnival wear. I have done a lot but I still need to research more and go more in depth to really understand all the different cultural aspects that I call mine. I want to explore the different mediums through which my Antiguan culture can be radiated through me. After speaking with my very Caribbean great aunt, I am sure that I will be more readily prepared to explain to someone what it means to be Antiguan. When it comes down to it, we might’ve been taken out of the Caribbean, the Caribbean was never and will never be taken out of us.
