As it has already been explained in the first chapter, the Caribbean islands were all colonies, mainly under the British government. Predictably, imperialism, colonialism and slavery deeply influenced the shaping of Caribbean identity, a process that started around the 60 and that influenced -and was influenced by- the struggle for independence from the Mother Country. It is true that each isle has its own differences and peculiarities in history, language, society etc., however, as a consequence of the common past as colonized countries, it is still possible to draw a general profile regarding identity. Colonization is based on an ideology of racial, cultural and psychological supremacy and hierarchy over a population. Feeling the necessity
In Musical Borrowing, Dialogism, and American Culture, 1960-1975 (2006), Berry suggests that “Watermelon Man” (1973) from Hancock’s album Head Hunters (1973) shows evidence of mixing African-American culture with traditional African music (Berry,2006, p.168-169). This song begins and ends with musical style of the Ba-benzele people of central Africa by refining African sounds into contemporary funk music. Berry also states that Hancock’s album Mwandishi (1971) was created by working with black activist James Mtume and giving himself the Swahili name, “Mwandishi” which means a composer to show that his advocacy toward Black nationalist
The Colonial rule of the Cuban and Puerto Rico regions by the Spaniards and North American conquest promoted activities such as slavery among Africans. The interaction of the Spaniards and Africans led to the evolution of various Afro-Latin music styles and genres. The analytical outcome of the results highly relied on articles, journals and research papers. The electronic sources majorly derive their publication from credible, websites and databases. The above procedure yielded various results.
It dates back to the 1700 's when the French brought their customs and culture along with carnival in the embodiment of fancy masquerade balls to Trinidad together with the African slaves. Although Trinidad was discovered in 1498 by Christopher Columbus who claimed it for Spain, the island was neglected until 1777 when Philippe Rose Roume de Saint-Laurent and his fellow French men made a visit to Trinidad and In 1783 the the sugar industry was kicked off with Philippe Rose Roume de Saint-Laurent and his men who brought their slaves to work on the plantation. But the French are not the only ones that left their mark or the only ones to have an influence on the island and the festival of carnival,the then booming sugar industry attracted settlers from all around the world like bees to a flower. Among these settlers were the Spanish and English colonial powers, African slaves, Indian indentured laborers, and the many other ethnic groups that settled here have all left an indelible mark on the
“Slavery In The Dominican Republic and How It Affected the Natives Racial Identity” By definition the Dominican Republic is a Caribbean Hispaniola Island that is shared with Haiti to the West. The Dominican Republic today is a major tourist destination and has become a major source of sugar, coffee, and other exports. But the Dominican Republic had to suffer a lot in order to prevail the way they did, undergoing being enslaved by the Spaniards while on the other side of the island the Haitians were enslaved by the french hence the obvious difference in languages and cultures. The main difference is that the Dominican Republic lost their racial identity and until the present day are unaware of their true racial identity. Slavery affects every country and person differently but in the Dominican Republic, slavery took away the nation’s identity.
In “1846 36% of the population lived enslaved” . Furthermore despite the slave trade being illegal, the trade continued to restock creoles with new workers . Despite continuing the slave trade, Cuban elites began to fear the possibility of a slave rebellion. The elites need only to look over at the nearby Haiti to see the possibility. The growing fears of a black republic lead Cubans to state that Cuba would be either “Spanish or African” .
Brown states that “Colorism is the crazy aunt in the attic of racism” (Faisal, 2013). Colorism is sometimes referred to as the cousin of racism. According to social scientists, such as Edward B. Reuter (1917) and E. Franklin Frazier (1957) Colorism can be traced back to racist ideologies developed in European culture and then passed on during and after slavery. Before Europeans came to the Caribbean, there was the notion of White supremacy and when they came into the Caribbean, these values transferred into Caribbean culture. White slave masters showed preference to those African slaves who had a lighter complexion and they were allowed to work as house slaves, whereas the slaves with a darker complexion worked as field slaves doing all the hard, manual labor.
In those days carnival was celebrated from Christmas day to Ash Wednesday and it involve the white elites parading through the streets in costumes representative of their European connections. This style of festivity was quickly adapted and imitated by the African slaves whose incognito approach to the celebration was similar to that of the French however using their own traditional rituals and folklore. After 1938 (when slavery was abolished) carnival was utilized as a means of expression for these African freed slaves who began to host their own Cannes Brulles celebrations in the streets which soon after became more popular than the French mask balls. (Liverpool p.p.
The African people were enslaved by American slave-owners for centuries and were deprived to enjoy even basic human rights. Even after the slave Emancipation Act of 1863, Afro-Americans were exposed to racist police brutality, discriminated in transport, hotels and segregated everywhere. The Afro-Americans of Harlem section of New York City started voicing their strong criticism against the racial prejudice and inequality in their society soon after the First World War. Harlem Renaissance was built upon the ‘New Negro Movement’ of 1917 with its chief aim of revolting against race and class issues. It also paved way for the renewal and embellishment of black literary and musical culture.
Europeans know that they carried on the slave trade, and Africans are aware that the trade would have been impossible if certain Africans did not cooperate with slave ships. To ease their guilty consciences, Europeans try to throw the major responsibility for the slave trade on to the Africans. One major author on the slave trade (appropriately titled Sins of Our Fathers) explained how many white people urged him to state that the trade was the responsibility of African chiefs, and that Europeans merely turned up to buy captives- as though without European demand there would have been captives sitting on the beach by the millions! Issues such as those are not the principal concern of this study, but they can be correctly approached only after understanding that Europe became the center of a worldwide system and that it was European capitalism which set slavery and the Atlantic slave trade in motion. (