Caribbean Studies Essay
Account for the changing role that Race, Colour and Ethnic affiliation play in Caribbean Society and Culture Subject: Caribbean Studies Teacher: Mrs. L. Nation
Account for the changing role that Race, Colour and Ethnic affiliation play in Caribbean Society and Culture
The root of Caribbean Society and Culture is on the plantation. Mustapha (2009) posits that “The plantation played the principal role in the development of Caribbean culture.” Indeed there are remnants of Plantation Society in present Caribbean, especially if one examines our class system. According to www.capesociology.org (n.d) “Academics contend that the Upper class of the contemporary Caribbean tends to be whites. These are either descendants of the old planter class aristocracy... The non-white populations continue to be situated at the lower end of the social strata. They constitute the public servants and unskilled workers in the society”
However, assuming that the Caribbean is just a modern-day plantation society would run us into trouble, as that would be discounting all the nuances that go into making Caribbean society what it is. Indeed, the modern Caribbean cannot just be seen as black and white as social stratification would try to suggest, as sociologists such as M.G. Smith have suggested that the Caribbean be seen as a plural society. Which is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “a society composed of different ethnic groups or cultural traditions or in the political structure of which ethnic or cultural differences are reflected” This suggests that although different ethnic groups live in the same geographical area, they stick to themselves, as is the case between the Blacks and East Indians of
Account for the changing role that Race, Colour and Ethnic affiliation play in Caribbean Society and Culture
The root of Caribbean Society and Culture is on the plantation. Mustapha (2009) posits that “The plantation played the principal role in the development of Caribbean culture.” Indeed there are remnants of Plantation Society in present Caribbean, especially if one examines our class system. According to www.capesociology.org (n.d) “Academics contend that the Upper class of the contemporary Caribbean tends to be whites. These are either descendants of the old planter class aristocracy... The non-white populations continue to be situated at the lower end of the social strata. They constitute the public servants and unskilled workers in the society”
However, assuming that the Caribbean is just a modern-day plantation society would run us into trouble, as that would be discounting all the nuances that go into making Caribbean society what it is. Indeed, the modern Caribbean cannot just be seen as black and white as social stratification would try to suggest, as sociologists such as M.G. Smith have suggested that the Caribbean be seen as a plural society. Which is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “a society composed of different ethnic groups or cultural traditions or in the political structure of which ethnic or cultural differences are reflected” This suggests that although different ethnic groups live in the same geographical area, they stick to themselves, as is the case between the Blacks and East Indians of
Bibliography: Mustapha, Nasser (2009). The Plantation Society Theory. Sociology for Caribbean Students, p.102 Jamaica: Ian Randle Publishers Cape Sociology. (n.d) Retrieved November 1, 2011 from Cape Sociology wiki capesociology.org/caribbean-stratification-38.html Hintzen, Percy C. (1989) The Costs of Regime Survival, Racial Mobilization, Elite Domination and Control of the State in Guyana and Trinidad. Britain: Cambridge University Press Brathwaite, Kamau (1974) Contradictory Omens: Cultural Diversity and Integration in the Caribbean Jamaica: Savacou Publications Mars, Perry (1995) State Intervention and Ethnic Conflict Resolution. Guyana and the Caribbean Experience p.169 New York