The Legacy of the Indigenous People of the Caribbean Samuel M. Wilson from The Indigenous People of the Caribbean (Univ. Press of Florida 1997)
This paper explores the important roles the indigenous people of the Caribbean still play in the region today. On many islands some people trace part or all of their ancestry back to the people who lived here before Columbus's voyages. On nearly every island, the modern inhabitants relate to the environment in ways they learned from the Indians: they grow some of the same plants for food and other uses, fish the same reefs in the same ways, and follow the same seasonal patterns. Also, on nearly every island, even those where none of the indigenous people have survived, the Indians are powerful symbols of Caribbean identity, national identity, and resistance to colonialism. This paper will explore these themes, assess the status of the indigenous people in the modern Caribbean, and discuss the history of indigenous survival in the Caribbean. In looking at the "legacy" of indigenous people in the modern Caribbean, I am attempting to avoid the approach that merely looks for persistent traits, words, practices, genetic characteristics, and so forth. I particularly want to avoid what might be called the "contributions" mode of analysis, which identifies modern cultural elements as hold-overs from centuries past as "Carib" or "Arawak" contributions. Such an approach makes it seem to me as if the European conquerors had said, "We've come to wipe out you and your people and take your land, but before we do, would you care to make a contribution?" The modern presence of indigenous Caribbean cultures goes far beyond such contributions, but in more subtle and less obvious ways. | |
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