The Caribbean According to Three Writings Essay

“The imposition of structural adjustment programs in the Third World since the 1970s has been characterized as a war against the poor, a process of [neo] recolonization” (Turner, 1994: 37). This statement is particularly applicable to the country of Jamaica. The island has been susceptible to a variety of neocolonial acts including the presence of multinational corporations, structural adjustment programs, and loan organizations that have sucked Jamaica’s economy dry. This neocolonial presence has devastated the population in more ways than one. It is apparent that neocolonialism has had and continues to have a large impact on society as a whole in Jamaica. This

Norris also talks about how the beliefs of Islam have blended into the stories. On the other hand if we look at Margaret Parker, she gives us the same story that Norris reports about the slave woman in Spanish about a Christian slave woman, and in Brazilian also. (2) This shows how the stories in different cultures are molded into different styles.

In other words, Esperanza comes to understand that identity is very much beyond where one's house is located. It may even be connected to art. In examining these profound themes, Cisneros has been able to achieve a significant amount of influence and success in the role and status of minority writers.

In John K. Thornton’s book, A Cultural History of the Atlantic World, 1250 – 1820, Thornton describes the exploration of the western world by powerful European nations. Early on in the text Thornton details the ways early European merchants and explorers discovered the routes across the Atlantic to what would eventually become the Americas. He then lays out the formation and expansion of the slave trade between Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Throughout all of this Thornton very effectively communicates and disproves any common mistakes or false presumptions readers may have. He continues to do this when he switches his focus from the discovery of the Atlantic world to the colonization of it. Thornton explains how the two major European powers in the Atlantic world at that time, England and Spain, “conquered” and colonized the new world. He especially focuses on the relationships between the native peoples and the incoming Europeans. He explores the ways both groups effected each other. He goes on to state that the way in which the social structure of the European colonies was determine in large measure by the social structure of the indigenous people at the time of European arrival. This serves as Thornton’s thesis of the text and he provides evidence to support his claim. He also mentions that most of the time the story of the Atlantic World is told from an exclusively European perspective. And while he does try to include all aspects in the narrative I’m not totally

The Bahamas The Bahamas is full of a vast array of inimitable little islands, populated by the laid back people of the Caribbean. Great Exuma is one of these, a place of warm tranquillity and relaxation, a place where peace can be found. A minute number of people inhabit the 90 mile stretch of land where you will find an amazing variety of wildlife.

The beginning of slavery in the Caribbean can be traced back to the emergence of piracy in the 16th and 17th centuries. This eventually led to the promotion of slave trading and sugar plantations. While enslaved on the sugar plantations, slaves were treated very poorly. Plantation owners treated their slaves so poorly that most were undernourished and diseased. Slaves were even forced to work on their "spare" time to provide for their own needs. Needless to say, slaves encountered cruel punishment that we can’t even comprehend. The slaves however, continually resisted white supremacy causing much tension between the two social classes. Despite this, a new social class was emerging, the free coloureds. This

     Derek Walcott’s Omeros is an epic story which fits well into the classical tradition. Its numerous echoes of Homeric writing combined with the use of characters’ names from Homer’s stories are clear evidence to the fact that there is a major parallel to Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. There is no debate in this obvious fact. Omeros and Derek Walcott’s writing, however, are much more than a mere reproduction of classical Greek and Roman themes. Arguing this fact is an insult to Walcott and his masterful work. There are specific references in Walcott’s writing which make this work more than a reproduction of someone else’s

In “A Small Place” by Jamaica Kincaid, Kincaid explicitly describes the effects and consequences that imperialism had on Antigua, while implicitly condemning imperialism for the effects and consequences indigenous people endured through allegory. Examining the results of imperialism in a cultural aspect provides a deeper connection for the audience to fathom the struggle people of Antigua experienced. Kincaid illustrates herself as the main protagonist who directly speaks to the audience as if they are the ignorant tourist. Through the utilization of the second person perspective, she immerses the reader emotionally, which through the experience proves to be more captivating.

(Group Tainos) The cacique was the head of the Tainos society. The cacique was a hereditary title which passed down from father to son. Generally speaking, the Tainos practised monogamy. However, the cacique was allowed to practise polygamy (this was to increase his chances of having a heir).

Columbus discovered Jamaica on May 5, 1494, one year after he heard of the existence of the island. However, the true history of Jamaica begins with the African-Jamaican people who came to the island twenty years after the English took control from the Spaniards. The history of Jamaica can be broken up into different time periods, which were defined by watershed moments or events. Jamaican history begins with the establishment of the native islanders called the Tainos who inhabited the island for hundreds of years before the discoveries of Columbus. (JNHT 1)

Rhys integrates the two characters and their racism so her readers will feel more connected with both. In the paper “Race, Creole, and National Identities in Rhys’ Wide Sargasso

Challenges of Caribbean Society in Achieving National Unity There have been many attempts for the Caribbean nations to come together as one, leading to national unity in the region. Some attempts at unity include: Federation, CARICOM (Caribbean Community), CARIFTA (Caribbean Free Trade Association), CDB (Caribbean Development Bank), UWI (University of the West Indies), CXC (Caribbean Examinations Council), and recently CSME (Caribbean Single Market and Economy), which is still in the process of being carried out. The Caribbean’s aim is to come together socially, economically, and politically and to try to work as one nation. However, there are many cultural differences between the countries,

The evolution of Caribbean Literature started centuries before the Europeans graced these shores and continues to develop today. Quite noticeably, it developed in a manner which transcended all language barriers and cultures. Today the languages of the Caribbean are rooted in that of the colonial powers - France, Britain, Spain and Holland - whose historical encounters are quite evident throughout the region. The cosmopolitan nature of the region's language and cultural diversity develop from the mixture of European languages with Native American languages (mainly the Caribs and Arawaks) in the formation of creoles and local patois (hybrid languages) and those of Africans brought to the Caribbean as

Before the slave trade ended, the Caribbean had taken approximately 47 percent of the 10 million African slaves brought to the Americas. Of this number, about 17 percent came to the British Caribbean. Although the white populations maintained their superior social positions, they became a numerical minority in all the islands. In the early nineteenth century, fewer than 5 percent of the total population of Jamaica, Grenada, Nevis, St. Vincent, and Tobago was white, fewer than 10 percent of the population of Anguilla, Montserrat, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, and the Virgin Islands. Only in the Bahamas, Barbados, and Trinidad was more than 10 percent of the total population white. By sharp contrast, Trinidad was the only colony in the British Caribbean to have fewer than 80 percent of its population enslaved. Sugar and slavery gave to the region a predominantly African population.

“How can I be proud of my Jamaican roots, when my ancestors had been slaves”? This question asked by a woman with Jamaican roots followed British novelist Andrea Levy for a long time. She wondered how anyone could be ashamed of his or her legacy and thus the foundation of her book, The Long Song, was laid. However, writing the book was a more difficult task than presumed. Levy considered many things at the preliminary stage of the book as she knew that she didn’t want to write yet another historical novel about slavery. This is the reason why she chose to write the “behind the scenes”-essay, The Writing of The Long Song. Herein she elaborates and discusses the process of writing her book and raises important