BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY The Garifuna (/ɡəˈrɪfʉnə/ gə-rif-uu-nə; pl. Garinagu in Garifuna) are descendants of West African, Central African, Island Carib, and Arawak people. The British colonial administration used the term Black Carib and Garifuna to distinguish them from Yellow and Red Carib, the Amerindian population that did not intermarry with Africans. Caribs who had not intermarried with Africans are still living in the Lesser Antilles.
Today the Garifuna live primarily in Central America. They live along the Caribbean Coast in Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, andHonduras including the mainland, and on the island of Roatán. There are also diaspora communities of Garifuna in the United States, particularly in Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and other major cities.
History
The French missionary Raymond Breton, who arrived in the Lesser Antilles in 1635, and lived on Guadeloupe and Dominica until 1653, took ethnographic and linguistic notes of the native peoples of these islands, including St Vincent which he visited only briefly. According to oral history noted by the English governor William Young in 1795 Carib-speaking people of the Orinoco came to St. Vincent long before the arrival of Europeans to the New World, where they subdued the local inhabitants called Galibeis. They lived along with the Carib men. Young recorded the arrival of the African descended population as commencing with a wrecked slave ship from the Bight of Biafra in 1675. The survivors, members of the Mokko people of today's Nigeria (now known as Ibibio), reached the small island of Bequia, where the Caribs brought them to Saint Vincent and intermarried with them by supplying the African men with wives as it was taboo in their society for men to go unwed.
The Carib Expulsion was the French-led ethnic cleansing that terminated most of the Carib population in 1660 from present-day Martinique. This followed the French invasion in 1635 and its conquest of the people on the Caribbean island that made it part of the French colonial empire.
The Carib people had migrated from the mainland to the islands about 1200, according to carbon dating of artifacts. They largely displaced, exterminated and assimilated theTaino who were resident on the island at the time.[3]
In 1635 the Caribs were overwhelmed in turn by French forces led by the adventurer Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc and his nephew Jacques Dyel du Parquet, who imposed French colonial rule on the indigenous Carib peoples. Cardinal Richelieu of France gave the island to the Saint Christophe Company, in which he was a shareholder. Later the company was reorganized as the Company of the American Islands. The French colonists imposed French Law on the conquered inhabitants, and Jesuit missionaries arrived to convert them to the Roman Catholic Church.[4]
Because the Carib people resisted working as laborers to build and maintain the sugar and cocoa plantations which the French began to develop in the Caribbean, in 1636 KingLouis XIII proclaimed La Traite des Noirs. This authorized the capture and purchase of slaves from Africa and their transportation as labor to Martinique and other parts of theFrench West Indies.[3]
In 1650, the Company liquidated, selling Martinique to Jacques Dyel du Parquet, who became governor, a position he held until his death in 1658. His widow Mme. du Parquet next took over control of the island from France. As more French colonists arrived, they were attracted to the fertile area known as Cabesterre (leeward side). The French had pushed the remaining Carib people to this northeastern coast and the Caravalle Peninsula, but the colonists wanted the additional land. The Jesuits and the Dominicans agreed that whichever order arrived there first, would get all future parishes in that part of the island. The Jesuits came by sea and the Dominicans by land, with the Dominicans' ultimately prevailing.
When the Carib revolted against French rule in 1660, the Governor Charles Houel sieur de Petit Pré retaliated with war against them. Many were killed; those who survived were taken captive and expelled from the island.
On Martinique, the French colonists signed a peace treaty with the few remaining Carib. Some Carib had fled to Dominica or St. Vincent, where the French agreed to leave them at peace.
Britain and France both laid conflicting claims on Saint Vincent from the late seventeenth century onward. French pioneers began informally cultivating plots on the island around 1710 and in 1719 the governor of Martinique sent a force to occupy it, but was repulsed by the inhabitants. A British attempt in 1723 was also repelled.[5] In 1748, Britain and France agreed to put aside their claims and Saint Vincent was declared a neutral island, under no European sovereign.[6] Throughout this period, however, unofficial, mostly French settlement took place on the island, especially on the Leeward side.
In 1763, the Treaty of Paris awarded Britain rule over Saint Vincent. After a series of Carib Wars, which were encouraged and supported by the French, and the death of their leader Satuye (Chatoyer), they surrendered to the British in 1796. The British considered the Garinagu enemies and deported them to Roatán, an island off the coast of Honduras. In the process, the British separated the more African-looking Caribs from the more Amerindian-looking ones. They decided that the former were enemies who had to be exiled, while the latter were merely "misled" and were allowed to remain. Five thousand Garinagu were exiled, but only about 2,500 of them survived the voyage to Roatán. Because the island was too small and infertile to support their population, the Garifuna petitioned the Spanish authorities to be allowed to settle on the mainland. The Spanish employed them, and they spread along the Caribbean coast of Central America.
In recent history, Garifuna have thrown off their British appellation and encourage others to refer to them as Garifuna. The Garifuna population is estimated to be around 600,000 both in Central America, Yurumein (St. Vincent and The Grenadines), and the United States of America. The latter, due to heavy migration from Central America, has become the second largest hub of Garifuna people outside Central America. New York has the largest population, heavily dominated by Hondurans, Guatemalans and Belizeans. Los Angeles ranks second with Honduran Garifuna being the most populous, followed by Belizeans and Guatemalans. There is no information regarding Garifuna from Nicaragua having migrated to either the East or the West Coast of the United States. The Nicaraguan Garifuna population of today is quite small and community leaders are attempting to resurrect the Garifuna language and cultural traditions.
Three Diasporas: the African diaspora, the Garifuna diaspora, and the Central American diaspora
The distinction between diaspora and transnational migration is that diaspora implies the dispersal of a people from a homeland, whether voluntarily or through exile, to multiple nation-states rather than the bilocality generally associated with transnational migration. In addition, in contrast to the more intense contact transmigrants have with their country of origin, diasporic populations often have a more tenuous relationship to the "homeland" or society of origin because there is little hope of return; the relationship is more remote, or even imagined.[7] Garifuna peoples materialize on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent, exiled to the Caribbean coasts of Central America, and then transmigrant to the United States. For Garífuna, the politics of diaspora are complex because they have several different homelands and different relationships to them: from the mainly symbolic relationship to Africa and St. Vincent to the more immediate relationship to Central America. The specific form the identification with each homeland takes has different political implications. Tracing the processes of this identification and the politics attached to them reveals the intersection of local, national, and transnational processes as well as the complexity of Garifuna identity in diaspora and the global arena of ethnic politics.
Language
The Garifuna language is an offshoot of the Island Carib language, spoken in Honduras, Belize, Guatemala, and Nicaragua by the Garifuna people. It is an Arawakan languagewith Arawak, English, French, and Spanish influence. One interesting feature of Garifuna is a vocabulary featuring some terms used by women and others used primarily by men. This may derive from historical Carib use: in the colonial era, Caribs of both sexes spoke Island Carib, but men additionally used a distinct pidgin based on the unrelated mainlandCarib language.
Almost all Garifuna are bilingual or multilingual, speaking the official languages of the countries they inhabit such as Spanish and English most commonly as a first language.
Religion
Today, the majority of Garifuna are officially Catholic but there are some that are following other religions. However, it is syncretized with traditional beliefs held well before their conversion to the Catholic faith. A shaman known as a buyei is the head of all Garifuna traditional practices. The religion has some similar qualities to the voodoo rituals performed by other tribes derived from Africa. Mystical practices and participation in the Dugu orders are also widespread among Garifuna. Some individuals from Sein Bight and Dangriga, Belize have claimed to have seen feats of levitation.
There is also a Rastafarian minority, primarily living in Dangriga, Belize City, Belize, and in Livingston, Guatemala.
Culture
In 2001 UNESCO proclaimed the language, dance, and music of the Garifuna as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in Nicaragua, Honduras, and Belize. In 2005 the First Garifuna Summit was held in Corn Island, Nicaragua with the participation of the government of other Central American countries.
Food
There is a wide variety of Garifuna dishes, including the more commonly known ereba (cassava bread) made from grated cassava root, garlic, yucca, and salt. The process of making "ereba" is arguably the most important tradition practiced by the Garifuna people. Cassava is so closely tied to the Garifuna culture that the very name Garifuna draws its origin from the Caribs who were originally called "Karifuna" of the cassava clan. They later adopted the name "Garifuna" which literally means cassava-eating people. Making "ereba" is a long and arduous process that involves a large group of Garifuna (mostly women and children) hiking into the jungle to dig up a large quantity of the cassava root (usually several dozen pounds) and taking it back to the village. The root is then washed peeled and grated over small sharp stones affixed to wooden boards. The grating is difficult and time consuming and the women sing sad and slow songs to break the monotony of the work. The grated cassava is then placed into a large cylindrical woven bag called a "ruguma". The "ruguma" is hung from a tree and weighted at the bottom with heavy rocks in order to squeeze out and remove the poisonous liquid and starch from the grated pulp. The counterweight is sometimes provided by piercing the bottom of the "ruguma" with a tree branch and having one or two Garifuna women sit on the branch. Whatever the manner in which the weight is provided, the result is the same. The cassava is now ready to be made into flour. The remaining pulp is then dried overnight and later sieved through flat rounded baskets (hibise) to form flour that is baked into pancakes on a large iron griddle (Comal). Ereba is eaten with fish, hudutu(pounded green and ripe plantains) or alone with gravy (lasusu) often made with a fish soup called "machuca". Others include: bundiga (a plantain lasusu), mazapan, andbimecacule (sticky sweet rice) as well as a coconut rice made with red beans.
Music
Garifuna music is quite different from the rest of Central America. The most famous form is punta. Its associated musical style, which has the dancers move their hips in a circular motion. An evolved form of traditional music, still usually played using traditional instruments, punta has seen some modernization and electrification in the 1970s; this is called punta rock. Traditional punta dancing is consciously competitive. Artists like Pen Cayetano helped innovate modern punta rock by adding guitars to the traditional music, and paved the way for later artists like Andy Palacio, Children of the Most High, and Black Coral. Punta was popular across the region, especially in Belize, by the mid-1980s, culminating in the release of Punta Rockers in 1987, a compilation featuring many of the genre's biggest stars.
Other forms of Garifuna music and dance include: hungu-hungu, combination, wanaragua, abaimahani, matamuerte, laremuna wadaguman, gunjai, sambai, charikanari, eremuna egi, paranda, berusu, punta rock, teremuna ligilisi, arumahani, and Mali-amalihani. Punta is the most popular dance in Garifuna culture. It is performed around holidays and at parties and other social events. Punta lyrics are usually composed by the women. Chumba and hunguhungu are a circular dance in a three-beat rhythm, which is often combined with punta. There are other songs typical to each gender, women having eremwu eu and abaimajani, rhythmic a cappella songs, and laremuna wadaguman, men's work songs,chumba, and hunguhungu, a circular dance in a three-beat rhythm, which is often combined with punta.
Drums play a very important role in Garifuna music. There are primarily two types of drums used: the primero (tenor drum) and the segunda (bass drum). These drums are typically made of hollowed-out hardwood such as mahogany or mayflower, with the skins coming from the peccary (wild bush pig), deer, or sheep.
Also used in combination with the drums are the sisera. These shakers are made from the dried fruit of the gourd tree, filled with seeds, then fitted with hardwood handles.
Paranda music developed soon after the Garifunas arrival in Central America. The music is instrumental and percussion-based. The music was barely recorded until the 1990s, when Ivan Duran of Stonetree Records began the Paranda Project.
In contemporary Belize there has been a resurgence of Garifuna music, popularized by musicians such as Andy Palacio, Mohobub Flores, & Adrian Martinez. These musicians have taken many aspects from traditional Garifuna music forms and fused them with more modern sounds. Described as a mixture of punta rock and paranda. One great example is Andy Palacio's album Watina, and Umalali: The Garifuna Women's Project, both released on the Belizean record label Stonetree Records.
In the Garifuna culture, there is another dance called Dugu. This dance is a ritual done for a death in the family to pay their respect to their loved ones. In 2001, Garifuna music was proclaimed one of the masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity by UNESCO.
Gender relations
Gender roles within the Garifuna communities are significantly defined by the job opportunities available to everyone. The Garifuna people have relied on farming for a steady income in the past, but much of this land was taken by fruit companies in the 20th century.[9] These companies were welcomed at first because the production helped bring an income to the local communities, but as business declined these large companies sold the land and it has become inhabited by mestizo farmers.[10] Since this time the Garifuna people have been forced to travel and find jobs with foreign companies. The Garifuna people mainly rely on export businesses for steady jobs; however, women are highly discriminated against and are usually unable to get these jobs.[11] Men generally work for foreign-owned companies collecting timber and chicle to be exported, or work as fishermen.[12]
Garifuna people live in a matrilocal society, but the women are forced to rely on men for a steady income in order to support their families, because the few jobs that are available, housework and selling homemade goods, do not create enough of an income to survive on.[13] Although women have power within their homes, they rely heavily on the income of their husbands.
Although men can be away at work for large amounts of time they still believe that there is a strong connection between men and their newborn sons. Garifunas believe that a baby boy and his father have a special bond, and they are attached spiritually.[13] It is important for a son’s father to take care of him, which means that he must give up some of his duties in order to spend time with his child.[13] During this time women gain more responsibility and authority within the household.
Genetics
According to one genetic study the ancestry of the Garinagu people on average, is 76% Sub Saharan African, 20% Arawak/Carib and 4% European.[14]
Economics
The Garifuna culture is greatly affected by the economic atmosphere surrounding the community. This makes the communities extremely susceptible to outside influence. Many worry that the area will become extremely commercialized since there are few economic opportunities within the area.[15]
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