CARIBBEAN STUDIES

CARIBBEAN STUDIESCULTURE AND ITS IMPACT ON SOCIETY

1TUTORS:TYIESHIA WELCOMESTEVAN DAVISPETES HARE

Caribbean Culture Caribbean culture is a term that explains the artistic, musical, literary, culinary, political and social elements that are representative of the Caribbean people all over the world. The Caribbean's culture has historically been partially influenced by European culture and traditions, especially British, Spanish, the Dutch and French. Over time, elements of the cultures of the Africans and other immigrant populations have become incorporated into mainstream Caribbean culture. It has also been strongly influenced by that of its linguistic, economic, and cultural neighbor, the United States.Louise Bennett contAfter the death of her father in 1926, Bennett-Coverley was raised primarily by her mother. She attended elementary school at Ebenezer and Calabar, continuing on to St. Simon's College and Excelsior College, in Kingston before enrolling, in 1943, at Friends College in Highgate, St Mary where she studied Jamaican folklore. In 1945 Bennett-Coverly became the first black student to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art after being awarded a scholarship from the British Council.

Louise Bennett (1919-2006)The famous Dr. Louise Bennett comedian was popularly known miss Lou . She was born on September 7, 1919 on North Street in Kingston, Jamaica. She was the only child of Augustus Cornelius Bennett, the owner of a bakery in Spanish Town, and Kerene Robinson, a dressmaker. Career of Louise Bennett After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, she worked with repertory companies in Coventry, Huddersfield and Amersham, as well as in intimate revues all over England.On her return to Jamaica she taught drama to youth and adult groups both in social welfare agencies and for the University of the West Indies Extra Mural Department.Miss Lou was a good resident artiste and a teacher from 1945 to 1946 with the "Caribbean Carnival". She appeared in leading humorous roles in several Jamaican pantomimes and television shows. She travelled throughout the world promoting the culture of Jamaica through lectures and performances. Although her popularity was international, she enjoyed celebrity status in her native Jamaica, Canada and the United Kingdom. Her poetry has been published several times, most notably the volumes Jamaica Labrish (1966), Anancy and Miss Lou (1979).Her most influential recording is probably her 1954 rendition of the Jamaican traditional song "Day Dah Light", which was recorded by Harry Belafonte as "Day-O", also known as the "Banana Boat Song", in 1955 on a Tony Scott arrangement with additional lyrics. Belafonte based his version on Bennett's recording. The Louise Bennett version of "Day O" is available and documented in both French and English on the Jamaica - Mento 1951-1958 album. Belafonte's famous version was one of the 1950s' biggest hit records, leading to the very first gold record.

Pictures of Miss Lou

Cultural significance and legacyLouise Bennett's poem Colonization in Reverse (1966) provides a historical context for many minorities living in the UK in post-colonial times. Her portrayal of the Jamaican experience of dislocation and racial inequality parallels that of South Asian people living in London. Additionally, in both cases issues of cultural specificity and identity are salient. Both Jamaican and South Asian people shared a similar experience in their move to England for employment and a better life while also implying the complexities of assimilation and dual identity.Bennett pinpoints her concept of cultural disloyalty when she writes about Jamaicans on their quest for better job opportunities: Dem a pour out a Jamaica/ Everybody future plan/ Is to get a big-time job/ An settle in de mother lan.Her reference to the mother lan here has an irony to it in that she is applying that England is the new mother land as opposed to Jamaica. By her referring to England in this way it implies that her fellow Jamaicans are assimilating to Englands culture and leaving behind Jamaica, or the mother lan.10A similar notion of assimilation is expressed by the South Asian hip-hop group Hustlers HC through the lyrics in their song "Big Trouble in Little Asia". Similarly to Bennett, they combat the idea of colonization; only their music references it through the lens of Indias relation to Britain. They express the variety of oppressions experienced in Britain, yet refer to Britain as a land of opportunity. Additionally, they reveal the struggles of mindless "bum jobs" just as Bennett does. Throughout their music, Hustler HC struggle with their cultural history of oppression: "colonial displacement, capitalist work relations and racial oppression". These struggles are shared by Jamaicans due to the similarities in their experience of colonization. Moreover, South Asian and Jamaican music aesthetic merged in many music scenes in the UK. In essence, Jamaicans and South Asians in London both struggled in similar ways to claim a culture and identitymusic formed as a tool to achieve this.Photographs, audiovisual recordings, correspondence, awards and other material regarding Bennett-Coverley were donated to the McMaster University Library in 2011 based on the agreement that selections from the fonds, dating from 1941 to 2008, would be digitized and made available online as part of a digital archiveIn 2015, Miss Lou: Louise Bennett and Jamaican Culture, a book by Mervyn Morris, was published.

Paule Marshall (1929)Paule Marshall, Valenza Pauline Burke, was born in Brooklyn, New York. Her parents, Ada and Samuel Burke, were emigrants from Barbados, West Indies. At the age of nine, Marshall made an extended visit to the native land of her parents and discovered for herself the quality of life peculiar to that tropical isle. Although she then wrote a series of poems reflecting her impressions, creative writing did not become a serious pursuit until much later in her young adult life. The selection included in the book is a mature reminiscence and symbolic expansion of that childhood visit.Cultural legacyMarshalls fiction is rooted in Black cultural history. Her novels have an emphasis on Black female characters and she uses these characters to address contemporary feminist issues from an Afrocentric perspective. She challenges her readers to understand the political, social, and economic structures societies are built on. Through her literature, she highlights the oppressive systems that are in place. She also challenges people of African descent to reinvent their own identities. In addition to being an author, Paule Marshall is also a professor of English and creative writing at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. She has received many awards in her career.Pictures of Paule Marshall

Books by Paule MarshallAfter college Marshall began to write feature stories for Our World, a small Black publication. During this time she was writing for herself at home. Her first novel, Brown Girl, Brownstones, took shape over five years and was published in 1959. This book deals with the coming of age of a West Indies girl while simultaneously exploring the Black emigrant experience in America. Some of her later novels and short stories include Soul Clap Hands and Sing (1961), Reena (1962), Some Get Wasted (1964), To Da-Duh: In Memorandum (1967), The Chosen Place, the Timeless People (1969), Praisesong for the Widow (1983), and Daughters (1991).

Books

DEFINITIONSTRANSNATIONALISM This is a social phenomenon and scholarly research agenda grown out of the heightened interconnectivity between people and the receding economic and social significance of boundaries among nation states.JUNK FOODThis is a pejorative term for food containing high levels of calories from sugar or fat with little protein, vitamins or minerals. Use of the term implies that a particular food has little nutritional value and contains excessive fat, sugar, salt and calories.DEFINITIONS CONTAGEISMThis is the discrimination against a particular age group an especially the elderly.

EXAMPLE OF AGEISMHe accused his former employer of ageism when he lost his job to a younger man.