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Caribbean Studies - Coggle Diagram
Caribbean Studies
Module 1
CARIBBEAN SOCIETY AND CULTURE
1. Location and Definition of the Caribbean Region and its Diaspora
(a) Geographical location:
(i) names of territories;
(ii) sub-regions, for example, Greater Antilles, Lesser Antilles, Bahamas;
(iii) position of territories in relation to the Caribbean Sea, Atlantic Ocean and
the continental land masses.
(b) Definitions of the Caribbean Region:
(i) geographical;
(ii) geological;
(iii) historical;
(iv) political;
(v) diasporic.
2. The Historical Process
(a) Migratory movements and the establishment of patterns of settlement by different
groups within the Caribbean from pre-Columbian times to 1838.
(b) Migratory movements within and outside the region from 1838 to present day:
recognition of diasporic communities, for example, Santo Domingo, Panama and
London.
(c) The development of systems of production: slash and burn, encomienda, slavery,
indentureship, the plantation system.
(d) Responses of the Caribbean people to oppression and genocide: resistance,
revolution, development of peasant groups.
(e) Movements toward independence:
(i) political enfranchisement;
(ii) adult suffrage;
(iii) internal self-government;
(iv) economic enfranchisement;
(v) entrepreneurial activities, including shopkeeping and savings societies.
3. Characteristics of Society and Culture
(a) Society:
(i) shared common purpose;
(ii) a defined territorial space;
(iii) continuity over time and space;
(iv) citizenship within a space.
(b) Culture:
(i) learned behaviour common to all human beings;
(ii) customs and traditions;
(iii) norms and values which provide a guide to behaviour;
(iv) institutions which prescribe behaviour;
(v) gendered practices, for example, child rearing, employment.
4. Identity and Social Formation
(a) Cultural Diversity:
(i) positive and negative effects of cultural diversity; ethnic and cultural differences;
the accommodation made among different ethnic groups with respect to space,
political and economic power and social visibility.
(b) Social Stratification:
(i) plantation society and its impact on Caribbean social stratification (that is,
race, colour, and money as major factors in social stratification); education
as a basis for new class formation and upward mobility;
(ii) concepts such as plantocracy, intelligentsia, middle class, bourgeoise,
working class, underclass, caste.
(c) Creolisation and Hybridisation:
(i) process of cultural change in the Caribbean: acculturation, plural society;
creolisation as argued by Edward Kamau Braithwaite; douglarisation,
hybridisation;
(ii) racial admixture and colour in the formation of Caribbean society and
culture, for example, terms like mulatto, mestizo, dougla, creole;
(iii) erasure, retention and renewal of cultural practices.