THEORIZING CARIBBEAN DEVELOPMENT

IdeologyAn ideology is a frame or lens through which certain problems or issues in social life are viewed and interpreted. To have such a position means to have a set of values to justify thinking and acting in a certain way. These are important since they address problems and focus on the improvement and development of such. It also gives an insight as to what others think and feel. When an ideology begins to have followers or adherents a movement is formed : writers, thinkers and activists communicate these ideas to a wider public to create the conditions for a better society in their estimation. In doing so intellectual traditions are born. In the Caribbean ideologies are at the centre of the PAN AFRICAN MOVEMENT, NEGRITUDE, CAPITALISM, MARXISM, FEMINISM, AND INDO CARIBBEAN AND INDIGENOUS PERSPECTIVE which will be considered.

BLACK NATIONALISM: PAN AFRICANISMThis movement began in the 18th century when Africans in North America tried to get back to Africa. They were in a place where they had been brought illegally and now wanted to go home. It was spearheaded by people in the African diaspora notably from the Caribbean and North America. Henry Sylvester Williams a native of Trinidad educated in England and the US held the first Pan African conference in London which was attended by mostly Africans from the Caribbean, US and England. Their main objectives wereTo promote the view that black people wherever they lived had a bond which united themTo raise the consciousness of African people about AfricaTo free Africa from the control of the EuropeansTo seek justice for the black peopleTo promote black pride, consciousness, and nationalismTo repatriate Africans back to AfricaTo seek the unification of the entire African continent under African rule.

Many Caribbean persons were involved in the establishing of the movement in the early 20th century.Some of these included:Jamaican Marcus Garvey- through his newspapers the negro world, the Blackman and the new Jamaican he attempted to raise the consciousness of African people and to preach about the freedom of African countries. Garvey a national hero of Jamaica now lives on in the reggae music made famous by Bob Marley and inspires budding politicians, trade union leaders, civil rights movement and others in the Caribbean.Cyril Briggs a native of Nevis who was an ardent supported of pan Africans formed the African Blood brotherhood and was also involved in the newspaper business, Crusade, believed that the fundamental cause of poverty and oppression faced by the Africans was Capitalism. He was however the first black leader of the US communist party, he was influenced by garvey.Malcolm Nurse a Trinidadian under the name George Padmore studied communism in Russia amd his main aim was to undermine the colonial control in Africa through his newspaper Negro Worker. The russian leaders used pan africanist such as padmore and others to spread the communist ideas in africa north america and the caribbean.

PAN AFRICANISM IN THE USMarcus garvey was one of those who sought to establish a number of organizations that sought to give African americans health and social services denied them by the american society. He was an inspiration for other pan africanists and had a direct impact on the rastafarian movement where his ideas lived on. In the 1960’s martin luther king and the civil rights movement sought to liberate black people from their powerless role in white america by peaceful protest. However the movement encountered opposition and riots and racial tension from the whites . They viewed the struggle as a war and vowed to use any means necessary to ensure that african americans were allowed to form they own institutions to enjoy the same rights as other citizens and to establish their own communities and schools.

PAN AFRICANISM IN THE BRISTISH CARIBBEAN

In the british caribbean in the 1930’s there were widespread strikes, riots and the growth of trade unions this was because of the growing colonial control and the worsening of economic conditions. To the lower classes then the struggle for bread merged into the desire for the downfall of colonialism, a growing consciousness of unity and black nationalism. The rastafarians were influenced by garvey and thought of him as the second john the baptist, especially when Haile Selassie was proclaimed emperor of Ethiopia. They were inclined to take his “back to africa” call literally and they had put into practice more than any other groups the teachings of garvey. The caribbean soldiers who had fought for the bristish in the 1st world war was able to understand politics on a much wider stage than at home since they experienced racial discrimination within the ranks of the british armed forces. Therefore the pan african movement served to mobilize nationalists sentiments and deepen the decolonialization movement.

Italy’s attempts to invade and annex Ethiopia lead to the fall of its capital Addis Ababa and the exile of Emperor Haile Selassie causing widespread concern and anger in the Caribbean. A minor border dispute with the Italian held Somalia was all the excuse Benito Mussolini, the italian dictator needed to invade with the intent to build a large empire similar to those of the Britain, France etc. he wanted to link the terrotories of eritrea and somalia into a large italian african empire. This act toward a personage the rastafarians considered a god deepend their hostility to the white man’s world. The british who saw it as a denial of their authority persecuted the rastafarians. This angered the Caribbean people as a whole that it lead to trinidad dock workers refusing to unload italian ships and the young men joining the ethiopian army.In the late 1960s and 1970s the message of black power coincided with an economic downturn which was mainly because the economy was largely controlled by multinational companies. Black power analysts felt that the government had failed since the british was merely replaced by a black elite who did little for the poor.

However the movement had grave consequences since many were prevented from returning to their home countries, there was a mass protest, three persons were killed and the unrest spread to other campuses. Caribbean students at the university of the west indies protested racism, picketed the gates at the campus and refused entry to the canadian governor general and the PM. NJACK National joint action committee an organization seeking the empowerment of black people made up of university students and lecturers became the body in which a revolution developed.There were similar incidents in the caribbean and in grenada the unrest led to the take over by the new jewel movement. Cuba gave assistance to liberation groups in africa fighting for their independence especially in angola against the portuguese. In all these cases the emphasis was on the idea of garvey and pan africanism more empowerment to african people, better economic conditions, and less emphasis on foreign customs.

PAN AFRICANISM IN AFRICABy the 1940’s more africans had become involved in the pan african movement. This was due to garvey’s ideas still being prominent in focus of the movement on the removal of the european colonial powers. The objective was to unite all african countries in the form of conomic coperation. Today africa’s massive problems of poverty AIDS civil wars and growing numbers of refugees are being tackled through a vision largely outlined by pan africanist ideas for development.

NÉGRITUDENegritude is a unique brand of pan africanism that exist in the french colonies of the caribbean and africa. Its objective was for the people to celebrate their blackness, focus on their black consciousness, and black pride because as these activities saw it living in a context where only french culture and civilization were promoted threatened the core of a black identity. This movement began in paris where members expressed sentiments about the french policy of total cultural assimilation of its colonies the sidelining of african culture and the near impossibility of gaining independence. In martinique and guadeloupe a small marxist group sought to mobilize the people to overthrow the french but with little success. It urged to move away from traditional european ideologies such as capitalism and from the earliest days there were experiments with communism. Franzt fanon sought to explore the alienation of black people from their cultural roots. He saw no other course but to violently overthrow the colonial governments. Leopold senghor sought to celebrate blackness in his works by describing the values and traditions of african culture as distinctly different from the europeans. He experimented with the socialist ideology as outlined by max but felt that since communal life had long existed in africa an african type of socialism was more relevant. The french caribbean has absorbed the philosophy of negritude and it is given full flower in poetry art and literature today.

ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVE: INDUSTRIALIZATION BY INVITATION

Sir william arthur lewis born in st. lucia became a distinguished economist and spearheaded economic reforms in developing countries.he was instrumental in establishing the caribbean development bank in barbados. He threw light on the economic problems of ex colonial countries and the strategies to improve economic growth. He was also awarded the nobel prize. In puerto rico operation bootstrap was established its objectives were to propel puerto rico from being an agrarian society and exporter of primary products to an industrialized nation. It would use cheap labor as an incentive for multinational companies and would also receive tax free concessions. The result, puerto rico became idustrialized and large numbers of agricultural workers left poorly paying jobs in the rural areas to join the ranks of factory workers earning wages. Deliberately inviting foreign investments interested lewis to think how it would work in the ex colonies of the british west indies. Therefore lewis proposed that we invite foreign investment as an interim measure to stimulate growth not only in industry but also in agriculture and therefore to reduce our dependency on the export sector. So instead of depending on the goodwill of other countries these MNCs would use their own resources together with the abundant unskilled labor and tax free holidays in these countries. However it was not meant to just be industrialization but it was attempt to deal with the situation of large surplus of labor and to jump start economic diversification. Lewis also envisaged that if wages went up in agriculture then technical innovations would become possible to increase productivity.

Lewis’ strategy was based on the capitalist ideology to enable the caribbean nations to emerge from their depressed condition. He thought that they would learn the managerial and technical skills and the state could then set up industries however this strategy failed since the government invited the MNCs but they did not control them. They provided them with tax holidays sited etc but these companies were capital intensive than labor intensive so it had a significant number of persons left unemployed again. There was no provision to train citizens. Lloyd best and the new world group believed that any economic strategy for the caribbean had to recognise the dependency model of economic thought. This model sees the caribbean as a plantation society one that is still enmeshed into the colonial strutures. He said that in order to address the problems of the caribbean you need to have inward thinking and creativity. Though the policy made by lewis had no effect on the caribbean his ideas and ideologies have made a fundamental contribution to the economic thought. Today many modern economists believed that the theory made by lewis was a practical one and now because of globalization MNCs drive global industries and his ideas are more relevant now.

MARXISMKarl Marx had put forward a theory about how societies develop overtime and its underlying concepts proved to have great power in explaining caribbean life with marxist and neo marxist thinkers forming a radical tradition in caribbean intellectual life. This idea was embraced by many caribbean thinkers of different ideologies. It sought alternative explanations to capitalism in investigating the plight of the black underclass experiencing racism colonialism and the persistence of colonial structures. Many economists have adopted the marxist and neo marxist positions in contributing to the debate on development. This theory saw society as evolving through various stages where the economy and the relationships of different groups within the economy defined the type of society that evolved. Some are : communitarian and egalitarian. Marx was able to show that the societies underwent change when contradictions or tensions developed in the economy, bringing about changes in the social relations between groups. This lead to the decline in nobles. The economic base shifted to business manufacturing and heavy industry such as iron and steel. Marx was able to see his theory first hand in england, and how workers were exploited by their bosses. There was the problem of maximum work to minimum wage. This enabled the rich to grow richer and the poor got poorer. Ths resulted in trade unions agitating for better conditions and wages by holding strikes. The poor however did not hold these strikes for long periods. According to marx there will come a time when the workers will overthrow the capitalist and bring an end to that form of society.

The next stage introduced by marx was that of socialism where the goal is to bring about a classless society. This is where all members of society share in the position but first of all they need to understand their position. According to marx only when people can see through this false consciousness in which they have been socialized will they recognise the need for socialism. This is the period when institutions are being put in place for everyone to own the wealth of the land and to have an equal voice in government. Marx stated that the state withers away because a state is really a machinery to get thing done to ensure that no group is exploiting another to protect people and so on. From the end of the 19th century caribbean thinkers saw freedom from racial and class oppression in a marxist understanding of society more than any other. Pan africanists also preferred a marxist or neo marxist vision for the caribbean society. Later on many theorists focused on underdevelopment within a neo marxist framework. Many as well have gone through a lot to bring marxist principles into the caribbean government.

NEO MARXISMMarxist thinkers who greatly elaborated the role of the superstructure in influencing social life are called neo marxists. While marx did discuss the superstructure (those social institutions such as family religion mass media etc) his emphasis tended to be on the economy or substructure. Neo marxist sowed that through its control of the mass media the police and politics the capitalist class is able to increase and consolidate its dominance in the society. To criticize the system or how it works is regarded as rocking the boat or disrupting the status quo. Marxist and neo marxist refer to this as false consciousness.

CARIBBEAN PERSPECTIVE ON BRITISH CAPITALISM

This focuses on the historical experience of the caribbean in tracing the origins of our social and economic problems today. Writers who have studied british capitalism write from a marxist or neo marxist perspective even those who do not call for a debunk on the economic system that continues to support an elite class and large masses of poverty. Whether marxist or not it has been decribed as the radical school in caribbean intellectual thought. Dr. Walter Rodney of guyana examined how capitalism under colonialism sought to keep colonies in an economically backward state. Dr, Eric Williams of trinidad analysed the reasons for the abolition of slavery in relation to the demands of british capitalism rather than the belief that it was the humanitarian of the british public and parliamentarians such as william wilberforce. Llod best for example who did not take up the marxist view showed that the caribbean was obstructed by the historical capitalist structures of the plantation system even today we have only succeeded in creating a modified plantation society. According to best what we need to combat the legacy of british capitalism as independent countries today is a focus on the non plantation aspects of the economy. He feels we can develop our own economic ideologies that support economic independence which has been elusive to date.

CARIBBEAN FEMINIST PERSPECTIVESBefore feminism became an ideology there were feminists these are women who are concerned with the inequities being suffered by women as group as well as other disadvantaged groups were willing to take leadership roles to address the issue. The caribbean had a remarkable group of women our early feminists. Feminism is based on the perceived need for equality of the sexes. Feminism is not about rule by women it is very much concerned with men and the relationship between men and women. Therefore it may be men and women since it is the study of gender inequality. In almost every sphere of life men are the primary decision makers and exert influence and power over others leading to an imbalance between sexes this feminist say arises from patriarchy.

PATRIARCHYPatriarchy refers to the organization of society where gender ideologies that promote men’s interest as superior to women’s. it must be changed in order to achieve gender equality. However this system blocks the aspiration of women who may want to venture into traditional male centres of power. Feminists goes on to show that men as a uniform group and women as a uniform group does not exist in social life. A deeper interpretation of patriarchy is it is a gender system that inflicts violence and oppression on women and men who are seen as threats. The extent however to which women view themselves can support the exploitation of women by men. Some are silently allowing patriarchy to prevail while others want it to stop.

This saw the development of the WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT programme of the UWI and the university of guyana to integrate women into the development process through income generating projects and increasing access to educational opportunities. Then there was the focus on gender studies, this is the study of the social relationship between men and women in the past and in contemporary life. Then there was gender identities which was a part of the study and to a large extent brings the process of gender socialization under examination. A more holistic approach then resulted the WAND women and development it was concerned with how to incorporate a gender system as we have it into national political economic social and cultural life so that both men and women can contribute and benefit equally. In short terms then feminism seek to end oppression of women by men.

DEFINING GENDERGender- the social construction of meanings and the relationship that define masculinity and femininity which tends to be based on one’s biological sexGender bias- unfair treatment based on one’s gender there are certain types of jobs where women are not expected to be successful and are considered unfeminine.Gender identity- how a person defines and expresses what they believe their gender to be Gender ideologies- strong beliefs or ideas about the roles that male and female should play and how they should behaveGender roles- how a person understands how they are expected to behave given their gender identity.Gender socialization- the process whereby members of society induct new members into the appropriate roles and behaviors that they should take up to conform to society’s expectation.Gender stereotypes- gendered behavior that are expected of by males and females.Gender system- the characteristic set of gender relations that are dominant in a particular society.

LIBERAL FEMINISMIt views that all sexes should be equal and both should enjoy political social and economic equality. It started with the right to vote for women and the removal of all barriers that prevent women from enjoying the same rights and opportunities as men.

RADICAL FEMINISMThis sees that the root cause of the inequity being suffered by women as their oppression by men. It encourages sexism a form of discrimination where one sex women is believed to be inferior to the other. It tends to stress the differences between men and women while liberal stress sameness or equality. On the whole radical feminism seeks to bring about a cultural change that debunks stereotypes of women.

MARXIST FEMINISTSMarxist feminists believe that the relationship between men and women as set up by capitalism encourage the oppression of women. With the systems all being dominated by a patriarchal system of beliefs. In a capitalist the traditional work of women is devalued and subordinated to man’s work outside the home. It argues that domestic work should be seen as paid work as women also work outside the home. However man’s work is seen as more important than woman’s and they continue to oppress women who work both inside and outside the home. Also those who at the same time have the responsibility for spiritual moral and emotional life of the family.

CARIBBEAN FEMINISMCaribbean feminism is not in full agreement with the feminist abroad as the concerns and issues of women in the caribbean are different from those in the western society. For e.g women in the western society tend to be a uniform concept, however women in the caribbean are put into different social groups based on race etc. therefore they suffer different levels of oppression.HISTORYOne of the main concerns is to produce a realistically engendered history of the region one that opposes male dominated activities. It has sought to uncover the parallel lives of women through journals, diaries, narratives etc by showing how historical events impacted on and were influenced by a group that has been silenced by men writing in history. Therefore reference need to be made to slavery, indentureship, colonialism, and independence. Slavery has been the focus though to throw light on the contemporary relationships within the afro-caribbean families. In the era after the abolition of slavery families as nuclear units did exist. Women continued to rebel and resist their condition yet their lives have gone unreported.Women in the western society women were tied to their domestic roles whilst the male were the breadwinners, however in the caribbean in lower classes women were the breadwinners and had to assume the role of dominant adults in the home. Therefore being powerful in the home did not translate into being powerful in public.

POWERGendered relationships existing between men and women are organized into subtle and not so subtle ways to maintain patriarchy or male dominance. It aims to explore and lay bare how power exists within the gendered relationships. The theories to date attempted to explain the formation of gender identities and gendered behaviors as benign socialization, are those that tend to make the process seem neutral and harmless. Shows how gender ideologies are passed on within the gender system where males hold more power than females. They want to expose the gender stereotypes and bias that are passed on because of this very imbalance of power.Citizenship in the caribbean has been built on an image of males as the ideal citizens and even when it is stated in the constitution that there is gender equality, the laws are based on men’s lives. Tracy robinson a feminists used the case of guyana in 1982 when a guyanese women could not get the court to rule in favor that her foreign born husband was dependent and therefore could live in Guyana. However, the foreign born wife of a guyanese man could be deemed a dependent and live in guyana. This was based on the notion that a woman had to be dependent on her husband but no the other way around.

Feminists criticize the theory of male marginalization (this is having the idea that girls are better performers than

boys and as such treat them accordingly )since the power of men continue to wield in society, therefore they do not

see any marginalization taking place. They contradict this point by showing that even though more females are being enrolled in schools and do obtain higher qualifications and

better jobs this does not mean that they go on to hold positions of power and leadership. Therefore whether

women are more successful now than before men are still

dominant.

FRACTURED GENDER IDENTITIESCaribbean feminists are interested in studying how all the intersection of age, race, class, ethnicity, geographical location and historical experience come together to create and perpetuate gender ideologies, gender identity and gender socialization within and between different groups.An example of this is the indian group in trinidad and how they relate to the african group both being equal numbers. They have different gender systems, in the Indian community women play a subservient role to men, whilst the African group is matrifocal with women enjoying much autonomy. Patriarchy is present however, the ideology about the superiority of men are found and widespread but not as explicit as in the indian community. For many the patriarchial system has been eroded since education has levelled the playing field between males and females. Therefore indian women adopt the ideologies of african women.this system of patriarchy could be broken if women played a more successful role in lowering the ethnic polarity that exists between the indians and the africans. If more indian women become involved in arts, literature, drama etc then they will become more like the african women.

INDO CARIBBEAN THOUGHTThe Asians who came to the Caribbean as contract labour mainly from China and India in the 1800’s experienced the restrictions of colonialism and the hardships within their contractual arrangements.

Indo- Caribbean thought was largely a response to these conditions and an expressions of their culture within the Caribbean.

To date, Guyana, Trinidad and Suriname have the largest concentrations of Indians in the region. Guyana and Trinidad have two major ethnic groups (Indians and Africans); while Suriname has at least four ethnic groups (Hindustanis or East Indians, the creoles or Africans, the Javanese or Indonesians, and the Bush Negroes or Maroons)

Most whites who researched and analysed Indian communities in Guyana and Trinidad centred their studies against the background of colonialism, oppression and poverty (and how to reverse certain trends that emerged).

Themes in Indo- Caribbean thought focused on:

1. Identity- which covers religion and rituals e.g. marriage

Indians have retained their religions of Islam and Hinduism. Although they have accepted Western dress, religion still prescribes a code of conduct, rituals, food preparations etc.

Customs and religion also reinforces endogamy (choosing prospective wives or husbands for children from the clan)

However, the caste requirement of their culture had to be abandoned as Hindus and Muslims begin to intermarriage and the “mixed” population in Trinidad and Guyana begun to grow.

2. Citizenship- which covers such ideas as who is a genuine citizen (Africans or the Asians) and also who has more rights to the national “cake”.

None of the groups felt upon independence, that they were equal as citizens

The Africans felt that their long history of settlement and suffering gave them a prior claim as authentic citizens of the land.

Indians argue however, that they worked in building the agricultural sector and rescuing the colony in the aftermath of emancipation.

This situation grew as Africans believed they should have been awarded land upon emancipation as the Indians were.

This discourse led to increasing polarization between the two groups, who later both sought to form political parties and governments where one ethnicity dominated. (Lead to fraud claims: Forbes Burnham repeatedly returned to power even though Guyana has a majority Indian population)

Indo- caribbean writers include:

V.S. Naipaul, Samuel Selvon and Ismith Khan (Indo- Trinidadian)

Clem Seecharan and David Dabydean (Indo- Guyanese)

For many years Amerindian groups were portrayed by Europeans as childlike (Arawaks) and vicious cannibals (Caribs).

Writings with an indigenous slant have rejected these ideas.

Beginning in the first half of the 19th century West Indian scholars sought to reverse this perception. One critical objective of indigenous perspective was to correct the view that the natives did not have a history. Several writings or histories have sought to place indigenous groups on the historical map.

Examples:

A history of the Guyanese Working People- Walter Rodney

The Black Jacobins- C.L.R. James

The Slaves Who Abolished Slavery- Richard Hart

Black Rebellion in Barbados- Hilary Beckles

The Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean have also sought to change the myth started against them by the Europeans that they are extinct and that the small surviving populations are not “pure” Amerindians

Another objective of the writings was that Amerindian and African contributions must not be understood only in the capacity of labour, but for their cultural contribution.

Issues of concern to Indigenous peoples especially in Dominica, Guyana and Belize relate to:

1. Marginalization- social, economic and political

E.g. Guyana is often said to be divided between the Indians (Indo- Guyanese) and the Africans (Afro- Guyanese), the Amerindians are usually forgotten. They are seen as a separate group located deep in the interior of the island and are referred to as just Amerindians.

Amerindians in the region live in poverty and isolation

The intellectual tradition of feminism is based on the desire for equality between men and women in the workplace, politics, the family or in leadership positions. It is not about rule by women.

Feminist writers argue that in almost every area of social life, men are able to exert influence and control over others which result in an imbalance of power.

There are several strand of feminism:

1. Liberal feminism- they hold the view that men and women are equal and should both enjoy political, social and economic equality. They believe that legislation and education can bring about gender equality

2. Radical feminism- stress that the oppression of women by men is the root cause of inequality. Society is organized based on a male system of power that encourages sexism.

3. Marxist feminism- the view that by its nature, the system of capitalism oppresses women. The economic, political, religious and education systems are all dominated by the patriarchal system of beliefs.

The issues concerning women in the Caribbean were seriously brought to the fore in the 1960’s and 1970’s and came out of the feminist movement in the USA.

Throughout the Caribbean, women’s organisations have been created to promote the cause of women such as:

The National Organization of Women (NOW)

Sistren

Caribbean Women’s Association (CARIWA)

The volume of feminist writings has brought about some positive change in the

attitudes of society towards women. There is now growing acceptance of

women in managerial positions and politics.

Some Caribbean Feminists include:

Mary Seacole (Jamaica)

Amy Ashwood Garvey (Garvey’s wife)

Elma Francois (St. Vincent)