University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 1-1-1982 Images of the Caribbean : materials development on a pluralistic society. Gloria. Gordon University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1 Recommended Citation Gordon, Gloria., "Images of the Caribbean : materials development on a pluralistic society." (1982). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 2245. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/2245 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. IMAGES OP THE CARIBBEAN - MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT ON A PLURALISTIC SOCIETY A Dissertation Presented by Gloria Mark Gordon Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION May 1 982 School of Education © 1982 GLORIA MARK GORDON All Rights Reserved IMAGES OF THE CARIBBEAN - MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT ON A PLURALISTIC SOCIETY A Dissertation Presented by Gloria Mark Gordon Approved as to style and content by: Georg? E. Urch, Chairperson ) •. aJb...; JL Raljih Faulkinghairi, Member u l i L*~- Mario FanbfLni , Dean School of (Education This work is dedicated to my daughter Yma, my sisters Carol and Shirley, my brother Ainsley, my great aunt Virginia Davis, my friend and mentor Wilfred Cartey and in memory of my parents Albert and Thelma Mark iii . ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work owes much, to friends and colleagues who provided many elusive forms of sustenance: Ivy Evans, Joan Sandler, Elsie Walters, Ellen Mulato, Nana Seshibe, Hilda Kokuhirwa, Colden Murchinson, Sibeso Mokub. To my committee, Drs. George Urch, David Evans and Ralph Eaulkingham - a special thanks for your guidance and support I am grateful for the help of my typist Claudette Andrade, but most of all I owe thanks to Neville Linton for many years of encouragement. iv ABSTRACT Images of the Caribbean - Materials Development on a Pluralistic Society (February 1982) Gloria Mark Gordon, B.A. University of Manitoba M.Ed., University of Massachusetts Ed.D., University of Massachusetts Directed by: Dr. George E. Urcn One of the most urgent tasks facing multicultural education is that of relevant materials development. The Caribbean is one region that has chronically suffered both from a paucity of materials and from an incorrect slant of those materials. The present study was aimed at developing materials on the Caribbean that reflect Caribbean realities. To this end the following research questions guided the investigator: What major issues/themes are emerging in the Caribbean which schools should address? How can material written by people from the Caribbean be used to explore these issues/themes? What are the implications for educators in the Caribbean if primary source material is used in the schools? Research procedure . The research, procedure consisted primarily of a systematic library search, inter- views with key educators, authors and literary figures and v . data collection by means of tbe participant observer technique Having noted that most material available on the Caribbean was decidedly ethnocentric, the investigator proposed a conceptual framework for materials development on the Caribbean that would give students a balanced view of the region. Major implications of the study were identified as follows: The potential to add to a body of knowledge on a virtually untouched area. The responsibility of the researcher to try to change the way the Caribbean is currently perceived In conclusion, it was hoped that an attempt would be made both in the United States and the Caribbean to utilize the material and that further materials develop ment projects would be undertaken with a view towards continued multicultural materials development. vi PROLOGUE from Black Images by Wilfred Cartey "Preludes of a people made to wander and to suffer, preludes of the crack and the clack of the whip, of groans and shrieks and the stifled breath of compressed bodiesj a grim foreshadowing. The cries of black bodies in churn- ing seas, the cries of lost beings thrown like so much jetsam to flood the shores of distant lands, to suffer there, to transfuse that suffering through gnarled hands unto the tightened drumhead and into the dark night, to filter hope through sad song, hope ever present in dull black memories. These are the true preludes to this song, to the life and the poetry of an oppressed race whose epic drums rise from depths of suffering and scorn to attain high levels of self-affirmation and quality. But these preludes, these true ethnic preludes, were lost in the breezes, in the stars, and in time, were never recorded or tuned. Thus the opening strains were sung about the race and seldom by the race. The masters of the black race — and everyone of white skin was then a master of the blacks--wrote the ethnic preludes to this song and epic. But the masters could not feel the depth or the power of these black men and so the song was a stifled parody of the human wrecks they ruled. The black man of that song was clod, a thus a figure of ridicule, a slow, dumb, witless black Caliban. And "Negro" became an epithet of scorn, and was synonymous with Negro." vii TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION P ®? e ill ACKNOWLEDGMENTS IV ABSTRACT v PROLOGUE vn Chapter !• THE NEED for indigenous materials on the CARIBBEAN 1 II. RECURRING THEMES IN THE CARIBBEAN 27 III. POVERTY AND ALIENATION IN THE CARIBBEAN 1|2 IV. SURVIVAL AND SELF-DEFINITION IN THE CARIBBEAN 201 V. THE PRELIMINARY TESTING OF THE MATERIALS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE FUTURE 33I EPILOGUE 3^ APPENDIX 3^7 Notes PROLOGUE 3^8 CHAPTER 1 3^9 CHAPTER II 350 CHAPTER III 351 CHAPTER IV 363 EPILOGUE 365 BIBLIOGRAPHY 366 MAP OF CARIBBEAN 376 viii CHAPTER I THE NEED FOR INDIGENOUS MATERIALS ON THE CARIBBEAN Background of the Problem; The Continuing Process of "Anglo-Conformism" in Schools’^ Over the years, educators have spoken out against the form and substance of formal education in the Caribbean. This criticism stems from the realization that students both in and out of the Caribbean are still being taught more about Western European countries than the cultures and value systems of the Caribbean. In North America, demands by minorities in the 1960's brought about a proliferation of Etnnic Studies Programs which addressed the needs of minority people to enable them to know more about their cultures and have them respected. The consciousness raising of minorities as ethnic groups has deeply affected education. Where previously, minority and ethnic groups apologized for their differences; now, they began to assert these differences and demand that education attend to the culture groups other than that of Western European descendants. While some educators called for curriculum reform, others demanded more than a few minor changes in policy reform supporting the ethnic studies movement. Silberman claimed groups this approach was a form of pacification for enraged curri- which in fact produced few changes in the schools and the ethnic culum. ^ Many educators thought that conceptualizing 2 perspective, as an additional course, did little for educa- tion in general as the minority students were the focus of this education. In spite of the ethnic studies movement curriculum materials continued to be developed that were ethnocentric and culture bound. Few educators saw the need to study other cultures because of their own intrinsic worth so that students could conceive of the world in ethnic terms and accept the interrelatedness of mankind. The goals of a multicultural education program are no more and no less than the goals of our democratic society; a respect and appreication for the cultural background of the individuals who make up our society. If this premise is to become a reality, then the schools must become directly involved; and the teacher, as the single most important variable in the instructional process, must become actively involved. Although the United States is a pluralistic society, many Americans live in isolated cultural enclaves, and have little substantial contact and sustained inter- action with members of ethnic, racial and cultural groups outside their own. The challenge to the teacher is two- fold. First, to bridge that isolation gap between cultural groups and second, to give students a strong sense of identity within their own cultural group. 3 While there are as many goals in a multicultural education program as there are teachers working in the area, there are two over-arching general goals with which most teachers agree. These are: 1 . to help students develop and retain a personal cultural identity; 2. to help students know and appreciate the points of view of ethnic and cultural groups other than their own. Young people must be made cognizant of the world’s political and cultural regions and more importantly of the continuing interrelationships connecting these regions. Educational systems therefore should reflect more adequately such matters as unity and diversity of mankind, the inter- dependence of nations and peoples and the need for inter- national cooperation in shaping a future. With school systems bursting at the seams with children from various immigrant groups, with racial tension rising, it is fast becoming a question of survival for teachers to become culturally aware. A culturally aware teacher should: 1 . Understand how his or her cultural perspective and its limits affect the ongoing teaching/learn- ing relationship and understand that the explora- tion of these cultural limits is an ongoing process. 2. Provide for and promote an atmosphere in which cultural differences can be explored and under- stand that this process is not only cognitive but attitudinal and effective as well.