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Xerox University Microfilms 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 76-9976

GUSSLER, Judith Danford, 1940- NUTRITIONAL IMPLICATIONS OF FOOD DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS IN ST. KITTS.

The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1975 Anthropology, cultural

Xerox University Microfilms,Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106

(c)copyright by Judith Danford Gussler 1975

THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED. NUTRITIONAL IMPLICATIONS OF FOOD DISTRIBUTION

NETWORKS IN ST. KITTS

DISSERTATION

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate

School of The Ohio State University

By

Judith Danford Gussler, B.A., M.A

* * * * *

The Ohio State University

1975

Reading Committee: Approved By

Dr. Erika Bourguignon

Dr. Daniel Hughes

i ■ ! ? - + Dr. John Messenger ~ Adviser X" V Department of Anthropology ' ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Through the years during which I conducted my research and prepared this dissertation I received help and support from a number of people. I am especially indebted to my adviser, Dr. Erika Bourguignon, for her continuing encouragement, guidance, and patience through it all. Both she and Dr. John Messenger have given me valuable insights, as well, based upon their own Caribbean experiences. I thank Dr. Mes­ senger and Dr. Daniel Hughes for their helpful comments on the disser­ tation. Dr. Frank E. Poirier, who preceded me in the research village, saved me valuable time with his recommendations and contacts.

Advice and support also came from beyond The Ohio State University anthropological community. I particularly wish to thank Dr. Virginia Vivian and Dr. Nancy Schwartz for their assistance in the training of a neophyte nutritionist, Dr. Edward Kurjack who rescued the computer program, and Dr. Richard Howard for his speedy identification of medicinal plant specimens. My thanks, too, to Susan Uolkow, who did excellent work with the figures for the dissertation. And to M. Cathey Jenkins, who has helped, encouraged, and shared her stimulating thoughts on this research both at home and in the field, I am grateful.

My greatest debt, however, is to my family. My husband, Steve, and my children, Suzanna, Stephanie, and Dan have given me time, work, warmth, and encouragement to see me through the rough periods. I only hope they consider this time well spent, just as I do. I also wish to express gratitude to my parents, who have supported my educa­ tional and professional goals longer than anyone else.

Finally, my sincere thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Frank Henville, Mr. Stanley Phillip, and Miss Helen Browne of St. Kitts. They represent the good people of Basseterre and Challenger's Village, who alter­ nately cheered us and chastized us, but who always wanted us to "understand" Kittitians. I hope I have not misrepresented their vibrant society.

ii VITA

August 7, 1940 ...... Born - Sonxerton, Ohio

1964 ...... B.A., The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

1964-1966 ...... Research Assistant, Project for the Cross-Cultural Study of Dissociational States, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

1966-1970 ...... Teaching Assistant, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

1969 ...... M.A., The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

1970-1971 ...... Instructor, Department of Sociolgoy and Anthropology, Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio

1974-1975 ...... Instructor, Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Franklin University, Columbus, Ohio

PUBLICATIONS

1966 - The Dynamics of a Religious Phenomenon in South Africa. Paper presented at the Ohio Academy of Sciences, Columbus, Ohio.

1968 - Nutrition and Behavior: Ecological Factors and Behavioral Change in South Africa. Paper presented at the Central States Anthropological Society, Detroit, Michigan.

1969 - Nutrition and Behavior: Ecological Factors and Possession- Illness in South Africa. Paper presented at the American Anthro­ pological Association, New Orleans, Louisiana,

1972 - Nutrition and Behavior: Ecological Factors and Possession- Illness in South Africa. Paper above reprinted in Rural Afrlcana 17:87-94.

1973a- Health, Strength, and Bush Medicine in a West Indian Community. Paper presented at the American Anthropological Association, New Orleans, Louisiana.

iii 1973b- Social Change, Ecology, and Spirit Possession Among the South African Nguni. In Religion, Altered States of Consciousness and Social Change, Erika Bourguignon, ed., The Ohio State University Press, Columbus, Ohio.

1974 - Covert Food Sharing in a West Indian Community. Paper pre­ sented at the American Anthropological Association, Mexico City.

1975 - Nutritional Implications of Food Distribution Networks in St. Kitts. Paper presented at the Central States Anthropological Society, Detroit, Michigan.

FIELDS OF STUDY

Major Field: Cultural Anthropology Medical Anthropology Nutritional Anthropology Caribbean Ethnography Peasant Societies

iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS...... it

VITA ...... ill

LIST OF TABLES ...... viii

LIST OF FIGURES ...... x

INTRODUCTION ...... 1

Chapter

I. THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES OF WEST INDIAN SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS ...... 11

Peasants and the Rural Proletariat ...... 11 Social Relationships in the West Indies ..... 16 Social Networks in Individuated Societies .... 23 1 Summary...... 26

II. ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON FOOD AND NUTRITION ...... 27

The Sociocultural Context of Food Habits: Anthropological Views ...... 27 The Sociocultural Context of Food Habits: Nutritionists View Culture ...... 31 The Application of Anthropology to Nutrition Programs ...... 33 Ecological Anthropology and Nutritional Adaptation ...... 34 Summary ...... 36

III. COLLECTION OF ETHNOGRAPHIC FOOD D A T A ...... 38

Levels of Research ...... 38 Kittitian Society ...... 38 The Village ...... 39 The Nutrition Interview Sample ...... 39 Food Habits of Selected Individuals .... 40 Ethnographic Phase ...... 40 Nutritional Research Phase ...... 45 Summary...... 48

v Page

IV. HISTORY AND PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF ST. KITTS ...... 49

Location, Geography, and Climate...... 49 Plants, Animals, and Man .... 51 History ...... 56 Summary ...... 69

V. THE CONTEMPORARY COMMUNITY ...... 72

The Population ...... 72 Island Economy ...... 76 The Village ...... 80 Village Political and Economic Organization...... 86 Peasant Agriculture ...... 88 Estate Worlc ...... 92 Other Local Industries and Professions ..... 93 Household and Kinship ...... 97 Quality of Interpersonal Relationships .... 102 Intervillage Institutions and Organizations .. 102 Life Cycle ...... 105 Summary ...... 109

VI. F00DWAYS IN THE VILLAGE CONTEXT ...... Ill

Food Pathways Through Challenger's Village ... Ill The Cultural Context of Food Consumption .... 119 Daily Eating Pattern ...... 120 Weekly Food Pattern...... 122 Seasonal Food Pattern...... 122 Preparation of Common Foods ...... 123 Sociality, Hospitality, and Food ...... 124 Food and Concepts of He a l t h ...... 125 Summary...... 127

VII. SOCIOCULTURAL PARAMETERS OF DIET IN ST. KITTS ...... 128

Quality and Forms of Relationships in Kittitian Society ...... 128 Economic Parameters of Diet ...... 131 Cognitive Factors ...... 136 Strengthening the Body, Cleansing the Organs; Food and Bushes 136 Limited Good and Hidden Food Sharing: the Cognition of Economic Marginality .... 137 Social Factors: Life Stages and Social Networks ...... 140

vi Page

Infancy ...... 140 Childhood ...... 141 Adulthood ...... 142 Other Research Results ...... 147 Summary ...... 149

VIII. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ...... 150

Social Relationships and Differential Food Distribution ...... 150 Cognitive Factors in D i e t ...... 154 Differential Food Distribution and Adaptation...... *..... • 154 Summary ...... 155

APPENDIX

A ...... 157

B ...... 159

C ...... 164

BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... i...... 165

vii LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

1 Population by Sex and Age Categories ...... 72

2 Parish Populations by Sex ...... 73

3 Migration Balance ...... 74

4 Population, 1960: Estimated Population, 1966-1972 ...... 74

5 Population by Sex and Racial Origin, 1960 .... 76

6 Classifiable Labor Force by Place of Residence and Industry Group ...... 77

7 Domestic Exports, 1967, 1971 ...... 78

8 Imports of Selected Commodities, 1967, 1971 •* 79

9 Balance of Visible Trade, 1967-1971 .... . 80

10 Dxcellings, Private and Non-Private, Number of Rooms ...... 85

11 Common Village Crops ...... 91

12 Household Data: Island, Parish, Interview Sample ...... 97

13 Village Adult Population and Interview Sample Percentages According to Selected Variables, Sex, Age, and Socio-economic Status ...... 133

14 Percentage Distribution of Nutrition Scores by Socio-Economic Status ...... 136

15 Components of Kittitian Ethnomedicine ...... 137

16 Food and Nutritional Implications of Life Stages and Interstices ...... 144

17 Percentage Distribution of Collapsed Nutrition Scores by Age Categories ...... 147

viii Table Page

18 Percentage Distribution of Nutrition Scores by Presence or Absence of Gardens ..... 148

19 Percentage Distribution of Age Categories by Presence or Absence of Gardens ...... 149

20 Infant Mortality Rates for St. Kitts, Nevis, and Anguilla, 1959-1964 ...... 157

21 Average Daily Nutrient Intake Per Person .... 158

ix LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page

1 Map of the Caribbean...... 4

2 Map of St. Kitts andTrinity P a rish 5

3 Population Percentage Distribution by Sex and Age ...... 75

4 The Village Setting...... 81

5 Two Partial Food Networks ...... 117

6 Distribution of All Nutrition Scores ...... 134

7 Distribution of Nutrition Scores by Socio- Economic Status ...... 135

8 Distribution of Average Nutrition Scores by Age Categories ...... 145

9 Distribution of Nutrition Scores by Age Categories ...... 146

x INTRODUCTION

In 1932, Audrey Richards wrote:

Man's alimentary needs have...been recognized as the original driving force which set in motion the social machine (12)•

Since that time, anthropologists have described the numerous forms of this "social machine" through which food is procured, distributed, prepared and consumed in a wide variety of human groups. Few accounts, however, have been as complete as that of Richards. Forty years after her initial publication, I undertook an investigation of food distri­ bution and diet on the island of St. Kitts in the eastern Caribbean. For this purpose, I made a series of trips to St. Kitts in 1972 and 1973 to collect food data by employing the methods and perspectives of both the anthropologist and the nutritionist. The broad research goals which stimulated and guided my field work were:

1) to add to the growing body of data concerning the complex relationships between culture and human diet; 2) to provide new ethnographic data from an area of the Caribbean which has been overlooked, for the most part, in the studies of social scientists; and 3) to illustrate how cultural anthropologists may draw upon research techniques and tools of other fields in such a way as to en­ hance the value of anthropological research.

Similarly, I intended to demonstrate that anthropological research methods, which require involvement in existing social relationships and culturally shaped patterns of behavior, provide a useful dimension to nutritional studies, as well.

As the research preparations developed, the scope of the project narrowed. The focus became, specifically, the analysis of the differen­ tial distribution of food within a delimited segment of Kittitian society. Within this framework I sought to identify the sociocultural parameters of differential food flow and to specify the effects of such a distribu­ tive system upon individual diet.

Assumptions and Hypotheses The investigation of the relationships between social organization and diet led me to frame several assumptions and hypotheses. On the general level, for example, the basic assumption is:

The nature and quality of interpersonal relationships in a society influence food distribution pathways. Conversely, channels of food distribution pre expressions of the nature and quality of interpersonal relationships. 2

The general hypothesis, then, is:

The diet of individuals is, in part, a function of their locus within the structure and organization of their societies, A corollary follows:

If there are changes in ma.jor social relationships within a society, the food distribution system will also change.

Specifically for St, Kitts, the assumptions and hypotheses parallel those general ones above. The major assumption which underlies this dissertation, for example, is:

In St, Kitts, as on many West Indian islands, social structure is individuated, and interpersonal relationships are expressed in egocen­ tric networks.

The specific hypothesis is, therefore, that:

The diet of individual Kittitians is, in part, a function of their locus and involvement in a network of social relationships. Finally, a corollary of this hypothesis is:

When the locus of individuals relevant to their network relation­ ships changes, diet will also change.

At the outset of the research, I predicted social and dietary change could be seen in the upwardly mobile segments of the society> that is,, among those who are establishing a wider range of socio-economic ties and assuming new life styles. During a trip to Jamaica in 1970, I spoke with an official of the Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute in Mona, who said that one of the problems nutritionists faced on that island was the use of attractively packaged convenience foods by the emerging middle class. Although such foods may be prestigious, they are not good nutri­ tional purchases where incomes are low and storage facilities inadequate. On the basis of this discussion, I posited that my own research would reveal that diet is a function of socio-economic status and that status change produces change in food habits. I did not, however, predict the direction of change, whether the new diet would be nutritionally better or worse than the traditional one. My research results indicate that these dietary modifications do, indeed, occur, but their magnitude and nature were not indicated by the information 1 collected before the investigation was initiated. Furthermore, another factor producing diet change emerged in the course of my work. In this case, utilization of food resources and food consumption are shaped by changes in network involvement, as individuals pass through various stages in the life cycle. Ultimately, I concluded that the two major social parameters of differential food distribution and diet of Kittitians are socio-economic status and stage of network involvement. In Chapters VII and VIII of this dissertation the evidence upon which I base these conclusions is weighed, 3

The Research Site My choice of a Caribbean field site depended upon several consid­ erations. For example, these societies are stratified and their economies constantly changing and developing, producing a situation in which both differential food flow and dietary change are likely to be observable phenomena. There were also practical concerns in the choice. Since my three children were to accompany me, I wanted to work in an area reasonably close to the United States. Travel expenses would be minimized, and, in case of an emergency, home would be only a few hours away.

My original plan to conduct field work on Jamaica was scuttled because of problems in getting a visa before the research period was to begin. Frank E. Poirier, Professor of Anthropology at The Ohio State Uni­ versity, suggested the Leeward island of St. Kitts as an alternative site, since he himself had worked there on several occasions. St. Kitts, like Jamaica, is a former British plantation with a predominantly black popu­ lation. Since 1967 the island has been independent of British control over their internal affairs, but the monocrop agricultural economy based upon the production of sugar cane remains.

I discovered there were several advantages to conducting the investi­ gation on the smaller island. First, relatively little social research has been carried out in that part of the Caribbean, while Jamaican society and culture have been analyzed by a number of scholars from a variety of perspectives for many years. Second, the suggestions given to me by Poirier concerning practical matters of housing, transportation, and initial contacts with potential informants, saved me days or weeks of preliminary arrangements for research.

The village site he recommended was also an excellent choice for the type of research I conducted. Of a manageable size (fewer than 600 inhabitants), Challenger's Village is rural, yet near the capital, Basseterre, In this setting, I could look for indications of changing socio-economic status and diet without a multitude of variables inter­ vening, as would occur in an urban situation. Traditional foodstuffs and food resources are available to all villagers, and I was able to observe how people of different social statuses and categories utilize them differently.

With financial aid from the National Institute of Mental Health (Research Grant and Fellowship 1 FOI MH51587-01), I began work on St. Kitts in 1972. The work was carried out in four sessions— May, 1972; June through August, 1972; January and February, 1973; and June through August, 1973. The total time actually spent in the field was somewhat over seven months.

The Theoretical Basis of the Research Preparation for the actual field research involved my becoming familiar with two major bodies of data, those pertaining to social relationships and to food habits. In order to understand the nature and quality of the social life in which I was to become a participant C CO. TO o

03 o3 cV - J O

r .9 2 6C

JO

v/ BjX

SOURCE: Horowitz, Peoples and Cultures of the Caribbean (Garden City, N.Y.: The Natural History Press, 1971)

FIGURE 1

MAP OF THE CARIBBEAN 5

.Dieppe Bay Town ST. KITTS ISLAND

Mt. Misery miles

Sandy Point Town

railroad line ‘Old Road Town'

Trinity Parish perim eter road

BASSETERRE Frigate Bay miles

South East ■ Range

'Stone/Fort Estate

C h a l l e n g e r s

Palmetto Point

TRINITY PARISH

FIGURE 2

MAP OF ST. KITTS AND TRINITY PARISH V 6

observer, for example, I reviewed literature relevant to West Indian and peasant societies, and social networks. These materials .are sum­ marized in Chapter I of this dissertation.

Social Relationships in Complex Societies The anthropological studies of peasants provided useful perspec­ tives, even though St. Kitts is not actually a peasant society. The domination of the sugar industry has inhibited the development of small scale agriculture, because virtually all the good agricultural land has been planted in cane since the seventeenth century. Even after emanci­ pation (1833), black Kittitians, of necessity, maintained a proletariat wage labor relationship with the sugar estates, although some gardening was conducted between harvests in the mountains. Nevertheless, the conditions of economic marginality and dependence on market centers, which are characteristic of peasants, also exist on St. Kitts.

The work of George Foster (1967) on dyadic contracts proved relevant to my Kittitian research. These informal, relatively flexible, non­ corporate relationships existing between pairs of individuals are the basis of the organization of West Indian societies. The research village is no exception. Sidney Mintz, Eric Wolf (1950), and Mary Hollnsteiner (1967) have discussed the nature and function of one type of dyadic contract that has no Kittitian counterpart, the institution of compadrazgo. Even though ritualization is rare in the West Indies, the discussions of the Latin American dyad illustrated to me how dyadic contracts are adaptive in complex societies.

Another insight into Kittitian relationships was provided by Wolf's concept of manystranded (diffuse) and singlestranded (narrow) "coalitions," or dyads, which peasants establish among themselves in response to their marginal positions in society. Furthermore, Wolf indicated that the economic and market situation produces competition and an emphasis on economic values among members of peasant and peasant-like communities (1966:82), a situation with great implications for food distribution.

I found that the literature on peasant societies indicated that individuation and competition find expression in cognition as well as in social organization. Foster's concept of the image of limited good (1967) was extremely useful to me, as I attempted to understand the behavior of the villagers with whom I lived. The cognitive orientation that all good things in life exist in limited and short supply is likely to produce jealousy, competition, and leveling social controls, such as backbiting criticism and witchcraft fears.

The anthropological materials concerning social relationships in the West Indies overlap with those of peasant societies and provided me with perspectives specific to my geographic area of investigation. From the cultural studies of Melville and Frances Herskovits (e.g., 1947) to the works of present authors, these publications emphasize the community as a research focus. While Herskovits and Herskovits emphasized commu­ nity cultural patterns, Julian Steward, et.al. (1956), Edith Clarke (1957), and Michael Horowitz (1971) have stressed subsistence (ecological) 7

relationships within communities. The latter group of writings has produced a series of typologies, which led me to conclude that Challenger's Village is of the rural proletariat, estate dominated type.

Among the actual community studies which I found particularly helpful were those by Clarke (1957) and Cohen (1971). Yehudi Cohen did research in a Jamaican village he called Rocky Roads. In his published ethnographic material, he described several qualities of life, such as interpersonal competition and hostility, which he related to child rearing practices. Eventually, Cohen looked at just one of these qualities— the sharing or non-sharing of food--in a cross-cul­ tural perspective, again relating the sociocultural pattern to the enculturative process. Cohen's views and insights were applicable to my Kittitian research and, thus, have been stressed in Chapter I,

Several specific types of relationships within West Indian com­ munities have also been discussed and described, among them dyadic market ties (Mintz /1959, 1961/, Mintz and Hall /1960/, Katzin /1959/, Horowitz /1967/), and families (Smith, M.G. /1962a, 1962b/, Smith, R.T. /1956/, Greenfield /1959/, Otterbein /1965/, Blake /1961/, Solien Gonzalez /1960/).

In societies with individuated social structures, patterns of interaction are generally networks, rather than groups. Norman Whitten and John Szwed, in the introduction to their book, Afro-American Anthropology, discussed the egocentric nature of networks:

Personal networks, according to /J. Clyde/ Mitchell, refer to "the network of personal links which individuals have built up around themselves..," (1966:54). Everyone builds networks around himself: within households, between households, within communities, and between communities. Networks, inasmuch as they can be tapped in times of need, provide an ego with a measure of social capital resources (1970:47).

The term "strategy" also appears in this context. It usually refers to a plan or series of decisions with regard to the use and manipulation of human and natural resources. When used in the specific context of networks, it means the selective exploitation of certain relationships within the network for social and geographic mobility, adaptive advan­ tage (e.g., better diet), and so on. Whitten (1970) described how the successful utilization of network links produces "strategies of adap­ tive mobility" among the black populations of the Pacific Coast of South America, resulting in improving socio-economic position through successive generations.

This discussion, together with those mentioned above, gave me the theoretical basis 1 needed for the analysis of Kittitian social 8 relationships and their implications for food distribution.

Food Habits Literature Food habits suggests the whole complex of cultural patterns related to the production, distribution, and consumption of food. The term "foodways" is also used in this same sense. Anderson (1971) defined the latter as follows:

/Foodways/ refers to the whole interrelated system of food conceptualization and evalua­ tion, procurement, distribution, preservation, preparation, consumption, and nutrition shared by all the members of a particular society (57).

Anthropological data relevant to studies of food and diet came from the variety of sources reviewed in Chapter II. The first group includes the works of anthropologists concerning the relationships between food habits, culture, and society. Among the publications which contributed to my own food study are those which relate food to social organization (Richards /1932, 1939/, Ashton /1939/, Bennett /1942, 1943, 1946/, Henry /1951/, Cussler and de Give /1952/), food to cultural patterns (Mead /e.g., 1934, 1943, 1950, 1955, 1964/, Holmberg /1953/, Lee /1957/, Metraux /1957/, Hauck, Hanks, and Sudsaneh /1959/, Read /1964/), and food to psychology and encultura- tion (Barry, Child, and Bacon /1959/, Shack /1969/, Du Bois /1948/).

Nutritionists, such as Jelliffe (e.g., 1966), Lowenberg et.al. (1968), Pike (1968), and Yudkin and McKenzie (1964), have published the second group of works. Their books and articles provided me with a view of how important cultural factors are for understanding both the nature of food habits and responses to nutrition programs in dif­ ferent parts of the world. The studies of applied anthropology also take this perspective (Cassell /1955, 1957/, Solien, Behar, and Scrimshaw /1957, 1966/, Wellin /1955/).

Finally, I examined a third group of food publications, those dealing with food distribution and diet with an ecological focus. These include the energy flow studies of Rappoport (1967) and Gross and Underwood (1971) and the more general ecological writings of Marvin Harris (e.g., 1974). I have also included in this section, the recent publication of Colin Turnbull (1972), which, despite some weaknesses in methodology, has demonstrated effectively that under harsh and marginal subsistence conditions the effects of deprivation are felt unequally by members of the society, the very old and very young being the hardest hit in many cases.

Together, all the food data suggest that food habits are not simply a function of available foodstuffs. To grasp the nature of food habits, food choices, and diet, it is necessary to identify shared perceptions of potential foods and the quality and content 9 of social relationships which affect food distribution. It Is also clear from these materials that in rapidly changing and developing societies both food perception and social relationships undergo change, but in so doing may produce serious nutritional problems.

Methodology In Chapter III, I discuss the levels of observation and methods used in the collection and analysis of my own food data. Using his­ torical and geographical references, for example, I compiled infor­ mation on the background and ecological relationships of populations on St. Kitts. These data, combined with West Indian ethnographies, allowed me to construct a picture of Kittitian society.

On the village level, I employed the anthropological techniques of participant observation and interviewing. In this way I gathered ethnographic data, as well as information about the foodways of Challenger's Village. A major part of the latter materials concern the production and, especially, the distribution of foodstuffs through the village.

Although the assessment of nutritional adequacy of Kittitian informants was not a major research goal, I borrowed a methodological tool from the field of nutrition to measure and quantify food intake of individuals in various social and economic categories. I used the interview instrument, which is basically a food recall technique, with a sample of 45 villagers. This was my third level of investigation.

Finally, I developed a relatively close ethnographer-informant relationship with several villagers of different ages, both men and women. From them, I gathered more specific information concerning eating behavior, food preparation, and so on.

Descriptive Materials In Chapter IV, I have summarized the geography and history of St. Kitts. Of greatest importance to the dissertation are the facts rele­ vant to the establishment of sugar as the only significant product of the island. Economic motives, for example, underlay the importation of Africans to St. Kitts and produced the dependence on imported foods which persists today. Thus, there is a historical basis for both the contemporary social and nutritional situations.

Chapter V is a compilation of my general ethnographic data. In addition to the descriptions of village physical features and life style, I have included three characteristics of village sociocultural patterns which proved important elements of the research problem. First, the village is a community only in the sense of being a demo­ graphic unit, possessing obvious physical boundaries. Socially, Challenger's Village is not actually a community, since it lacks the patterns of interaction and sense of identification generally asso­ ciated with such units. Second, I found village relationships to be essentially competitive and the social organization individuated. 10

Since group structures are lacking, it is not surprising that there is no organization of the community itself.

The third set of ethnographic observations of relevance to my analysis of foodways concerned the life cycle of village folk, I found that the utilization of food resources varied significantly from stage to stage, as people assume different roles and establish new network relationships,

I describe the food habits of Challenger's Village in some detail in Chapter VI. It includes a discussion of the food resources on St, Kitts and the ways in which foodstuffs reach the villagers. X have placed emphasis upon the various kinds of relationships that actually or potentially involve a food transaction, and developed a typology to summarize the major ones.

The cognitive factors which affect food distribution and consump­ tion are also described in Chapter VI. One of my discoveries was that dietary choices are affected by a prevailing belief that certain traditional foods, such as tubers, have strengthening properties.

Food habits and diet, therefore, are circumscribed by both the contemporary socio-economic conditions and traditional views of health and diet.

Discussion of Research Materials and Conclusions All the ethnographic and nutritional data are discussed in Chapter VII, I identify, for example, the physical, social, cogni­ tive, and supernatural barriers to regular interaction in Challenger's Village, These barriers both express and maintain the individuation of Kittitian society. I also weigh the relative impact of various social and cultural parameters on nutrition and food habits and express the relationships between nutrition scores and social factors in a series of bar graphs.

Ultimately, I determined that two major factors shaping differen­ tial food distribution in Challenger's Village are socio-economic status and stage of network involvement. The data are summarized and conclusions drawn in the final pages of the dissertation, Chapter VIII. CHAPTER I

THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES OF WEST INDIAN SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS

Anthropological data suggest that the nature and quality of inter­ personal relationships are parameters of food distribution and, con­ sequently, of the diet of individuals. Therefore, in order to clarify the pathways through which pass the foodstuffs consumer by those folks who live in Challenger's Village, it is necessary to provide some back- groung information and theory on West Indian social organization. One major area of social science theory which stimulated and directed the research for this dissertation comes from scholars of social relation­ ships in complex societies.

Actually, this theoretical basis comes from three sources. The first, is the series of studies undertaken by anthropologists such as George Foster, Eric Wolf, and Sidney Mintz on peasant society and world view. These contributions include the development of a number of sig­ nificant concepts, such as dyadic relationships, single-and manystranded coalitions, and the image of limited good. The second source is the published work of Caribbeanists specifically on social relationships in the Afro-American or "plantation1' (Wagley 1957:3) societies that dot and surround the Caribbean Sea. The emphasis of much of the work of Mintz, Whitten, Cohen, and others has been on the lack of group structures and on the individuation of these societies. The third related area of social study deals with networks and network analysis. Specifically relevant to the Caribbean is Whitten's work on adaptive strategies in the Columbian-Ecudorian littoral. Each of these theo­ retical areas is so broad that only those publications of direct relevance are included for discussion below.

Peasants and the Rural Proletariat In the strictest sense, the terra "peasant" is not generally appli­ cable to Kittitian rural society. The social and economic domination of sugar estates on the island inhibited the development of peasant agriculture, except for some scattered mountainside gardens. Further­ more, many of those men and women who do garden also are employed for cash wages by the estates when such work is available. That is, the "peasantry" may also be labeled "rural proletariat," to use Mintz's phrase (1956). In a 1967 article, Richard Frucht arguedthat Nevisian (and presumably Kittitian) society is neither categorically "peasant" nor "proletarian."

....There is a peasant-like means of production which includes cultivation of small plots with the use of household labour and traditional manual technology, /but/ the relations of pro­ duction are proletarian, that is, based on the sale of labour for wages either in cash or in kind, and the latter through systems of share- cropping, farming-out, and under conditions of

11 12

male labour migration. Finally, the existence together and in alternation of seemingly dis­ parate means and relations of production is an adaptation to the vicissitudes of a marginal economy (295-300).

Whatever the appropriate socioeconomic designation, much of the material from anthropological peasant studies sheds light on rural Kittitian culture and society, since a great deal of this literature emphasizes the nature and quality of interpersonal relationships.

During the 1930s, several scholars in the fields of anthro­ pology and sociology began social research in villages and small towns of modern nations. Of this period Horowitz wrote:

Redfield in Mexico, Arensberg in Ireland, the Lynds in the Midwest, and Werner in New England ...worked in rural areas and small towns of great nations, treating them as if they had the characteristics of the primitive bands and tribes usually associated with anthropological inquiry. Redfield's approach to communities, the "folk- urban continuum," provided a frame within which these rural villages could be located. It was argued that to know the culture of a modern nation it was necessary to know the kinds of local expressions of culture which were con­ tained within it (Horowitz 1971:9).

Richard Adams added:

He /Redfield/ introduced into the social anthro­ pology of the region a major theoretical position, the great dichotomy between the past and the present /and the folk and the urban--J.D.G./. This general intellectual framework had first been felt in American sociology through the work of /Ferdinand/ Tonnies /gemeinschaft- gesellschaft dichotomy/ and /Emile/ Durkheim, and in anthropology stemmed back to Henry Maine. What Redfield did during the 1930's was to take what had been a set of general models and elabo­ rate on them to fit the materials that he and his co-workers found in Yucatan. Redfield's theory, fathered by European scholarship, wa3 mothered by Yucatan fieldwork (1965:7).

While Redfield's community studies were undeniably important to the social sciences, his characterization of folk relationships as harmonious and communal and urban relationships as secularized and individualistic has been challenged by a number of scholars 13

(e.g., Lewis 1951; Mintz 1953; Tax 1941; Service and Service 1954)*

Although folk relationships are not necessarily as Redfield described them, many subsequent studies of "folk," "traditional," and "peasant" societies have defined characteristic types of social ties. Since peasants by definition comprise "part-societies with part-cultures" with ties to market centers and the "larger society" (Kroeber 1948:284) these relationships are vertical as well as hori­ zontal. Among the contributions of George Foster is the discussion of the principle of reciprocity, the "dyadic contract," that he alleges underlies these ties between individuals on the same and different socioeconomic levels, of the same and different communi­ ties, in the "natural" and "supernatural" worlds (Foster 1967). Out of a villager’s universe of potential relationships he or she selects only a few "with whom /to develop/ significant working relationships" (1967:214). These "contracts," Foster indicated, are established between pairs of individuals, starting at an early age, and at adult­ hood come to "dominate all other types of ties" (215). Furthermore:

These contracts are informal, or implicit, since they lack ritual or legal validation...They exist only at the pleasure of the participants...They are non-corporate...Each person is the center of his private and unique network of contractual ties, a network whose overlap with other networks has little or no functional significance (1967: 215).

Foster further distinguishes between "colleague" contracts, hori­ zontal and symmetrical (similar social positions and obligations), and "patron-client" contract, vertical and symmetrical. Horizontal con­ tracts are essentially characterized by on-going exchanges of goods and services; in the long run they should balance out, but in the short run they should not. To balance out exchanges evenly is to terminate the contract. Most patron-client relationships, he suggested, are also of this nature, but some, such as those with saints in time of crisis, are non-continuing and short term.

Foster did not elaborate upon the adaptive social function of the dyadic contract in his article. However, in an earlier publica­ tion, Sidney Mintz and Eric Wolf (1950) provided a historical and functional account of the Latin American institution of compadrazgo, or ritual coparenthood, a relationship which exemplifies the dyadic contract. Mary Hollnsteiner (1967) also demonstrated the function of compadrazgo in the formation of "constellations" of alliances in the Phillipines.l Discussions such as these imply that in folk

1. There is an extensive bibliography of articles dealing with fic- tive kinship, compadrazgo, and other ritualized interpersonal rela­ tionships of this type. While useful in providing data concerning 14

societies individuals relate to other individuals as social resources; the establishment and maintenance of the dyadic contract is, there­ fore, a means of tapping such variable resources in a reasonably flexible yet stable context. The fact that the individual is the basis of such a social system indicates that the peasant society and economic system can be immediately responsive to change and shifting fortunes in that "outside world" with which all peasants must contend.

Eric Wolf (1966) authored a small book, simply entitled Peasants, in which he emphasized this dependent and subordinate status of peasants within the larger society. He also developed a model of social rela­ tionships that is more specific than that employed by Foster. To face the pressures of natural and social forces over which they have little or no direct control, peasants enter into alliances or "coalitions" which are:

sufficiently loosely structured to exempt the participants in a period of severe trial... Peasants not only enter coalitions with their fellows in order to counteract the selective pressures which fall upon all peasants, they also strive to counteract the selective pres­ sures which fall upon them individually, especially if these emanate from higher-ups, from persons with more economic or political or military power than themselves (1966:80).

Wolf*s model was based on three aspects of peasant coalitions: the range of interests of the parties, the number of people involved, and their relative social positions. First, if the parties share a number of diffuse interests he called the coalition manystranded; if they share only one interest or a very narrow scope of interests, Wolf referred to the coalition as singlestranded.

Individuals may have a relationship that involves mutual emo­ tional, social, and economic support; such a "coalition" may involve a whole variety of activities, including the sharing of food, work, and good times. Wolf pointed out that these singlestranded relation­ ships are relatively flexible and "can be activated in contexts where the pertinent single interest predominates, without at the same time committing the participants to become involved with one another in many other life situations" (1966:8).

Second, Wolf described the dyadic coalition, which includes two people or two groups, and the polyadic, which includes a larger number of people or groups.

(continued) multistranded dyadic ties, they are not directly relevant to the analysis of social relationships in St. Kitts, where such ritualization is rare. 15

Wolf explained the third aspect as, "...the degree to which coalitions are formed either by persons with the same life chances, occupying the same positions in the social order, or by persons occupying different positions in the social order" (1966:81). Peasant-peasant relationships he called horizontal; peasant-superior relationships he called vertical.

Wolf made the point that a predominance of singlestranded rela­ tionships emerges when "network markets" involve the peasants in a series of relationships for the purpose of selling goods. Selling one's labor, as well as one's goods, in such a market has produced this type of social situation in many developing areas, including St. Kitts. As Wolf stated:

This /economic-market situation/ converts the members of a community into competitors for objects which are evaluated primarily in economic terms, without consideration for non-economic values (1966:82).

Since food production and distribution in St. Kitts are affected by similar attitudes and market relationships, Wolf's observations will be discussed in Chapter VII.

To the vocabulary and study of peasant social relationships Wolf added yet another concept— that of the "broker."1 Interceding between the peasant community and the larger society, the broker essentially is the instrument through which the national culture is presented to the folk, and vice versa. Government and church representatives, teachers, health officials, for example, may serve such a function (Wolf 1956). The situation in the West Indies differs somewhat from the classic "peasant" type. The long tradition of migration to and from the islands of the Caribbean means that despite their physical isolation, the island cultures are receiving constant input from "the outside" through thousands of individual "brokers."

Underlying these peasant social relationships are peasant atti­ tudes, values, and world view. Certainly these vary, perhaps sig­ nificantly, from rural southern Italy to the Yucatan, to India, to the Caribbean. Yet George Foster suggested some similarities in cognitive orientation which stem from the very dependent-subordinate rural nature of the peasant society. The image of limited good is the shared assumption that all that is good and desirable exists "in finite quantity" and is "always in short supply" (1967:305).

1. Both Steward's People of Puerto Rico (1956) and Redfield's Peasant Society and Culture (1956) described the ties between the peasant community and larger society; Redfield, in particular, discussed the relationship in great detail. Wolf has Isolated this individual role. 16

Furthermore, Foster said, "there is no way directly within peasant power to increase the available quantities" (ibid,). Since every­ thing desirable— land, riches, health, respect, power, and so on--are limited in supply an individual can get a greater share only at the expense of others, Foster said of the economic reflection of the image of limited good:

....the average peasant sees little or no rela­ tionship between work and production techniques on the one hand, and the acquisition of wealth on the other. Rather, wealth is seen by villagers in the same light as land; present, circumscribed by absolute limits, and having no relationship to work. One works to eat, but not to create wealth. Wealth, like land, is something that is inherent in nature. It can be.divided up and passed around in various ways, but, within the frame­ work of the villager’s traditional world, it does not grow (1967:307).

To peasants, the outside world holds the promise of wealth and success, and their reluctance to engage in local unprofitable and unpromising enterprises is a reflection of their cognition of the situation. Conformity, conservatism, and the maintenance of "the status quo in relationships," Foster found characteristic of peasant societies. He pointed out that gossiping, backbiting, and witch­ craft accusations, are informal social controls which are generally effective in minimizing attempts by co-villagers to get ahead (1967: 312). In this vein, Joseph Lopreato quoted a Calabrian peasant's view of how such a precarious lifestyle and pessimistic cognitive orientation affect social relationships (1967:425):

The village is too small a world to live in. It is impossible to breathe freely in it. It is dirty; you must always hide something or from some one; every one lies about everything: wealth, eating, friendship, love, God, You are always under the eyes of someone who scrutinizes you, judges you, envies you, spies on you, throws curses against you, but smiles his ugly, toothless mouth out whenever he sees you.

Social Relationships in the West Indies Although the rural communities in much of the West Indies do not conform to strict definitions of peasantry, the studies of interper­ sonal relationships in that area clearly show similarities and parallels. The rural poor throughout the Caribbean exist under the same social and environmental stresses as peasants everywhere, a condition exacerbated by the effects of slavery. 17

Some of the earliest major anthropological works on the Caribbean, such as those by Melville and Frances Herskovits, referred to the effects of these conditions, but emphasized cultural forms rather than social relationships. In the Herskovits's book, Trinidad Village, for example, the best descriptions dealt with religious ritual and belief and folk medicine; virtually all references to social organization concerned male-female relationships and the family (1947)* There was relatively little data on ties beyond these primary ones. Yet such works stimulated much of the subsequent anthropological interest in the Caribbean, in part through reactions to the assertion by Herskovits of cultural con­ tinuities with Africa.

The more systematic examination of social relationships, however, emerged in a flurry of studies in the mid 1950s. In 1955^ M.G. Smith published A Framework for Caribbean Studies in which he pin-pointed some of the trends in that field. In addition to the research of Herskovits, he referred to the studies by Redfield on the folk-urban continuum, indicating there was in the latter "....greater attention to the structure of relations within and between groups as well as to impersonal media of communication....(27)." Smith added, however, that Redfield1s unit of study was actually the "community," not folk "society," a point he attributed to Julian Steward. Thus, the community study method and concept is specifically related to the Caribbean area. Finally, Smith made explicit the distinction between community integra­ tion on a local level and integration within the larger society. Community integration— or lack of integration— soon became a central concern to students of island social relationships.

The community study method was employed from an ecological per­ spective by Julian Steward, et. al., in the research which preceded the publication of People of Puerto Rico (1956). In this major research venture, Steward was joined by Robert Manners, Eric Wolf, Elena Padilla Seda, Sidney Mintz, and Raymond Scheele. Within an ecological frame­ work, the authors studied various types of Puerto Rican communities, relating economic-subsistence patterns to the whole cultural and social setting of the community. Mintz's contribution, for example, was the description of the subculture of a "rural sugar plantation proletariat." Because of the economic similarities of the town of Canamelar to St, Kitts rural villages, it is of greater relevance to this study than the other community studies. Yet the lower class people of Caffamelar find "...solidarity in ritual kinship /compadrazgo, e.g./, in union organization, and in political action" (Mintz 1956:471)— none of which are effective bases of group activities on the community level in St. Kitts.

A similar approach was employed in the mid-1950s by Edith Clarke, who studied the organizational implications of economic-subsistence patterns in three different Jamaican villages. Although her major interest, shared with many other Caribbean scholars, was that of the household and family, she also briefly described the sociocultural setting of the communities. She emphasized that neither African cul­ tural traditions nor the history of slavery is a sufficient "explanation" 18 of social conditions of contemporary Caribbean societies. Rather, she said, one must look at conditions that "persist in present-day Jamaica...it is in conditions as we find them today that we shall most profitably look for the explanation of the 'unstable' features of family life to which such prominence is being given" (1957:21).

Two of the communities Clarke studied are agricultural villages. Mocca is a very poor community of peasant farmers, whose "poverty is extreme and varies little with the seasons" (25). Nearly all the inhabitants are related to one another and can trace their relation­ ships back to the village's founders; kinship continues to be important. Furthermore, there is no seasonal employment available, and few Mocca villagers migrate in search of work. The inhabitants of Orange Grove, on the other hand, practice mixed farming and have successfully organ­ ized co-operative marketing agencies for certain products, such as eggs. Their economic productivity is npt only relatively high but is reasonably stable and not given to seasonal fluctuation. In contrast, Sugartown (like Challenger's Village) is basically "rural proletariat," with an economy that revolves about the seasonal sugar industry employment. Clarke wrote specifically of Sugartown:

The population...is too large, too mixed and too mobile for the development of any strong community sense. What associations there are tend to be sectional and do not provide a relational system which involves continuous mutual cooperation and interdependence...But there is nothing in Sugartown to compare with the kinship solidarity of Mocca, or the oppor­ tunities which occur regularly in Orange Grove for the entire group, men, women and even children to meet together and act as a cor­ porate whole. . . (1957:24-25).

And she concluded:

In Sugartown the labourer feels that he is at the mercy of forces over which he has no con- torl; the demand for his labour is always less than the manpower available. The principal incentive to thrift--the possibility of buying house or land— is lacking. There is no land to buy. The period of crop and high wages is like a boom following an acute depression, and has all the instability of a boom. Part of the new wages go to pay off debts accumulated during the tempo moto, part in replenishment of a depleted wardrobe, and much of the rest is dissipated in gambling or drinking (1957:27).

This socio-economic situation is not only quite close to that of many Caribbean villages, it also describes the conditions thatFoster cited 19 as producing the cognitive orientation of limited good (1967).

In 1957, Vera Rubin edited a book on Caribbean Studies based on a symposium held the previous year during the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In one contribu­ tion, Charles Wagley claimed that "weak community structure" is a feature of "plantation America" societies (a trait that Mintz called "a high degree of individualization" in a 1966 article)• In another article on community analysis Robert Manners only touched upon individ­ uated social structure by emphasizing the importance of extra-community ties in shaping local life styles (1957:80-91).

Most of the selections in the book Caribbean Studies: A Symposium reflect the major interests in Caribbean studies throughout the 1950s and 1960s. With respect to social organization, interests lay pri­ marily with the family and plural societies. Monographs dealing spe­ cifically with the household and family organization, many emphasizing matrifocality, were contributed during this period by M.G. Smith (1962a, 1962b), R.T. Smith (1956), Greenfield (1959), Otterbein (1965), Blake (1961), and Solien (Gonzalez) (1960). Plural or multicultural societies were examined by M.G. Smith (1965), R.T. Smith (1967), Rubin (ed., 1960), Horowitz (1960), Comitas (I960), Braithwaite (I960), among others. Most studies of nonfamilial interpersonal relationships and individuated social structures appeared in a series of journal articles dealing with specific dyadic relationships rather than whole systems. Sidney Mintz, for example, wrote a series of articles about marketing roles and relationships in Jamaica (1959, 1960, with Douglas Hall) and Haiti (1961). In the last publication, Mintz described the Haitian "pratik" system of market intermediaries, who are important links in the distribution chain of locally grown products. He discussed the advantages of the special institutionalized relationship for both the pratik buyer and seller in a society of few economic opportunities and lack of modern transportation and storage facilities. Similarly, Katzin wrote of Jamaican "higglering" (1959) and Horowitz of the Mar­ tiniquan revendeuse (1967).

Horowitz also summarized a number of previous community studies in an article entitled "A Typology of Rural Community Forms in the Caribbean," first published in 1960, reprinted in his Peoples and Cultures of the Caribbean, 1971. He placed a number of communities along a continuum from "closed" and tightly integrated to "open" and loosely organized and integrated. The former tend to be peasant economies, the latter plantation or "rural proletariat" economies (1971:180). In the open community, he said, there is greater movement into and out of the "group" and few demands of "loyalty" of its members. "Thus," he added, "it may include groups in active competition for scarce goods, competing political and religious groups. In this sense, the open community is more 'urban' than the tightly integrated, for there is greater possi­ bility for anonymity on the part of its members" (1971:180). One statement by Horowitz expressed explicitly what a number of other authors implied: 20

Where land is held in relatively small holdings, exploited by the household group, and sold in local markets, there seems to emerge a community structure which unites the population by bonds of kinship (real and ritual) and mutual assis­ tance. Where the land is held in great estates, or where the population is forced to sell its labor in an industrial situation, the associated community structure does not serve to join all the members in a common matrix. Rather, it results in a stratified system which opposes the establishment of a wide range of mutual assis­ tance. In the peasant community, the emphasis is on the household and larger groupings for economic and other activities; in the plantation community the emphasis is on the individual. Among West Indian peasants, labor is generally not a commodity. The plantation worker, however, has nothing else to sell (1971:183).

Other studies of relevancy for this research, however, are psy­ chological rather than social in their basic approach. Yehudi Cohen worked in a Jamaican community he called Rocky Roads in the early 1950s, and published a summarized account of the research in 1955. In this article> he related "emotional and motivational" character­ istics of the villagers to family and community structure as follows:

In the investigation of the structural-functional position of the family in society...the same emotional and motivational processes are opera­ tive both in the interpersonal relationships of the family and in those of the total community... we wish to emphasize the regularities and con­ stancies of certain categories of interpersonal relationships within a total framework (1971: 413).

The four categories he selected were economic, political (authoritar­ ian), sexual relationships, and "anxiety in interpersonal relation­ ships" (ibid.). Cohen described his research village as "economically competitive" and maintained that this competition is the basis of great anxiety in individuals about their livelihood. Since it is commonly believed by villagers that people succeed financially only at the expense of others, each person hides and hoards his gains and keeps financial matters secret. "One of the strongest proscriptions in the culture," Cohen said, "is the rule that it is grossly improper to inquire of someone how much money he or she has or earns" (1971: 414).*

1. This same attitude caused serious problems in my Kittitian research on food expenditures also. See Chapter III, 21

The divisiveness caused by competition is expressed in the gen­ eral quality of interpersonal relationships. Jealousy and distrust characterize interaction and result, Cohen maintained, in a dispersed pattern of independent, socially isolated households.

In a number of significant respects, Cohen's description of Rocky Roads parallels my own of Challenger's Village. In Rocky Roads, for instance, there is a lack of "inalienable kin groupings and voluntary groupings...While 80% of the families...are related, the culture of the community has not worked out, even in ideal form, patterns of aid or systematized economic relationships along kinship lines" (1971: 416).

People are untrustworthy, say the Rocky Roaders, because no sooner are they told something than they go about repeating it to others and 'causing a lot of trouble.' It is true that Rocky Roaders gossip about whatever they are told. But it is also true that one will rarely divulge a piece of information which he does not want spread (417).

Furthermore;

There is little visiting in Rocky Roads, and the culture makes no provision for hospitality or the treatment of guests in general. As a rule, Rocky Roaders do not like people to 'come on their yards' and only rarely is one invited into the home of a Rocky Roader. Paralleling this is the absence of festive or recreational gather­ ings within the community (1971:417).

Malicious and aggressive gossiping was cited by Cohen as a very effective means of social control. "The dread and fear of being talked about" minimizes conspicuous wealth and generosity. Cohen suggested that the jealousy that is aroused by any display of wealth is thought to potentially be expressed in sorcery in Rocky Roads. Thus, one would not wish to incur jealousy or provoke criticism (1971:421). Cohen's ethnography further demonstrated the expression of limited good cognition in West Indian social relationships.

Cohen also pointed out that the only "true locus of authority recognized by the Rocky Roaders is parental authority," and this authority is terminated when an offspring leaves his or her family of orientation and the economic support of this minimal group. Inde­ pendence is achieved for most Rocky Roaders after formal schooling at about the age of 14. The observation that economic and subsistence support (including food) for West Indian children generally is termi­ nated at this age is quite important for this dissertation. Cohen said: 22

When a Rocky Roads youth commences his career as a breadwinner, he is left more or less to do as he chooses, and only on occasion will his father reprove him for errant behavior...As he gets older and earns more money he enjoys greater freedom, and once he has reached premarital adulthood his parents enjoy minimal authority over him. But so long as he is living in his parents' home he is somewhat restrained for he retains the luxury of having his mother cook for him (1971:430).

Throughout Cohen's article he stressed food exchanges as expres­ sions of the quality of interaction, between man and woman, parent and child, and so on. Even stress between a husband and wife may result in a cessation of food sharing. He followed up his Jamaican publica­ tion with a comparative study of "Food and Its Vicissitudes: A Cross- Cultural Study of Sharing and Nonsharing," later published as a chapter in Social Structure and Personality (1961). In this article, Cohen systematically related types of social organization with certain patterns of food distribution. Like Horowitz, he typed communjLties according to the degree of "solidarity" they display. His four types are'Jnaximally solidary," "solidary-fissile community," "nonnucleated society" (isolated family units, no community structure), and "indi­ viduated social structure." Rocky Roads Cohen typed as "individuated," In these societies, he said) the focus is upon the individual's accumu­ lation of wealth "as_ an end in itself rather than as an intervening step or means to cooperative or competitive generosity; there is a lack of groups "...in which membership, feelings of belonging, and reciprocity are fixed and inalienable" (1961:317). Kinship ties in such a community may shape and affect interaction, but Cohen indicated they are secondary. All individuals are essentially economically competitive, whatever their relationships. In a statement particu­ larly relevant to this study, he observed that individuation extends even into the household and family of orientation.

The two hypotheses of Cohen's study were (1) that in societies in which infants and young children are fed on demand (when they commu­ nicate their desire for food), as adults they will be inclined to share food, wealth, etc.; in societies where infants are not fed in response to their cries, adults will not share, but hoard: and (2) factors producing "social proximity" between households will maximize that emotional predisposition to share formed by demand feeding in infancy; factors producing "social distance" will minimize this predisposition (1961:318). Thus, in the individuated community, both enculturative (lack of food-oral gratification) and social forces (economic compe­ tition) shape the nonsharing behavior,

Cohen provided numerous examples of this proposed relationship between social structure and food behavior, including several which indicated that changes in the social structure would produce predic­ table modifications in the patterns of food distribution and 23

consumption. In 1970 and 1971, Paul Dahlquist investigated this problem of social change on the island of Ponape, Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. His base line data indicated that Ponapean society was traditionally of the solidary-fissile type, character­ ized by mutual assistance with some recurring sharing. His hypothesis, that continuing subordination to the United States would cause a tendency to shift toward an individuated social structure and little recurring sharing, was supported by his data. He found, in fact, "increasing monetization," decreasing importance of kin groups, greater isolation of the nuclear family, and a "narrowing of the.range of sharing" (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation). Neither Cohen nor Dahlquist, however, specifically considered the implications of these systems and patterns of food behavior for actual diet and food consumption. This dissertation deals with such considerations.

Social Networks in Individuated Societies Throughout this dissertation I refer to "food networks" or "social networks" to describe the web of relationships an individual establishes with others potentially or actually involving food exchanges. The significant point is that food distribution in an individuated social structure, where individuals amass goods through social resources of network links, is different in important ways from those societies in which inclusive group structures prevail and group membership is ascribed. For this reason it is necessary to explain the nature of the social network concept and some relevant network properties. In 1969, J. Clyde Mitchell published an edited collection of related articles entitled Social Networks in Urban Situations. His own intro­ ductory chapter explained the concept of networks, the types of related analysis, and the history of social network studies. He pointed out, for example, the term "network" was used by such earlier social scien­ tists as Radcliffe-Brown in what Mitchell called a "metaphorical" sense, rather than as "a specific set of linkages among a defined set of persons, with the additional property that the characteristics of these linkages as a whole may be used to interpret the social behavior of the persons involved" (1969:2).

Mitchell saw network analysis as an outgrowth of and complement to structural-functional theory. He implied that while structural- functionalism with its emphasis on morphology and function of parts of a total system is a useful perspective for viewing and explaining behavior in small scale theoretically autonomous tribal societies, it is inadequate for analysis of complex societies, or parts thereof. J.A. Barnes in his Norwegian parish study (1954) and Elizabeth Bott in London (1955, 1956, 1957) found a more adequate and productive description of and explanation for observed patterns of interaction lay in the network, not group, framework (Mitchell 1969:8,9), Barnes, however, first wrote of networks as "the general ever-ramifying, ever-reticulating set of linkages that stretches within and beyond the confines of any community or organization," without reference to specific "reference points," or individuals, within the network (Mitchell 1969:12). Most subsequent studies, Mitchell indicated, 24

are "anchored" on an individual who plays a part "in the events being analysed" (Mitchell 1969:15). I use the concept of networks in the latter sense throughout the dissertation.

Most network analyses, Mitchell continued, deal with a number of morphological and interactional qualities. Most of these qualities are not directly relevant to the present research problem, but two which Mitchell called "range" of network and "content" of links are useful (1969:19,20). "Range" is the number of direct contacts of any reference individual or Ego. This quality, according to Mitchell, is of particular importance "if the emphasis is on mobilizing support for Ego." This concept of range is important in the Kittitian context in terms of the number linkages which can be activated or tapped as food resources, or funds for food resources. "Content" of links refers to the "meaning" or nature of the linking relationships, such as friendship, kinship, employ­ ment, etc.

The following quote from Mitchell indicates the utility for and overlap of network analyses with studies of peasant-rural proletariat societies. Even the terminology is similar to that employed by Wolf, Foster and others whose works were cited above.

Potential members of a person's network may thus be defined as a category-of people who in terras of the general norms of values of the community might be expected to provide ego with some specified type of service or support or alterna­ tively who might expect ego to provide them with some specified type of service or support. The relationship may imply considerable specificity such as support in an election between a candidate and some party supporter for example, so that the content of the network link is single-stranded and defined solely by the norms of the recruitment category out of which the network member was drawn. On the other hand the relationship may be diffuse and imply services and support of a general nature such as implied by neighbourlines3 or kinship (1969:43).

Mitchell explained that not all potential links need be "activated," but that when an individual chooses, the social link may be actualized. Instead of social structuring of relationships, therefore, there is individual choice, so that:

...Each personal network.,.will be unique though obviously influenced by such factors as the social position of the person concerned and the social situation in which he is placed, the stage of the life-cycle he is at and a number of purely idiosyncratic factors relating to the individual's personal history /emphasis mine, J.D.G./ (Ibid.). 25

In Chapter VII, I discuss these influences, and particularly the life cycle stage, and their effects upon the range of personal networks and, ultimately, diet in Challenger's Village.

Although networks are mentioned throughout much of the literature on West Indian societies, there are few examples of actual network analysis. In a series of articles under the heading "Socio-Economic Adaptations" in Afro-American Anthropology (Whitten and Szwed, eds. 1970), however, several authors employed the concept of networks either implicitly or explicitly. The most useful of these is Whitten's "Strategies of Adaptive Mobility in the Colombian-Ecuadorian Littoral." Since individual networks develop through personal efforts, actions, and interactions, one can look at the "skill" employed in planning and managing relationships advantageously as "strategy." Whitten indi­ cated that "direct power over economic resources is impossible for the mass of Costenos," and that a response to economic fluctuations must be mobility, both spatial and social. Thus, successful "strategies of adaptive mobility," will involve skill in management of social resources. Whitten said:

All the strategies employed by Negroes and light Costenos can be described in terms of their tac­ tical opening, closing, and breaking of dyadic contracts, usually within a network of real, ritual, or fictive kinsmen...In the Pacific Littoral dyadic contracts are established when ego proffers a prestation...and alter witholds thanks thereby implicitly establishing an open contract for future reciprocity...Implicit con­ tracts are made explicit through networks of gossip by the ego proferring the prestation... The adaptive significance of kinship among Negro peasants and proletariat is bound to the ability of kinsmen to manipulate dyadic relationships. The dispersed lower class kindred makes possible spatial mobility which is essential in a sub­ sistence economy with shifting cultivation and a marginal, fluctuating money economy (1970:333).

Whitten then described a series of strategies which proceed through four developmental phases and generations of participants, providing increasingly successful adaptations. (This dissertation is essentially such a discussion of phases of food strategies, with the phases being stages of the life cycle of individuals rather than generations of kinsmen.)

In Gonzalez's article on matrifocality in the same volume, matri- centered networks are implied. She described the adaptive advantage of the matrifocal household in conditions of economic marginality under which many Afro-Americans live. For the Black Caribs, for example, the "consanguineal household offers financial and psychological security to the female and to the male and, thus, to the maintenance of a fairly 26

stable home environment even when jobs are hard to find and remuneration low" (1970:242). Gonzalez indicated that there are pressures on males who have conjugal unions with women to be "good providers;11 to fail may bring rejection from a spouse but not from consanguineal kin. The author added:

Conversely, a woman can ill afford to cleave only unto one man, cutting herself off from other conjugal or extra-conjugal unions or from male kinsmen, for in such systems the chances that any one man may fail are high. Should her husband disappear or fail to pro­ vide regularly, a woman needs the support of other males. By dispersing her loyalties and by clinging especially to the unbreakable sibling ties with her brothers, a woman increases her chances of maintaining her children and house­ hold even when any one attached male is incapable of helping her (1970:242).

Gonzalez has suggested that establishing a network of ties with men, none of which are exclusive or ultimately binding, is a successful (albeit not necessarily conscious) strategy of women in these societies.

Summary This chapter provides only a part of the theoretical basis of this research. Here I have shown some of the qualities and forms of West Indian social organization and relationships, as well as some of the theories which have put forth to account for such a social situation. In Chapter II, I shall discuss anthropological perspectives on food and nutrition, and especially those studies which have related socio­ cultural factors to food distribution. CHAPTER IX

ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON FOOD AND NUTRITION

There have been few thoroughgoing food ethnographies since the publication of Audrey Richards' classic Hunger and Work in a Savage Tribe in 1932* Most anthropological food data has come through problem-centered articles or brief sections of general ethnographic accounts. In fact, the first serious attempt to make nutritional anthropology a separate valid and significant area of study within the field has come only in this decade, 40 years after Richards' initial work. In addition to the anthropological literature, there is a growing body of materials from nutritionists with an interest in social and cultural parameters of diet. In this Chapter, I shall summarize these diverse data and review some major works that relate to the problem of food distribution and diet in St. Kitts.

• I have defined three types of studies which are treated in the sections below. The first deals with the effects of social and cultural factors on diet; for example, the influence of perception on food habits (what is regarded as "food'1 or "non-food," strengthening food or weakening food), religious prohibitions and prescriptions on food intake, shared attitudes circumscribing what, when, and where foods are eaten. Also included in this section are studies of social organiza­ tion and the distribution of food stuffs. That is, how do the relation­ ships between people in a society influence the flow and distribution of edibles and, therefore, shape the diet of the individuals involved? The second collection of studies deals specifically with change in traditional societies and cultures and the effects of change on diet. Much of this material was provided by social scientists aiding in health and public welfare programs in rapidly changing and developing areas of the world. Often, these studies show how traditional food habits and related cultural patterns are incompatible with both the "modern­ izing" social situation and the ameliorative programs introduced by the "modern" society. The third group of food studies are those of the ecological anthropologists who view food distribution in terms of energy flow and adaptation.

The Sociocultural Context of Food Habits: Anthropological Views The year 1932 marked the beginning of anthropological food studies with the publication of Powdermaker's article on "social functions of eating" in New Ireland and Richards' comprehensive Hunger and Work in a Savage Tribe. While the former described the integrative functions of feasting, the latter delineated the wider range of interrelationships between food habits and other sociocultural patterns. Richards pointed out, for example, that satisfaction of nutritional needs is more funda­ mental to individual survival than is satisfaction of sexual needs, a subject that preoccupied some of her contemporaries. She described nutrition "in a primitive tribe...as a single process starting from the period of suckling .and family life and continuing till full eco­ nomic status is reached by the adult" (1948ed.;15), She traced this process through life stages of certain southeastern Bantu groups,

27 28

citing evidence of how the satisfaction of infants? nutritional needs provides the basis of earliest social relationships. The extension of other kin ties in these "primitive" societies occurs through the gradual integration of the maturing individual into food producing and distributing group activities. Richards detailed the important food-relevant functions of various Bantu social groups. Finally, she concluded with a discussion of how food figures in symbolization, religious beliefs and ritual, and daily routine. Cohen's study on food sharing discussed in the previous chapter arrived at a similar conclusion, but Cohen interjected formation of the psychological level of behavior in the process. As he described it, nuturing relationships in infancy shape personality characteristics, which, in turn, are expressed in the quality of interpersonal relationships.

Several other anthropologists soon did brief food studies of their own, In 1936, Fortes wrote of the econoiiiic aspects of food among the Tallensi, and Richards followed up her published dissertation with the publication of a field study of the Bemba. Ashton (1939) wrote "A Sociological Sketch of Sotho Diet" in which he suggested:

...diet is the end-point of the economic organi­ zation of society (and is indeed its touchstone and measure of efficiency in so far as its func­ tion is...the satisfaction of the primary need for food.) (1939:148).!

Margaret Mead wrote the first of her series of anthropological articles dealing with food and hunger in 1934. Mead's interests have been pri­ marily with world food problems, and her articles are primarily directed toward nutrition policy makers. She has stressed that specific cultural patterns with regard to food habits must be considered in any nutri­ tion program, and especially enculturative patterns which shape food choices and attitudes. Mead also turned attention to practical problems of American nutrition, a concern stemming from war time (World War II) shortages. Although her collected works have clarified a number of aspects of theory application, they have provided little in the way of new theory (1943, 1949, 1950a, 1950b, 1953, 1955, 1964, 1970).

Beyond Mead's articles and a book and series of articles by John Bennett (1942, 1943, 1946) discussing social symbolism, in-group/out- group views, and cultural context of food in rural America, there were few anthropological food studies in the 1940s. A relevant exception is Cora DuBois' work on food and hunger in Alor. According to DuBois' ethnography, gratification of food needs and suckling of Atimelang infants is sporadic and unsatisfying. Or, as DuBois said, "the hunger

1. This is not descriptive of West Indian economies. Major economic activities are, in a sense, external to provisioning of local popula­ tions. Certainly the diet of Kittitians is not the goal of Kittitian economic organizers. This situation in part accounts for the lack of group structures based on economic activities on the local level. (See Chapter VII). 29

tension of infants is not maximally met..." (1948:198). Inconsistency in discipline and weaning result in considerable turmoil and ."temper tantrums" during the second and third years of a child’s life, resulting in insecurity and distrust of nurturing individuals. At the same time, however, the child begins to discover "his own resources." Mother pre­ pares a morning and evening meal, but

during the intervening twelve hours he learns to forage for himself. He learns this from five or six onward in the fluid play groups of free roving children /emphasis mine. J.D.G./ (Ibid.).

DuBois described the extensive foraging activities of youngsters, who utilize some food resources that adults "spurn." While girls are not allowed to roam so freely, boys continue this peer group foraging until adolescence when they begin to assume adult roles (approximately 15 years of age). DuBois suggested that ritual sacrifice (the Atimelang words translates as "to feed"), food cognition, fear of food theft and "limited generosity" are all sociocultural expressions of the encultura- tion of food insecurity during early life stages I(1940). Cohen (1961) has, in fact, typed Alor a "non-sharing" society on the basis of DuBois' data.

In the following decade there was renewed interest in food habits by anthropologists and other social scientists. Alan Holmberg published his study of hunger and its cultural effects among the Siriono of Eastern Bolivia. The "food insecurity" which he cited as a fundamental shaper of behavior, was also emphasized by Richards and is a factor to be considered in this dissertation. (In 1954 Needham wrote a response to Holmberg based on his--Needham's--research among the Penan of Borneo where the social response to an insecure food supply differed from that of the Siriono.)

Jules Henry's 1951 article on Pilaga food distribution is one of the few specific works on food sharing. Henry was particularly inter­ ested in assymetry and inequality in the socio-economic patterns on both the village and household levels and found that inequality char­ acterizes all social levels and units.

A book of anthropological interest written by non-anthropologists was published the following year, culminating a decade of research and writing by Margaret Cussler and Mary deGive.. Their work in the rural southern United States considered a variety of psychological, social, and cultural factors which shape food habits. Among these factors are food beliefs and food-related attitudes, social and economic relation­ ships, and class and racial differences. One contribution of the Cussler and deGive publications is the demonstration of the ways in which various sociocultural forces shape individual food habits. In other words, the authors indicated that the locus of an individual in social webs of relationships affects food consumption by (1) shaping food perceptions and expectations of that individual and (2) affecting the food flow to that specific position. 30

In 1957, Dorothy Lee published an article in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and Alfred Metraux in Unesco Courier; their common message was simply "cultural factors affect use of food resources and diet." Both authors used cross-cultural examples to illustrate this nutritional perspective which is now well established. Lee pub­ lished yet another article, "Food and Human Existence," in 1962 in Nutrition News.

Continuing interest in the psychological basis and implications of food-related behavior was expressed in Herbert Barry, Irvin Child, and Margaret Bacon's 1959 cross-cultural study of child training and economy. They were specifically interested in testing possible rela­ tionships between accumulation or non-accumulation of food resources within a social group and enculturative pressures towards compliance (obediance, dependence) or assertion (independence, self-reliance). They found that in agricultural and pastoral societies that accumulate and store up these resources children are likely to be trained to be obedient; conversely, in foraging societies without food accumulation, children are more likely to be trained for self-reliance and act more independently of adult authority.’ Ethnographic observations supported their suggestion. Ten years later, Shack continued psychological anthropology research on "food insecurity" and deprivation and their affect on personality development among the Gurage in Ethiopia.

Food-relevant research projects of other types were being conducted during these years, particularly in southeast and southwest Asia. The Cornell-Thailand project, for example, resulted in a number of reports concerning food habits and causes of malnutrition in that country. Although the project illustrated the utility of interdisciplinary studies in such areas as nutrition, the reports represented by that of llauch, Hanks, and Sudsaneh on "Food Habits in a Siamese Village" (1959) were culturally specific and of minimal theoretical application for this West Indian research.

During the 1960s, research in nutritional anthropology continued, but there were relatively few publications beyond Shacks' (1969) and a discussion by Margaret Read about the role of the anthropologist in food change programs (Yudkin and McKenzie 1964:51-59). In the early years of this decade (1970s), however, nutritional anthropology appears to have come into its own. There have been a number of new publications and many more unpublished papers presented at professional meetings which cannot be specifically cited here. Among the published articles are William Shack's 1971 material on food distribution, hunger and ritual in Ethiopia, Gelfand's physician's perspective on Diet and Tradi­ tion in an African Culture (1971), Mary Douglas' "Deciphering a Meal" (1972), and Damas' article on Eskimo food sharing (1972).

William Shack's study is of particular interest, since it con­ siders differential food distribution patterns among Gurage men, women, and children, and the cultural underpinnings and expressions of these patterns, with specific reference to food anxiety expressed in female spirit possession. I wrote a similar, article concerning the institution­ alization of a set of symptoms known among the southeast African Nguni 31

Bantu as ukuthwasa (1973). The cultural interpretation of these symptoms is spirit possession. In the article, I argued that these symptoms are similar to those of pellagra and suggested a nutritional etiology for ukuthwasa. Ethnographies of the Nguni indicate a tradi­ tional differential pattern of food distribution in which women, par­ ticularly at marriage, childbirth, and menstruation, are denied certain dairy foods and dishes because of a perceived threat to the cattle. I observed how the loci of individuals within webs of social relation­ ships affect their consumption of food through cultural prescriptions and proscriptions on food behavior for individuals occupying such loci. Of course, both Shack's study and my own dealt with specific cultural situations, but such studies encouraged me to attempt field investiga­ tion of how social relationships produce food distribution patterns, which, in turn, shape the diet of individuals within the social systems. Yet the development of general theory and methodology to guide research on this topic is still in early stages.

In 1974, Michael Calavan spoke of this lack of general theory and methodology before a group of nutritional anthropologists at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association at Mexico City (1974). Specifically, he wrote in his presented paper of the lack of "explanation" of the causes of malnutrition in social research in nutri­ tion. He was critical of the utility of the general ethnographic approach to understanding causes of malnutrition, since description-- even exhaustive description— does not provide understanding or explana­ tion of cause-effect relationships. Instead, he suggested using an adaptive framework based on decision models of the food selection process. Through such research, he said, we can "explain" diets of individuals in specific times and places. I feel this framework is particularly helpful in understanding nutritional sociocultural processes in complex, strati­ fied, non-homogeneous societies.^-

The Sociocultural Context of Food Habits: Nutritionists View Culture While anthropologists have become increasingly aware of food pro­ cesses, nutritionists have become increasingly concerned with under­ standing cultural parameters of diet. "Ethnographic exhaustiveness" is not generally the goal of the nutritionist's writings but rather a clarification of the types of cultural and social factors of which the nutritionists must be aware. A number of these books and articles, in fact, were published as guidelines for those who will be working in food and nutrition programs in different areas of the world. Rather than discuss these publications individually and specifically, I have outlined below the major factors which several important sources indicate food researchers should consider.

1. One of the original stated goals of my research, in fact, was to investigate such decision-making processes among West Indian wage earners; however, subsequent modifications of goals and research methods were necessary in the field. 32

A. Cultural patterns

I. Food attitudes and cognition

a. "Food," "non-food," and food taboos b. Age and sex linked foods (including eating patterns associated with children, pregnant and . laetating women, etc.) c. Celebration foods and feasting d. Disease linked foods e. Cultural "superfoods...having great historical, psychological and emotional significance to the par­ ticular community...." (Jelliffe 1966:122) f. Modern prestige foods g. Food preparation and specific eating patterns h. Hospitality, social intercourse,and food ("Food is used to promote friendliness and social warmth, or, as it has been called, the ritual of hospitality. Or we may say that food is used in many ways to promote inter­ personal acceptance...A relationship develops between the giver of the food and the recipient." In addition, "....there is still the philosophy that only equals eat together." Lowenberg, et. al. 1968:101,103)

II. Disease Causation--cultural perceptions of the cause of of illness and related curing practices

III. Child Rearing Patterns a. Pre-, peri-, and post-natal cultural patterns b. Breast feeding and artificial feeding attitudes and practices c. Supplementary foods d. Weaning patterns e. Children's foods, feeding patterns, and the encul- turation of food attitudes (establishment of sex-linked food habits, for example)

IV. Food production and distribution, all related attitudes and activities

B. Changing food habits

I. Ecological change (Traditional diet, nutritionally ade­ quate under previous conditions becomes inadequate in face of radical ecological change, such as disappearance of game animals or destruction of grazing land and soils.)

II. Subsistence economy change, especially introduction of cash crops, decline in subsistence agriculture

a. Inadequate income for purchasing necessary nutrients b. Inadequate nutrition education 33

c. Inadequate transportation and storage facilities d. Problem of money management

III. Urban migration, geographic mobility— traditional food­ stuffs not available or expensive

IV. Social class and prestige factors, social mobility- traditional foods considered lower class, rural, etc,

V. Availability of non-food items for purchase

C. Socioeconomic factors

1. Social factors

a. Population characteristics b. Family and household characteristics c. Education and literacy factors d. Housing, kitchen construction andcontent e. Food and water supply storage f. Sanitation system, sewage disposal (latrines, etc.)

II. Economic factors

a. Occupation b. Income, wealth indicators c. Expenditures

D. Health and Educational services and facilities— hospitals, clinics, etc.

(This outline has been compiled from studies by Jelliffe 1966, Lowenberg et. al. 1968, Pyfoe 1968, Yudkin and McKenzie 1964, FAO 1967, National Academy of Sciences 1945.)

The nutritionists have actually done a more thorough job of specify­ ing food relevant cultural patterns than the anthropologists. However, the knowledge and appreciation of general cultural food attitudes described for a group does not necessarily result in understanding dif­ ferential food supplying of individuals within the group. It is this perspective which the ethnographer can provide only after lengthy systematic observations. Together the anthropologists and nutritionists are beginning to get a better picture of the relationship between culture and nutrition.

The Application of Anthropology to Nutrition Programs Our understanding of the food-culture relationships also has been enhanced by the writings of anthropologists involved in actual health programs. Applied anthropology materials also tend to be culturally specific, however, so no comprehensive discussion of this material is possible or is it necessary here. Some of the important data should be described, however, since they provide another perspective on how culture 34

directly and indirectly affects health*

There are actually suprisingly few articles by applied anthro­ pologists that deal specifically with nutritionally relevant topics. In 1955, however, Benjamin Paul edited the book Health, Culture, and Community which includes several important contributions. For example, Richard Adams described a nutrition program in Guatemala and the "cultural blocks" that produced resistance to the attempt to supple­ ment local diet. In one case, the health team tried to get blood samples for clinical analysis, only to encounter a negative response produced by the local belief that each individual has a limited and finite blood supply. Furthermore, some Guatemalans in the program saw the diet supplementation as an attempt to fatten children to be eaten.

An extensive nutrition program was also carried out in South Africa among the reserve Zulu, among whom pellagra and other deficiency dis­ eases were endemic. In Paul's 1955 book and in a subsequent article (1957), John Cassell described some of the results. The program produced positive results with respect to the introduction of certain foods but failed initially to improve milk consumption, which would alleviate pellagragenic dietary conditions. The Zulu are one of the Nguni societies in which cattle are sacred and the consumption of milk and milk products ritually proscribed for some, especially women. Resis­ tance to milk use was eventually minimized by the introduction of powdered milk, with significant reduction in infant mortality rate and the incidence of pellagra and kwashiorkor.

Similar experiences with health program difficulties have been described by Solien, Behar, and Scrimshaw from Guatemala (1966, 1957), Erasmus from Haiti (1952), Wellin from Peru (1955). Jelliffe, a phy­ sician, also published a relevant discussion of "Social Culture and Nutrition: Cultural Blocks and Protein Malnutrition in Early Childhood in Rural West Bengal" (1957).

From these varied reports of successes and failures in nutrition programs we learn several food facts. First we see that food cognition is so deep-seated and profound in its nutritional effects that it is best to develop nutritional goals that can be accomplished within the existing sociocultural food framework, (For example, do not try to substitute fish flour for maize where maize figures greatly in ritual and symbolization; instead, try to introduce a variety of maize with a higher quality of protein.) Second, we can see specifically how people selectively use, or do not use, natural and social food resources, gaining yet another perspective on the adaptive process.

Ecological Anthropology and Nutritional Adaptation The final group of anthropological food studies takes an explicit ecological perspective, viewing human activities in terms of energy flows. The writings of such authors as Alland (1970), Gross and Under­ wood (1971), Newman (1962), Rappoport (1967, 1971), Lee (1968), Kemp (1971), and Harris (1974), demonstrated the range of ecological concerns 35

that a food researcher should consider. In addition to illustrating the precise survival values of various sociocultural food systems, the ecol­ ogists take care to point out that enigmatic or even presumably mal­ adaptive behaviors may actually contribute to a group's survival. This is the whole purpose of Harris's 1974 publication.

Harris tackled such vexing cultural situations as the continuing existence of the sacred cow complex in the face of India's food crisis. He attempted to demonstrate that the cow products that are used--dung, milk, power, etc.— are so efficiently and intensively utilized that the long range benefits of keeping cattle around outweight the short range nutritional benefits the beef would provide. (There are critics of Harris's theories, among them, Klass 1966, and Bennett 1967.)

One of the classic field studies of nutritional adaptation was that conducted by Rappoport (1967) in New Guinea. Rappoport demonstrated that ritual can have significant influence on the environment and human adapta­ tion. His study of the Tsembaga clan of the New Guinea Haring described the cycle of pig raising, ritual slaughter and feasting, and warfare. Haring women must care for and feed the growing numbers of pigs at increasing caloric cost, for the activities are demanding, and pigs compete with humans for food. Over a span of several years, growing populations of pigs and people seriously strain the productivity of the environment. After a decade or more of increasing human stress and envir­ onmental strain a major ritual is held, involving the slaughter, distri­ bution, and consumption of great numbers of pigs. Then the Haring go to war. The ultimate outcome of the cycle is the reduction of pig and human numbers to levels that will not tax environmental productivity. Further­ more, Rappoport pointed out the pig feast ritual provides a concentration of calories and nutrients at a time when stress and the demands of war produce increased nutritional needs. This type of study requires the collection of specific quantified data on the intake of calories and nutrients from all sources and the expenditures of calories through regular and cyclical activities.

The work of Gross and Underwood (1971) in Brazil emphasized another ecological fact: behavior that may be adaptive for a population may result in relative deprivation for certain individuals within the popu­ lation. Gross and Underwood studied a peasant population in Brazil that had turned from subsistence agriculture to the growing of the cash crop sisal in the recent past. The authors found that sisal agriculture involves great energy expenditures of men for a low cash return. They found, in fact, that in some families virtually 100% of the earned income has to be used to buy foodstuffs. In the distribution of food within a household, the authors discovered that children receive a relatively small share, and clinical studies suggest nutritional depri­ vation is a common childhood problem. Yet Gross and Underwood pointed out that this differential food distribution system is actually adaptive overall, since the greatest share of calories goes to meet the energy needs of the male producers. 36

Colin Turnbull's report (1972) of The Mountain People, the Ik of Kenya, deserves special attention. Although Turnbull did not conduct a study of energy flow, his major implicit perspective was ecological. The Ik were hunters and gatherers until the end of the last decade (1960s) when the government deprived them of their hunting lands for the establishment of a game preserve. The hunters were forced into a sedentary agricultural existence on arid land which would scarcely support even dedicated farmers. As a result of the general food shortage which followed, Ik society has been destroyed. According to Turnbull, that is, extreme individualism and competition now characterize activi­ ties and interaction; children must forage for food after their third year, and old folks who can no longer adequately care for themselves are neglected and left to starve. The Ik apparently were a sharing society as hunters in a favorable environment, but extreme deprivation at the present time causes individuals among them to take elaborate precautions to avoid sharing anything with anyone. In his final chapter Turnbull concluded:

....that the Ik clearly show that society itself is not indispensable for man's survival...and that he is perfectly capable of associating for purposes of survival without being social. The Ik have successfully abandoned useless appendages, by which I refer to those "basic" qualities such as family, cooperative sociality, belief, love, hope and so forth, for the very good reason that in their context these militated against survival ...theIk show that man can do without society in the sense we mostly mean by the word (implying those qualities), for they have replaced human society with a mere survival system that does not take human emotion into account (1972:290).

In such "societies" interaction becomes, the author said, mutual exploi­ tation. Turnbull's final assessment was that our commitment to progress and technological change has actually caused individualism, competition, "exploitation and degradation of others" throughout "western" society (1972:291,292).

Turnbull has been accused of ethnocentrism, romanticism, exaggera­ tion, and faulty science, by some of his colleagues (for example, Barth 1974, McCall 1975, Geddes 1975). Yet if his ethnographic observations and reconstructions are even reasonably accurate, it is apparent that the Ik have changed from a sharing, group structured society toward a non-sharing individuated society. This is essentially the same direction of change that Dahlquist posited for Ponape (see Chapter I). The external influences which produced the change were not identical, but in each case disruption of social group-environmental (ecological) interaction affected interpersonal relationships.

Summary Most of these relevant studies are particularistic, dealing with specific problems in specific societies. However, together they provide 37 a theoretical background for this investigation. They suggest, first, that food habits and nutritional adequacy are not simply a function of available foodstuffs. Second, to fully understand food habits and food choices of individuals in any society, one must discern the influence of learned and shared perception of and attitudes towards potential foods. Furthermore, one must note the position of individuals in their societies, their relationships to others, and societal expectations of the behavior of those who occupy those positions (or, more importantly, the individ­ ual's perception of those expectations). Finally, the data suggest that in developing societies both the availability of foodstuffs and the social statuses of individuals may change quickly, while related atti­ tudes and perceptions may change more slowly, or, in changing, become unrealistic and maladaptive.

Together these diverse references demonstrate the breadth and depth of anthropological food studies. Although all of these perspectives were important considerations in the preparing and conducting of the Kittitian research, those of greatest importance were the social and ecological studies of food distribution. Two questions they have raised which stimulated this research are: (1) how is food distribu­ tion an expression of social relationships, and (2) what are the nutritional implications of the food distribution system? In Chapter VII, I shall relate the materials on social relationships, food habits, and food distribution to the Kittitian ethnographic data collected in the course of my research. In the next chapter, III, I discuss the methods used to collect that data. CHAPTER III

COLLECTION OF ETHNOGRAPHIC FOOD DATA

The collection of data was begun in May, 1972, and for the first four months was accomplished primarily through established anthropo­ logical methods of participant observation, open-ended discussions and formal interviews. During the winter of 1973, however, I requested help from nutritionists at The Ohio State University in preparing some methodological tool for collecting more precise quantifiable data on food habits. Although the results of this combination of research techniques and tools were not totally satisfactory, the anthropological and nutritional data were mutually reinforcing for the most part, thus, together strengthening some of the arguments of this dissertation. In this chapter, these methodologies will be described. First, the four levels of observation in which data were collected are clarified: the Kittitian sociocultural and economic system, the village lifeways, the social and dietary characteristics of the interview sample, and specific food habits of selected individuals. Second, the general ethnographic field techniques, experiences, and problems are described and discussed. Third, the advantages and problems of nutritional interviewing in anthropological field work are considered.

Levels of Research Kittitian Society— As in any anthropological field research project, areal and theoretical materials had first to be read and analyzed. The West Indian and Kittitian data provided perspectives on the level of "Kittitian society." Furthermore, the sociocultural information was supplemented by the results of four nutrition studies conducted on the island in the 1960s which contained useful social and medical facts. One was a brief but intensive clinical look at Kittitian nutritional status carried out by the United States— sponsored INCCD team (1962) using anthropometric techniques, blood and urine analysis, and other laboratory procedures. A similar research project was conducted by Ashcroft et. al. (1965). Finally, in the latter half of the decade, Low conducted a more extensive nutritional study on St. Kitts. Funded by the Pan American Health Organization-World Health Organization she and her colleagues attempted to improve diet on the islands of St. Kitts and St. Lucia through ongoing programs involving nutritional education and promotion of increased agricultural productivity in kitchen gardens (1970). Most of their data was collected and programs carried out through the island clinics and schools. Nearly all of the Kittitians with whom they worked, therefore, were women and children. As a result I found very few references to men's food attitudes and eating behavior before I began my own field research. The programs Low and her co-workers conducted on St. Kitts were ultimately declared unsuccessful, apparently because of the rejection of any agricultural endeavors among young people.

The nutritional data collected in the course of the three nutri­ tion studies generally .provided a useful basis for food interviewing in my own work. Low's dissertation was especially useful, since many of her data were collected through food recall interviewing. This pro­ cedure involves asking informants to recall and list foods and amounts

38 39 consumed during a specified period, usually the previous 24 hours. Although some nutritionists find the nutritional information collected through food recall techniques to be too inaccurate and approximate for some analyses, it proved helpful for this sociocultural study since food attitudes, cognition, and terminology can be inferred from subjects' responses. Thus, Low's research results saved me research time by indicating, for example, that to Kittitians, animal protein is "relish," and "tea" is almost any warm beverage whatever its ingredients.

The previous food studies also proved useful after my field re­ search was completed by furnishing a base against which to compare the data I had collected. I found that the information gathered in Challenger's Village through participant observation and interviewing corresponded closely to that collected in food recall and clinical testing by other scientists. (A summary of Kittitian nutritional research is provided in Appendix A.)

The government of St. Kitts published population and economic statistics regularly, and these bulletins were another source of island- wide social data. They saved time and guided research by furnishing information I would otherwise have had to collect in the field. 1 decided, for example, that a census of Challenger's Village was not necessary for the food habits research project, since I had access to government census reports. Although specific household information for the whole village might have been useful, the expenditure of time that such a survey would take could not be justified.

Through utilization of all of this anthropological, historical, geographical, nutritional literature and the government publications, a reasonably complete picture of Kittitian society was constructed.

The Village— The construction of life and foodways in Challenger's Village is based upon my own research results. Over the months of participant observation, conversations and interviews, I gathered information from the folk who live in that cluster of households. Actually, I quickly came to see Challenger's Village as an aggregation of individuals whose activities were not necessarily delimited by village boundaries but who, because of propinquity, composed a com­ munity. (That is, Challenger's Village is a community in the sense of a durable, demographic unit. There is no community structure for interaction; nonetheless, physical proximity produces a high frequency of interaction.) On this local level, I observed the flow of food­ stuffs, noting local production and distribution agents, sources of food that lie outside the village, the ways in which food reaches the consumption units within households, and general patterns of eating. Furthermore, it was within the village that I observed and recorded attitudes and activities not directly related to food and nutrition.

The Nutrition Interview Sample--It was not possible to administer the nutrition interview to all villagers in our allotted field time. 40

A stratified sample of 45 villagers, or approximately one-quarter of the adult population, was selected for interviewing. Since the major goal of the investigation was to discover relationships between diet and sociocultural factors such as level of education, occupation, and income, only adults were chosen. I determined that the assumption of “adulthood" in the village is not clearly marked, but that most young people take on adult roles such as motherhood and employment, becoming independent of nurturing parents or surrogates, by the age of 15 or 16 years. All interviewees were at least 15 years or older. All age groups, occupations, sections of the village, and both sexes were represented in the sample. Some of these individuals were people with whom I interacted regularly in conducting general ethnographic investigations; others were folk with whom I had no other contacts. Below I describe more specifically how these individuals were chosen, the nature of the interview (reproduced in Appendix B), and the problems encountered in the administration and analysis of the nutritional in­ terviews.

Food Habits of Selected Individuals— A few of the people who were formally interviewed were friends and major informants on whom I could depend for careful, reasonably accurate recording of more specific food data. From these men and women I collected recipes, gathered material on food preparation methods, food utilization, waste, and disposal, garnered data on the exact distribution of foods within their house­ holds, and gained insights on nutrition missed by some of the earlier food researchers. Low, for example, spoke of chicken “back-n-neck" as a good nutritional value "despite its 507. refuse" (1970:123). My informants assured me that there is no back-n-neck refuse— they consume everything, including the smaller bones. Another anthropologist, who studied bush medicine in Challenger's Village in 1975, related to me the meals he took with an informant with whom I had worked earlier, observing how the young man chewed up smaller bones and sucked the marrow from the larger ones (David Stevenson: personal communication).

I set up a small experiment in which two major female informants consented to participate. Neither of these women, hired to cook and clean by the owner of the guest house, expected to be employed after our departure. I asked them to keep accurate records of all income and all expenditures during the final days of our field stay and to continue this recording for two weeks after we were gone and their wages ceased. One woman provided useful data through these records; the other accepted another job and did not participate.

These are the types of data collected during the Kittitian research period. The balance of Chapter III relates the phases of the field experience specifically, describing the actual research methods, problems, successes, and failures.

Ethnographic Phase In the spring of 1972 I made a trip to St. Kitts to make initial official contacts and arrangements for living in Challenger's Village. Since I would be arriving in June with three children, I wanted to 41 have all such problems resolved before the research period began. With a great deal of advice and help from Dr. Frank E. Poirier, who had lived for several months in Challenger's Village while studying the African Green Monkeys, I was able to rent the guest house, a car, contact government officials and prospective informants (and friends!) very quickly.

The village and house sites were both good for research purposes. The proximity of the village to Basseterre meant that X had easy access to facilities such as the government hospital, clinics, agriculture department, and the Public Market. Furthermore, the capital provides people in the village with "modern" economic opportunities and influ­ ences, with the result that there is a growing middle class stratum in Challenger's Village. Since socio-economic status is one of the inde­ pendent variables considered in the research, this village was a good choice. . Access to urban facilities was important in my case for reasons not directly related to research goals. When conducting field work with children in developing areas, being close to reasonably good medical care and other resources promotes peace of mind and saves time and money.

The guest house in Challenger's Village provided an advantageous situation for research. Being the highest structure in the village, it gave me a good view of nearly all of the community even though it was not centrally located. In the early stages of research, when X was still trying to identify and adjust to patterns of activities and "rythmns" of village life, I could see and hear these activities from early morning until shutters closed throughout the village at night. The fact that the bar in the ground floor of the house was a major gathering place each evening was extremely important, for much of the "socializing" among the men and women of Challenger's went on literally at m y feet. My research schedule was quickly adjusted to daily pattern of activity: mornings were generally devoted to formal or structured discussions and interviews, or the scheduling of these, quiet mid­ afternoons (virtually a siesta time) spent in typing notes, planning and organization, and evenings spent in informal discussions and parti­ cipation in the "socializing." Notes were taken by hand in note pads or on interview forms during the formal interviews. I occasionally used the tape recorder during the informal evening sessions, but more often would try to reconstruct the important exchanges after the visit­ ing was over. Admittedly some information was lost this way, but the relaxing times at night were not the proper context for formal research techniques. Stories of encounters with jumbies and ghosts were not likely to be told under formal questioning into a tape recorder.

The first evening I arrived in Challenger's Village with the children, I hired a young woman to help watch them while I worked. She eventually helped clean and launder and, thus, spent several hours each day with us. A woman was also hired by the landlord to cook two meals a day. These two young women were my major informants for the next three months, and through them and their kin I gradually established relationships throughout the village. The extension of ties in West 42

Indian communities such as Challenger's Village usually proceeds in fits and starts. Morris Freilich described this "differential spread- ability factor" in a 1970 article, saying that in Black Caribbean communities there is little "spreadability of rapport" and extension of ties from "established" informants is difficult (1970:218,226). This is due to a number of barriers to interaction characteristic of these societies (Chapters V and VII).. While such barriers are inter­ esting social phenomena to an ethnographer, they makeconducting field research more difficult. Not only will a relationship with one indi­ vidual not lead naturally and inevitably to ties witha circle of relatives and friends, it may actually interfere with the extension of ties, since many folk would actively discourage such attempts by making disparaging remarks about friend and foe alike. I was reminded of the literature (Chapter I) describing how economic conditions in the West Indies produce competition for scarce resources instead of cooperation. I was, of course, a resource. A serious problem developed within my own household when my two informants fought a long and very loud battle over a matter I considered inconsequential. From that time on they refused to speak to one another. I could, in fact, only ask questions of them separately and individually. I finally was forced to "choose" one with whom to associate regularly, and our relationship developed into a sound ethnographer-informant dyad strengthened by bonds of friendship.

Relationships with village men were more difficult to maintain because of sexual innuendoes and the characteristic male domination of women. During the first visit made by my husband, I made out a list of inquiries for him to check out among the men. He continued to provide me with certain kinds of data (especially dealing with drinking, sexual conduct, etc.) during his intermittant visits. Toward the end of the first session,I established reasonably comfortable ties with a few men who could be counted on thereafter to help with certain tasks and topics.

Actually, being a woman alone with children caused no social prob­ lem in this research setting. While our situation might have been misunderstood or condemned in some societies, in the West Indies it is such a commonplace condition that it caused no comment at all. Having children in the field can cause ethnographic problems, however, when the ethnographer is also woman, mother, and head of the household, There are, first of all, health and adjustment concerns. It is diffi­ cult enough for the ethnographer to overcome personal problems of adjustment to the sociocultural and environmental change; the problems are multiplied by the number of children brought along. The "mother" worries about intestinal parasites, food poisoning, dog bites, culture shock; the "ethnographer" worries about children offending informants by unwittingly violating unfamiliar norms and established practices. Even hiring a regular babysitter from the local community is of minimal help. Cultural differences in child rearing attitudes and activities are interesting to the ethnographer, but disturbing to the mother, who cannot convince the babysitter that children should wear shoes while playing in the goat pasture. Babysitters also do not always acknowledge I

43 that doing ethnography is work. I could count on the children being cared for when I was typing --that was perceived as work. When I was interviewing or discussing a topic with an informant, 1 was not working but visiting and was constantly having simultaneously to talk and handle children's small crises while the babysitter looked on.

However, there are some advantages to having children in the field. Motherhood and babies are universal phenomena and discussion of little ones often offers common ground for the establishment of a relationship. In fact, in places like St. Kitts, an adult female without children may have to do a great deal of explaining and self-defending. Furthermore, people's reactions to the ethnographer's children are sometimes cul­ turally revealing. The cook's amazement that we set a place at the table for our one-and-a-half year old child led me to inquire about feeding practices of toddlers; the scolding of our children by village adults stimulated my investigation of authority and adult-child relationships. The children are also sensitive observers and extend the ethnographer's "reach" throughout the community. During the first research period, my children were one, seven, and twelve years old, so we had regular contacts with young people of most age groups both in and outside of our household. My seyen year old daughter was integrated into a group of children who spent great amounts of time in food gathering activi­ ties. Through her stories and observations, related in terms of sur­ prise and amazement, I learned far more about childhood eating patterns than I could possibly have learned without her active participation. In terms of my own field experience and research goals, in fact, I believe the advantages of having a family present more than outweighed the disadvantages.1

Throughout the research period I continued to participate in as many activities— especially those related to food— as possible and to observe and record general ethnographic data. I attended "outings," "fetes," dances, and other events at which food might be served. I was impressed by how few occasions of this type there were. During the research period there were no weddings, only two funerals, and one christening fete. I was not invited to the f£te, but my major informant was asked to attend. She declined the invitation, saying, "They are

1. The children's experiences in the village produced another source of food information through what they perceived as food deprivation. Although we rarely suffered actual hunger, we all felt that there were definite, real limits to our food supply there, unlike our situation in the United States. This food concern was manifested in the younger children's meal time behavior. There were constant battles over food, arguments about who had larger or more choice portions. During the last field trip the situation was relieved somewhat by buying more food, and our food costs doubled. Although I would hesitate to suggest that Kittitian social relationships are simply an expression of food depri­ vation, the children's reactions were a dramatic lesson on food and quality of human interaction. 44

big fish, and I'm just a little fish." (She was referring to the fact that the baby's father had a good job in Basseterre and many of his guests were from town.) Eventually the party spilled out into the street and into our house, as some of our friends brought us some traditional celebration food, goatwater (mutton stew) and rum. There were a few church-related gatherings and parties in Basseterre but none in Chal­ lenger's Village. Even daily eating patterns were difficult to ascertain through simple ethnographic observations, for while much of life goes on outdoors in the village, eating is usually done in the privacy of the house or fenced yard. For this reason I soon began to investigate other ways of collecting food data.

During this first phase of research, I decided to try food recall techniques for the gathering of uniform data. I chose a number of people of different age categories whom I saw each day and kept a running record of foods consumed by them. This worked well for only a short time. The informants began to tire of it, and the younger ones began to add items such as steak to make their food lists more interesting. At this point I suspended use of this technique. However, I found it an excel­ lent way of introducing the subject of food habits and diet. Food recall techniques (1) provide a systematic and uniform framework for data collection, (2) result in a good body of data on eating patterns (what is eaten, when, under what conditions), (3) provide information on the cognition of foodstuffs and food categories (which edibles are included in informants' "food" lists, which overlooked as "food"), and (4) produce a social context for pursuing and following up food topics and responses. In other words, I could ask informants what goes into that Saturday night goatwater and breakfast tea. I also amassed lists of "preferred" and "favorite" foods. The lists were not as useful as food recall data, but interesting, since many favorite foods, like corn­ flakes, were very rarely actually consumed.

During the summer of 1972, I also attended cooking lessons with a friend at the YMCA building in Basseterre. The women who participated were generally young and middle class; for example, several were secre­ taries, bookkeepers, and teachers. I was impressed with how traditional food attitudes and prejudices persisted among these urban, upwardly mobile individuals. The women criticized the dishes prepared by instructors from other islands ("Kittitian goatwater is better than Montserrat goatwater"), and they joked about the physical weakness of a member of the group who apparently had not eaten her Saturday night goatwater for strength the previous weekend.

In January, 1973, I went alone to St. Kitts to check on seasonal food patterns. By using food recall interviews I found very few sig­ nificant differences from earlier material beyond those in fruit con­ sumption. Mangoes and guavas were out of season in late January and February. I spent a great deal of this time in the homes of people in the village, observing food preparation and eating. My primary female informant also talked with me at length on how she feeds her family, how much food goes to her boyfriend, to herself, and to her children. 45

Furthermore, I continued my investigation of bush medicines, and collected and dried samples of most of the major ones.

Nutritional Research Phase The insights 1 gained during the initial ethnographic phase of research proved invaluable in the preparation of the interview form in the spring of 1973. In fact, I was convinced that a nutritionist lacking anthropological food data risks missing and misinterpreting nutritional data. I simply could not have put together the "nutritional practices assessment" form for St. Kitts without the previous ethno­ graphic experience.

I approached Dr. Virginia Vivan in the Food and Nutrition Department (School of Home Economics, College of Agriculture) at The Ohio State University with a brief description of what I intended to do, the types of data I needed, and the kinds of relationships I wanted to test. She recommended that I talk with Nancy Schwartz, then a student com­ pleting her dissertation based on information she collected on the effects of nutrition education on food habits of young women. The questionnaire she sent out to recent high school graduates in Ohio contained a number of questions on social, economic, and educational status, questions testing nutritional knowledge, and a food consumption section. Briefly, this last section was based on the food recall technique. In this form, information is elicited from informants con­ cerning the number of average portions of foods in the four basic food groups they have consumed over a three day period. The results quickly yield a "nutrition score" for the intake of each of the basic food groups and an average daily score of the total food intake. The maxi­ mum possible score of 24 reflects an adequate consumption of nutrients for that "average" day. This is, of course, a gross measure, but it appeared to be the type of "tool" for which I was looking since it required relatively little special nutritional expertise.

I had to modify this "assessment instrument" before returning to the field because I would be working with a much smaller sample in a different sociocultural setting, and with different research goals. In addition, I would be administering it myself, rather than having the informants fill out the forms. Most villagers are literate, but I chose to conduct the questioning so that I could explain or restate categories as the situation required. 1 realized that my personally leading the answering of questions and the whole interpersonal situa­ tion, might affect the validity of some parts of the form, but I decided that errors which resulted from this method were less serious and more easily detected than those which would arise from wholesale misinter­ pretations of a rather complex questionnaire. The modified Nutritional Practices Assessment Instrument contains: (1) social and economic categories to identify informants (sex, age, marital status, household data, educational level, occupation, gardening data, house construction and size information, etc.), (2) questions relevant to informants' food attitudes (healthful foods, male-female foods, food expenditures, food 46

sharing, etc.), and (3) the food recall form. (See Appendix B.) Armed with this research tool, I returned to St. Kitts with the children in June of 1973.

I made a number of changes in my research and living arrangements during this final research period.The experience of the previous year prompted me to hire Ms. M. Cathey Jenkins from The Ohio State University Anthropology Graduate Department for child care and research support. I rehired my previous babysitter as official primary informant, since she was unemployed at that time. This was the only time I had a cash payment arrangement with an informant for the collection of data.

I used government census figures to determine what percentages in the sample were needed in each of the categories defined by the inde­ pendent variables, sex, age, and socio-economic status. Subjects were selected randomly in numbers to approximate those village adult popu­ lation percentages. While continuing ethnographic observations and interviews, I began to use the Nutritional Practices Assessment Instru­ ment with these subjects in all sections of the village. I quickly found that the form was too long and that there were some types of information that would be difficult to get through direct questioning. Some inquiries had to be eliminated, and others modified. For example, the questions on food sharing elicited few responses. It was not actually surprising that direct inquiries about covert behavior patterns were futile. I was interested to note that the responses I did get would suggest that some people give food but no one receives it! I was particularly disappointed that I was unable to get income and food expenditure data. Many villagers do not have regular incomes, and some decline to answer questions concerning income in any event. (See discussion of Cohen's Jamaican material in Chapter I.) Not only was I forced to drop the inquiry, I had to modify one of my research goals, which was to investigate how cash wages were spent on food and non­ food items. Only in the case of interviews with a very few regular informants was I able to get such information, certainly not an adequate sample to draw cultural inferences.

Questions about special "male" and "female" foods were eliminated. They meant nothing to most people, although a few subjects indicated that they thought men needed starchy foods more than women. An inquiry about what foods are considered important for health was skimmed over in interviewing. Many informants found this difficult to answer; furthermore, the only pattern that I perceived in the responses was that only rarely were the traditional strengthening foods mentioned. Finally, I came to ask only women questions about children's foods and weaning. Most men did not choose to answer any­ way, and some seemed embarrassed by them.

The major problem I had in administering the food recall portion of the assessment form was in determining amounts of foods actually consumed. I found after completing nearly one-third of the interviews that the "cups" in which beverages are drunk by villagers are not 8 ounce measure cups, but twice as large. A person who claimed to have 47

had two cups of milk, then, may have consumed up to four average (one- cup) portions. The confusion about average portions also applied to rice and "relish11 (animal protein). In attempting to figure out, with a subject, how many average servings of these foods they had eaten in the past three days, I very often underestimated amounts, especially of rice. The nutritional interview form lists the average rice portion as 2/3 cup; Kittitians will usually consume more than that at one meal, sometimes considerably more, I finally realized that my own perspec­ tives were too strongly influencing the informants' responses, I re­ did some of the interviews at that point, and from that time on asked the subject to demonstrate amounts to me, or to tell me specifically in established measures how much of a food was consumed.

Unfortunately, both Ms. Jenkins and I became quite ill near the end of the research period, and I did not interview as many villagers as I had hoped, I did reach 45 adults, or nearly one-quarter of the adult population of Challenger's Village. The results are discussed in Chapter VII.

Before the illness felled us, Ms. Jenkins, my husband, and I decided to make a last attempt at getting information about celebration foods by giving a f£te ourselves; the occasion was a farewell party for my husband who was to return home the following day. Although our main purpose in sponsoring the celebration was recreational rather than ethnographic, we asked friends to advise us on the proper way of staging such an event. Our advisers helped in the preparation of baked chicken and red beans-and-rice. They also demonstrated how we were to place a table before the kitchen door from which to serve food and drink, restricting guests to a designated section of the living room. I learned that through this method of serving the host is always in control of the food and drink and the distribution of both. We tried setting out bowls of mixed nuts for our guests early in the evening, only to find the pattern of controlled distribution applied to it as well. No one touched the snack until one of the co­ hosts personally passed the bowl. I also learned about party crashing that evening; that crashing is always anticipated, but that crashers must also abide by "rules" of food distribution. They were the last to get food and beverages, receiving them through the intercession of an invited guest, who approached us with the request on behalf of their good friend or kin. I observed how food and drink reached all of the celebrants in this way, even though no one helped themselves to any of it. In my opinion, this fite clearly indicated that active participation in and stimulation of social events provide enlightening field experiences.

Even our departure provided me with several ethnographic insights. We were leaving behind foods which we had not used, a few items of clothing, toys, and books, which we chose not to carry home with us. Unfortunately, word spread that there was to be a distribution, and the result was constant bickering and arguing until our departure. Some people came to me to try and discourage my giving anything to 48 certain folks with whom they were currently "vexed." Others complained of the small share they received. And 1 still have vivid memories of one woman, to whom 1 had given a case of soda bottles to return for deposit, carefully attempting to get the unwieldy gift out the back door and up to her house without being seen.

In a sense, the ethnographic experience has not yet ceased. I have maintained contact with several men and women in Challenger's Village, and they try to keep me advised of major events and the general conditions of life. Unfortunately, at the time of writing, these conditions are apparently bad. Inflation, shortages, and lack of jobs have caused many to suffer even greater deprivation. In 1975, 1 received a note from a friend, a young woman of 16 with two small babies. She wrote: "Righ /sic/ now I am very broke I aint even have a cent to buy decoration for the house. Cant even get a job. If you do get a job they dont want to pay you sufficient money and some times they delay you. Its a lady living side me she cant walk so good it is she who do give me little change sometime to buy milk for them /the babies/ and when she dont give me they would drink the plain boiling water..."

After returning from the field, I worked out a code book based on the Nutritional Practices Assessment interview form and began the process of putting together a computer program. The statistical re­ sults were not significant, but after another run-through, in which some of the categories were collapsed, some patterns and relationships emerged. The discussion of these results follows in Chapter VII.

Summary Through this variety of techniques and methods the data relating to food, society, and culture in Challenger's Village were collected. The success of the methods and the quality of the results varied, but together they were sufficient to make a reasonably complete picture of the sociocultural context of food habits. A summary of the relevant geographic, historical, and sociocultural information is contained in Chapters IV, V, and VI. CHAPTER IV

HISTORY AND PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF ST. KITTS

This chapter provides the ecological and historical background for the research problem. I include a discussion of the various sig­ nificant limiting, if not determining, facts of geography, history, and ethnohistory.

Location, Geography, and Climate St. Kitts was called Liamuiga, the Fertile Island, by the Carib Indians. And, indeed, this small land mass in the eastern Caribbean is still so recognized, even after more than 300 years of continuous cultivation. It owes this fertility to a combination of factors, such as good volcanic soils and adequate rainfall. St. Kitts is one of a chain of volcanic islands known as the Lesser Antilles. It is situated at approximately 17° 15' N, 62° 401 W, to the north and east of the other islands of the Lesser Antilles. There it forms a part of the Leeward Island group, along with Antigua, Montserrat, Nevis, and the British Virgin Islands. Even its location is favorable. It is somewhat pro­ tected from the movement of most major tropical storms and has suffered relatively minor damage throughout historical occupation (Merrill 1958).

The island, in the shape of a long, irregular oval, has an area of nearly 68 square miles. It is mountainous in the interior but has broad, gently sloping lowlands around the perimeter. Extending to the south and east is a long, narrow, relatively dry peninsula. The far end of this neck of land is only two miles from the smaller circular island, Nevis, whose history and contemporary situation are inextricably bound to St. Kitts,

There are, actually, three identifiable mountain ranges on the larger island. Near the volcano Mount Misery, lying within the Northern Range, is the highest point on St. Kitts at 3711 feet. Although no longer active, the crater can still be seen by air or on foot after a tortuous mountain climb. Evidence of fairly recent volcanic activity abounds elsewhere on St. Kitts, too. A favorite spot for Kittitian "outings" is Black Rocks, located on the northeast coast. Below the cliffs, a short distance from the land, are a number of large black igneous rocks of Mount Misery origin. Most of the beach sands, too, are of dark volcanic material. This geological fact is of some economic importance today, since the light and white coral sands which lure tourists are rare on St. Kitts. In addition to this rugged Northern Range, are the Middle and Southeast (Olivees) Ranges. These hills and mountains are continuous through the dry peninsula to the very tip of the island.

Between the mountains are valleys or ravines called ghauts, or "guts." The rain water which falls on the mountain slopes flows through these guts to the sea. On St. Kitts, many of these are called "rivers," even though water flows in the lowlands only after a heavy rain. Some of the larger rivers, too, have been dammed in the upper slopes to provide a water supply for the towns.

49 50

Despice the periodic rush of water through long-cultivated hilly land, St. Kitts itself has suffered little soil erosion. Merrill (1958: 40,41) suggested that the rapid rate of soil formation offsets the erosive effects. Nevis, however, has not fared so well, since most cane production ceased years ago and the soils of some of the exposed Nevisian slopes have been washed away.

Merrill identified four basic soil types on the larger island: yellow, brown-yellow, red-brown, and shoal (1958:38). He suggested that the yellow ash earth is the finest agricultural soil. It is porous and well-aerated. The brown-yellow soils, also good for crops, cover much of the well-watered western slopes and lowlands of St. Kitts. Some of the most productive sugar cane fields are found in this area. The field study community is situated near the western edge of the "yellow soil area." The nitrogen, potash, and organic matter content of these soils is low; howeverj for many years natural ( imal) and chemical fertilizers have been used on the ubiquitous sugar cane fields.

The red-brown soils of the upper mountain slopes are significantly higher in nitrogen and organic mat-ter. The heavy rainfall and dense vegetatipn of the mountain rain forests, however, have resulted in highly leached, poorly aerated soils. Because of the nature of these soils and the inaccessibility of some of the upper slopes, the high­ lands of the island are mostly uncultivated. Some virgin rain forest remains on the pealcs. These dense forests are among the few areas of the island not affected by long and continual human modification and exploitation.

The fourth soil type described by Merrill (ibid.) is shoal. Most of the soils of the desert peninsula of St. Kitts, and many of the low­ lands of Nevis, are of this type. Farming attempts on this clay are not usually very successful. On the other hand, grazing animals, especially sheep and goats, do get by on the vegetation common to these areas.

The climate of St. Kitts is pleasant, healthy, tropical. Average annual temperature is 79° F, 80.9° F in July. Average annual tempera­ ture extremes are 65.5° F and 89.8° F (Merrill 1958:25), and average annual humidity is approximately 757.. During the research period, the maximum temperature reached was no more than 92° F. A steady breeze, the northeast trade winds, also helped cool the village where the re­ search was conducted. In addition to moderating the effects of the tropical sun, this breeze minimizes the problems caused by swarms of flying insects, particularly flies. At times during the summer months when the winds are still, flying insects become a nuisance and a health hazard•

The dying of the trade winds in late summer or early fall may also indicate the approach of a tropical storm or hurricane. St. Kitts, however, is apparently protected from the worst of most hurricanes; according to Merrill (1958), the last fully developed hurrican to strike 51

the Island with full force hit in 1899. Manchester (1971) described, on the other hand, serious damage inflicted by a storm in 1924. In 1960 (two years after Merrill's book appeared^ Hurricane Donna hit St. Kitts and Nevis, yet even then St. Kitts itself suffered relatively little. Anguilla, which was at that time still a member island of the Kittitian state, sustained a great deal of damage, and there were a number of deaths. The location of St. Kitts, therefore, has economic significance, as severe tropical storms do not pose a constant threat to agricultural development. Other Caribbean islands are not so for­ tunate •

St. Kitts does suffer from time to time from the effects of earth­ quakes. Severe shocks were felt in 1833 and 1843, and there are some who believe that a whole community on Nevis slid into the sea during a quake in the early years of European settlement. In fact, during the period of research, there were unsuccessful attempts to locate the ruins of the town under the water. Slight quakes have hit in recent years, but none have caused much damage to life or property.

Although hurricanes and earthquakes are uncommon, heavy rain storms are frequent, especially in late summer. These rains do not often last long, but can quickly cause minor flooding. However, the intermittent storms do help clean the streets and alleyways of the villages; large amounts of trash and garbage are swept down the hill­ sides to storm drains and into the sea. Amount of rainfall varies significantly from one end of the island to the other, since many rain clouds pass over the eastern peninsula with little or no moisture reaching the ground. In the interior, the mountains "intercept" (to use Merrill's term) a great deal of rainfall— perhaps 100 inches per year or more. As the clouds continue to move with the trade winds, rain often continues to fall, making the west (and north) coast of St. Kitts well-watered. Annual rainfall averages range from less than 50 inches per year in the peninsula to greater than 60 inches per year along the northwest coast. The research community lies near the dry end of the island. . Precipitation is somewhat greater, however, inland and above the village, where most of the village gardens lie. Many plots are difficult to reach day after day, but these distant gardens probably receive more rainfall than the gardens in the village itself. There is also noticeably more rainfall in the village just to the west of Challenger's. There are a few advantages to the relative dryness, according to some villagers. People who live in the communities that were established along the lush, damp guts to the west apparently suffer from several parasitic and fungal diseases virtually unknown in the east. Furthermore, the most common peasant crop, sweet potatoes, is said to grow better where rainfall is less. The cane fields of the western slopes, however, are more productive than those near the research community.

Plants, Animals, and Man Unlike the geology and climate, which have remained relatively con­ stant factors throughout the human occupation of St. Kitts, flora and fauna have changed, drastically. Because of the magnitude of the change, 52 it is difficult to reconstruct the pre-occupation condition. Europeans and. earlier. Indians have been using up and adding to the island's resources for more than a thousand years.

Attempts to determine the ecological relationships of even the larger and more numerous earlier species by comparisons with surrounding, less disturbed areas is difficult. Some species of plants and animals suggest affinities with South and Central America, but there is no strong evidence to support speculations of a long-lasting land bridge to the mainland. Merrill pointed out that a number of Kittitian plant species are found also in the Greater Antilles to the north and west; there are more plant types common to Puerto Rico, for example, than to South America. Nevertheless, it is known that on St. Kitts before the arrival of man there were numerous plant species, relatively few animal species, and very few mammalian species.

Early accounts of Europeans suggest that there were forests through­ out most of the island. Palmettos, cotton trees, and lignum vitae were specifically mentioned. Rain forests covered the upper mountain slopes, while the lower slopes were probably mixed evergreen-deciduous wood­ land. Merrill cited one source maintaining that even the peninsula may have supported a deciduous forest at that time (fifteenth century A.D.) (Merrill 1958:37). Most of the woodland has been gone for well over 200 years.

David Harris (1965) provided a good reconstruction of some of the more important changes wrought by man-plant-animal ecological relation­ ships on some of the Leeward Islands. Although he referred specifically to Antigua, Barbuda, and Anguilla, much of his analysis is relevant for St. Kitts as well. He said that the arrival of man in the Leewards dates back at least to 600 A.D. with the arrival of the Arawaks. They changed the conditions of plant life on these islands at this early date by: (1) introducing into them a number of South American plant species; (2) intensively utilizing certain native plants; (3) practicing their techniques of shifting cultivation.

The Indians introduced such food crops as maize (Zea mays), manioc (Manihot esculenta), sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), tania (Xanthosoma sp.), peanut (Arachnis hypogaea). bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus), and pepper (Capsicum annum). Mainland fruit crops probably brought to St. Kitts in this way include pineapple (Ananas comosus), guava (Psidium guajava), soursop (Annona muricata), sweetsop (Annona squamosa), and mamey apple (Mammea americana). Virtually all of these are used as food on the island even now. Some, such as the sweet potato and peanut, are important both as food and as a source of cash. Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum), and cotton (Gossypium hirsutum and G. barbadense?), as well, may have arrived during the Arawak migrations (Harris 1965:73,74).

There is also a group of still-useful plants whose provenance is disputed. Harris cited, for example, the papaya (Carlca papaya). 53

coconut (Cocos nucifera), plantain (Musa paradisiaca), and sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum). To establish the origins of these plants, Harris provided botanical, historical, and linguistic evidence. Unfor­ tunately, the evidence for the origins of the last group is either ambiguous or contradictory. He suggested that plantains and wild sugar cane, at least, may have been growing in the Leewards before the arrival of the Europeans, On the other hand, there is no evidence to link their appearance on the islands with the Arawaks.

Not only did the Arawaks introduce several plant species in the Leewards, they changed the distribution of native flora through selec­ tive utilization, Harris said that the sea grape (Coccoloba uvifera), coco plum (Chrysobalanus icaco), and prickly pear (Opuntia species) were prized as food by these early inhabitants. Their use of these fruits probably affected their distribution "accidentally or deliber­ ately" (1965:76). In addition, some species of agave may have been introduced or redistributed by the Arawaks, They apparently utilized the plant in basket making, for hammocks, and so on. On St. Kitts now, however, the agave has little economic importance beyond its occasional use in folk medicines.

Certain tree species were also important in the Arawak economy for construction of houses, boats, and for use in medicines. Thus, said Harris, the extinction of certain types of trees, like lignum vitae (Guaiacum officinale), was a process begun by the Indians and finished by Europeans (Harris 1965:77).

Finally, in some places in the Leewards, native vegetation may have been significantly altered by the cultivation practices of the Indians. Since the Indian settlements were usually established along the coasts to allow for exploitation of sea resources, the cultivated land was limited to the lower slopes and coastal plains. In some restricted areas, such as narrow stretches of land or on small islands, the destruction of soils and vegetation by repeated clearing, firing, and planting could have been great (Harris 1965:78). On St. Kitts, Carib influence was perhaps greater than Arawak. Although little is known of Carib Kittitian settlements and way of life, it is known that their insular adaptation was similar to that of the Arawaks. We can probably assume that Harris's statements of ecological modifi­ cation by Indians in the Leeward Islands apply to St. Kitts as well.

The changes wrought to the distribution of animal species by the Indians, both Arawak and Carib, are less well understood. In Barbuda, Anguilla, and Antigua, apparently several kinds of rodents and birds were hunted and some exterminated. Species introduced during Indian occupation, according to Harris, include the agouti (Dasyprocta aguti), guinea pig (Cavia porcellus), and iguana (Iguana delicatissmi or iguana). Merrill, however, does not clarify the question of native animal species for St. Kitts specifically. He said relevant to mammals in the whole of the Lesser Antilles, that there were "two species of oppossum, one armadillo, three agouti, four rats, one racoon, and 54 twenty-three species of bat" (1958:29). Most of these were unknown on St. Kitts. There were, undoubtedly, many kinds of birds, fish, and crustaceans, at least, hunted and gathered by the Indians in pre- Columbian times.

The exploitation of island resources by Europeans produced far greater change than any caused by a few settlements of Indians. Forests were cut both to clear for planting and to provide lumber and fuel. In their place followed a succession of crops the new settlers hoped to sell on the European markets. Tobacco, indigo, ginger, and cotton were grown during the early 17th century. But the introduction of sugar cane in the mid-seventeenth century was so successful (i.e., profitable), that one crop quickly supplanted the others. This kind of single-crop agricultural economy is an enduring and almost unique feature of St. Kitts. Of course, some food crops were, and are, grown, but never enough to feed the growing population. (A more detailed discussion of food crops can be found in Chapters V and VI.)

The constant clearing and planting has resulted in many areas of scrub woodland and secondary forest, especially on upper mountain slopes and along the guts. In fact, the scrub and forest areas are a major vegetation feature, covering most of the island beyond the cane fields. Certain plants commonly occur in these places and serve as indicators of the degradation of the vegetation. Among these various species of Acacia and Cassia, sage (Lantana camara?), wild Tamarind (Leucaena leucocephala), and in some places, tree fern (Cyathea arborea). Numerous types of grasses and weeds also predominate in the secondary and scrub vegetation. Most of these are important in this study only as sources of locally made and used medicines.

For St. Kitts and Nevis, Merrill identified six types of non­ cultivated vegetation: (1) rain forest, (2) palm brake, (3) elfin woodland, (4) secondary forest, (5) scrub woodland, and (6) savanna and grazing land (1958:33). He might also have included coastal vege­ tation, as did Harris for the other Leeward Islands (1965:26). Near the sea below the village where the research was conducted, and else­ where along the Kittitian coast, there are extensive zones of vegetation characterized by such plants as manchineel (Hippomane manclnella) and sea grapes (Coccoloba uvifera). These plants are of some importance since a few, such as sea grapes, are a source of food, especially for children. Nearly all of Merrill's flora types can be seen within walking distance of the village study site, but they generally occur in discontinuous patches. And interspersed between the patches are, of course, the sugar cane fields.

There are some records of the changes in animal populations caused by the arrival and intervention of Europeans to St. Kitts. Although there were apparently few, if any, economically important mammals native to the island, there were a few useful species of reptiles and amphibians in the seventeenth century. At least one species of frog (Leptodactylus fallax) and a variety of iguana (Iguana iguana rhinolopha) were favored as food and soon were eaten into extinction (Merrill 1958:29). Many 55 other species survived, of course, and some are actually protected now because their presence in a dwelling is though to be good luck» or because they are considered "good helpers." One type of small chameleon is called a "wood slave," and is recognized for its role in controlling insect pests in houses.

The introduction of the mongoose (Herpestes a. auropunctatus) and the African Green Monkey (Cercopithecus aethiops sabaeus) changed the ecosystem of the island significantly. The monkeys were brought to St. Kitts by European settlers, probably during the seventeenth century. The animals which escaped the colonial households adapted quickly and successfully to the various types of Kittitian climate and vegetation. Today troops of Green Monkeys are found in the mountainous interior and through the dry peninsula. They have probably contributed to the redis­ tribution of a number of kinds of fruit trees, and they have exterminated a few species of smaller animals, especially birds. Their destructive role in the island ecosystem also seriously affects human adaption in some places. Monkeys raid mountain gardens, carrying off such crops as peanuts and sweet potatoes. Some farmers claim to have lost half a peanut crop to the marauding monkeys. Limited control of their popula­ tion size is maintained by monkey hunters, who shoot the animals and sell them for food in nearby villages. Although monkey meat is consid­ ered quite good by most Kittitians, monkey is not an important part of the diet, in part due to the strict gun control laws imposed by the government. Few men have been granted the license to bear arms even for hunting.

The mongoose has not affected adaptation as directly as the Green Monkey, but its impact on other island life forms has been more signifi­ cant. These small mammals were first introduced into the West Indies in the eighteenth century via Jamaica to control cane rats. Unfortunately, the mongoose also caused the extinction of many types of small mammals, birds, and reptiles (Merrill 1958:36). As a result of mongoose preda­ tion there are virtually no snakes on St. Kitts and the other sugar cane islands now.

Finally, the Europeans brought with them their livestock. Goats and sheep are found everywhere on the island, even walking the streets of the capital, eating garbage from the open drains. Donkeys, cattle, pigs, chickens are all common, and throughout the uninhabited peninsula there are feral animals, such as the wild dogs, which are said to attack the flocks of sheep and goats.

Thus, few vestiges of the pre-occupation natural setting exist in St. Kitts now. The forest cover has been replaced by sugar cane on the plains and lower mountain slopes. Higher up and in rough terrain, the primary forests have given way to small garden plots, grazing land, scrub, or secondary forest composed of many alien species of plants. And the native non-marine animal life, always represented by relatively few species, has been decimated and replaced by many new species of Old World origin. 56

History There are significant parallels between the natural history and human history of St. Kitts. The pattern of Old World populations adapting and establishing themselves at the expense of the New World natives characterizes both. This process began when Columbus discovered St. Kitts on his second voyage to the Caribbean in 1493, The island, which he named St. Christopher^, was inhabited at that time by Carib Indians. The fierce and bellicose Caribs had been expanding through the Lesser Antilles, sometimes forcing off the less warlike Arawaks, who still occupied much of the Greater Antilles at the time of discovery. The reputation of the Caribs for cannibalizing their captives, and their actual battle skills, frightened away the Europeans, too, for a time. The European settlement of St. Kitts was postponed for over a century because of Indian resistance and, perhaps more important, the monopoly of New World holdings by Spain. Despite that nation's claim to this New World, Spanish settlers passed by the Lesser Antilles to pursue the gold and other minerals of the mainland. Not until the early seventeenth century was Spanish control successfully challenged on the islands. Actual settlement of St. Kitts was begun by the British in 1623.

Meanwhile, the Caribs were allowed to carry on their fishing and farming way of life more or less unchallenged. Unfortunately, little is known of this life style, since the Indians were wiped out quickly after the Europeans began to recognize the colonial potential of the island. There are several archaeological sites on St. Kitts and Nevis, but these apparently are of earlier Arawak origin (Merrill 1958:44). A number of rock drawings have been attributed to the Caribs, but they provide little information useful for cultural reconstruction. (Several well-worn examples remain on the rocks by Bloody River, the dry river bed near the research village.) It is known that they practiced slash-and-burn agriculture, but it seems that sea food was more important to them. Merrill mentioned several crops that derive from the Carib farming tradi­ tion, including "manioc, sweet potatoes, yantia, peanuts, arrowroot, pineapples, and numerous other fruits" (1958:44). He also quoted one of the original British settlers, who wrote:

Maize, like Virginia wheat, pineapple, plaintains, apples, prickle pears, and pease, but differing all from ours. There is pepper that groweth on a little red hulk, as big as a walnut, about 4 inches in length, but the long cods are small, and much stronger and better for use, than that from the East Indies...There is two sorts of cotton, the silk cotton, as in the East Indies, groweth upon a small stalk, as good for beds as down; the other upon a shrub, and beareth a cod bigger than a walnut, full of cotton-wool. Anotto also groweth upon a shrub, with a cod

1, Although the island is still officially St. Christopher, the name was shortened early in popular use to St, Kitts. 57

like the other, and nine or ten in a bunch, full of anotto, very good for dyers, tho* wild; sugar canes, not tame, four or five feet high; also mastick and locust trees; great and hard timber; gourds, muskmelons, water-melons, lettics (ibid:45).l

It is also known that they made fine canoes, which transported them when they migrated, waged war, or took food from the sea. Our word "canoe," in fact, has a Carib origin. They built their villages near the sea; their dwellings were wooden structures built on piles above ground level. Like the Arawaks, they depended heavily on marine animals for food, and their village sites are marked by refuse piles of shells. Little else is known of these early Kittitians, except for the manner and speed of their extinction. (Actually, there are a few remaining Caribs on Dominica. Elsewhere in the Caribbean they were killed or driven away rather quickly after European colonization.)

Thomas Warner was one of the Englishmen who joined with the Dutch in the attempt to challenge the New World Spanish domination. He landed on St. Kitts in 1622, after a discouraging journey to the Guiana Coast. The fertile and relatively disease-free island attracted him enough to encourage him to return to England to seek capital and support for its colonization. His attempt was successful, and by 1624 the first English settlement on the islands was established (Parry and Sherlock 1957:48).

Soon thereafter a group of French colonists landed on St. Kitts, under the leadership of Pierre d ’Esnabuc. Since the colonists shared the joint threats of Indian and Spanish attack, they signed a treaty to establish grounds for formal cooperation in settling the island. The British occupied the center portion of the island, which encompassed the Wingfield River area and the fertile slopes about it. The French claimed the end portions of the island, naming them Capesterre and Basseterre. The name of the capital dates to this period of French occupation.

The French and British decided that a first order of business must be to rid St. Kitts of Caribs. The decision was made despite the fact that the Indians had lived more or less peacefully with the Europeans until that time. They had, in fact, supplied the aliens with food from time to time. The battle that followed stills lives in legend on parts of the island. The site of the major skirmish was the river near which the village in which this research was conducted was later established. Villagers call the now-dry bed "Bloody River," and they say the river flowed red with bloo.d of Indians after the battle. The Caribs who sur­ vived withdrew from St. Kitts and never seriously threatened the colonists after that time (Merrill 1958:51).

1. The original source of this information was Richard Graecocke; the passage was quoted by A. and J, Churchill in A Collection of Voyages and Travels, vol. II, page 343, published in London in 1752. 58

The Spanish did provide a brief set-back to settlement in 1629. That year an armada appeared off the Nevisian coast and forced the French and British to flee. The Spanish, however, had no interest in occupying these small islands. Soon the settlers returned to resume their development of the Kittitian economy. After this, for a time, the problems of settlement were primarily internal; the French and British, with no common enemy to unite them, began to squabble. The French colony was strengthened with the establishment in 1635 of the Compagnie des lies de l'Amerique and the appointment in 1639 of Philippe de Lonvilliers de Poincy as governor, but nevertheless, the company soon decided to sell this island property. In 1665, the British West Indian Company bought out several of the French claims in the Caribbean, including those on St. Kitts, St. Bartholomew, and St. Croix (Merrill 1958:52). Trouble between the two European powers continued, however, until the defeat of Napoleon in 1815. In the West Indies the trouble was expressed in a series of attacks on British colonies, the last and one of the most serious coming in 1782 with the French seige of Brimstone Hill, an impressive slave-built fortification by the sea. Although the French won the battle, they ultimately lost the war, and St. Kitts again returned to British hands. Henceforth, the British alone claimed and dominated the island until it was granted independence in 1967.

The subsequent history of St. Kitts and the West Indies reflects their place in the resource and market spheres of Europe. The nature of ,,migration"--whether forced of voluntary— and the forms of social organization of the islanders also developed in response more to ex­ ternal demands (i.e., European) than to internal needs.

The earliest colonists grew tobacco, indigo, ginger, and cotton for home markets. Merrill suggested that tobacco may have been an ideal crop for the time and place (1958:53). It could be grown successfully on a small scale by independent farmers, with simple equipment and technology. Rapid depletion of soils and competition with North American tobaccos, however, soon forced farmers to try other cash crops. Thus, when sugar cane was introduced (ca. 1640) it quickly was established as the major product of the island. Sugar cane, cane technology and equip­ ment apparently were carried to St. Kitts and the other Leeward Islands from Martinique (Merrill 1958:54). The early success of cane production was primarily due to two factors: first, sugar cane grows well under the natural tropical conditions which prevail in much of the West Indies, with minimal soil degradation; second, European sugar demands were rapidly expanding at that time.

On the other hand, there are certain characteristics of cane pro­ duction that brought far-reaching change to the pattern of West Indian settlement. It requires, (1) large cultivated areas, (2) a large labor force (before mechanization), (3) relatively expensive equipment and sophisticated technology.

(1) To be profitable, sugar cane production must be carried out on a large scale. The establishment of sugar as the cash crop on St. Kitts during the seventeenth century, meant the independent tobacco and 59 indigo fanners were soon bought or forced out. At the same time, more white settlers arrived, swelling,,the population of the poor and land­ less. Many of these people were criminals deported by the British government; a great number of the criminals were guilty of political crimes, rioting, and rebellion in Britian and Ireland. The largest white population St. Kitts has ever had lived on the island in these early years of colonization. Thus, there was a growing number of land­ less and powerless white colonists who were eventually forced by economic pressures to move on. Some of the more adventurous became buccaneers. Others settled where land was available, on Nevis, Montserrat, Antigua, and Barbuda. Some remaining French settlers moved on to Martinique, Guadeloupe, and a number of smaller islands (Merrill 1958:59).

(2) The second feature of early cane cultivation is the large amount of unskilled labor that was necessary. The number of poor whites was never sufficient to provide an adequate work force in the cane fields, despite the British plantation owners* repeated requests to England for more indentured servants and prisoners. In any case, many of those whites who chose to leave St. Kitts or who were forced to go to the other Lee­ ward islands, were considered undependable or unsuited for cane labor. Merrill quoted one Kittitian, who, in 1676, said:

Scotchmen and Welshmen we esteem the best servants; and the Irish the worst, many of them being good for nothing but mischief.... (1958:55).

It was under conditions of a major labor shortage, therefore, that the European colonists justified the enslavement of Africans. The English had imported African slaves within a decade of settlement, but their numbers grew rapidly only after the establishment of the sugar economy. During the late 1600s the British Royal African Company brought large groups of slaves to Nevis for sale, while the Dutch sold them on the neighboring island of St. Eustatius. The plantation system based on slave labor was well established by the beginning of the eighteenth century (ibid.:57).

(3) Another characteristic of sugar cane agriculture is the need for a certain amount of immediate processing. It cannot be stored long after cutting without loss of sugar content and must be milled imme­ diately. As rum, molasses, or muscovado (unrefined brown sugar) it can be transported to overseas markets. Because a great deal of capital is necessary for the equipment required in this processing, sugar has been called "a rich man's crop" (Parry and Sherlock 1957:66). This type of agriculture cannot, therefore, be successfully undertaken on a small scale by independent farmers. It requires capital backing and a complex organization to make it profitable.

In summary, the "sugar revolution" on St. Kitts and much of the West Indies resulted in; first, the demise of independent small scale farming and the forcing out of many poor white Europeans; second, the importation of large numbers of African slaves; and third, the 60

development of the plantation socio-economic organization comprised of overseers, and a large black population of dependent workers,.

In St, Kitts, these results were more far-reaching and enduring than on most Caribbean islands. Sugar has maintained its hold on the Kittitian economy even through years of failing prosperity. Even now, when Australian cane and European beet sugar have come to compete successfully in the world market, local interests steadfastly assert that St. Kitts "needs" the economic stability that sugar provides, (Unfortunately, the income from sugar now is approximately one-half what is needed to run the state. Much of the balance comes from gifts and loans from Britain and Canada,)

Throughout the eighteenth century most cultivatable land on St. Kitts and Nevis was divided up into estates, geared for the production of sugar. Most estates were smaller than those on the island today, usually no more than 100 acres in cane, most of them with fewer than 150 slaves. It was felt that a large number of slaves living together might breed dissatisfaction or even open revolt. The owner, or manager, lived in the Great House of the estate. Some of the estate houses built after the early years of the eighteenth century were fine large struc­ tures. In many cases, the Great House and out-buildings were surrounded by a high stone wall to separate them from the crude dwellings of the slaves, who lived on estate grounds. Some of these mansions have been maintained on St. Kitts up to the present time; more lie in ruins.

Most of the eighteenth century was a time of prosperity on the sugar islands. On St. Kitts sugar production was high and the product was of a good quality. Many of the wealthier estate owners returned to the British homeland during this time, further reducing the island's white population. An ultimate effect of this practice was to weaken the plantation system when the market for Kittitian sugar fell a few years later.

Another feature of the eighteenth century sugar estate was the mill, operated either by wind or by animal power. Although the remains of windmills are commonly seen now, Merrill said that the "cattle mills" were far more common during that time (1958:71). The use of animals was also important for the reason that manure, used a3 fertilizer, was necessary to many estates for a continuing high yield of sugar.

An estate feature more important historically and morally was the labor supply, the slaves. Early records indicate they came from such "tribal" groups as Coromantee, Ibbo (Ebo or Ibo), Whydah, Papaw, and Congo, Parry and Sherlock, however, have suggested that these names are "imprecise...many of them refer merely to ports of shipment" (1957: 71). Knowledge of most specific tribal origins and customs was oblit­ erated relatively quickly on St, Kitts, While on some of the larger islands, like Jamaica, runaway and freed slaves formed enclaves in which certain African traits were retained, no such isolation was possible on this smaller island. In language and folklore, evidence of African background still exists, but other alleged "Africanisms" are only 61

speculative. Today tribal designations are perpetuated primarily as insults, as in saying someone looks like "a Congo." (Some recent interest in African origins has been stimulated by Black Power and Black Pride philosophies from the United States and the American Virgin Islands. Even the present premier maintains that he is "1007. Ashanti.")

Once on the island, these African men, women, and children were expected to obey white owners and overseers and work hard. Fear of their slaves caused many whites to deal harshly with trouble makers, and the slave owners of St. Kitts and Nevis, in particular, were not known for their benevolence to blacks. Generally poorly housed, clothed, and fed, these slaves were more dependent on the estate whites than those on some other islands. The slaves were not, for example, encouraged to grow their own food. In some places in the Caribbean, such as Jamaica, the slaves could grow enough food to minimize the need for expensive imported items. On St. Kitts, it was usually deemed a better strategy to put most good agricultural land into sugar cane and depend on the supplies shipped in from North America, Europe, and parts of the British Empire.

Nevertheless, on most estates, a part of the land unsuited for cane production was converted to small provision plots for the slaves. The more industrious men and women were allowed to work these gardens on their own time. Some were able to grow enough, in fact, that they had a surplus which they could sell or barter. Weekly markets facilitated the redistribution of slave grown provisions. On some islands, these gardens and markets formed the basis of a growing peasant farming tradi­ tion, but since Kittitian planters were loath to put really productive land to any use except growing sugar, the incentives for such farming were minimal•

Early records indicate that the foods most commonly grown in the provision plots were yams, sweet potatoes, cassava, and dasheens. According to Merrill, the "colored folk" also ate eane rats and turtle eggs (1958:74). It is possible, however, that he underestimated the early use of sea foods. If present practices and local folklore are any indication, the sea, and especially the beaches, were an important source of protein. Wild and cultivated fruits and nuts were apparently important foods as well, and later on the alien breadfruit was utilized. Captain William Bligh brought the breadfruit from the South Pacific to Jamaica in 1792; however, it is not clear from historical sources when it reached St. Kitts. In 1901, William Alexander wrote:

Perhaps the breadfruit (Artocarpus incisa) is the most valuable of all to the natives of the island, as it literally supplies them with food— "meat and bread." The fruit is prepared for eating simply by boiling in salt water or by baking. For days and days the poorest never taste a mouthful of other food.... (207). 62

Alexander also mentioned the widespread use of mangoes, avocado pears, bananas, coconuts, and cassava.

Despite an abundance of fruits and the accessibility of the sea, most slave staples were imported. Merrill specifically mentioned the importation of Indian corn and salt fish from North America and Europe. The imported food items were distributed to the black laborers each week, along with set amounts of cane juice. Two major problems have co-existed through the years along with this dependence on imported foodstuffs. First, the quality of foods sent to places like the West Indies, tends to be low, and prices high. The cost of importing items to St. Kitts is greater than to some other Caribbean areas, because the small island lacks a deep water harbor, and goods must be transported to land on smaller vessels, called "lighters." All of this time and handling adversely affect the quality of more perishable items, and raise costs at the same time. A second problem is that the food supply of the islanders is vulnerable to world political and economic condi­ tions. Warfare, strikes, depressions, and bad weather may seriously threaten the island food stocks since an adequate food production base is lacking. This is a problem which time and political change on St. Kitts have not solved. Despite this vulnerability, incentives for the local production of food have met with little success. (During the late 1960s, for example, Doreen Low, a nutritionist, initiated a pilot program to encourage school children in St. Kitts and St. Lucia to develop an interest in agriculture. Low and her colleagues judged the St. Lucian experiment a success, while the Kittitian project failed /Low 1970/), (See Chapter.V.)

At whatever cost to the black slave population, some Kittitian planters became wealthy during the eighteenth century. Trade with the North American colonies and Europe was brisk until the years of the American Revolutionary War. With the American colonial market ties severed, the fortunes of the West Indian sugar capitalists declined. The conditions of waning prosperity were exacerbated by the simultane­ ous growth of sugar cane production in other parts of the Empire and world and the reduction of West Indian trade protections. Inother words, not only was sugar being produced in such places as Cuba, Brazil, and India, more foreign sugar was being accepted by British refineries.

Soon the cause of the abolition of slavery became an important issue in Britain. Merrill stated:

The prosperity of the islands was based upon privilege of market and person, and economic theory and humanitarian zeal began to work against such privilege. The decline of the planter aristocracy began in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, and by the middle of the following century it was complete (1958:84). 63

The final blow against the power and privilege of Kittitian planters was the effective campaign waged against slavery by British abolitionists.

The British islands seemed to fare worse in those trying times then the French and Spanish colonies, largely because of the nature of British colonial attitudes. For the most part, the British planters continued to consider Britain— not the colonies--as home. The islands were endured because they provided the means to go "home" and live more luxuriously there. This lack of personal commitment to the West Indian colonies weakened the islands' economic and political organiza­ tions since the white estate owners were unable to make adjustments to external changes and pressures without personal involvement and control. And, of course, the monocrop economy on which the Kittitian colonists had come to depend, ceased to be advantageous in the face of effective competition (Parry and Sherlock 1957:143; Merrill 1958:86).

Some cynics point out that New World slavery was abolished only after it ceased to be profitable. The British officially ended the slave trade in 1807; the institution itself was proclaimed illegal in 1833. At the time of emancipation there were only a few free black men and women in St. Kitts. Some enterprising slaves had saved enough money to buy their freedom; a few sick, old, or otherwise useless slaves had been given theirs by their owners. Yet the social system based on differences in color, the black-mulatto-white class hierarchy, had been complicated by the fact that some of these freed blacks were fairly successful. Nevertheless, many years passed before blacks could claim real political power and social standing.

After emancipation, most of the ex-slaves left the estate yards to settle in newly established villages. The village where this study was conducted was thus established in 1841. The property on which it is built is close to the Stone Fort Estate grounds on land apparently owned by a black man, Mr, Challenger, who rented and sold lots to the freed men and women (Merrill 1958:95). Although the villages them­ selves were independent of the estates, the individuals who lived in them continued to depend on the sugar industry for their livelihood. Many still do.

The period of economic depression continued throughout the nine­ teenth century. In 1897, a Royal Commission was formed to investigate the possibility of modernizing the Kittitian sugar industry, in the hope that increased efficiency and mechanization would bring a measure of prosperity again. Soon thereafter a modern and centralized sugar factory was built near Basseterre (Merrill 1958:95). Although the economy never fully recovered, the factory and narrow-gauge railroad built to link it with the estates saved the monoculture base of St. Kitts. On Nevis, the monoculture economy died. Many of the estates on the smaller island were broken up and small parcels of land sold or rented to peasant farmers. Much of the food now sold at public market in Basseterre is actually grown on these Nevisian gardens* 64

Throughout the twentieth century the trend has been toward greater and greater mechanization of the sugar industry. There are now machines for plowing fields, cutting, loading, and transporting canes. Some weeding is still done by hand, but much cane "trash" is burned off before cutting. This is said to make cutting easier and minimizes the amount of useless weeds carried to the factory. Efficiency has also been increased by the consolidation of the sugar estates. These new "super estates" can more efficiently use the larger expensive pieces of equip­ ment, such as those that cut and load the canes on the railroad cars.

Today, few of these estates are owned and controlled by absentee British landlords. Many are owned by companies, not individuals or families, and many owners are residents of the island. When the sugar industry ceased to reap great profits, some residents took advantage of the opportunity to buy good land cheaply. The new sugar capitalists are members of families that migrated over the past century from Syria, Portugal, and so on. Several of these families had made money in Kittitian commerce and business and chose to invest in the future of sugar. The sugar factory, too, operates as a company. Stocks are sold, and, according to Merrill, the factory has "consistently paid high dividends to its shareholders, some of whom are residents of St. Kitts" (1958:98). The Kittitian sugar industry of the twentieth century, then, has been changing through increased mechanization, consolidation of estates, and the establishment of both company and resident ownership. Finally, as this dissertation was being concluded, word came from the island that the government has nationalized the sugar industry. While several friends and informants have expressed their concern at the action, there has been no word of further changes or developments.

The efficiency of production that accompanies mechanization and consolidation is a mixed blessing on an island with a large poor popu­ lace. Merrill pointed out that at some time, presumably during the nineteenth century, the problem of a chronic labor shortage on St. Kitts became a problem of chronic underemployment (1958:98). The lack of jobs becomes a great problem, of course, as machines take over the work of men and women, but the problem has been compounded by an increasingly militant labor union. When disgruntled workers stayed away from their jobs, the men who controlled the sugar industry were encouraged to get new machines to do their work for them. More laborers were laid off, and the problem of unemployment grew even greater. Modernization of the sugar industry has also failed to solve another perpetual labor problem, which stems from the seasonal nature of sugar work. Labor utilization is intense from February or March until August, but for the rest of the year only occasional estate work is available for a few people.

The economic pressures of the poor black population of St. Kitts have caused periodic eruptions of violence, such as the "food riots" of the 1930s and labor-political violence in the 1960s. The continuing stresses of over-population and underemployment would have caused far more turmoil had it not been for the safety-valve phenomenon of migra­ tion. Throughout this century Kittitians have moved off the island in response to economic opportunities— working on shipping fleets and navies, on the Panama Canal, and in tourist hotels in the Virgin Islands. 65

This movement of people has been important not just because it ha3 eased population pressures, but because those Kittitians working overseas have traditionally sent a part of their income to their families back home. These remittances have long been an important source of money to the Kittitians who remain on the island. In 1971, for example, it was estimated by an official of the sugar industry that the total amount of all remittances sent to the island was nearly equal to the profits that year from sugar cane. (Migration and remittances are discussed in greater detail in Chapter V.)

While the sugar economy has remained a more or less stable feature of Kittitian history, the political system and government structure have changed through the years. Between 1670, when Britain took over the governing interests of private British land holders in the West Indies, and 1967, Kittitian affairs were ultimately under the control of the Crown. At that earlier date, Barbados was administratively separated from the Leewards. Although repeated attempts were made to govern jointly the British West Indies under one governor and one assembly, all failed because of the disparity of local interests. For many year3, however, St. Kitts, Nevis, and Anguilla were one administrative unit. Real control over colonial matters rested with the Crown and the finan­ cial backers of the sugar business in Britain. The governments of the islands themselves were modeled on that of the mother country. The governor was the King's representative; the Legislative Council was a group of appointed lawmakers (upper house), while members of the House of Assembly were elected (lower house).

Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the economic and political trends on the island of St. Kitts have been primarily of four types: (1) first, increasingly greater control of local affairs has been put in the hands of island residents and local governmental institutions, a situation made possible in part by the extension of adult suffrage; (2) second, the labor movement has become increasingly powerful and has given the poor segments of Kittitian society access to political positions and control; (3) local efforts to establish an economic, if not political, federation of islands have become more effective recently; and (4) finally, some programs have been instituted toward diversification of the island economy.

The first trend, wresting control of island affairs away from Britain, culminated with the granting of self government by Britain in 1967. The major steps in the attainment of self government were very recent ones. Universal adult suffrage was not granted until 1952, for example. The process of granting independence accelerated after that. As Bai described these changes:

....extensive programs of housing, water and utilities improvements were carried out, and the education system extended. This was pro­ gress towards internal self-government for the people. Under this system the Governor could only act according to the advice of the Cabinet 66

(whereas before he had been able to reject the advice of the Executive Council), and so the most oppressive aspect of the Crown Colony system (namely, the unaccountable power of the Governor over the people) was eliminated. In 1956 the Leeward Islands Colony was abolished, and the West Indian Federation was established in 1958. /The Federation collapsed just three years later. J.D.G./ In January 1960 the constitution of St. Kitts was amended according to the Federation scheme, and the real responsibility for the island's government shifted to the elected rep­ resentatives (1972:181).

After 1967, St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla became an Associated State in the British Commonwealth. As such, it handles its own internal affairs, while Britain remains responsible for defense and external affairs. The exact nature of this relationship, however, was tested soon after the 1967 agreement. Anguilla had long been dissatisfied with its rela­ tionship to St. Kitts. Government- offices and officials had always been located on the larger island, and Anguilla, nearly 70 miles away, was generally neglected. The new position of the state with respect to Britain did nothing for Anguilla but make its position more vulnerable. No longer were they to have the protection of the European power in their regular disagreements with the Kittitian government; thus, in 1969, Anguillans sought independence from St. Kitts-Nevis. To this day, the events of that time are unclear. Robert Bradshaw, who had been elected premier of the newly independent state, evidently had heard rumors that the Anguillans were armed and threatening invasion of the larger island. He requested British help in the "defense" of St. Kitts, and the British responded by dropping paratroopers on the small eel­ shaped island. Whether this was a domestic problem or external threat, the British were embarrassed and released Anguilla from its administra­ tive association with the state of St. Kitts-Nevis.

A parliamentary form of government, a colonial remnant, still exists in this state. The highest ranking official of the majority party holds the title of Premier; while the title of Prime Minister is given to the man who is the representative of the Crown. The latter is primarily a ceremonial position at this time. Elections are held at six year intervals, at which time nine members of the legislature are elected from nine electoral districts (seven on St. Kitts, two on Nevis).

The election of Robert Bradshaw was a victory for Kittitian labor after years of struggle. During the 1930s, Kittitians were denied the right to strike, and in fact, the job walkoffs then were labeled "riots" by the government, and a number of the "rioters" were killed. During the 1940s, the strike became a more effective political and economic tool for the still disenfranchised Kittitian laborers. Throughout this decade, there were strikes which made an impact on the established power holders. According to Bai, however, the real beginning of effective 67 grass roots political organization was a successful thirteen week-long strike in 1948. This labor protest, he said, prompted the extension of the vote and other government reforms.

"Labour" (i.e., the Labour Party) extended its power base during this time beyond the sugar workers themselves; it was not surprising that the Labour Party won the election of 1966. The unsuccessful Opposition Party, the People's Action Movement (PAM), primarily repre­ sents such interests as those of the growing "middle class." As it forgetting its own struggle against oppression, the Labour Party has dealt harshly with its opposition. Some PAM leaders and sympathizers were jailed or deported at the time of the 1966 elections; after the 1972 elections there were complaints of voting fraud and coersion. The election of a Labour government did not even eliminate labor problems. In the late 1960s, cane was often left to rot in the fields for lack of cutters, and cane fires of protest were common.

Nevertheless, the Labour government has begun some apparently worthwhile but controversial changes in the economic system of the island. It instituted a plan designed to improve sugar production, for example, by extending state control over these sugar estates that were not already publicly owned. The coordination of the use of men and machinery in planting and harvesting, and centralized control of processing and marketing, are intended to increase the income from sugar cane. As of the time of research, the effects were disappointing. The annual goal is a sugar harvest of approximately 50,000 tons. This is based on the capacity of the sugar factory and the annual commitment to Commonwealth markets. In 1971, the harvest amounted to 25,000 tons, and in 1973, it was 27,000 tons.

A major problem faced by the Labour government is that, in a sense, labor and management have become one. The government that is supposed to represent the worker has gone into the sugar business itself. There is some distrust of the elected representative who rides in a Rolls- Royce while his working class supporters live in poverty. Bai spoke of one worker who stated simply, "Mr. Bradshaw went to work for the Government" (1972:183).

The government of St. Kitts has also made some progress in the establishment of economic federation with other islands of the Caribbean. Effective inter-island political institutions, however, are still prob­ ably unworkable at this time. The failure of the West Indian Federation suggests as much. Too many suspicions and jealousies exist between peoples and governments, as well as too many differences in economic goals. The powers of the smaller islands dislike the domination and favored position of the larger ones, while the larger ones fear the smaller and poorer islands will become economic millstones about their necks.

Nevertheless, some real steps to economic cooperation have been taken. On May 1, 1968, the Caribbean Free Trade Area (CARIFTA) agree­ ment was signed by Antigua, Barbados, Guyana, Trinidad, and Tobago. 68

St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, Dominica, Grenada, St, Lucia, St. Vincent, Jamaica, and Montserrat followed within a few months. CARIFTA is an organization designed to establish a base for cooperation in air and sea transport, news dissemination, health, legal and technical matters, meteorology, tourism, and so on (Commonwealth Caribbean Regional Secretariat 1971:30). A major goal of the organization, however, is the establishment of favored inter-island trade in manufactured and agricultural products, in order to reduce the dependence of the Caribbean states on the world markets. It could be an important instrument for the provision of a dependable, adequate food supply for member states. In 1972-1973, however, the impact on the Kittitian economy was slight. It did provide a market for a fairly large amount of surplus sweet potatoes.

Attempts to diversify the economic system internally have also met with minimal success. Despite the common opinion that the sugar economy is anachronistic and inadequate to meet the island's needs, few realistic alternatives exist. Only the mixed blessings of tourism offer any immediate hope for real diversification. The development of tourism has been slow due both to natural deficiencies (few attractive beaches) and government policy. PAM leaders have attacked the Labour government's reluctance to attract foreign investments to the island, but the government leaders point out that political domination by a foreign government, which they had overcome, would be replaced by eco­ nomic domination by foreign corporations. It is true, too, that the advantages of uncontrolled tourism, which produces new jobs, may be to some extent offset by the resulting rising costs of food, land, and so on. The Kittitian government has officially committed itself to the development of tourism, but with state control maintained over invest­ ments. It has a controlling interest, for example, in the Holiday Inn hotel which opened in August of 1972. The government also plans to develop the peninsula area called Frigate Bay, but thus far a lack of investors has held up most of the proposed construction. It is hoped that the expansion of the airport to allow the landing of jet aircraft and a future deep-water harbor will attract tourists and their money to St. Kitts.

Finally, there have been some attempts to develop the island's non­ sugar agricultural potential. The raising of cattle is thought to be a good use of former cane land, and some of it has already been con­ verted to that purpose. Improvements in animal husbandry have also been attempted to improve the quality and amount of local beef. In addition to these measures for providing more and less expensive beef, plans are being considered for the improvement of butchering and marketing. During the summer of 1973, a livestock expert from Canada was working with butchers and distributors in the Public Market, teaching proper butchering techniques and technology. He was also interested in sharing his knowledge with some Kittitians in the growing local poultry industry. It is still too early to assess the effects of his efforts on island food production. 69

The Kittitian government has also established some pilot programs to improve agricultural methods. In its efforts, it has been aided by agricultural extensionists from the University of the West Indies, Jamaica, who have an experimental garden in which they are attempting to breed new food plant varieties for improvement of food production on the island. The sugar industry itself has done a certain amount of such experimentation. Unfortunately, these programs have done little to date to ensure an adequate food supply at reasonable cost for all Kittitians. Part of the problem even now is finding a sufficient amount of good land not planted in sugar cane. Modern mechanized agricultural methods cannot be applied to most of the land now producing food crops, since most of these methods would be inefficient of not impossible on the tiny mountain side gardens of the peasants.

The problem of agricultural development and diversification is com­ pounded by the lack of interest of most Kittitians in farming. The majority of the people interviewed in the course of this research dis­ dained agricultural labor as a way of making a living. Young people, in particular, find other kinds of work far more attractive. Most of them go off the island at some time during their youth to get work, often to the tourist spots of the American Virgin Islands. The vast majority of Kittitians engaged in agricultural labor in gardens and in the cane fields are older folks. St. Kitts will have to depend on its monocrop economy for some time to come.

Summary A useful summary of some of the more important natural and histori­ cal features of St. Kitts is contained in Sidney Mintz's discussion of "The Caribbean as a Socio-Cultural Area" (1971:20). He lists nine such features through which both the uniqueness of St. Kitts and its rela­ tionship to other Caribbean societies can be expressed.

1) "Lowland, subtropical, insular ecology...." The nature of the exploitation of these islands, including St. Kitts, was shaped by climate and geological factors. The importance of sugar in the history of the island has been due primarily to the fact that sugar seemed so well suited to the environment. The fact of its insularity has meant to all Kittitians both a certain amount of isolation and dependence on foreign goods and good will. Furthermore, the small size of this par­ ticular island has contributed to the development of several social and cultural traits. There are no real pockets of isolation and cultural conservatism on the island, and fewer obvious retained "Africanisms" (in religion and folklore, for example) than on some of the larger islands. Little room existed on St. Kitts for the expansion of an inde­ pendent peasant farming society after emancipation. On this small island there was nowhere in the interior for freed slaves to go to escape the domination and control of the sugar estates. Here freedom from traditional patterns of domination and the desire for new economic opportunities have meant moving off the island, not inland. The Kitti­ tian system of food distribution is also partly a function of the size of the island, as will be shown in Chapter VI. 70

2) "The swift extirpation of native populations...." On St. Kitts there was little Indian resistence, and European colonization took place relatively quickly, easily, and early. Only in local legends and in the use of some foods do traces of the Carib culture still survive.

3) "The early definition of the islands as a sphere of European overseas agricultural capitalism, based primarily on the sugar-cane, African slaves, and the plantation system...." On perhaps no other Caribbean island were the effects of sugar cane and the plantation sys­ tem so far-reaching or long lasting as on St. Kitts.

4) "The comcomitant development of insular social structures in which internally differentiated local community organization was slight, and national class groupings usually took on a bipolar form, sustained by overseas domination, sharply differentiated access to land, wealth, and political power, and the use of physical differences as status markers...." There are few resident whites on St. Kitts due to a great extent to the earlier policy of absenteeism of estate owners. Yet the bipolar structure and domination by whites has continued for hundreds of years. With the increasing militancy and growing power of such lower class black organizations as the Labour Party, however, color differences have become less important in economic and political spheres.

5) "The continuous interplay of plantations and small-scale yeoman agriculture, with accompanying social-structural effects...." "Small scale yeoman agriculture" has never been an important influence on Kittitian social structure. Virtually all good agricultural land has been planted in sugar cane for over 300 years.

6) "The successive introduction of massive new 'foreign1 popula­ tions into the lower sectors of insular social structures, under condi­ tions of extremely restricted opportunities for upward economic, social, or political mobility...." The population of St. Kitts is approxi­ mately 96% "African" or "mixed." Although economic opportunities for those in the "lower sectors" have improved, most remain poor. (Unlike some of the islands of the Caribbean, St. Kitts has received few people of Asian or Middle Eastern origin.)

7) "The prevailing absence of any ideology of national identity that could serve as a goal for mass acculturation...." Mintz suggests that the lack of a "creole"-*- culture in the British and Dutch Caribbean has slowed the development of "national identity." He said: "....it will be seen that a negative correlation between colonial and planta­ tion regimes and the growth of national identities and ideologies is posited." This does not seem to describe accurately the situation I observed in St. Kitts. The apparent disparity may be due in part to

1. "....i.e., of Old World origin, but born in the New World" (Mintz 1971:34). 71

the recent acceptance of a local version of Black Power ideology. Whatever the explanation, 1 found a strong Kittitian identity, if not ideology.

8) "The persistence of colonialism, and of the colonial ambiance, longer than any other area outside Western Europe...." St. Kitts became independent of Britain only in 1967. Even now remnants of colonialism prevail in local versions of British language, educational and political institutions, and religion.

9) "A high degree of individualization— particularly economic individualization— as an aspect of Caribbean social organization...." This "individualization" is the major characteristic of Kittitian interpersonal relationships. The long-lasting impact of the sugar estates on the island economy is probably an important factor in the maintenance of such a social system. This quality of relationships is discussed in more detail in Chapter V. CHAPTER V

THE CONTEMPORARY COMMUNITY

Discussion of the nature of social and cultural patterns in a community such as Challenger's Village requires consideration of ethnographic context as well as historical and ecological dimensions. This chapter provides, therefore, data on the village itself and on the wider island setting of village life. The discussion is actually on four social levels. Information for the two "highest" levels, the island and the parish, is primarily in the form of census figures com­ piled by the government in 1960 and 1970, and my own observations "flesh out" these figures where such discussion is appropriate. Descriptions of the village level, on the other hand, are based on systematic observations, formal discussions, and informal conversations carried out during the course of research. I gathered no census data for the whole village, so specific figures and statistics are not available for this level. However, a group of 45 adult villagers was formally and systematically interviewed using the Nutritional Practices Assessment Instrument. The results of these interviews provide social and nutritional statistical data for the fourth level, the interview sample.

The Island Population Some interesting insights into the present population situation in St. Kitts in general can be gained by a look at some recent govern­ ment census figures. The island is divided into nine parishes, the most populous being St. George, in which the capital, Basseterre, is located. The parishes are the smallest administrative units in most respects. For this reason census figures are not given for communities within the parishes. The breakdown of population according to parish, sex, and age categories is shown below in Table 1 (1970 census); total population figures are given in Table 2.

TABLE 1 POPULATION BY SEX AND AGE CATEGORIES

.I 2-•14 15--44 45--64 65+ PARISH MF M F M F M F M F

St. George 320 307 2683 2782 2042 2410 1041 1320 312 633 St. Pauls 60 66 481 498 274 297 133 147 38 77 St. Anne 91 85 752 710 389 504 227 274 91 177 St. Thomas 66 62 445 506 279 299 200 196 44 98 Trinity 22 29 251 244 124 140 89 100 29 38

Christchurch 56 62 524 486 266 284 134 155 50 74 St. Johns 91 94 782 782 381 489 251 282 100 149 St. Mary 92 98 845 822 416 467 219 235 66 121 St. Peters 78 67 544 541 312 357 189 184 42 75 Total 876 870 7307 7371 4483 5247 2483 2893 772 1422 SOURCE: St. Kitts-Nevls-Anbuilla, Digest of Statistics No. 8. (Basseterre, St. Kitts: The Statistical Department 1972), Table 18. 72 73

TABLE 2 PARISH POPULATIONS BY SEX

TOTAL TOTAL PARISH BOTH SEXES MALE FEMALE St. George 13850 6398 7452 (Basseterre) St. Pauls 2071 986 1085 St. Anne 3300 1550 1750 St. Thomas 2195 1034 1161 Trinity* 1066 515 551

Christchurch 2031 1030 1061 St. Johns 3401 1605 1796 St. Mary 3381 1638 1743 St. Peters 2389 1165 1224 Total 33744 15921 17823 SOURCE: St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, Digest of Statistics No. 8 (Basseterre, St. Kitts: The Statistical Department 1972), Table 18. *Figures for the parish of Trinity are underlined in the tables, since the research site lay within its boundaries.

Throughout this dissertation, census figures for Challenger's Village are estimates based on parish totals. In Trinity Parish there are three major settlements and three estates not actually lying within one of these settlements. Challenger's Village is the largest of these communities. Based on inquiries in the village and my own rough count of dwellings, it is assumed henceforth that just under half the popu­ lation of Trinity Parish lives in Challenger's. This means approxi­ mately 560 people living in 160 households.

The population figures indicate that more than one-third of the island's people dwell in or near the capital. The parish in which Challenger's Village lies is the least populous, with only 1,066 inhabitants. These figures, however, do not mean that this particular parish is more rural or backward than the rest; in fact, it is adjacent to the parish which includes the capital and has recently become, to a certain extent, a "bedroom community" for Basseterre. In other words, the contemporary economic "raison d'etre" of the community lies in the capital to a degree, not in local economic activities.

The population figures for St. Kitts indicate a slight preponder­ ance of females, although the difference is not great. In Trinity Parish itself the difference is very slight, only 12 more females than males. The sexual balance is maintained in part because the number of Kittitian females who migrate to find work has come to be nearly equal to the number of male migrants. Table 3 illustrates this phenomenon statistically; in 1972 there were 14,066 "female departures" from St. 74

Kitts. Many of these departures are temporary, however, and are nearly balanced by the arrivals. All this suggests, of course, a highly mobile, non-static population. Table 3 also reflects yet another characteristic of the recent dynamics of the Kittitian population, that is, a periodic drop in numbers. This fluctuation in population size is shown even more clearly in Table 4. It is obvious that the combined natural increase and arrivals do not always balance out the losses due to migration. During the early and mid-1960s, large numbers of Kittitians left home to work in the American and British Virgin Islands. In the 1970s, immigration officials in the American possessions began to send home aliens who were not legally established there. Thus, the population of St, Kitts increased slightly in 1972.

TABLE 3 MIGRATION BALANCE, 1972

ARRIVALS DEPARTURES BALANCE TOTAL MALE FEMALE TOTAL MALE FEMALE TOTAL MALE FEMALE

32^528 18,690 13,838 32,859 18;793 14066 -331 -103 -228

SOURCE: St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, Digest of Statistics No. 8 (Basseterre, St. Kitts: The Statistical Department 1972), Table 24.

The population may also be described as young, and black. The figures in Table 2, when totaled, reveal that nearly half of the people of the island are under the age of 15 years. A very high birth rate, together with a declining infant mortality rate, result in the popu­ lation profile shown in Figure 3. Of course, the relatively low percentages for young adults are in part due to the fact that they are the most mobile age group, the migrants.

TABLE 4 POPULATION 1960: ESTIMATED POPULATION, 1966-1972*

YEAR POPULATION 1960 38,113 1966 37,464 1967 35,944 1968 36,411 1969 35,226 1970 34,807 1971 35,681 1972 35,901 SOURCE: St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, Digest of Statistics No. 8 (Basseterre, St, Kitts: The Statistical Department 1972), Table 19.

*As of summer, 1975, the 1970 census figures had not been published. 75

mala f amala

BO-84

75-79

70-74

65-69

60-64

55-59

45-49

40-44-

35-39

30-34-

15-19

6 7 8 9 10 %

SOURCE: West Indies Population Census, 1960 Census of St. Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla, V. II (Kingston, Jamaica: Department of Statistics, n.d.)

FIGURE 4 POPULATION PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION BY SEX AND AGE 76

The racial background of the Kittitian people, and in particular those of Trinity Parish, is shown below in Table 5. Nearly 98% of the island*s population is of "African" or "mixed African" ancestry (African-European, African-Syrian, etc.). All residents of Trinity Parish, on the other hand, belong to one of these two census cate­ gories. This overwhelming racial preponderance gives St. Kitts a racial and race relations situation different from that on many of the other Caribbean islands. Although there is no doubt that in some upper class and tourist relationships, the "white is right" philosophy still prevails, in most economic and political contexts skin color and "African" features are little hindrance to advancement. Cries of Black Power and Black Nationalist militant rhetoric are heard on the island, but, as one young man pointed out, they have little impact where all major political figures and many business leaders are black.

TABLE 5 POPULATION BY SEX AND RACIAL ORIGIN, 1960

East Indian; Chinese, other, African European Syrian Mixed not stated MF M F M F MF M F St. Kitts 16047 17980 230 248 43 36 1453 1791 140 143 Trinity 547 556 - - - - 32 35 7 7

SOURCE: West Indies Population Census, 1960 Census of St. Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla, Vol. II (Kingston, Jamaica, Department of Statistics: n.d.) p. 11, Table 1.4.

Island Economy Census and trade figures also provide some basic data on island economy. In 1960, St. Kitts had a "classifiable labour force" 13,876 individuals over 14 years of age. Of these, 8,266 are males and 5,610 are females. The major occupational categories are Pro­ fessional. and Supervisory, Clerical and Sales, Craftsmen and Technical, Manual and Service. As might be predicted, the largest category of workers is the Manual and Service category, with 9,493 individuals. The smallest is the Professional and Supervisory category. Only 449 Kittitians are so classified and only 57 of these are women. (Among these occupations are scientist, physician, dentist, teacher with degree, ordained minister, solicitor, judge, government administrator, business executive, supervisor of craftsmen, technicians, and manual workers.)

Within the Manual and Service category the agricultural workers are most numerous. There are 5,731 involved in some type of agricul­ tural pursuit; if fishermen, hunters, and supervisors of agricultural workers are included, the total is 6,014. That is, approximately 43% of the working population of St. Kitts is occupied primarily in 77 food and sugar production. These figures do not include (1) people who garden to supplement their major source of income, (2) people engaged in sales and distribution, such as the "turnhands" (higglers), (3) people engaged in food processing, such as butchers, bakers, brewers, and so on.

In the rural parishes, the percentage of agricultural workers is even greater. Table 6 compares the figures for the St. Kitts- Nevis-Anguilla state (1960 census), and St. Kitts itself, with Trinity Parish specifically. In the parish where the research was conducted, 64% of the "classifiable labour force" is engaged in the production of food and sugar. Only about one-third of the agricultural workers of Trinity, however, are actually gardeners or farmers themselves. The majority are employees of some capacity in the sugar industry.

TABLE 6 CLASSIFIABLE LABOR FORCE BY PLACE OF RESIDENCE AND INDUSTRY GROUP

Industry 1 • Classi­ Groups Pop. fiable Not in 15 yrs. labor Agri­ Classifiable & over force culture Other Labor Force St. Kitts-Nevis- Anguilla 30,773 *18,910 8458 10452 11863 St. Kitts 20,969 13,811 6064 7747 7158 Trinity Parish 672 475 305 170 197

SOURCE: West Indies Population Census, 1960 Census of St. Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla, Vol. II (Kingston, Jamaica, Department of Statistics: n.d.): p. 18, Table 1.16.

*Figures differ somewhat from those stated above, having come from a different census source.

Despite the number of people engaged in agricultural production, many foodstuffs are imported. Tables 7, 8, and 9 summarize succinctly the facts of Kittitian economic life--(7) virtual sole dependence on exports of sugar cane and cane products for foreign exchange earnings, (8) dependence on costly imported food and goods, (9) resulting deficit in balance of trade.

Table 8 is a list of some of the more important items imported regularly to St. Kitts. Quantities and values of the various items are given for the years 1967 and 1971. Even in such a short time span a few trends are obvious, such as the increasing importance of imported poultry and meat. The importation of salt, dried, and pickled fish, an important source of protein since the days of slavery, has decreased at the same time. 78

TABLE 7 DOMESTIC EXPORTS, 1967 and 1971 Value f.o.b. in $000 E.C.*

1967 1971 COMMODITY UNIT Quantity Value Quantity Value Fish— fresh, Chilled or frozen Lbs. 000 .8 .3 Live animals for food NO 852 59 330 55 Sugar Tons 000 35 8,085 19 4,878 Molasses Gals. 000 1,191 262 1,592 357 Non-alcoholic beverages ii 56 76 92 132 Beer & Ale ii 4 12 6 22 Copra Cwt, 000 1 23 2 47

Cotton Lbs. 000 - - 20 19 Salt (coarse) Cwt. 000 31 43 - - Salt (fine) ii 2591 42 - - Lobsters Lbs. 000 66 41 55 87

SOURCE: St, Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, Digest of Statistics No. 13 (Basseterre, St. Kitts, The Statistical Department: 1972), Table 5.

*Costs and prices here and throughout the dissertation are given in Eastern Caribbean currency. The exchange rate of U.S. dollars to E.C. dollars fluctuated a great deal during the research period, from a low of approximately 1.60 to a high of 2.00, Generally the rate was about $1.90 E.C. to $1.00 U.S. One British pound sterling equals $4.80 E.C. 79

TABLE 8 IMPORTS OF SELECTED COMMODITIES 1967 and 1971 Value c.i.f. in $000 E.C,

1967 1971 COMMODITYUNIT Quantity Value Quantity Value

Flour, wheaten Lbs. 000 7,175 758 5,355 761

Rice i* 2,119 314 2,274 378

Milk, condensed ii 1,857 472 1,988 616 Fish, salted, dried, etc. ii 617 275 585 388 Bacon, ham, & other dried meats ii 222 134 247 197 Poultry, fresh frozen, etc. ii 747 283 1,089 543

Meat, frozen ii 109 70 197 117

Cheese ii 142 74 162 113 Eggs No. 000 29 4 53 6

Cigarettes Lbs. 000 101 158 29 120 Lumber Bdft. 000 45 16 1,229 520 Gasoline Gal. 000 708 143 1,005 191

SOURCE: St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, Digest of Statistics No, 8_ (Basseterre, St, Kitts, The Statistical Department 1972), Table 4. 80

TABLE 9 BALANCE OF VISIBLE TRADE, 1967-1971

EXPORTS (F.O.B.) PERIOD DOMESTIC RE-EXPORTED TOTAL IMPORTS BALANCE

1967 8,667 380 9,047 16,242 - 7,197 1968 6,298 653 6,951 17,072 -10,121 1969 7,886 734 8,620 19,304 -10,684 1970 7,710 584 8,294 23,427 -15,133 1971 7,608 451 8,059 30,505 -22,446

SOURCE: St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, Digest of Statistics No. 8 (Basseterre, St. Kitts, The. Statistical Department: 1972), Table 1,

A more dramatic increase is seen in the figures for importation of manu­ factured items and construction materials (not all shown in the Table). Most of this change is a reflection of the recent developments in the tourist-related economy, as in the construction of hotels, airport additions, villas, and so on. In addition to basic construction needs, the large number of Commonwealth engineers, advisors, and technicians requires imported goods for maintenance of their life styles. In other words, the importation of greater numbers of manufactured items into St. Kitts does not indicate a higher standard of living and more material possessions for all native Kittitians.

Exports for the same two years are shown in Table 7. The above mentioned dependence on sugar and cane products for foreign exchange earnings is clear from these figures. However, the overseas trade table (10) Indicates the inadequacy of such exports for maintaining any semblance of advantageous balance. While export values— almost exclusively from sugar— have remained fairly stable over the years, import values have more than doubled in a decade. Of course, to a certain extent, the cost of imported construction materials and equip­ ment must be viewed as an investment in future local development.

The Village Statistics like those above provide an inarticulated and incom­ plete skeleton of a way of life. A better understanding of the impact of the gross social and economic facts on human relationships, insti­ tutions, and attitudes can only be gained by observations at the community level. The following material is a summary of such obser­ vations undertaken in Challengers Village. This brief ethnography cannot really be called a "community study," since the village, like many others in the Caribbean, does not fit most of the established definitions of community which stress unification and organization. Instead, the nature and quality of certain interpersonal relationships are the descriptive focus, even though the relationships often tran­ scend village boundaries. 81

secondary forest

grazing

qardens

scru w n \ \ \

i't1,1 MM'’ Vl''il\ Challenger’s ^ < C 'i\l i M I 1 ' I I’.l'.illf i'i . VIMage /f V 'l^ l'j .fl, 1 U W i

'I1/ 'ii '■ Ml M ;ri I 1,1 II ii'-1 ii... railroad lin a

tre es sea^ perim eter road Basseterre

FIGURE 3 THE VILLAGE SETTING 82

Challenger's Village was established after emancipation (1833) along the perimeter road, near the Stone Fort sugar estate. Its proximity to the estate was presumably due to the necessity of the "freed" cane workers to stay close to their place of employment. There are two other such villages in Trinity Parish, but Challenger's is the largest of the three. A drive of approximately four miles from Basseterre brings one to the eastern edge of the village. Sugar cane covers fields on both sides of the road, and when the canes are mature they encroach so close to the edge of the pavement that they make driving hazardous in places. Here and there the fields are dotted with coconut palms and breadfruit trees.

The faded sign that indicates that the cluster of houses ahead is Challenger's Village is no longer visible from the road; no one seems inclined to restore it to its previous condition or position. The sign lies on the seaward side of the road, along the edge of a precipitious gut that defines the eastern edge of thecommunity. A donkey usually grazes along the sides of this ravine, and a few small gardens cling to one side. On the inland side of the highway is a larger and more prosperous garden-that belongs to one of the villagers. The pale sweet potato is the most obvious crop in these village plots. Many of the village dwellings are strung out along the road, while the rest are crowded on the uphill slopes, three to five buildings deep, or downhill, two or three deep toward the sea. Altogether there are fewer than 200 such dwellings in Challenger's.

Access is gained to the upper houses by means of "alleys," which are well-worn and littered dirt paths approximately three to five feet wide. Locally, the various paths are known by such colorful names as "Memphis" and "Soul Alley." Heavy rains turn the alleyways into small fast running streams which wash away some of the accumulated trash, but the currents make footing treacherous, especially at night. Alleys extend to the uppermost houses, where they intersect with a wider path that runs parallel to the road, along the sugar company railroad line. In addition to the one paved road in Challenger's Village, there is a dirt road to the cane fields in the west which also intersects the upper path. The only vehicular traffic on that one, however, is the equipment brought in for the planting, harvesting, and transportation of sugar cane.

There are fewer houses on the seaward side, because the ground there slopes away steeply in most places and is crossed by several more guts that channel rain water to the sea. The sides of these moist ravines are covered with ornamental and fruit trees like coco­ nut palms, breadfruit, mango, banana, papaya, plantain, soursop, and tamarind. These are not public property, but privately owned plants and one is expected to obtain permission from the owner before picking their fruit. In practice, this permission is rarely sought, especially by children*

On the eastern side of the village is the first of the five small shops which are interspersed among the dwellings. Two of these 83 establishments are rum shops, selling rum, vodka, and beer along with some foodstuffs and other commodities. These also serve as gathering places for men who like to spend some of their pay on intoxicants, who wish to play dominoes, or who merely want companionship and conversa­ tion. Some of the other shops "specialize" in other items, such as fresh bakery cakes. Local vendors also have regular places in front of the shops at which they sell home made sugar cakes, home grown peanuts or mangoes, or freshly caught fish. Most of the shops stock barrels of cooking oil, kerosene, large tins of soda crackers ("bis- quits"), spices, flour, sugar, and rice. The shelves also contain very small packages and tins of evaporated milk, detergent, matches, and so on. (The important place that these small village shops have in the distribution of food on St. Kitts will be described in some detail in the next chapter.)

In the center of the village are the two small community churches, the Pentecostal Church and the Gospel Hall. The Pentecostal congre­ gation also owns and sometimes utilizes a large two-story structure close to the church itself. Outdoor services are occasionally held in the paved "yard" of that building, and church visitors have been housed there in the past. The larger Methodist Church is situated at the west end of the village, not far from the Stone Fort estate yard. This structure is larger and newer than the old frame Pentecostal Church, but inside it is quite simple and in great need of repair. In better condition, is the community or youth center, which adjoins the church and is run by the Methodist membership. The community center is a heavily utilized multipurpose building. It contains table tennis equipment, serves as a practice room for the local band, and provides a place for regularly held health clinics, government spon­ sored movies and Carnival fStes.

Also on the western side of Challenger's is the public bath. The Kittitian government has in recent years provided the different villages and towns with both public baths and public water pipes. The water for Challenger's Village is piped from a catchment on the upper slopes of a nearby mountain. The catchment, referred to as "the source," and the pipe system, supply the village with water that is reasonably dependable and safe. Only in times of severe drought does water have to be rationed. Kittitians are proud of the island's water; they say it is "sweet" and complain of the poor quality of the water on neighboring islands. Actually, tests indicate the presence of a variety of contaminants in the water supply (F.E. Poirier: personal communication), yet they apparently cause few serious health problems for either Kittitian natives or newcomers. The public bath also receives a great deal of use and is often the scene of noise, singing, and horseplay.

The guest house in which I lived with my children is also in the west end of the village, near the bath. It is the most imposing building in Challenger's, being a pink and green three-story struc­ ture. The first floor garage was converted to a small bar some years back, and it is still in business selling soft drinks, beer, candy, 84

fried egg sandwiches, and, on Saturday nights, fried chicken legs* The biggest attraction of the bar, however, is that it provides a well-lighted meeting place in an otherwise dark village until ten o'clock every evening. Thus, at my feet virtually every night, were groups of people with whom I might talk or at least sit. The height of the guest house also gave a pleasant and advantageous view of virtually the whole village, the cane fields above, and the sea below.

Two structures of importance to the people of Challenger's, the Anglican Church and the primary school, do not lie within the village itself. Both are located approximately one mile east of the community, a long hot walk for the children each day.

Across the road from the Methodist Church is "the pasture." This is the only large flat expanse of ground around the village that is not planted in sugar cane. The pasture serves two main functions; it is a playground and playing field for young people (football— i.e., soccer— and cricket) and a pasture for sheep, goats, and donkeys. These two functions are not altogether compatible, especially since most younger children play barefooted. Below the open ground are bushes of sea grapes and groves of manchineel trees, the sap

Above and beyond the village are the sugar cane fields. Most of the large village gardens, too, lay above the dwellings themselves, along Bloody River and on the slopes beyond that. A few garderfs are.planted within the boundaries of the village, but the houses are generally so close together that horticultural attempts there are limited by lack of space.

The village, then, is not the dispersed type that Cohen described for Jamaica (1961:73), though, following the road, it is longer than it is deep. Many of the houses are quite close to others, sometimes separated by only a few feet, but living spaces are defined nearly everywhere by fencing. These physical barriers between houses are constructed from a variety of materials— concrete block, wire, wood, corrugated metal, cane trash, and bamboo. Some fast-growing plants, such as the one the villagers call "barricado bush," are also used as living fences. Even in the middle of the village, some people achieve 85 a large measure of privacy with fences up to fifteen feet high. One such person is an elderly man who is virtually never seen by his neighbor because he spends most of his time behind the metal walls which enclose his house and garden. The expression of an apparent desire of many Kittitians to separate themselves physically from others is often reinforced by the presence of dogs in the yards. Dogs are encouraged and expected to be vicious. Kittitians who accompanied me as I visited the homes of other folk were extremely cautious about entering the house yards without first checking on the possible presence of such animals. Therefore, social, if not physical, distance is maintained between individuals and households. It is conceivable that if larger areas had been available to the eman­ cipated slaves for the establishment of households, the settlement pattern in much of St. Kitts would have been closer to that observed in Jamaica. However, we can only speculate on this.

The houses themselves are mostly quite small, of wood or masonry construction, or a combination of the two. Newer homes are often masonry, as are new additions to older frame houses. Nevertheless, in 1960, 96% of the houses of the parish were of wood. The older house style, the thatched hut with r.oo:f of cane trash, is gone now in the area of Challenger's Village. Another common practice in St. Kitts when living areas are expanded is to build a kitchen that is not attached to the house itself. The most simple of these structures consists simply of four walls of corrugated metal, with a door on the wall that faces away from the prevailing trade winds. A shelf may be added to the back to hold the kerosene burners on which most cooking is done. The dimensions of these kitchens, like those of the houses themselves, are usually quite small. Table 10 shows the 1960 census figures for the number of rooms in Trinity Parish dwellings; nearly 73% of the houses at that time had only one or two rooms. Even houses with five or six rooms, on the other hand, are small byour standards. The house of one informant was, relative to most in the village, large, modern, and boasted six rooms--living room, dining room, kitchen, three bedrooms— plus an indoor bathroom. Yet its overall size I measured at approximately 500 square feet. One bedroom was scarcely larger than the bed itself; another was just slightly larger than this. Six people live in this dwelling, and it is not uncommon for a group this size to live in a one or two room house half as large.

TABLE 10 DWELLINGS, PRIVATE AND NON-PRIVATE, NUMBER OF ROOMS

Dwellings with specified no. of rooms NO. OF AREA DWELLINGS 1 room 2 rooms 3 rooms 4 rooms 5 rooms 6 rooms

TRINITY 341 132 116 14 46 15 18

SOURCE: West Indies Population Census, 1960 Census of St. Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla, Vol. II (Kingston, Jamaica, Department of Statistics: n.d.), p. 202, Table 7.9. 86

Most of the houses in Challenger's are without "modern conveni­ ences." In 1960 only 87. of the parish homes had water piped .into them, and this percentage includes several estate dwellings. The great majority of Kittitians, especially outside Basseterre, depend on the public pipes and tanks for their supply. That same year (1960), just under 4% of the homes in Trinity parish had private indoor toilet facilities, 37% had access to a pit, and the rest were classified as "no facility." At that date approximately 257. of the homes had elec­ tricity. There are more homes now with electrical power, but the numbers are growing slowly. (Nearly half of the interview sample in 1973 said they had electric power in their homes.) Phone service is expanding at an even slower pace. During the summer of 1973 there was only one phone in service in the village itself, that in the home of the Pentecostal Church preacher.

Many of the village homes are owned by a member of the household, while others are rented from the owner for a few dollars a month. House ownership within the village, however, does not necessarily imply land ownership, since a person may rent land on which he has a house to which he possesses title. This rented land may belong either to another individual with family ties to the area, or to theStonefort Estate. A villager may, therefore, inherit a house without land, land but not the dwelling on it, or both. In response to a question from me on the patterns of inheritance in Challenger's Village, one informant said:

...Sex has little to do with the inheritance patterns in St. Kitts. On St. Kitts both men and women could inherit land and houses, and they inherit from both parents. If a man has both legitimate and illegitimate children, the illegitimate ones usually get a share of whatever he leaves. Sometimes they even get more than legitimate ones. The child who inherits isn't necessarily the oldest.

The subdivision of these small estates sometimes causes hard feelings among family members. The old gentleman with the fifteen foot high fence mentioned previously came by some of his property through inheri­ tance, and the rest he accumulated through hard work and thrift. His brother felt that he had somehow been cheated out of property that was rightly his and became extremely hostile toward his kinsman. The construction of the fence was in part an attempt to keep the hostile brother away. It was rumored in the village that the hostility of the brother was channeled into an obeah (evil magic) spell which caused impairment of the old man's speech and manual ability.

Village Political and Economic "Organization" In Challenger's Village there is no town hall or seat of govern­ ment, because there is no local political organization. There is no institution, actually, that integrates these people into an identifi­ able group. There are no economic, political, ritual, or kin activi­ ties that involve or even potentially involve all villagers. Inquiries 87

into community unity, organization, and identity produced only some puzzlement on behalf of the informants. They knew nothing about the facts concerning the establishment of the village, nothing about the numbers of people or households, and surprisingly little about the geneological background of most of their co-villagers. In the inves­ tigation of this behavior I learned of only two instances in which identification with the village was expressed by its citizens. The first was in the re-telling of an allegedly true tale about the past glories of the community. I was told that in years past Challenger's had the prettiest girls on the island and the most jealous men. So jealous were the men, in fact, that they refused to allow men from other villages to come around their women, and actually erected barriers in the road to keep them away. According to the story many battles were fought over the local beauties. This is why, I was told, most people of Challenger's are related to one another. (Actual geneological relationships, however, could not always be traced by the informants.)

The second expression of village identification is seen in an attitude of competition with people of nearby villages, particularly among the young people of Challenger's and those of Old Road, to the west. This competition is especially keen between the young men. Again, it seems to be based on the opinion that the young men of Challenger's Village are better looking and more finely dressed than their Old Road counterparts. Occasionally actual fighting erupts between the two groups. One particularly serious battle waged just a few years ago is said to. have been started by Old Road men who did not want the smartly dressed fellows from Challenger's flirting with "their" women. This story, unlike the former, has been verified by a number of enthusiastic eye witnesses.

While identification with the village is weak and local organi­ zation nil, national identity and pride are strong among most Kitti­ tians. They emphasize their uniqueness, not just among the nations of the world, but especially among the island states of the Caribbean. Kittitian language, food habits, and personality were all represented to me as somehow better than those of their neighbors. Kittitian English, for example, is said to be more like that spoken by the British themselves than the other British West Indian dialects. Some acquaintances were actually offended that I was unable to detect major differences between the speech of Kittitians and Antiguans, Trinidad­ ians, Crucians, Jamaicans, and so on. The food habits of neighboring islands also were a source of amusement for many of my informants. Many times I heard the statement that the people of St. Lucia eat cats, "for true." Apparently some laborers from that island came to St. Kitts during the strikes of the 1960s to cut cane, and while they remained "there was not a cat to be seen on the streets of St. Kitts." A number of Kittitians also described the shortcomings of personality types of other West Indians. Jamaicans seem to inspire the worst criticisms. They were presented to me as "hot heads and troublemakers," for example, and one young man said that if he were to go to Jamaica he would most certainly suffer from culture shockl 88

Nevertheless, the village Is a definite and identifiable physical, if not social, unit. Its boundaries and dimensions are clearcut, and the majority of relationships recognized and utilized by most people of Challenger's lie within these boundaries.

Some contemporary economic relationships of the people of Chal­ lenger's Village, however, are diverse and far-flung. A discussion of the ways in which these people maintain themselves is made even more difficult because an individual may, at any point in time or over a period of time, utilize any number of potential sources of food, money, goods, and services. Thus, the discussion of village economics is presented in two parts: first, the various sources of income, goods, and services available to the folks of Challenger's are described; second, some of the more common patterns of utilization of resources are outlined.

Peasant Agriculture All the non-sugar agricultural activities in and about the village (i.e., in the kitchen and mountain gardens) are carried out on a small scale. Plots of under an acre are most common, and in the parish as a whole 95% of all gardens identified by the census are less than five acres. Most farmers^- of Challenger's rent small parcels of estate land for a few dollars a year. A payment of $10 E.C. to $15 E.C., for example, allows a man to plant on some of the better estate mountain land for a year. Cash payment, not sharecropping, is the policy in such a case. These plots are not systematically measured off, nor do rental amounts necessarily reflect size of holdings. It is simplicity of technology and ecological necessity rather than estate policy that limits the size of the gardens. Only hand tools are used for tilling, weeding, and harvesting, most commonly the heavy bladed hoe. Since the number of "hands" is usually limited to those of the farmer himself (or her­ self) , garden size is restricted by the interest and time he or she wishes to invest. Village gardening, that is to say, is not labor intensive. Even members of his (or her) immediate family may not be involved in the preparation, harvesting, and distribution of the garden provisions. When extra help is needed for such activities as pulling peanuts, the farmer is likely to hire someone for a few hours. Children often do this kind of work for small amounts of money. Pulling a kerosene can-full of peanuts, for example, will earn a person 50 cents E.C. Sometimes payment is in the form of provisions, too, al­ though this practice seems to be most common among older people. For the most part, however, the individual man or woman does most of the necessary work.

Mechanization of these gardening activities would be difficult, even if capital were available. Most of the plots are situated on land not considered optimal for sugar cane cultivation, such as on

1. Although in terms of size of holdings, technological level, and social organization these people are more precisely "gardeners," they are called farmers in Challenger's Village. Therefore, I have used the term "farmer" throughout. 89

steep hillsides and sides of guts. It is difficult even to walk to some of these provision plots; machines would be of little value on such land. Therefore, if an enterprizing individual wishes to expand his or her activities, the usual procedure is to rent more estate land and hire more help. This requires relatively little capital, but thereafter the farmer is doubly vulnerable. His position and success depend on the cooperation and goodwill of the estate manage­ ment and the availability of labor. One man in Trinity Parish tried to expand farming operations in this way, and for a time he was rela­ tively successful. Eventually, however, disputes with the local estate over rent ended in court, and he was forced off the land. When the matter was resolved later, he declined offers to resume his farming activities. By that time, he said, his older workers were dead or gone and the younger people had no interest in such labor. In the few cases where good garden land is actually owned by the farmer, some of the hazards of expansion are removed; however, there are few of these small farms in Trinity Parish.

A further problem of expansion of these independent agricultural activities is in the marketing of the provisions. As on most Caribbean islands, marketing and distribution are also carried out on a small scale, either by the farmer himself (herself) or by market women called on St. Kitts, "turnhands."! In either case, the foodstuffs are carried in large bags, without the benefit of refrigeration, to the markets of Basseterre. Excess provisions, items that cannot be carried easily and sold quickly, may be wasted. A person who wishes to produce more, then, must not depend on this traditional marketing system, but find new outlets for what he grows. For example, the farmer mentioned above who was temporarily successful made arrangements with a small local hotel to buy many of his fruits and vegetables on a regular basis. The hotel management benefited, in turn, by having a fairly dependable source of fresh foods, including some hard-to-get items such as pine­ apples.

Because of these problems of gardening and marketing, because of the destruction by monkeys and the lack of interest by young people, peasant farming around Challenger's Village has been declining over the years. The manager of Stonefort Estate said that before he arrived there 16 years ago as much as 70 to 80 acres of estate land were rented for such purposes. At the time he took over the management position, the figure had dropped to approximately 50 acres. At the time of the research, only 12 acres were being used for provision cultivation. That means not many more than two dozen people from the village were farming mountain land in 1973.

More common than the mountain gardens, however, are the prevalent village kitchen gardens. These differ in several significant ways.

1. The turnhands serve the same function as the Jamaican higgler and the revendeuse of the French islands. Detailed descriptions of their activities and function are provided by Mintz (1956, 1960, 1965, 1967), Horowitz (1967), Katzin (1960), among others. 90

The kitchen gardens are, of course, much easier to reach, and main­ tenance can be more casual and less time consuming. For this reason, a number of people who work at jobs in Basseterre maintain such plots as well. There is a great deal of variation in the size and contents of these gardens. Some villagers have only a few banana and plantain trees near their houses; others, with larger yards, may have papaya or mango trees, bush beans, peppers, and so on. The old man with the great fence has a large and we11-maintained garden that includes several kinds of fruit trees, greens, root crops, and a number of species of flowers. This is, however, exceptional.

Another difference between the gardens in the mountain and those in the village itself lies in the matter of ownership. Host of the kitchen gardens are on individually, not estate, owned land. While the sugar estate still maintains ultimate control over most land out­ side the village proper, at least 75% of the land within Challenger's is owned by the citizens themselves (or individuals from whom they rent). Of course, expansion of gardening activities within the village is virtually impossible, and depletion of soil nutrients has resulted in low yields for some people. However, most of these foods are for household consumption, not marketing, and are grown to supplement purchased items. Therefore, these kitchen crops are not as important to the subsistence of most villagers as those of the mountain.

Gardening activities are carried out by both men and women. One of the largest and most diverse gardens in the mountain is that of a woman now in her 70s, who has worked it for many years. Her husband gives her help with some of the heavier work and a neighbor, also an older woman, occasionally helps out in exchange for a few provisions. Nearly every other day the woman farmer makes the long rough walk to her garden to hoe, weed, and check on possible thefts. She goes to her plot very early while it's still cool and returns usually by eight o'clock in the morning. For the balance of the day she works on the food and medicinal plants planted beside her house and cares for four greatgranddaughters left in her care.

Table 11 lists some of the more commonly grown foods found in the gardens in and around Challenger's Village. A few other vegetables, such as lettuce, cucumbers, and carrots, are grown in the vicinity but are not of major economic or dietary significance. The most important are the "ground provisions," primarily root crops, at the top of the list.

Villagers also commonly raise animals for food and cash. Chickens are raised primarily for their eggs, since people who are offended by the diet of the fowl will not eat those grown locally. Goats, and sometimes sheep, are the favorite livestock since they are relatively clean and easy to feed. These animals are usually taken to the pasture or other open areas in the mountain to graze each morning, brought home and tethered at night. Herding tasks are often assigned to children. A fairly common problem of raising goats and sheep in this way, however, is that of theft, because when the animals are grazing 91

TABLE 11 COMMON VILLAGE CROPS (Excluding Fruit Trees)

Sweet potato Ipomea batates Yam Bioscorea alata (D. cayenensis?) Peanut (ground nut) Arachis hypogaea Dasheen & Eddo Colocasia spp. Tannia Xanthosoma sagittifolium Eggplant Solanum melongena Pumpkin Cucurbita peoo Cassava Manihot utilissima Tomato Lycopersicum esculentum Pepper Capsicum frutescens (C. grossum?) Spinach Basella alba ? Arrowroot Maranta arundinacea Pigeon pea Caianus cajan "Herbs" (scallions) Allium ? Onion Allium cepa ? Beans (Black Eye?) Phaseolus vulgaris Pineapple Ananus sativus "Greens" (identified by Low as kale) Brassica cleracea var. acephala

SOURCE: Agriculture Department, Basseterre, St. Kitts. away from the living area it is relatively easy for someone to take them away unseen. Goats are raised for their flesh, not for their milk. Goat meat and sheep meat, both called mutton, are popular foods and are used in several traditional dishes, including goatwater.

Pigs are also raised in Challenger's, although people generally will have no more than one at a time. At butchering time, most of the pork is distributed locally, as is the mutton. The person who owns the animal will, in most cases, keep approximately a quarter of the meat for his or her own use; usually, of course, these will be the best or favorite parts of the animal. Small portions may also be given to anyone who helps in the butchering, and many individuals give another portion, perhaps as much as a quarter, to close kin. However, there is apparently no strong social pressure to do so. Finally, the rest of the animal is sold, usually to co-villagers. 92

Pork brings a better return than mutton, both in terms of cash and food. One young woman purchased a young pig for $35 E.C. in 1971, and the following year butchered it. She got back her $35 E.C. invest­ ment plus nearly $35 E.C. in profit. X suggested that she buy several pigs and earn even greater amounts of money, but she explained that at certain times of the year it becomes very difficult to find food for these animals. During certain "winter" months, for example, even the sweet potatoes commonly fed to pigs may become scarce. Thus, pigs, unlike goats and sheep, are competitors for human foodstuffs and ex­ pensive to raise. Villagers consider this when making decisions con­ cerning investments in livestock.

Cattle are also raised locally, but this requires an even greater capital investment, and few folk have the necessary money. There are at least two villagers who can provide fresh milk, but there is not a great market for it since most people seem to prefer canned evaporated milk. One man actually has a small herd of beef cattle penned within the village itself. Feed must be gathered and brought in to it since the pen is now devoid of vegetation. Since certain parts of the sugar cane are a readily available and adequate source of food for cattle, however, feeding is not a major problem or expense.^ Men who help cattle owners in the raising of the livestock are usually paid at butchering time with an animal or part of an animal.

Estate Work In the past, a common practice, especially of men, was to work at the estate during the sugar cane harvest and garden in the off season. Participation in both kinds of work is now declining, but the estate still draws on the village labor force to some extent. During the summer of 1972, for instance, there were 60 villagers employed by Stone- fort for a variety of tasks, 40 men and 20 women. Most of the men were employed for the cutting of cane, while women and children (not included in total of 60) generally were hired to weed.

Cane cutters work in teams of ten or so, each with a lead man to organize and set the pace. Workers are paid according to the amount by weight of cane cut by the team. Thus, individuals have incentive to encourage team members to work quickly and hard. On the other hand, a good cutter on a slow team is at an obvious disadvantage and may not bother to work at full capacity.^ Many young men cite this as a reason for not seeking estate work. They fear their income will be

1. Agricultural officials who encourage increased livestock production suggest that conversion of cane land to cattle raising would help provide cheaper sources of animal protein; critics point out that such an industry provides relatively few jobs.

2. Dr, Joel Aronoff has examined some of the psychological implica­ tions of the enculturative experiences of cane workers on St, Kitts. In the mid-1950s he studied the "psychological needs" of a group of cane workers and a group of fishermen, whose work units tend to he.,, more democratically organized and maintained. He concluded, briefly, 93

low if they are placed on a team with older and less able workers. As a result, cane workers are mostly older men. One official of the sugar industry said that more than 857. of the men who worked during the 1972 harvest were over 45 years of age.

At the present time, there are opportunities for a few men to become operators of the large pieces of sugar industry equipment— the planting machines, harvesters, loaders, etc. These are more prestigious, better paying jobs, but few in number at this time. A skilled equipment operator can make up to four times the pay of the cutter, whose income is generally between $40 E.C. and $60 E.C. a week. (Pay for women and children engaged in work such as weeding is even less than that for cutters, just a few dollars each week.)

Very important to the regular cane workers is the bonus they receive from the estates each Christmas, After months of no work or irregular work, this money allows many Kittitians to make payments to shopkeepers from whom purchases were made on credit and to make preparations for Christmas and Carnival. Carnival on St. Kitts begins just after Christmas, rather than during Lent. Although some villagers felt the two holidays should be separated, others responded that the extra amount of money circulating among the workers and shopkeepers from Christmas bonuses made Carnival more exciting and colorful.

Other Local Industries and Professions A few adults in Challenger's make a living from the sea, but fishing is less important here than in certain other areas of St, Kitts. Everywhere, however, the industry is underdeveloped. Men fish in groups of 2 to 4 or 5 from small boats of wood, usually close to the shore. As in gardening, the techniques and equipment of Kittitian fishing are simple. Nets are used to gather in such fish as ballaloo and snapper, and pots are set out to trap lobster. Since it is not uncommon for these pots to be stolen, and many of the lobsters which the fishermen do bring in are taken to better markets on other islands,

(continued from previous page) that men of the latter group were statistically more likely to have had a stable family situation during childhood. (His book Psychological Needs and Cultural Sys­ tems was published in 1967.) He returned to St. Kitts in 1966 for a follow-up study during the period of labor problems described in Chapter IV. He found that the young cane workers involved in the strikes and violence grew up during the years of World War II when West Indian migration was greatly restricted and family life, there­ fore, less disrupted by comings and goings of close relatives. The desires and efforts of these men resulted in more democratically run cane gangs in which a man was paid according to his individual effort. Aronoff described this change in Psychology Today (January, 1971) and considered the possibility that in another decade the situation might revert back to authoritarian leadership in gangs. Although I did not investigate the organization of cane workers in 1972-1973, data from informants indicate that the earlier pattern of leadership and pay for group achievement now prevails, at least in the area of Challenger's Village. 94

few of these crustaceans are sold on St. Kitts. The fish may be sold directly from the boat or taken into the village and sold from the steps of a shop. Not nearly enough fresh fish come from local sources to satisfy the Challenger's market, and much of that con­ sumed locally comes from fishermen of Basseterre. Otherwise villagers must be content with salt cod or pickled mackerel from village shops.

A number of young men engage in spear fishing for fun and profit. Most of what they catch in this fashion is for their own use or their families; and the numbers of fish caught in this manner are few. Spear fishing is not, therefore, a very profitable pastime, but it does promote a measure of productivity among a group of otherwise unemployed or unemployable individuals. The occupation for so many other young people is "liming," simply loafing with style. And despite the disapproval of older and more industrious neighbors, some young men and women would rather lime than work at jobs with low pres­ tige, such as cane cutting.

The 1960 census indicated that 64% of the labor force of Trinity Parish was then engaged in some phase of agriculture as a primary economic pursuit (305 of 475 laborers). In Challenger's Village in 1972-1973, however, the percentage was not as great, probably under 50%. Exact figures were difficult to ascertain because of seasonal changes and the mobility of the population. Another estimated 35% to 40% of the labor force was employed as unskilled, semi-skilled, or skilled workers in other industries, such as construction, services (e.g., domestics), manufacturing, and maintenance of public facilities. The balance could be described as "white collar workers" and profes­ sional people— teachers, bookkeepers, clerical workers, government officials, and so on.

The primary socio-economic (i.e., "class") distinction on this local level is apparently between the emerging middle class individuals (the "white collar workers" above) with their urban orientation, and the lower class folk whose orientation is primarily local and rural. The attitudes, life style, and social relationships of the local pro­ letariat and peasant differ little.Actually, in St. Kitts the two lower class categories overlap to a great extent, as people move from one segment to another from year to year and season to season as eco­ nomic fortunes shift. Using such concrete criteria as level of educa­ tion achieved, housing (construction, facilities, size, etc.), and marital status, the differences between the farmers, cane cutters and street cleaners are small; the differences between them and the middle class group are significant. (More detail on these differences is provided in Chapter VII.) In using less concrete markers such as goals, attitudes toward participation in village relationships, and

1. The terms "peasant" and "proletariat" are used here in their broadest meanings of "gardener" or "small-scale farmer" and "lower class wage earner-laborer," In St. Kitts they are not separate and distinct social categories or types such as those described by Steward, Manners, et, al, (1956) or Wagley and Harris (1955). 95

style of dress, the major differences are, again, not between peasant and proletariat, but between the lower and middle classes. Some of the white collar workers whose jobs take them to Basseterre every work day speak disdainfully of the idleness and gossip of their co­ villagers, who, in turn, often consider their middle class, urban- oriented neighbors as snobbish. One woman with such a reputation was referred to as "The Queen of Challenger's," by those who felt snubbed. Several young men in the village also earned such a repu­ tation. When asked about the basis for this attitude among their fellow villagers, one man responded that while they (the young men) were interested in such things as political activities and world affairs, the local girls only wanted to talk about sex. Again, the difference is one of outlook and orientation— difficult cultural patterns to isolate and quantify. Their existence is manifest, how­ ever, in the fact that some of the most important economic relation­ ships and other social ties of the middle class villagers are estab­ lished with individuals outside the village itself. From time to time these "upwardly mobile" people will opt to move from Challenger's to the hot, expensive, but relatively sophisticated capital.

A note must be interjected about the use of income as a criterion of ascertaining social class in St. Kitts. Despite the prevailing attitude of cooperation and interest in my research on behalf of the people of Challenger's Village, only those individuals I came to know well cared to discuss the matter of income. Many people also have such varied and undependable sources of money that they actually do not know from week to week how much will be available to them. Some estimates could be made since Kittitian incomes from regular sources are low, essentially standardized, and differences in earnings between various occupations generally not great. A female domestic may make $15-20 E.C. per week, for example, a female office worker, $40, and a male cane cutter $40-60 E.C. More important than actual income i3 the fact that middle class adults are likely to marry, giving the middle class household unit two regular paychecks, most women con­ tinuing to work after marriage. Interviews during the course of research revealed that the "middle stratum" interviewees were much more likely to have such middle class accouterments as indoor plumbing, electricity, and gas stoves.

The urban orientation of some of the villagers results in non­ participation in some traditional patterns of activities even when there is no outright conscious rejection of those activities. Tradi­ tionally, for example, the people of Trinity Parish depended heavily on the resources of the mountain for food (both wild and cultivated), for fuel, and for folk medicine. Those people who fall into the middle class category rarely go these days to the mountain, either because of lack of need or because of the image they wish to project. So, while they may acknowledge the efficacy of the folk medical prac­ tices, for instance, they will rarely be in a position to collect the necessary "bushes." The "Queen of Challenger's," a bookkeeper in Basseterre, swears by the old bush cures even though she depends on Vicks Salve purchased at a pharmacy for most regular medication. 96

There are nearly 100 adults^- in the village outside the labor force altogether. This group includes married women who are supported by their husbands (rare), young people not yet seeking work, retired workers, people on welfare not seeking work, and those individuals (mostly women) getting by on remittances from relatives.

A common characteristic of Kittitian economy in all labor classi­ fications is the utilization of multiple economic resources. One elderly man, for example, gets by on a very small pension from the sugar estate (two dollars E.C. per week), an even smaller welfare payment, and very occasional food gifts from relatives. He also sought money from us for the photographs taken of him during the research period. A young woman receives monthly remittances from her mother in St. Croix, occasional money from the father of her three oldest children, economic help from the father of her youngest (with whom she shares her house); in addition, she sometimes works for wages as a domestic and for food as an agricultural helper to friends with gardens. Finally, she and her family receive occasional food gifts from her boyfriend's employer. That employer and his wife own livestock, have a small garden that provides them with surplus fruit to sell, sell bottles of Coca-Cola, homemade mawby drink, and ice. By working on other islands, they accumulated enough money to buy a truck on which they carry goods to village shops, children to school, turnhands to Saturday market, church groups on outings. They also receive remittances from relatives.

Very few villagers tap only one economic source. Utilization of multiple economic resources even cuts across class lines to some degree. Many of the white collar workers, whose jobs are usually steady and incomes adequate to meet basic needs, have kitchen gardens, for example. They also frequently receive gifts of food and clothing, if not money, from friends and relatives in the Virgin Islands and beyond.

A description of local patterns of economic activity appears chaotic at first glance. On closer inspection, it seems less chaotic than complex, a picture composed of a great number of very small pieces. The resources (natural, social, etc.) are numerous, but they are certainly finite. The people of Challenger's Village know what they are, where they are, and generally how. to exploit them. The complexity of the village economic system from the ethnographer's view lies in the fact that the system must be understood in the context of the activities and decisions of individuals concerning what and how much one needs, where and how one might realistically hope to meet those needs, and what is to be done with actual gains. The possi­ bilities for economic gain may be few for certain individuals, in

1. I have adopted the census definition of "adult" as anyone over the age of 15 years. In St. Kitts this is realistic since many people in the mid or even early teens are on their own, independent of parental control and aid. Many young women have their first child by the age of 15 or 16. 97 certain times and places; the decision-making process is rarely as rational as the conscious plotting out of a successful strategy. But even a poor woman with nine children can and must make choices. Should she keep her children home from school to work? Should she keep the older ones home to babysit and keep house so she can work, if work is available to her? Should she seek a little money when estate work is available just down the road, or look for a little more income as a domestic in town, farther from home and children? Should she send some of the children away to live with more fortunate relatives? Should she plant a garden, which involves some invest­ ment of time and money, or help someone else garden? Often she will try different combinations as different opportunities present them­ selves. Of course, the presentation of opportunities is a function of her sex, educational background, race, and so on. In other words, the limiting and patterning of local economic activity is the result of both external restrictions concerning who "can" and who "may" assume certain economic statuses and the realization and understanding of individuals of their possible choices within this system. The implications of these choices for a study of food habits is signifi­ cant. While one woman may use a bit of extra money to buy more meat for her household, for example, another may opt to save it to pay for future medical needs, even though her family's diet is deficient by her own standards. Yet another may choose to buy clothing so that she and her children can attend church. One of the goals of this dissertation is to ascertain some of the patterns in such decisions affecting food habits.

Household and Kinship The coalescense of individuals about economic resources sometimes results in the formation of groups or quasi-groups. Recognition of this phenomenon helps one understand the dynamics of the household in St. Kitts and much of the Caribbean area. During the months of the research period there were constant fluctuations in the existence, size, and content of households in Challenger's Village.

The most obvious economic factor affecting household composition is migration. The exodus and return of men and women goes on all the time. A large percentage of the young men and many young women try

TABLE 12 HOUSEHOLD DATA: ISLAND, PARISH, INTERVIEW SAMPLE

AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD PERCENTAGE, ONE- "POPULATION" SIZE PERSON HOUSEHOLDS

St. Kitts 3.8 23% Trinity Parish 3.5 25% Sample 4.2 22%

SOURCE: West Indies Population Census, 1960 Census of St. Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla. Vol. II (Kingston, Jamaica) Department of Sta­ tistics: n.d.): p. 184, Table 7,1. 98

to get at least to the American Virgin Islands for a time. The few men whom I interviewed who had no such plans had already found reasonably dependable and interesting work on St. Kitts itself. Since agricultural labor holds little attraction for most young people, however, these jobs are rare. The loss of young men from a household, then, is not likely to be an economic drain, but will probably result in financial advantage for the family in the form of remittances. Occasionally an older married man will venture off the island to look for better pay and opportunity. This situation is more likely to produce some household disruption if his stay is lengthy or permanent. However, the incidence of married men emi­ grating in this fashion is low. Many adult men never marry, first of all, and those who do usually have already established a certain amount of financial stability. They may have, in fact, emigrated as younger men and made enough money abroad to make consideration of marriage feasible.

Although the emigration of women is almost as common as that of men, the impact on the household is often considerable. Very often a woman leaves the island after she has borne one or more children, whom she leaves behinld in the care of other kinsmen, usually mother of grandmother. (Most women are young, nearly all unmarried, when the first baby is born. Although there is no surprise at the birth of an illegitimate child, there is some disapproval and embarrassment for the new mother. Emigration provides her with a temporary escape from the situation, as well as a chance to provide for the baby.) If the girl's mother is living and at home, she is the one most likely to bear the childcare responsibilities. If the mother herself is off the island, the maternal grandmother, if living, will probably assume the task. There are several households in Challenger's Village in which an old woman has charge of a number of grandchildren or greatgrand­ children.

These older women are compensated for their efforts by remit­ tances and gifts of food and clothing sent by daughters and grand­ daughters, yet the arrangement is usually not altogether satisfactory. A number of young women told me that often the grandmothers are physically unable to provide the care and, especially, the authority necessary for the "proper" raising of children. Youngsters’ in this community are expected to be obedient, helpful, and respectful. People recognize that bringing up children in such a way requires diligence, firmness, and real control over them, and such control often means administering "licks" to a disrespectful or disobedient youngster. Children who live with neither father nor mother often fall short of the expectations of proper behavior in the village and for this reason are severely criticized. These children are frequently absent from school and often drop out altogether at an early age. They spend a great deal of time "in the street," sometimes sleeping under the raised floors of other people's houses. Most of them are considered troublesome and ill-mannered by their neighbors. Recog­ nition of this situation keeps some women with young children from going away in search of work. 99

In addition, the attempt by the grandmothers to establish effective authority over their charges often produces hostility in the children. Relationships in these households are very often seriously strained. This "alternate generation hostility" expresses itself in a number of ways; the children may run off, refuse to work, or even threaten phy­ sical violence to the old women. In one such alternate generation household, a girl of 13 years had a series of loud battles with her grandmother over several inconsequential matters, threatened the older woman with knives, and finally hit her in the head with a bottle.

Thus, while the absence of a father in a household is a traditional, common, and not necessarily disruptive situation, the absence of both parents is recognized in the village as potentially problem-producing. My own observations of the behavior of these children and the attitudes towards them suggest that often this potential is realized.

As throughout much of the Caribbean, many of the households in Challenger's Village are headed by females. Although I do not wish to review the arguments which have been promoted to explain this phenom­ enon, I will say in Challenger's Village at this time there are very often financial considerations affecting, if not determining, the situation. Marriage ceremonies are generally elaborate and fairly costly, an expense which the man is expected to bear. On St, Kitts itself it is difficult for most men to accumulate this sura of money. For most, working elsewhere is necessary before such a ceremony is possible, and, in any case, young men do not generally plan on an early marriage. In the interview sample of 20 adult males, only eight were married, not one married man was under 30 years of age, and five of eight were over 40 years of age.

Older single men (those who have left their natal households) commonly live alone, as do some older childless women. The incidence of single member households significantly affects the average house­ hold size (see Table 12). Although average size in the parish is 3.5 (somewhat below my village sample), the figure obviously misrep­ resents the real distribution of population in households. The pattern is for households to include larger groups of people or a single individual. Estimates based on parish census figures and the inter­ view sample indicate that nearly a quarter of the village households, have only one member, the majority of these unmarried men. Another estimated quarter of the households contain a couple or nuclear family core based on a legal union between man and woman. The remaining half includes families bound by a consensual, not legal, union and female-headed family groups (women unmarried or widowed).^

Since economic advantage often shapes household composition and size, it is not uncommon also for distant kin or non-kin to dwell

1, Approximately 65% of the adult population of the parish and 667. of the interview sample has never married. This figure includes, how­ ever, the younger adults who are less likely to have wed yet. In the older age brackets, 40 years and over, about half are or were married. 100

together. Children from large and poor families may live with someone with more rooms and means. The child is usually expected to help out in the household, and in some cases is considered and treated as an employee rather than as a family member. There are some children and young teenagers who were taken in by non-kinsmen when their fathers and mothers left St. Kitts without adequately providing for them. These youngsters must sometimes move from house to house as oppor­ tunities shift. One girl whose mother had left the island lived with several different relatives in the village. When her maternal aunt came to Challenger's to look after her mother (the girl's maternal grandmother), the girl moved in to care for her niece and nephew. When the aunt again left St. Kitts the girl lived for a few months with her maternal grandmother. Their relationship was very poor, however, and soon the girl, then 14 years old and pregnant, left for the Virgin Islands to stay with relatives there. Another young woman whose parents had left St. Kitts lived for a time with a man who was thought to be a distant relative of hers. When his house burned down, she attempted to share a dwelling with her brother. When they found it impossible to get along she moved into a little shack by herself. At 15, with no job or family to assist her, she bore her first child.

The sharing of a dwelling, even by close kin, does not necessarily result in the formation of a group having corporate functions and iden­ tity. I found misleading the West Indies Population Census definition of a household as "a group of persons who jointly occupy the whole or part of a housing unit and who normally share at least one meal daily" (n.d.:10). For in my study of food habits, I found that in some house­ holds, each individual or each mother-offspring unit was responsible for his, her, or its own meals. In one such situation, a young woman buys, grows, and prepares food for herself and her baby, while her sister does the same for herself and her child; their grandmother, with whom they live, usually eats food prepared by their aunt (their mother's sister, grandmother's daughter). In another case, an older man shares a home with two adult sons and two children of another son living else­ where. This household actually includes four separate "eating units," despite the fact that there is occasionally meal time cooperation.

Thus, the individuation in interpersonal relationships reaches to the household' level. Even ties, of kinship which bring people together under one roof may entail minimal mutual responsibilities and expecta­ tions, And, as indicated above, economic considerations may override kinship in determining primary social relationships and groupings, Of course, that does not mean that there is no recognition of kin relationships beyond the primary ones, or that the primary relation­ ships are not significant in most cases. Most people do feel a certain obligation to those who are "something to them," as more distant relationships are often expressed. One young woman gave aid and com­ fort to another because "she (the latter) is something to S_____ her boyfriend and intended spouse. In another case, a village woman declined to help an old woman being abused by her granddaughter, but said if the old woman were "even that much (indicating a small measure with her hands) to me" she would step in. As the phrase "something to me" suggests, villagers are often unaware of the exact nature of 101 their relationships to kinsmen. This is especially true with paternal kinsmen, particularly for illegitimate children. The few times I attempted to get specific kinship information from informants, they listed for me only maternal relatives.

This emphasis on kinship ties traced through mothers and mothers' female kin is no doubt related to the low incidence of marriage. The tendency to know and recognize socially half siblings borne of one's mother but not necessarily to one's father by other women suggests this. One informant pointed out that you know that children to which your mother has given birth are related to you; there is no such proof of kinship with those allegedly sired by your father with other women. In other words, there is neither biological certainty nor social (i.e., legal and social) validation of these kin ties. One woman introduced me to her "bastard sister" (half-sister through father) whom she scarcely knew and had not seen for several years although they lived just a few miles apart. This same woman rarely even thinks about the difference in her relationships to full and half siblings with 'Whom she grew up in her mother's household.

Half-siblings with a common mother will usually think of and refer to one another as brother and sister, even though they may all be using the last names (called "titles" in St. Kitts) of their respective fathers. The practice of using one's father's title is common although not actually legal for illegitimate children. If a person who has been using his or her father's name needs official documents for such purposes as migration, he or she may hire a solicitor, go to court and "buy the title," legally assuming the name thereafter. Actually, then, a person may share a title with half-siblings with whom one has little or no social contact; at the same time brothers and sisters that one sees every day and to whom one recognizes kinship obligations, may go by different surnames.

The fact that unmarried women often have children by two or more men does not mean that sexual behavior is generally promiscuous. Most male and female relationships, although not legalized, are stable for a time. Women nearly always know who the father of each child is, and this is reflected in their use of the fathers' titles.^ Despite the fact that women may never mdrry while bearing a number of children; there are observed, standards of sexual behavior in the village, and the public display of sexuality, especially by adult females, is not appro­ priate.

In terms of the observable manifestations of kin relationships, such as the more or less regular sharing of food, coresidence, etc.,

1. Although the expressed expectation is that fathers are to help their children and the women who bear them, the actual rleationships between the men, woman, and children vary a great deal, especially when they are not living together. Some men not only provide money, food, and clothes, but help in the raising of the children. Many others accept no responsibility at all at any time. 102

lineal ties (especially through females) are more important than collateral relationships. Villagers are less critical of those who abuse older siblings, for example, than those who mistreat mothers and grandmothers. Even though an individual may argue with an older lineal kinsman, he or she is expected to provide for that older rela- tive (and vice-versa) in their need. Such expectations are not necessarily extended to other relationships. In this sense, most kin relationships are not very different from other social relation­ ships; there is no real social compulsion about recognizing them. They may be reinforced or neglected according to the desires and needs of the individuals involved. In a sense, these kin ties are another kind of potential social resource, and people can opt to include or not include those kinsmen (paternal half-siblings, cousins of various degrees, and so on) in their personal networks. Relevant to this dissertation is the observation that the sharing of food is one way of activating or reinforcing network links. Many times, however, villagers close off these relationships altogether, to the point of not speaking to certain relatives, neighbors, or ex-friends.

Quality of Interpersonal Relationships Just as frictions can adversely affect kin relationships, ties with other co-villagers are often seriously strained. The extent of the impact of these frictions in Challenger's Village is reflected in the fact that not one informant was on speaking .terms with everyone else. "Not on speaking terms" is used here literally, for the break­ down in verbal communication is a measure of the level of hostility that exists between pairs of individuals. While most people appar­ ently find it difficult to maintain a non-speaking relationship (or, perhaps, "non-relationship") with close relatives for an extended period, they have little trouble doing so with more distant or non­ kin. One informant lived twenty feet away from a woman with whom she had not exchanged a word in two years. In this community, where verbal culture is rich and verbal exchanges are important adhesive material in interpersonal relationships, a breakdown in communication allows social distance to be established where physical proximity must be ’ . maintained. My observations of village social relationships lead me to the conclusion that several types of distance-producing mechanisms are in operation. Just as there are social systems for the establish­ ment and reinforcement of links in the personal networks, there are means of limiting these webs of relationships to the regular exclusion of certain members of one's community. A discussion of the mechanisms which tend to regulate demands and minimize obligations among co­ villagers is presented in Chapter VII.

Intervillage Institutions and Organizations While there are distance-producing mechanisms in intra-village relationships, there are institutions which cut across village bound­ aries, drawing together individuals from different communities. Churches do this to some extent. On St. Kitts the Methodist and Anglican Churches claim the greatest number of adherents. There is also a Roman Catholic congregation and school, and a number of smaller churches such as Church of God, Gospel Hall, Pentecostal, Baptist, 103 and Jehovah's Witnesses. Of course not all denominations are repre­ sented in each community. The Anglican Church attended by the people of Challenger's Village, for instance, lies in an adjoining village, while members of the Church of God and the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses must travel even farther away for services. Religion, therefore, is not a unifying force on the village level. In fact, within Challenger's Village, adherence to certain church practices and beliefs further promotes dissidence among neighbors. Some Metho­ dists make fun of the trancing and "dancing" of the Pentecostals who "get the Spirit." Often, when a villager joins the Pentecostal Church, his or her neighbors will say, with some amusement, that person "has- become a Christian;" this refers to the strict standards of behavior the Pentecostal Church imposes on its members. On the other hand, the Pentecostal preacher often strongly condemns from the pulpit the curious non-members who watch services through the open church doors.

Actually, the only unifying church influence in the village beyond the general acceptance of Christian philosophy is that which the Metho­ dist Church exerts through its Community Center. That influence is primarily a secular one since the facilities are used for clinics, band practice, and fetes.

Another type of institution which cuts across village boundaries is that of the cooperative mutual aid society. Actually there are several such groups, which go by such names as Black and White Society and Heart-in-Hand Society, and which attract members from various communities. Unlike other cooperative societies of the Caribbean which exist for the purpose of providing credit or cooperative labor, these function in much the same manner as an insurance agency, with members paying small amounts into a fund from which they can draw in times of illness or death. Not everyone in Challenger's can or will join. Some do not have the small amount of extra money required for such an investment; others opt to use extra money in different ways. One informant told me she prefers to bank extra cash because, she said, if you were to die a society member even one payment in arrears, the society would not pay for your funeral. Members of their groups have regular meetings and, occasionally, special recreational outings.

Of course there are a number of political and economic agencies and activities which either integrate people into non-local groups or which expose them to the wider national influences. There are politi­ cal parties, industries, and so on, which function in this way, but most of these cannot be fully described in this study. One government agency whose influence has affected the cultural milieu relevant to my research is the Health Department. The dissemination of nutrition information, for example, certainly has affected the responses of informants to certain questions presented on the interview form. Since the research was not designed as a test of the impact of nutri­ tional education, however, no specific analysis of its influence on food habits in included. Nevertheless, it is important that a brief discussion of the activities of the health department be included. 104

The government of St. Kitts is committed to providing health care for all its citizens. In Basseterre there is the government operated clinic and hospital, as well as the office of the government physician whose responsibility it is to treat even those patients unable to pay. A number of private physicians also work in the capital. Most inform­ ants feel strongly that private health care is superior to that provided by the government, but few can afford to pay for treatment with each illness. A visit to the government doctor usually entails a very brief examination and "injection." Subsequent treatment and dispensing of medication for a particular illness is generally handled through the health clinic. Despite the attitude of many Kittitians toward the public health program and its officials, the health offices and clinics are very busy. And the drop in infant mortality and other indices of improved general health suggest the government programs have been some­ what successful. (The infant mortality rate was reduced from 259 per 1000 live births in 1926 to 70 per 1000 in 1954. The lowest rate was recorded in 1969, at 45.7 per 1000 live births; by 1972 it had risen again to 69.6 [St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla 1972b: 2, 2, 327. T^e maternal mortality rate fell from 4.7 in 1967 to 0.8 per 1000 live births in 1972 £ibid:37.)

The government also extends its health programs into the country­ side. There are a number of permanent health clinics and small hos­ pitals in the larger villages and towns outside Basseterre. The smaller communities have prenatal and pediatric care clinics at certain scheduled times. In Challenger's Village these clinics are held in the Community Center once a month. The nurses who run them check regularly on the progress of village infants and children, passing out milk powder, vitamins, and advice. It appears that many of the government health policies are implemented through these clinics, especially those related to nutrition education. Of course, this means that the programs directly affect primarily women, and, through them, children. Virtually all the responses I received in the formal and informal inter­ viewing which reflected (often inaccurately) nutrition education were from women.

Public health nurses may also make home visits, to check on home conditions or bring medical care to those unable to reach the Basseterre clinic and physician. So, from the hospitals and clinics of the capital to the homes of the villagers the tenets of modern medical science filter down. The effectiveness of the health programs in enhanced by the small size of the island and accessibility of most of the popula­ tion. Nevertheless, health problems related to mal- and undernutrition still exist, especially among youngsters. One young physician from the United States came to St. Kitts with the intent to teach modern nutri­ tion to the public health officials and personnel. He found, or was strongly informed, that the local nurses and other health workers were well aware of both the local nutrition problems and the nutrition stan­ dards and programs established by such agencies as W.H.O. He also found, however, that for a variety of reasons, the sophistication of health personnel did not necessarily bring about major changes in the diet of all Kittitians (Dr. C.H. Yorke: personal communication). My own work supports his observations. 105

Alternative folk medical practices also still exist on St. Kitts, most commonly involving the use of plants, dried, drawn, and drunk. The folk medicine, like other types of sociocultural behavior, is individuated. Each person has his personal pharmacopoeia and does not seek out the help of a recognized healer as is often the case in certain other Caribbean societies. There are no major healing cults or groups, with the possible exception of organized religious groups like the Pentecostals, who practice faith healing as a part of their worship and ritual.

Finally, there are a number of recreational activities which also serve to bring together people from different communities; regular dances, sporting events, and the annual Carnival provide the setting and opportunity for interaction between Kittitians from all over the island as well as with non-Kittitians (such as tourists). Taken altogether, these social, economic, and governmental institutions are centrifugal, or perhaps, sociofugal forces with respect to village social organization. The same effect can be seen in the distribution of foodstuffs. Now as in the past most food grown in the countryside is distributed, not locally, but through the Public Market and Marketing Depot int Basseterre. Thus, the surplus food grown around Challenger's is more likely to be converted to a little cash than used to create or reinforce a network of regular food sharing relationships between co­ villagers, as when an old woman receives some sweet potatoes for helping another in her garden. But most of the surplus food is distributed in other, less personalized, ways. More details and implications of this distributive system are described in the next chapter.

It seems appropriate here to interject another observation; that is, the village life style is not all disharmony and divisiveness. During the evening hours, in particular, the street is noisy and alive with visiting neighbors. This is the best time to note the ’’rich verbal culture,'1 to hear the gossip, the jokes, the taunts, and the good-natured arguments. Stories of personal and legendary encounters with jumbies and ghosts are most likely to be heard after dark. Children run through the streets in boisterous play; small groups of adults gather to talk, take a walk, share a soft drink, or sometimes a beer,, Unfortunately, this dimension of Kittitian culture cannot be described in detail here since much of it is not really "food-relevant." Informal discussions may evolve around the high cost and unavailability of food, but food does not figure prominently in folklore and language. There are few sayings or traditional stories and folktales involving food. Beyond such retained British sayings as "an apple a day keeps the doctor away," which has little relevancy on this tropical island, there are few aspects of traditional verbal culture which help "explain" observed eating patterns.

Life Cycle To conclude the material on the contemporary community, I wish to provide a brief description of some of the more common and pertinent patterns in the cycle of life in Challenger's Village. I will empha­ size those aspects of the enculturative setting which help form and 106

reinforce food attitudes and food sharing.

A voman who is pregnant in Challenger's Village rarely advertises or emphasizes her condition. Pregnancy usually produces ambivalent feelings in the mother-to-be and those closest to her. Children are desired and expected, and birth control measures are generally dis­ dained, yet offspring are recognized as financial burdens for the first years of their lives. Many young women virtually go into seclu­ sion during their pregnancy and hesitate to discuss their condition, the impending birth, the onset of labor pains, and the birth itself. After the birth of the baby, the reticence concerning the event and the newborn infant continues. There is a reluctance to mention the child's name, for example, and people may deny until after the christen­ ing that the child has even been given a name. (Actually, the govern­ ment now requires that the baby's name be revealed for birth records.) I was told that "the old folks" feel that mentioning a new baby's name makes him vulnerable to harm from evil magic or malicious jumbies.

The aura of silence is disspelled when the infant is christened at one of the ceremonies held at regular intervals scheduled by the mother's church. Even the most simple observance of this occasion requires some investment, if only for appropriate clothing for mother and baby. Church officials, at least in the Methodist Church, expect both parents to participate in the ceremony, but in fact few fathers choose to attend. Occasionally, on the other hand, the father will not only observe the christening ceremony, but will give a fete in celebration. The traditional goatwater is usually prepared in large quantities for guests, and rum or some other beverage is offered. This involves a much greater investment, of course, than most people can afford.

Babies are loved, but little fuss is made over them. Most women nurse their infants for a few weeks and then introduce them to the bottle before they are very much older. One interview question asked for women to indicate at what age babies should be weaned altogether; .most women answered at about 9 months. In actual practice, there is a great deal of variation, both in the age at which bottle feeding begins and nursing ends. During the first few months the child is also introduced to a gruel made from sweetened milk and corn meal. This may be given from a bottle through a nipple with an enlarged opening. (Ashcroft, et. al., also mentioned use of "wheat flour and arrowroot gruels, thin soups, pulped jams, sweet potatoes and bananas, sweetened bush teas and diluted milk...." /1966:38/.)

As a child becomes older and more mobile he becomes, in a sense, more vulnerable. He is indulged less than when he was a totally dependent infant, and in terms of diet, his nutritional status is more likely to be substandard. Some children depend on their gruel or porridge on into the second year, until their acceptance as a regular member of a household or sub-household food unit. Again, there is a great deal of variation in how and when young children are fed food supplements, but very often the youngsters show the tell-tale signs of protein malnutrition, such as reddish-brown or blond hair. Hospital 107 figures indicate that malnutrition is a major direct and indirect cause of serious illness in children ages 1 to 3 years. My conver­ sations with some mothers suggested some underlying feeling on their part that young children should not have or do not need meat ("relish," as meat is called in St. Kitts). For the most part, however, they cite the economics of the feeding problem; that is, in the distribu­ tion of relatively scarce and expensive animal protein, young children are considered least needy. Ashcroft, et. al. (1966) have supported my observations by noting that "frequent use was made of food stuffs high in carbohydrate with too little use of high protein foods such as fish, meat, and eggs...because they were expensive and because it was not the accepted custom to give them to infants." (1966:44).

As the child becomes older, more independent and even more mobile, his diet may improve. By this time, he is included in family meals. And he has usually become a part of a group of his peers, who are generally quite proficient at scavenging. Together or separately, a great deal of time is spent in gathering or stealing a wide variety of foods from the village, the mountain, and the sea. In other words, recreation and food-getting are commonly coinciding activities for many village children. In this manner, for example, they get mangoes, guavas, coconuts, tamarinds, gineps, sea grapes, tululu (small crabs), whelks, and moray eels. The importance of these meal supplements for children is difficult to judge accurately or quantify, but I feel for some it is of considerable significance.

Within these peer groups sharing is common, open, and casual. A child with two mangoes or two "sweeties" (hard candies) will prob­ ably give one away. One of my children was integrated into a group of children, ages eight to eleven years, and this provided us all with insights into both the food getting and sharing activities. I found that food brought to our house, gathered or purchased, was always shared with all children present; occasionally the items were also offered, but hesitantly, to me or other adults present. Social pro­ scriptions on the sharing of good and other goods apparently affect only the adult community.

One lesson that children are expected to learn early is respect for the authority of adults; or, more broadly, respect for authority. It is, in fact, failure to internalize this respect that stimulates much of the criticism of villagers for the children of migratory parents. These disrespectful children are considered rude, or even wild.

This authority is vested in all adults relative to all children, regardless of relationships. Any adult may order any child to run errands and perform menial tasks, and any adult may verbally discipline any child without censure; "licks," however, are generally administered only by close kin and teachers. Most people considered adults in my household too lenient and indulgent of children, and we were occasion­ ally criticized for "harboring" some of the less disciplined youngsters in our house. Some of the young teachers in the primary school were 108 also criticized for not exercising their authority to give licks and thus maintain the respect of the pupils.

Most children attend the old overcrowded one-room school for at least a few years. Nearly all stay long enough to be classified as literate, at any rate. On the other hand, very few continue in school past primary grades since both the entrance standards and the cost of secondary schooling in Basseterre are high. More important than aca­ demic standards and finances, however, is the fact that most young people out of the primary school are ready to assume an adult role in the village. Young women, in particular, often step right out of school into motherhood, and many young mothers establish their own households by the age of 15 or 16. Young men try to find work by this age, too, but there is nothing comparable to the bearing of a child to serve as a rite of passage for them. The status of young men in the village isoften not clear-cut because of this, and many are condemned for their "liming" and called "worthless.11 As soon as pos­ sible, most will look for work in the Virgin Islands, affirming their status as an adult.

Occasionally a young couple will marry, especially if the girl becomes pregnant. Far more commonly, however, young people establish a series of relationships with sexual partners and a number of illegi­ timate children are born. Most of these relationships are relatively casual, involving neither coresidence nor extensive mutual responsi­ bilities. This is an unfortunate situation for a young woman with several children to support, especially if she has no female relatives to take over their care should she desire to work. Sometimes a woman will have several such relationships before finding someone willing to provide for her. These more stable partnerships sometimes involve coresidence, but in Challenger's Village, the man is more often just a regular visitor. One manifestation of this type of relationship is the sharing of food; the man gives money and/or foodstuffs, the woman cooks for him. Some women who have established their own households actually prefer this arrangement to coresidence. In such a case they have some financial help but still retain some independence and control over their property. .

The retention of independence can be a serious problem for women in some situations. Male-female relationships are often marked by serious disagreements that sometimes result in a beating for the woman, for despite the strength and spirit of Kittitian women, they are expected to be junior partners in relationships with men. And accord­ ing to the local double standard, a man who is having affairs with several other women can be violently jealous of apparent sexual mis­ conduct on the part of his woman. Most of the serious male-female disagreements observed in the course of research, in fact, were the result of just this kind of jealousy provoking situation. These ten­ sions are so common that they led one young man to observe that "/Kittitian/ men and women don't like one another very much." 109

About half of the people get along well enough, at least, to marry at some time during their lives. Middle class individuals are far more likely to marry, and few of them would even consider co­ residence without marriage. Lower class people often marry later in life, sometimes after the family is complete and the children growing up. At any rate, most people desire family stability as they grow older, and most need the support (financial and otherwise) of children and other kin when they, become unable to work. One old man in the village who was barely getting by was the object of some sympathy because he had no wife and had never had any children. Although he had some more distant relatives in the village there was no one of the degree of kinship that entailed obligations for his support.

Age is supposed to bring respect in Challenger's Village. In actual situations, however, this is not always the case. Old women may be abused by their own kin, as I explained previously; and when infirmity accompanies age, the old folks are vulnerable to taunts and baiting by children. Mental aberrations which accompany senility produce jokes and promote teasing, even by adults from time to time. And when death comes, the elderly*are put to rest with a minimum of ceremony.

The relative simplicity of death ritual should not be taken necessarily to indicate a lack of human sentiment or feeling. There is really little ritual and ceremony which attends any part of the cycle of life in the village. There are no rites at birth, at puberty, at sundown, at harvest time, or before a fishing boat goes to sea. Food is generally eaten without being blessed, animals are butchered without ceremony. Christening and burial are accompanied by only a brief ritual. The only occasion which usually is marked by elaborate ceremony is marriage, and not everyone has an opportunity to participate in a marriage. When one considers the social functions of ritual, however, its lack in Challenger's Village is not so sur­ prising. For ritual is integrative. Participation in and recognition of common ceremony holds a group together, reinforces group ties, Methodist ritual in church serves to integrate the congregation, as does the ritual in the Pentecostal Church. These two groups become more internally cohesive, and more aware of their differences as a result of participation in the church activities. But outside of these congregations, group structures are weak and few. The paucity of. ritual integration of group relationships and ritual expression of group ideology is certainly related to the individuation of social relationships in the village.

Summary The concept of individuation of relationships as opposed to group structures is important for the development of this dissertation and will be discussed throughout. I will also seek to demonstrate that food distribution in such a social system leaves some categories of people especially vulneralbe. These are people who are transitory between stages of network development: infants leaving the exclusive mother-child dyad, young people leaving behind peer relationships to assume an adult status and appropriate patterns of behavior, and old 110 people whose network links are dying. An understanding of the food habits of this particular West Indian village, in other words, rests on the recognition of the nature of a whole complex of sociocultural patterns pertaining to the social context of enculturation* CHAPTER VI

FOODWAYS IN THE VILLAGE CONTEXT

The description of Challenger's Village, and the primary social relationships of the people who live in that community, suggests four major implications for food distribution. First, the village is only loosely organized and can in no way be viewed or analyzed as a closed system of interrelationships between mutually responsible individuals. Second, within the village, the only "group" which necessarily involves such obligations as food sharing is the mother- child dyad, with the possible exception of the husband-wife primary family group where it exists. Third, food networks of all individuals extend into the larger society of the island: in many cases, beyond. Fourth, the food networks of co-villagers are non-coincidental.

In this chapter, three major topics are presented. The first might be called "food pathways,", since it involves the more or less regular aspects of the production (i.e., food sources) and distribu­ tion of foodstuffs to and through Challenger's Village. The second topic is the patterning of food consumption, the "what, when, and where" of eating in Challenger's Village. The third is a related but separate section describing a different level of food behavior. It contains a discussion of some perceptions of food and the relationship of these perceptions to general health views held by most villagers.

Food Pathways through Challenger's Village There are two basically different but interrelated systems of food production and distribution in St. Kitts. The first may be described as the local goods-public market system; the second, the imported goods-supermarket system. Another helpful, albeit over­ simplified, way of looking at the two systems is in terms of the dis­ tribution of the three basic food groups. The bulk of the fruit and vegetable group, for example, is provided through local sources, the gardens and countryside of St, Kitts, These foods reach the people of Challenger's Village from four major sources: (1) through the gardening efforts of individuals for their own consumption; (2) through the peasant marketing system of locally grown surplus items along the bay front market area in Basseterre; (3) through casual gathering activities; and (4) through the networks of food sharing dyads in which villagers are involved. (Of course, imported canned, frozen, and fresh fruits and vegetables are available in the supermarkets, but only rarely are they bought and brought to the village. Occa­ sionally people will add a can of concentrated vegetable soup to for­ tify their own soups and stews. However, these imported foods have thus far made little impact on rural food habits.)

The bread and cereal group, on the other hand, is virtually all imported. In terms of overall calories consumed daily by the people of Challenger's Village, this is a very important food category, for it includes the cornmeal for porridge, the flour for bread, and rice. Bread is the primary breakfast and lunch food, while rice (or dumpling3 of both) is served at most main meals. Rice has virtually become the mainstay of the Kittitian diet over the years, and may be said to have III 112 replaced breadfruit, which apparently held that position at one time. As indicated in Chapter IV, Alexander suggested that breadfruit was the "meat and bread" of poor Kittitians during the nineteenth century (1901:207). Cassava was also more important at that earlier time. Bread is still sometimes made from the pounded cassava flour, but it is not a common food item now.

Toward the end of the research period, rice had become both scarce and expensive, prompting a vigorous discussion overheard one day among a group of bus passengers traveling from Basseterre to the countryside. A number of older men and women were considering the importance of rice to Kittitians, and some were claiming their dependence on the grain is too great. One man speculated on how much higher the price would have to go before people would cease to buy it. And, he continued, what would Kittitians buy if not rice. "Breadfruit," was another man's succinct reply. Two young middle class women, a secretary and a book­ keeper, discussed this matter with me at some length. The former felt that Kittitians eat "far too much" rice, many insisting on eating it in some form each day. She herself, she said, ate it only three or four times a week.

The third major food group, including meat and dairy products, is nearly evenly represented by both local and imported products. Gener­ ally the beef, mutton, pork and fresh fish are from local industry, while frozen poultry, salted, pickled, or canned fish and meat are imported. Most milk and milk products consumed are also shipped in. Powdered milk from the United States and UNICEF is distributed to families with young children through the clinics, but its most impor­ tant nutritional contribution is probably as a source of food for village pigs which are eventually butchered and eaten. The fact that so many villagers use the milk powder for pig feed rather than their own con­ sumption was explained to me in several ways. Many people simply do not like the taste, being more accustomed to canned milk; others com­ plain that it causes diarrhea. And some folks disdain it because it is free, and, therefore, in some sense inferior. Nutritionists working in the Caribbean have noted both the dependence of many people on the more expensive, and more prestigious, canned milk and the resistance to change in this pattern (Ashcroft, et. al. 1966:44; Low 1970:229).

In any case, because of the nature of this double distributive system, all people are dependent to some extent on both internally and externally produced items. Relative dependence varies a great deal, however, from individual to individual. On the other hand, in the broad perspective some patterns of utilization of food resources and food relationships are apparent. These resources can be classified, for example, with respect to their "social distance^" from the individ­ uals in Challenger's Village, and the nature of the food transaction

1. Social distance, as I use the term throughout, refers to the degree of formalization that exists in a dyadic relationship. Social factors producing relatively greater social distance include differ­ ences in class, race (vertical distance) or differences in area of residence (horizontal distance). 113

(degree of formalization, standardization, etc.); the content of the food transaction (food-money, food-services, for instance); and expec­ tations of reciprocity. The food sources most commonly tapped are the supermarket, Public Market, village shop, and noncontractual food relationships.

1) The supermarket. The greatest social distance in food trans­ actions of most villagers exists in dealings with the supermarkets. The larger ones in the capital are owned by relatively well-to-do Caucasians with whom few villagers have any other dealings. A few smaller ones, owned by black Kittitians, are operated on a more per­ sonalized level, and some of these proprietors who know their black patrons rather well extend credit, offer special deals, and so on. Generally, however, relationships with such food distributors are standardized, "single stranded" (Wolf 1966:81), contractual, and ad hoc. Most people must pay cash for all items purchased at the time of the transaction; there is little communication between buyer and seller, and when the bill is paid the relationship is terminated until the next shopping trip. Given the present state of food habits in St. Kitts, representatives of all primary food units must establish these discontinuous relationships regularly (usually once a week) in order to replenish stocks of imported staples— flour, rice and so on.

In terms of "strategies" relative to the selective establishment and maintenance of food relationships little manipulation is possible in supermarket dealings. Even though Kittitians find it necessary to maintain these ties, their standardization and contractual nature make them relatively inflexible. (There is some choice, however, within the supermarket distributive system itself. Villagers shop around each week to compare prices on needed items in the five self-service stores in Basseterre, Often, the few items that are purchased will come from different supermarkets.)

2) The Public Market. The buying and selling of locally grown items is carried out on Saturdays in the Public Marketplace and Marketing Depot, and throughout the week on the sidewalk along the bayfront. Located close to most of the supermarkets, these outlets are the internal market complement of the former, providing a regular, generally standardized setting for food transactions. Most dealings are on a cash only basis, and despite frequent complaints to turnhands about the high cost of their items, there is little haggling or dealing. On the other hand, individuals may establish a special client relation­ ship with one turnhand for their mutual advantage. The turnhand, for example, may save a scarce or particularly nice item for a regular client. Or she may even give the client some items from time to time. (This is comparable to the higgler-client dyad described by Mintz /I9527.) I was fortunate to establish such a relationship with a turnhand on my second trip to St. Kitts. One of my primary informants rode to Saturday market with me each week, and in return introduced me to "her" turnhand, who l’ented a stall each Saturday morning just inside the market place. Thus, I did not pay the inflated prices often quoted to tourists and white people in general and had a depen­ dable supply of some basic vegetables and fruits, such as sweet 114

potatoes, yams, pumpkin, limes.

On several occasions, I attempted to find some food Items our turnhand did not have in other parts of the market. These excursions demonstrated to me the importance of the special market relationships. Some turnhands would not sell certain displayed vegetables, which apparently were saved for clients, or they would "marry" one item to another; that is, a scarce item would be sold only with the purchase of another less scarce one.

Unlike the relationships with supermarket personnel, these ties tend to carry over into other contexts. The above mentioned informant and I took our children to a cricket match at one time, and purchased some candy for them from a woman vendor. The informant then noticed our turnhand was also there, selling Cracker Jacks and sweeties. The informant was initially embarrassed by the oversight, then sent the children to buy more candy from the turnhand. That woman reciprocated by giving each child a number of sweeties and refusing payment for them.

The social distance between turnhand and client, therefore, is less than between supermarket and customer, and the transactions them­ selves can be modified according to the interests of the parties involved. Yet the relationship is essentially singlestranded, entail­ ing only exchanges of food and money.

3) The village shops. Village food and rum shops differ from both the above in terms of what they provide and the nature of their dealings with villagers. They are part of the imported foods distribu­ tive system, yet in some ways relationships of villagers to these food sources are closer, more personalized, then those with distributors of locally grown foods. Shopkeepers are local folk, for the most part, and their customers are also likely to be kinsmen, neighbors, fellow church members, and so on. In other words, most villagers maintain multiple ties ("multistranded" relationships— Wolf 1966:81) with local shopkeepers.

Most food unit representatives or brokers regularly patronize both the village shops and supermarkets, at different intervals and for different reasons. The facts which account for these purchasing pat­ terns are summarized below:

a) Proximity. Obviously the village shops have the most advantageous location vis-a-vis the village shoppers. But proximity is not just a convenience, it is a necessity. Few people in Challenger's Village have either the facilities or the space for food storage. Even though over one-third of the interview sample had electricity, very few people had refrig­ erators. Furthermore, both the incomes of buyers and the wares of sellers vary so greatly from season to season, week to week, and day to day that quantity purchases and planning are difficult. The result of the lack of home storage facilites, the low and U 5

undependable incomes, and inconsistent food sources is a meal- to-meal buying pattern for most families. A woman, for example, will often make purchases for her family before breakfast and lunch, and perhaps before the evening meal as well. In this respect, the village shops serve as an outlet for freshly baked bread delivered to them daily. This is an important function, since bread is the staple of all but the major meal of the day (see section on food consumption).

While this seems an inefficient use of time and expensive in the long run, it is a flexible system, allowing buyers to make precise purchases according to immediate needs. Food is purchased with available funds only for those who are to be immediately fed.

Villagers also patronize the village shops to replenish depleted stocks of important items before Saturday market. Flour, rice, sugar, cooking oil, kerosene, spices, canned milk, matches, and so on, are sold in small quantities over shop counters. These items usuall-y cost a few cents more per unit than in supermarkets, since the quantities sold are small and there is a small cost involved in delivery to shops in the countryside. However, the bus ride to Basseterre from Chal­ lenger's is 25 cents (50 cents roundtrip), more than the extra cost of the food in most cases. Thus, the better strategy in this case is the patronization of shops, unless a trip to town is otherwise necessary.

b) Credit. Because of the irregularity of incomes of most villagers, money for daily food purchases is not always available. Village shops, which depend on local patrons, take these fluc­ tuations into account, so to speak, and generally allow purchases to be made on credit. Payment is usually forthcoming on a regular basis during the cane season or at Christmas time after the distribution of gifts and bonuses. Yet cash payment is expected eventually. Reciprocity from customers takes the form of cash, and not services or other goods.

Comparing the food relationships of villagers with the shops to those with supermarkets, it may be said the former are more flexible, more personalized (less social distance), raultistranded, continuous, and extended with respect to the resolution of specific transactions.

4) Intravillage non-contractual food relationships. The people of Challenger's Village also maintain local non-contractual ties involving food exchanges, with kinsmen, neighbors, friends, employers. In anthropological literature this is the category of people usually included in discussions of food sharing. And it is in dealings between such individuals that Cohen (1961) speaks of the "non-sharing" nature of Jamaican society. Influenced by Cohen's model, I nearly did not "see" the sharing of food even though I was involved in a number of 116

such dyads. I even found myself on my third trip to the island hiding away the gifts of food 1 brought to friends and neighbors jus.t as their gifts to me had been hidden, without initially being aware of my participation in a cultural pattern. In other words, I was behaving according to the cultural pattern before I perceived that pattern. At the realization that food was shared covertly with me, I began to systematically question my major informants about food sharing among the villagers themselves. Their responses and my subsequent observa­ tions indicate: a) food shared is nearly always locally grown, raised and butchered, or caught; and it is not likely to be supermarket food; b) abundant foods are more likely to be shared and more openly shared, and, conversely, one rarely observes sharing of scarce items; c) friend­ ship is as common a basis for such relationships involving food exchanges as secondary kinship ties.

The very nature of this kind of sharing behavior, irregular and covert, makes a systematic discussion difficult. It is useful to look at some examples of food networks such as those in Figure 5, below. Such a diagram indicates some of the types of relationships which may involve food exchanges. The two networks are based on interviews with a 26 year old unmarried woman (.AL) and a 33 year old unmarried man (:Bl). Since networks are, by definition, not discrete bounded groups, it should be noted that the networks in Figure 5 are partial and serve only to show the range of food exchanges. Individual number 1 in each network is the network focus, the person interviewed. A1 is a young woman of little means who helps out her grandmother (A5) whenever she can, and occasionally gives food to a friend in Old Road. Numbers 3 and 6 in her (and her grandmother's) network are older married women who are relatively well off. Food generally flows from them to other members of the village. Bl, on the other hand, is a hard working young man who not only has regular employment as a mason, but has a garden and a small herd of goats. Social resources are less important to him as sources of food than wages and natural resources. His food network is, therefore, somewhat more self-contained than that of Al.

All of these relationships are multistranded, involving more than the distribution of food. In other words, food sharing is potentially involved but is not the raison d'etre of the relationships. There is the greatest amount of flexibility in this category of social ties with respect to how and when food exchanges are initiated. Since there is no strong social pressure to share, and some pressure not to share (the "non-sharing" ideology), sharing occurs primarily when the needs of one party and the resources of the other are relatively great; and the exchange itself is likely to be unseen.

Reciprocity also varies in these "exchanges." It varies both in content and in the length of time which may elapse between the initia­ tion and the resolution of the exchange. A food-service exchange, for example, usually takes place between an individual with a relatively large garden and a friend or neighbor who helps in the planting or harvesting. The food payment for these services usually is made immediately. Between friends, neighbors, and kinsmen, food (or other 117

village boundary

village boundary

KEY: ______Regular food sharing (daily or weekly) ______Irregular food sharing A. Lineal Kinsmen B. Collateral Kinsmen C. Employer, Employee D. Consensual relationship (coresidence) E. Neighbors, Peers (food-food or food-service. Where "E" appears non-reciprocal, a food-service relation­ ship is indicated.) F. Other (friends, etc.)

FIGURE 5 TWO PARTIAL FOOD NETWORKS 118

items) may be "given," however, with the expectation that the receiving individual will eventually reciprocate. For the most part, both the original sharing of items, and the reciprocal exchange are kept hidden. However, if the original giver decides that reciprocity is too slow or he or she becomes angry with the receiver for some other unrelated reason, the identity of the receiver who did not repay the debt and the nature of all his or her other transgressions may be loudly and publicly announced on the village street. This "street talking" (as I have labeled it) is more effective than gossip, since it quickly reaches a number of villagers. Thus, an individual who accepts food or other items without immediately reciprocating is vulnerable to verbal attack. This type of sanction was imposed upon members of my party several times until I learned not to accept food without imme­ diate payment. In another case, a young friend was in the hospital having her first baby. The hospital officials sent word to the village that a few items would have to be sent to her and the infant. A close friend of the girl's decided to ride with me and my major informant to take the patient a few things, but the informant refused to take the friend. Another neighbor also became involved, saying I must not "carry" that girl with me. Their attitude puzzled me until I learned that their concern was that the girlfriend would give the items and return to the village to talk about the new mother. It is generally understood that the giver has a "license" to talk about the receiver. My field notes contain numerous references to people expres­ sing concern about receiving food and other items, lest the gift become known and people talk about them.

In some cases, however, no reciprocity for gifts is expected. In this case, the "payment" is an improvement of social position rela­ tive to the receiver. The gift does not raise one's general social position, since the exchange is generally covert; it serves to make one's position within a dyad more advantageous. My position as a white American was perceived by most villagers as advantageous vis-H-vis their own. Yet, despite my relative social and economic wealth, some people with whom I interacted regularly gave me food, clothing, and so on. Others would always accept my offered gifts and would rarely bring items to me. My participation in both kinds of relationships indicated to me that the non-reciprocated gift within a dyad can (a) bring two people into a more equitable social relationship when relative positions were unequal at outset, or (b) keep relationships unequal or express inequality in relative positions. In the former case the individual in the lower position gives gifts and may refuse items from the individual in the higher position. Villagers who gave items to me were generally relatively comfortable dealing with me as a social equal. Younger adults who so gave would call me by my first name, consider me a friend, and attend parties and dances with me. Others would accept my gifts but not give. Many of these people still called me "Mistress" after several months of regular interaction and rarely attended social affairs with me. Either these people chose economic to social gain, or they simply felt more comfortable in the traditional subordinate status. Their motivations were not always clear. 119

Within this category of food relationships altruistic giving also exists. At times food is given with no desire for either economic return or social gain. In such cases the expression of goodwill or the desire to help a friend in need is the primary motivation. Cohen's non-sharing model, therefore, applies to only one of what I perceive to be three levels of sociocultural reality. On the ideological level, most people espouse Christian philosophy with respect to the morality of sharing. Actual social pressures circumscribing behavior discourage sharing, since both the giver and receiver become vulnerable to a degree. The person who is too generous may be considered weak, and some will try to take advantage of this weakness; the person who receives, especially without reciprocating, may be talked about. Yet on the level of actual interaction, people do give food and other items at times, but in so doing take precautions that their misbehavior be unseen.

The final category of food relationships are those that exist within the basic food unit itself. As previously mentioned, this unit may or may not coincide with the household unit, and may include only one individual who on a regular basis provides food only for himself. The single individual food unit is most often an adult male who lives alone or shares lodging with one or more others. Other common food units are mother-child (or children) groups and nuclear family groups (involving marriage or stable coresidence between a man and woman). A food unit may, however, include individuals from other households, kinsmen, and occasionally non-kinsmen. Whatever the content of the unit, there are mutual and regular obligations with respect to pro­ curing and preparing food. Within these relationships, food sharing need not be hidden. They are multistranded, involving a number of important rights and obligations. These mutual obligations mean, of course, that reciprocity is generally expected sooner or later. Even children are expected to reciprocate by providing for their parents in their old age. In fact, one reason regularly stated for having children is that they will take care of you when you are old; appar­ ently most children do.

Through these relationships and from these sources the people of Challenger's Village get food. The next section describes how, when, and under what circumstances the food is consumed.

The Cultural Context of Food Consumption Eating, even at regular meal times, is informal in Challenger's Village. Little ritual and sociality are associated with meals; they are not activities which involve and integrate family units or express role and rank. Many folk, of course, do not have the facilities to feed all of the family at once at a sit-down meal, forcing members to eat at different times or places, such as on the house steps. Infants and toddlers will rarely be given a place at the table. They are casually fed bit of food here and there. Furthermore, some individuals decide from time to time to prepare and eat separate meals, disdaining the food which has been prepared by another family member. In one such household, the oldest child usually cooks the evening meal because her mother has a regular job in town. Her father, however, often 120

decides to cook for himself, and eats alone, (Cooking Is not considered an exclusively feminine task in St. Kitts. Many men, and especially those living in single member households, do a great deal of cooking. Some actually are known in the village for their ability to prepare certain kinds of food. Yet women will laugh about a "manpot," a dish prepared hurriedly and carelessly by a man who is anxious to get out and visit with his cronies.)

Daily Eating Pattern Breakfast is usually a simple and casual meal, often eaten after the individual has been up for quite some time. Interviews indicate it is most frequently a bread and tea type of meal. The bread is purchased fresh at the village shops, and spread with butter, or jelly, or even a little sausage if one of these is available. The rtbread" is actually a roll, which sells for 2 cents E.C. in the shops. Tea, on the other hand, is the term used for almost any hot beverage. It can be tea made from tea bags, or from various plants which grow domestically or wild around the village. And "tea" can be a milk and coco beverage, coffee, etc. Many of these hot drinks are mostly milk, flavored in various ways. Occasionally eggs and salt fish or mackerel are consumed at breakfast time; men, especially, seem to enjoy the fish in the morning. Occasionally dry cereals like corn flakes are eaten, particularly by children. The most common breakfast food for young children, however, is the corn meal porridge, sometimes taken by bottle.

Lunch varies more than breakfast, since many people eat their main meal of the day at noon or one o'clock. (Nearly half the inter­ view sample ate their main meal at midday.) For those to whom noon is lunch time, however, the meal is again simple, often what I call a "bread and Bryson" meal. "Bryson" is the local term used for most flavors of soda. Actually, while breakfast is bread and hot beverage, lunch is bread and cold beverage, including soda pop, lemonade, ginger beer, and mawby. Again a small amount of fried sausage or cheese, purchased from the village shops, may be added to the sandwich. Left­ overs are an alternate meal to bread and Bryson, since food storage is a problem and leftovers must be consumed within a short time. Rice, for example, from the meal of the previous evening might be eaten as an occasional lunch food. In the Kittitian school system there is no lunch program, and children who do not get home to eat at noon are sometimes hard pressed to find adequate food. Often, lunch for these children is a bread purchased from a nearby bakery or a sugar and coco­ nut confection bought from a vendor.

Supper for those villagers who had only a small lunch is generally a meal which I came to call of the "relish and rice" type. "Relish" is the term Kittitians use for various kinds of meat, fish,and fowl. Thus, the main meal of the day for most villagers consists of a little animal protein and some.kind of starchy food, most commonly rice. The relish is usually fish, fresh, salted, or pickled, or chicken back and neck. Less often, chicken legs, mutton, pork, and beef are con­ sumed. The poorest of families will attempt to have some type of 121

relish each day, even if just one portion of fish in a stew for a family of ten, I was told that in very bad times people would have to do without relish or try to get some seafood from along the shore, but during the months in which the research was conducted X found only one person, a young woman living alone, who did not have some kind of animal protein regularly.

Rice is eaten by the villagers virtually every day and in large portions. In lieu of or in addition to the rice, starchy vegetables are a common supper food, Irish potatoes or pale sweet potatoes are often included in the menu in some form, along with breadfruit, plan­ tains, tannias, dasheens, and yams. The starchy roots are also commonly used with a little relish in soups, stews, and other one dish meals. Although "rice and relish" is the basic pattern, other foods are often added in small amounts, usually mixed with the rice itself. Conversa­ tions and food recall interviews suggest such combinations as rice and red beans (dried kidney beans), black beans, pigeon peas, or lentils. Less often, greens may be cooked with the rice as well. Furthermore, rice is regularly supplemented by a "gravy" or sauce prepared with a little tomato or catsup and onion in the pan in which the relish has been cooked.

Beyond the cooked greens in rice dishes, there is little consump­ tion of the non-starchy vegetables. Local nutritionists recognize this as a major dietary deficiency, especially among older folks who are most resistant to their educational programs. Nutritionists have also been encouraging Kittitians to eat more uncooked vegetables, but the response has been disappointing. Most informants expressed a dis­ like and general distrust of cold foods of any kind. They have a special concern for cold meat, however, which is understandable in a tropical place with no refrigeration in most households. One friend and informant expressed surprise and concern when we ate some imported sausage without first frying it. Her continued fear for our health swayed us, and we too ultimately came to cook nearly all our food.

Fruits are consumed so casually throughout the day that they are often overlooked in recall interviews. Even when specifically asked about fruit consumption, many people have difficulty making precise statements of amounts. During the mango season, in particular, some folks estimated that they ate up to a dozen or more of these golden fruits alone in the course of a day. My data suggest that children have an even greater intake of this type of food than many adults, since play often involves the raiding of village and mountain fruit trees and bushes.

Sweet foods are eaten casually, too, and in large amounts. Sugar cakes, candies, chewing gum, and soda pop, are all favorites. When beverages are made at home they are usually sweetened to the point that we find them nearly undrinkable. Lemonade and koolaid, for example, call for more water and sugar than are generally used in our recipes in the States. During the cane harvest season, many villagers also suck the sweet juices directly from the cane. With this great intake of sweet foods it is not surprising that dental problems are 122

so serious. Many young adults and teenagers have already lost a large number of teeth, and some older people are toothless.

Since I was interested in actual food expenses and the decisions made by villagers concerning allotment of funds for food, I made inquiries about buying liquor, which is both cheap and accessible. ("It's easier to drink than to eat on St. Kitts," a friend said.) Alcohol consumption proved difficult to investigate, however, because many people denied their indulgence. Women constantly complained to me about the large number of men who waste their money on drink, yet I observed open drunkenness on only a few occasions in the village itself. I rarely saw women drinking beyond an occasional beer in the bar below the guest house. Men apparently drank behind the closed door of the rum shop or in their houses. Direct questioning about consumption of alcohol and amount of income spent on drink were of little value. I was therefore unable to verify the statements of several women that some men spend most of their income on liquor.

Weekly Food Pattern There are a few dishes that are commonly prepared on special occa­ sions or at certain times. These special dishes include goatwater (mutton stew), souse, and black pudding (blood and rice pudding). The social events of Friday and Saturday evenings call for the special foods, some of which are considered as possessing certain strengthen­ ing and invigorating properties. (See "Food and Concepts of Health," below.) While these traditional foods are generally one-pot meals, served up informally, Sunday meals are more elaborate in most house­ holds. The Sunday meal is less likely to be a soup or stew, and may include a more expensive or favorite piece of meat or fowl; chicken wings may be prepared instead of the more common back and neck, for example, or a special kind of bean added to the rice.

Seasonal Food Patterns When I planned my trip to St. Kitts during the winter of 1972 to investigate seasonal variations in eating patterns, I chose to go in late January and February, because I had been told that many people have little money at this time. The Christmas bonuses have been spent and the cane season has not yet begun. Furthermore, usually abundant foods like sweet potatoes, often become scarce during this season. There were, however, few discernible differences in eating habits indicated in my observations and food recall interviews. Consumption of foods in the dairy and grain groups had changed very little, but there was some indication that cheaper kinds of relish were more heavily utilized at that time. Local and imported fish and chicken back and neck are protein mainstays at such a time. More expensive items such as beef and choice chicken parts are used less frequently.

The most significant seasonal change is seen in the fruit and vegetable category of foods. Mangoes, the only major source of vitamin A in the diet of most Kittitians (and a fairly good source of vitamin C), are out of season in these "winter" months, as are a number of other less important fruits. Nutrition studies conducted 123 on St. Kitts Indicated that this drastic seasonal reduction in certain foods results in a lack of vitamin A reserves that will show.up on tests conducted on Kittitians even at the height of the mango season (Low 1970:202; 1CNND 1962:86).

Preparation of Common Foods Most cooking is now done on kerosene burners rather than over open fires; a few middle class villagers in the interview sample have even been able to purchase gas stoves. The small size of most cooking appliances, however, allows for the preparation of only a one-pot or two-pot meal. The main meal of the day is the only one in which extensive food preparation is necessary, in any case. Relish is generally "seasoned" before actual cooking begins. This seasoning involves rubbing the meat, fish, or fowl with seasoned salt, garlic, onion, lime, papaya or a combination thereof. The relish is then allowed to marinate in the seasonings for a period up to several hours. This tenderizes the tougher kinds of relish--and Kittitian beef is, indeed, tough— and adds flavor. Rubbing fish with lime is said to "cut the rawishness." The relish is then well cooked, usually in a vegetable oil or canned imported butter.

When the meat or fish is to be part of a soup or other one-pot meal, it may be combined with a variety of other ingredients. A soup prepared by one woman for herself and her eight children, for example, included sweet potatoes, tannias, pig tail and a little fish, onions, macaroni, dumplings and butter. Another soup contained sweet potatoes, "Irish" potatoes, macaroni, pumpkin, breadfruit, tannias, and a little pork. Often the soups are fortified with a bouillon cube or can of Campbell's vegetable soup.

Preparing relish calls for the "usual West Indian seasonings," as one informant called them. These most often include garlic or garlic powder, thyme, seasoned salt, and a little curry powder. The cooking process may also involve the use of a small amount of chile peppers or pepper sauce. Some dishes and beverages are prepared with coconut "water" (clear liquid from coconut) or coconut "milk" (liquid wrung from grated coconut).

Little is wasted in the preparation and consumption of most foods, and especially the relish. Skin, bone, fat, blood, and organs, which are so often discarded in the kitchens of the United States, are often served up in dishes in St. Kitts. I was told that even the thick neck skin of a steer can be cooked slowly for a long time to make it edible. Fish heads and eyes that members of my household rejected were shared with others who found our disgust amusing. This utilization of "waste" protein and fat means that care must be taken in using certain nutrition references in Kittitian context. (In Chapter III, for example, I referred to Low's statement /1972:123/ that chicken back and neck is 507. waste and indicated that many villagers did not discard nearly 507., but consume everything.) 124

Less care Is taken, however, to use all portions of foods that are more abundant. Discarded mango skins are found all over the vil­ lage during the months of July and August; those that are not eaten by animals are eventually washed by rains into the sea. The skins of the ubiquitous starchy vegetables are not usually eaten directly, either, but may be retained in the village energy chains in the form of food fed to animals later butchered and eaten.

The various dishes which are prepared with rice and beans or peas are another nutritional bonus. Nutritionists have demonstrated that the value of the incomplete protein of legumes is enhanced by the addition of other foods like rice at the same meal or in the same dish. (The result is a more complete pattern of amino acids in the food item as a whole /Ankroyd and Daughty 1964:75/.) The peas or beans, usually dried, are put to cook with some onion for awhile before the meal, making presoaking unnecessary. The white milled rice is added at the last directly into the cooking water. During the research period, Uncle Ben’s Converted Rice was the brand preferred by many people, but it was becoming more scarce and expensive during the last month. The grain could also be purchased from a village shop, to which it was shipped in bulk, but most folk considered it to be of inferior quality and taste.

The starchy vegetables that commonly accompany meals are prepared in a variety of ways in addition to their inclusion in soups. For example, they mad be peeled, cut into pieces and boiled (potatoes, yams, breadfruit, for example), mashed (breadfruit, potatoes), or fried (potatoes, plantains).

Finally, less common main meal supplements include small amounts of vegetables like cabbage, cucumber and carrot (sometimes served grated), and types of homemade breads. "Johnny cakes," for instance, are actually fried wheat flour biscuits, and "coo coo" is a dish made by adding corn meal to cooking okra.

Sociality, Hospitality, and Food . Formal social gatherings and informal home visits are both infre­ quent occurrences in Challenger's Village. In Chapter V, I described the nature of sociality and social interaction in the community and emphasized the lack of integrating social functions and structures on that level. Given this social situation it is not surprising that food sharing as a part of sociality and hospitality is or minimal importance in the village. In other words, there are relatively few occasions on which extra-residential groups of people "break bread together," to express or reinforce solidarity. In fact, the only two regular social contexts in which food is eaten together or exchanged in this manner seem to be marriages and holiday (Christmas and Carnival) fStes, Marriage, for example, seems to be the only rite of passage which necessarily involves food preparation and sharing. The fact is even more interesting in view of the "facts of life" in such a society; marriage is not a rite in which all directly participate. There was 125

not one ceremony held in all the months of my research that Involved village friends and informants. (I did receive an invitation to observe the wedding of a friend of a friend in Basseterre, which I declined.) Occasionally* however, a fSte will be given after a christ­ ening. One such celebration mentioned above was given by a man in the village when his illegitimate son was baptised. Guests from the village and the capital were treated to goatwater and rum by the happy father.

A number of young men, most of them now 25 to 30 years old, organ­ ized a group a few years ago which still is known by the name, "the Esquires." These men sponsor fStes from time to time, some on a grand scale. At Christmas time in the past years, they have used the Meth­ odist youth center for their social function and invited as many as one hundred guests for the traditional goatwater and rum. Yet this is not a traditional organization, or an ongoing one. Since the Esquires do not recruit new members, their pattern of celebration will not outlive the present membership of the group.

It was because fStes are given so rarely, that our household members decided to give one in 1973 when my husband was preparing to leave the island. (See Chapter III.) It was in this manner that I learned that there are certain patterns to this kind of entertaining which are more easily perceived when one acts as a host rather than as a guest. For example, a fSte has a specific "guest list," that is understood if not explicit; we were not expected to hold open house. Nevertheless, it is also understood that there will be party crashers, who will generally be well behaved and observe the rules of food distribution.

Most villagers, however, rarely participate in these social affairs, and those that I personally observed or conducted were attended pre­ dominantly by young adults. Older folks apparently have few oppor­ tunities to "break bread" in such a social situation.

Food and Concepts of Health During my first few months of field research, I attempted to gather data concerning changing food habits, especially those changes related to changing socio-economic status. Thus, I asked my first primary informant if there were any foods that the villagers traditionally ate or depended upon that were now neglected because they were "old-fashioned," or associated with poverty or country ways. She did not answer imme­ diately but eventually mentioned dasheen and breadfruit, adding, "It's too bad, too, because they're strengthening." This statement led me to the investigation of the cognitive aspects of food habits in St. Kitts.

I came, in fact, to probe the larger context of concepts of health and health promoting behavior. I found two common health concerns emerged in the interviews and conversations I was conducting. The first is the promotion of strength and vigor, especially as related to work and sexual activities. The second is the cleansing of internal 126

organs. A few planes that are part of the traditional "bush medicine" system are considered strengthening, but, for the most part, a person strengthens himself with food. Those foods which are considered to possess strengthening qualities are primarily the starchy roots, such as sweet potato, yam, and dasheen. Informants also mentioned, however, coconut water, conch, and such prepared dishes as goatwater. One of the reasons for eating these dishes on Saturday night, 1 was told, is to strengthen one for the big night ahead. This concept is firmly and widely held in Kittitian society, as evidenced by the scene at cooking school when the young woman was chided for having forgotten her goat­ water (Chapter III).

Men show particular interest in some of the strengthening foods and often make use of tonics to enhance their invigorating effects. "Steel Drops" is one such tonic, which some men purchase in drug stores to add to their coconut water. Several women cautioned me, however, about the effect of such food and drink on females. One informant told me that women must not drink coconut water from a cup after a man had done so, lest she become pregnant. Another young woman cautioned me about the effects of drinking the water in which conchs have been cooked. "It can cause trouble," she said, "That kind of trouble" (pointing to her youngest child).

Most people could not articulate what the strengthening foods have in common, what quality they possess that makes them so invigorating and, therefore, different from other foods. One older man told me that these foods were those given to Kittitians by the Indians many years ago. The Indians used cassava root, for example, and they were very strong, he said. However, I find that the items in the list have at least two traits in common: they are traditional foods, and they are the foods that were grown or gathered independently of the sugar estates and the slave system. Therefore, some which are important calorie sources at the present time, are not within the list of strengthening foods, including the imported salt fish and rice. Nevertheless, one Basseterre supermarket owner told me.that he can sell nearly any new product, and beverages in particular, if he advertises the product as strengthening. He cited Ovaltine as an example. However, the educa­ tional programs of the Kittitian nutritionists, which thus far have affected actual food habits relatively little, have apparently begun to make an impact on perceptions of food and health. My specific in­ quiries about strengthening foods elicited the names of tubers and other foods listed above; however, an interview question about the three foods considered most important for health produced different results. Out of 60 suggestions, tubers were mentioned only four times. Milk was the most frequent choice, listed by ten individuals, and rice, cabbage and meat were suggested by six. The fact that "green and yellow vege­ tables" and "fresh fruit" were frequently included in food lists suggests the influence of health programs. One woman insisted that the only proper response was "fats, proteins, and carbohydrates." Finally an older woman admitted that she included green and yellow vegetables instead of sweet potatoes because the physician who treated her for 127 hypertension had told her the former foods were better "for her blood." (Hypertension is a common medical problem on St. Kitts.)

The few plants or "bushes" that are considered by villagers to possess strengthening qualities are generally used on children. The leaves of the plant may be rubbed directly on a child's limbs, or he or she may be bathed in a preparation made from parts of the plant. For the adults, there are a few plants or roots of plants used as aphro- desiacs or to increase sexual potency and vigor. The effect of most bushes on the body, however, is interpreted as cleansing rather than strengthening. (A list of bush medicine is found in Appendix C.)

In other words, while bushes are valued for their therapeutic properties, specific foods are consumed to maintain strength or pro­ vide extra vigor for such purposes as work and sex. Nevertheless, these two health themes are expressed in parallel fashion in three "levels" of medicine, the traditional, commercial, and modern medical. A dis­ cussion of these health concepts is included in Chapter VII.

Summary The persistence of these concepts results in a measure of conserva­ tism with respect to food behavior. Even though the exact expression of these beliefs varies, their underlying nature is similar in all classes, ages, and both sexes. One young woman who teaches school on the island, for example, explained to me how men who engage in heavy physical labor "need" the "starchy foods," like potatoes, while not specifically mentioning their strengthening qualities. Economic factors also produce food conservatism. Even individuals who are interested in new foods rarely have the means or opportunity to incor­ porate them Into their diet. Without a great influx of tourists or expatriots from the United States and Europe to St. Kitts, there is little market for imported goods; those that do reach the little island are expensive. Thus, because of these conceptual and economic condi­ tions, there are few ongoing major changes in food habits on St. Kitts. In other words, socio-economic development has not yet produced sig­ nificant diet changes. For the most part, differences in diet which appear in the form of different nutrition scores in this study are variations within traditional patterns of food distribution. This s i t ­ uation will be discussed in detail in Chapter VII. CHAPTER VII

SOCIOCULTURAL PARAMETERS OF DIET IN ST. KITTS

Since Audrey Richards stated unequivocably that "nutrition as a biological process is more fundamental than sex" (1948:1) and an important shaper of human behavior patterns, social scientists have contributed bits and pieces of ethnographic data in support of her observations. Sociocultural parameters of diet that are cited repeatedly are food cognition, attitudes, and symbolism, and the social ties through which food is distributed. In the literature describing hunting bands and horticultural societies, ethnographic emphasis is upon equality of distribution and sharing within groups. Food, and especially scarce protein foods, are usually described as being distributed through lines of kinship according to stringently upheld norms. Wolf suggested that in some peasant societies food is distributed more or less equally among folks of same sex and age cate­ gories as an adaptive measure— feast or famine for all (1966:78). All food units within a group will get a portion of available resources in this way. The normative system in this type of society may promote food sharing by attaching social prestige to conspicuous generosity. Within food units, of course, there is distributive differentiation on the basis of need; women and children, whose nutritional needs are less than that for adult males, generally get smaller shares of scarce food resources. Even to one not acquainted with ecological theories of energy flows, this system has obvious adaptive advantages, as pro­ ducers with high energy requirements get a greater share of energy sources. However, problems of food deprivation throughout the modern world indicate that food is often distributed unevenly and unequally in societies. A single anthropologist can observe and analyze only a very small part of the overall problem, as in this Kittitian research.

To recapitulate, then, the major goals of this dissertation are (1) to analyze the differential food distribution systems within a delimited segment of a West Indian society, (2) to identify the socio­ cultural parameters of differential food flow, and (3) to specify the effects such a distributive system has upon individual diet. To this end, I have now to clarify the quality and forms of interpersonal relationships in that delimited segment and discuss the research findings with regard to social and cultural effects on individual diet.

Quality and Forms of Relationships in Kittitian Society All the Kittitian ethnographic evidence supports my preresearch prediction that inclusive groups are rare and the overall social structure individuated, in the sense defined by Cohen (1961:317) and Mlntz (1966). I found no activities or structures which integrate the whole of Challenger's Village. There are no communal economic pur­ suits, no village politics, no village celebrations, and no Christian ties binding all the villagers together in religious fellowship. Indeed, even the churches are sometimes divisive influences, as Pente- costals and Methodists exchange barbs and insults. Church congregations

128 129

do comprise groups of regular interaction and unit identity within the community, but only the Pentecostals interact more often than once a week. (Members of the Pentecostal Church have prayer meetings six nights a week. However, I saw no evidence that this nearly daily contact produces ties that extend beyond church services.)

In Challenger's Village large corporate kin groupings are non­ existent; even households are not necessarily minimal corporate groups. Within one domicile there may be two or more units, each composed of one or more individuals, that provide only for themselves.

Human individuals, of course, cannot always stand alone. In such societies as that on St. Kitts, however, people are not fitted into group structures that have ongoing socioeconomic activities, providing for members within; on this island, individuals establish, extinguish, reinforce, and renew dyadic ties throughout their lifetimes as a way of tapping social resources and exploiting natural ones. The "content" of these dyadic ties is very often a food transaction. Thus, Kittitians come to hold a position, or locus, within a web of relationships which involves regular, sporadic, or potential food or food-service exchanges.

The historical facts and processes and contemporary economic conditions have apparently produced and maintained this type of social system. Fragments of diverse social groups and parts of unrelated families were brought to the island as slaves, where they were seen primarily as individual units of production. The slavery system per­ petuated the breakdown of kin and other social groups, as did the estate system after emancipation, as individuals sold their labor-- cheaply--to the sugar industry. On this small island there was no place where freed men and women might live and maintain control over resources and means of production outside the sphere of sugar industry influences. Thus, no economic groups grew in St. Kitts comparable to those in peasant societies. Competition instead of cooperation char­ acterizes relationships, even between kinsmen. Much of the verbal abuse I recorded on note pad and tape is competitive, an oral attempt to maximize social and economic gains by undermining competitors. I was a resource, of course, and people who wished to win my favor would denigrate, sometimes viciously, their friends, neighbors, and relatives. A village woman, for example, accused two others who requested a ride to town of being rude and thoughtless; in the next breath, she suggested that we take a "little drive" around the island.

As Wolf pointed out (1966), the economic market situation of developing states such as St. Kitts, produces competition among commu­ nity members for "objects" which are "evaluated" primarily according to economic values. In St. Kitts, food is viewed in this light. As mentioned in Chapter VI, most surplus foods in Challenger's Village are sold, converted into cash, rather than used in maintaining local multistranded social ties which can prove to be an economic burden rather than an asset in times of scarcity. Even the institutionalized "best friend" relationship that prevails between some pairs of Jamaican men, entailing mutual responsibilities for work help, is absent in 130

SC. Kitts. If a man needs assistance clearing land, pulling peanuts, or building a house, he ordinarily must pay another individual for the time and labor.

In earlier chapters, I described the quality of interpersonal relationships in Challenger's Village, and suggested that there are a variety of barriers to interaction which serve as functional equiva­ lents of the dispersed settlement pattern of Jamaica (Cohen 1971). These "distance-producing mechanisms" regulate and limit potential network links to the exclusion of many from actual network involvement. The five mechanisms are physical distance, physical barriers, social barriers, cognitive orientation, and "supernatural" barriers,

1. Physical distance. The mobility of the Kittitian population accounts for this mechanism. Demands made on an individual by overseas relatives, for example, are necessarily limited. Of course, there may be continuing exchanges of child care, money, food, and clothing, but problems produced by regular interaction are reduced.

2. Physical barriers. Chapter V contains a description of the way in which most people attempt to enclose their living quarters. Hedges and fences of all kinds keep others out and provide some privacy. Since many people also keep dogs to discourage unwanted visitors, there are sometimes formidable barriers to interaction. The size of houses themselves discourage visiting. Host people of Challenger's Village are ill-equipped to have members of other households in for refreshment because of restrictions of indoor space and lack of sitting and serving facilities. (Some women even have to purchase an extra bowl for each weaned child when he begins to eat regular family fare; in such house­ holds there is no provision made for visitors.) Most social inter­ action between neighbors takes place out of doors or on other "neutral" territory, such as the bar, a fact that minimizes the obligation to entertain and provide refreshment.

3. Social barriers. I have observed that often hostility between co-villagers results in the severing of a relationship for a period of time. The barriers in many cases are expressed in the cessation of verbal exchanges between the feuding individuals. Sometimes even close kin will try this silent treatment, but mutual obligations and coresi­ dence make this difficult to maintain. Resulting stress is expressed in loud battles, flashes of hostility, and occasionally violence between close relatives. Some of the most serious disagreements observed in the village during the research period were between a mother and her daughter over discipline of the daughter's child, between two sisters over an item of clothing, between a grandmother and granddaughter over drinking water, between a brother and sister concerning their mutual responsibilities•

4. Cognitive barrier. This mechanism is somewhat more difficult to isolate, although it is essentially seen in the general philosophy and normative system of non-sharing, sharing used here in a broad sense of giving of oneself as well as of one's goods. That is not to say 131

that the people of Challenger's Village never share with relatives, friends, and neighbors. However, most of the sharing that occurs is covert, hidden. Since this cognitive orientation has a direct effect on food distribution, it is discussed in more detail below.

5. "Supernatural" barrier. Occasionally even now intra-village hostility is expressed in accusations of obeah, the practice of evil magic. A poor, irascible old man accused his cousin of trying to harm him with obeah in the food she prepared for him. The man who built ' a 15 foot high fence around his house and garden was also rumored to have lost full speaking ability and hand movement through magically expressed hatred from his brother. It is beyond the scope of this dis­ cussion to fully describe these beliefs and their social manifestations, but several facts concerning them should be mentioned. One might, for example, posit this fifth "supernatural" barrier to interaction on the village level. As the brief description above suggests, obeah accusa­ tions may come between close relatives. It is also apparent that such beliefs and suspicions may circumscribe the flow of food. In the past obeah may conceivable have been an important factor affecting and expressing the quality of interpersonal relationships and an integral part of the non-sharing philosophy. At this time obeah beliefs appear to be held primarily by the old folk, and we can only speculate on their past functions.

Of course, not all social relationships in St. Kitts are character­ ized by suspicion, competition, and hostility, but the overall impression one gets in such a place as Challenger's Village is that "every person is for himself," as an informant said to me. Such a philosophy sheds light on the individuality, the competitiveness, and the constantly changing forms of individual networks.

My first attempts to understand the nature of social networks in Challenger's Village developed in the early stages of field research, as I traced the paths through which foodstuffs are distributed within the community. Patterns could not be discerned. For each individual or food consumption unit the set of food resources utilized was unique; food networks were overlapping but non-coinciding. Many of the food links were hidden, in fact, as shared food was carried about in paper bags, in aprons, and under cover of darkness. My investigations of how upward mobility, changing values, lifestyle, and increasing income affect food choices and diet indicated surprising conservatism with respect to eating behavior. Eventually, however, the use of food recall inter­ views and the Nutritional Practices Assessment Instrument revealed the regularities and relationships that exist in food choices and distribution. These economic, cognitive, and social factors are sum­ marized and discussed below.

Economic Parameters of Diet A part of my original line of research and analysis was to follow the supposition that the traditional diet of rural Kittitians is shaped by and integrated into the peasant-rural proletariat economy and 132

socio-economic relationships. Furthermore, when the socio-economic status of rural Kittitians changes, with the changes in social and economic relationships such status change implies, the diet will be modified. Phrased differently, socio-economic change implies readjust­ ment of social networks; new links are added through employment and/or educational contacts, old links with friends and kin closed or irregu­ larly activated. I actually observed this process in Challenger's Village (Chapter V), as people who were identified as upwardly mobile (by themselves, other villagers, and objective criteria), established more and more ties in the capital.

While I could observe differences in socio-economic status in Challenger's Village, I found the differences in foods chosen and consumed by lower and middle class villagers insignificant. I dis­ cussed this "food conservatism" with a number of Kittitians, including supermarket owners, and concluded that economic opportuni­ ties and resources are more limited for islanders of all classes than those in more rapidly developing Caribbean States. For example, most Kittitians who move into the middle class gain only slightly better incomes. The government actually standardizes most incomes, so that (X was told) incomes in the private sector do not become higher than those of public officials and government employees. Thus, the difference in incomes between a domestic and a bookkeeper may be $15 E.C. to $20 E.C. per week. This does not significantly increase buying po\*er for more exotic and expensive foods. Because of all the accumu­ lated shipping and transporting costs, imported foods are expensive, especially those shipped in units rather than bulk. The latter group of relatively inexpensive imports includes staples: sugar, flour, rice, and cooking oil. A $15 a week increase in income for a woman with several children will not allow purchasing of items which are quite scarce and expensive; furthermore, some of that extra money must be allotted for the purchase of other middle class accouterments, such as clothing, housing construction or the building of extra facilities, children's educational expenses, etc. In the interview sample, 100% of those classified as middle stratum on the basis of occupation (n=ll) had electricity in their homes, and 91% had indoor plumbing. (Only 29% of the lower stratum informants had both electricity and plumbing /n=34/.) All those in the middle stratum except one had homes con­ structed completely or in part of masonry.

Most of the individuals with whom I spoke or whom I interviewed apparently used their extra food dollars for either larger quantities of the traditional foods or better quality items of the same types of foods. No one of either class in the interview sample purchased new convenience foods (for example, canned or frozen prepared dishes) on a regular basis. However, those with higher incomes would buy chicken legs instead of back and neck, or a large bag of Uncle Ben's Converted Rice instead of a smaller amount of South American rice. Sometimes these substitutions are nutritionally advantageous, as when they result in increase of high quality protein, some are more likely to increase social prestige than improve diet. But the changes in 133 diet that: accompany socio-economic change are not significant*

In Chapter III, I described my attempt to discover relationships between the socio-economic variables and nutrition by selecting informants randomly throughout the village to be interviewed by means of the Nutritional Practices Assessment Instrument. The following table demonstrates how the population percentages compare to the sample percentages according to the variables sex, age category, and socio-economic status (social class).

TABLE 13 VILLAGE ADULT POPULATION AND INTERVIEW SAMPLE PERCENTAGES ACCORDING TO SELECTED VARIABLES SEX, AGE, AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS

SOCIO-ECONOMIC SEXAGE STATUS m f -29 30-49 50- lower stratum mid stratum POPULATION 467, 54% 35.6% 28.9% 35.6% 79.2% 20.8% INTERVIEW SAMPLE 45% 55% 35.9% 27.7% 36.4% 77.8% 22.2%

Although no significant statistical relationships between nutrition scores and socio-economic status are indicated by the computer analysis, these results generally support my observations that greater amounts of foods are consumed by the middle class sample. In Figure 6, the distribution of all the calculated nutrition scores is expressed in the form of a bar graph. Figure 7, on the other hand, provides a breakdown of the distribution according to socio-economic status. The most impressive aspect of these distributions is that all the lower scores, below 19, are those of individuals in the lower stratum. No one in the middle stratum had a nutrition score in this range.

After the second program was run in which some of the categories were collapsed (with a certain loss of information) the contingency table below (Table 14) was derived. In the compressed categories, the low nutrition scores range from 12 to 18, the high nutrition scores from 19 to 24.^ Lower stratum individuals are the "peasants," and "rural proletariat" sector; the middle stratum includes business, pro­ fessional people, and white collar workers.

From a nutritional standpoint, economic development and growth of the middle class apparently have had a generally positive effect for

1. The decision to draw the line between high and low scores at 19 is an arbitrary one. numbers of subjects DISTRIBUTION OF ALL NUTRITION NUTRITION ALL OF DISTRIBUTION FIGURE 6 FIGURE SCORES 134 135

middle stratum

lower stratum

12 13 14 IS 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 nutrition scores

FIGURE 7

DISTRIBUTION OF NUTRITION SCORES BY SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS 136

those upwardly mobile. This has not always been the case In some other areas of the Caribbean, such as Jamaica, where the upwardly mobile individuals often buy more prestigious convenience foods (readily available in tourist areas) which may not be nutritionally sound purchases (Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute: personal communication). The lack of tourism on St. Kitts, then, has some positive implications; for while the tourist industry provides job3, it also drives up prices of foods and other commodities (especially in areas of low food production) and presents life styles to individuals without the means to support them.

In another sense, economic factors are "levelers" with respect to diet. While an increase in income may effect an increase in food consumption, the overall economic situation, characterized by low wages and relatively high cost of imported foods, minimizes the assumption of new food habits.

TABLE 14 PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF NUTRITION SCORES BY SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS

lower stratum middle stratum high 23 11 34 scores 687. 1007. 75.67.

l o w 11 0 11 scores 327. 07. 24.47.

34 11 4 5 75.67. 24.47. 1007.

Cognitive Factors The cognitive bases of food choices also tend to be conservative and leveling forces. The traditional perceptions of health through the utilization of strengthening foods and cleansing medicines and the socio-economic world view of limited good (Foster 1967) are important parts of the overall cognitive orientation with respect to food. In the following sections these bases are reviewed and discussed.

Strengthening the Body. Cleansing the Organs: Food and Bushes, My ethnographic observations and interviews indicate a continuing belief in the efficacy of many of the traditional medical practices and perspectives. The scene at cooking school during which a woman was teased for having forgotten to eat her goatwater vividly demon­ strated how these views are perpetuated among the "urban" and middle class. Also the upwardly mobile villagers often expressed confidence in the bushes used for generations to cure a variety of illnesses. The persistence of these traditional health views and practices is apparently due in part to their integration into a broad local medicine 137

which incorporates traditional practices, drug store and "doctor" medicines. The coordination of these medicines occurs in the areas of nutrition and pharmaceuticals, relating to both preventive medical measures and therapy. The integrated components of Kittitian ethno- medicine are summarized in Table 15.

There is no metaphysical or supernatural explanation for the workings of the strengthening foods and healing bushes. They are seen as having certain properties or "ingredients" which strengthen or cure, and, thus, are quite compatible with concepts of vitamins and alkaloids, which do exist in food and medicinal plants. Since this cognitive pattern continues to support a viable, unified health system it also serves as a conservative force which continues to influence food (and medicine) choices in the growing middle class of Challenger's Village.

TABLE 15 COMPONENTS OF KITTITIAN ETHNOMEDICINE

COMPONENT STRENGTHENING CURING

Traditional Use of Certain Bush Medicine Foods Commercial Tonics Patent Medicine (Drug Store) Medical ("Doctor Medicine") Vitamins "Injections"

"Limited Good" and Hidden Food Sharing: the Cognition of Economic Marginality Foster's theory of the image of limited good, to reiterate, suggests that in peasant and peasant-like societies "good things" are viewed as existing in limited quantities and short supplies. Since "getting ahead," or getting more of any resource means depriving some­ one else, according to this view, such systems will emphasize either a high degree of cooperation or extreme individualism in social rela­ tionships. An individual who is relatively successful in these societies, then, will either be encouraged (or forced) by social norms to share the results of his success, or be quite secretive about his economic status. St. Kitts is of the latter type. Accord­ ing to Cohen, Jamaica is, as well (1971). In addition to fostering competitive social relationships, Cohen suggested that the conditions and cognition of economic marginality produce non-sharing of food in Jamaica; in St. Kitts it produces covert food sharing.

To review briefly, I became aware of the pattern of hidden food sharing only after I became involved in several dyads "containing" food transactions. Food and other items brought to our household were carefully hidden from view, and when I reciprocated, my gifts 138

were secreted away quickly. Inquiries about this covert cultural practice revealed: (1) that foods which are shared are usually those grown or raised locally; (2) ordinarily abundant foods are more often and more openly shared (conversely, the sharing of scarce, more valuable items is rarely seen); and (3) food flows most freely and openly among lineal kinspeople.

As described in Chapter V, most adults in Challenger's Village are involved in a network of dyadic relationships based on kinship, friendship, employment, and so on, each relationship a potential basis for this type of food exchange. There is a great amount of flexibility in most of the dyads with respect to how and when the exchanges or gifts of foodstuffs will be initiated. It must be emphasized that there is no social pressure to share beyond the lineal kin group; in fact, social pressures tend to proscribe sharing, since both the giver and receiver become vulnerable. That is, the giver may be viewed as weak, and some villagers will take advantage of this weak­ ness. I was constantly giving into requests for transportation and small favors and was repeatedly criticized for capitulating. When I defended my generosity by pointing out that I could not afford to jeopardize my research by alienating villagers, two friends told me that I still did not "understand" Kittitians. They told me quite emphatically that these people did not expect me to comply with their request and would not be at all offended by refusal. The receiver of the gift is also vulnerable, especially if anticipated reciprocation has been withheld. He or she may be "talked about" and publicly derided, and I heard and felt the impact of this sanction often enough to know well how effective it is. To share, then, or to receive that which is shared is to violate social expectations and sanctions are brought to bear against the parties involved. No wonder a gift of food must be given covertly!

These attitudes certainly circumscribe the flow of food through Challenger's Village. Food does not, and cannot under these condi­ tions, flow through lines of kinship, friendship, and so on, throughout the community. Food distribution is stopped, disrupted by a variety of cognitive, social, and physical barriers. The factors which mini­ mize the "spreadibility of rapport," to use Freilich's words (1970:218), also minimize the "spreadibility" of food. Out of some sense of kin­ ship obligation or altruistic motives, individuals "leap" these barriers, as it were, but only if no one is watching. The resulting redistribution of food, however, is sporadic, irregular, and undepen­ dable.

Different levels of explanation have been provided in anthropolog­ ical literature to account for such a phenomenon (see Chapter I)• Cohen suggested a psychological basis of non-sharing in the encultura- tion of children in his non-sharing type of society. He demonstrated a relationship between infant feeding practices, specifically whether or not children are fed on demand, and adult attitudes towards others. If an individual comes to view himself as ungratified and unsatiated, he will also tend to view others as ungratifying and unsatiating. In 139

such societies, Cohen stated, all social relationships essentially are competitive and food is hoarded, not shared.

An explanation on a different level can be found in Foster's theory of the image of limited good (1968), that "good things," such as food, are viewed as existing in finite and small quantities. This cognitive orientation is actually a realistic appraisal of Kittitian economy. The physical isolation of the island, its long history of estate political domination and economic control, and contemporary poverty have produced real and absolute limits to what may be achieved through personal industry on the island itself. Not only are resources, goods, and services limited absolutely, their availability fluctuates greatly from year to year, week to week, day to day. Thus, on St, Kitts, food is most definitely in limited supply. The lands set aside by the sugar estates for peasant gardens are generally those not optimally suited for sugar cane; that is, they are lands inferior for agricultural purposes. The resulting low productivity of peasant agriculture is intensified today by the general low regard which most young Kittitians, especially men, have for agricultural labor. While local food production is inadequate to meet even the minimal nutri­ tional needs of the population, imported foods are exjpensive and their distribution unpredictable. In fact, the fluctuations and lack of predictability in the food supply are as important a part of the cog­ nitive orientation as the absolute limitations.

Within this context, individuation of the social structure, social networks, and the Kittitian patterns of sharing and non-sharing are explained in part as responses to the fluctuating food supply. The pressures against sharing, that is, justify or explain non-sharing behavior where it exists, and minimize expectations and obligations between interacting individuals. In other words, food may be shared when it is available, albeit secretively, but it does not have to be shared. When food supplies are low individuals will have few obliga­ tions and few demands on their already low stocks. (This explanation of non-sharing behavior is not incompatible with that of Cohen's above. Although I did not have the tools for measuring the applica­ bility of Cohen's psychological theory in St. Kitts, my ethnographic impression is that the lack of gratification is characteristic of childhood in Challenger's Village.)

The image of limited good in its Kittitian expression is also a superficially conservative force. It is not the "leveler" that it is in the Mexican villages described by Foster, in which the successful man is forced by social pressures to conspicuously give and share his wealth. However, in St. Kitts it does discourage conspicuous accumu­ lation and display of material things. The overall effect of the non-sharing philosophy and pressures in St. Kitts, however, is to produce differential distribution of foodstuffs; and this differentia­ tion is intensified by other social forces discussed below. 140

Social Factors: Life Stages and Social Networks One major factor producing differential food distribution— that is, the life cycle stage of individuals— I had not predicted prior to the research. The patterns first emerged in the course of my investigation of life stages and food resources. I was struck by the relatively sharp definition of the three stages through which most Kittitians pass in terms of subsistence behavior. A brief recapitu­ lation of these ethnographic data will clarify the point.

Infancy (Stage I . Interstice I) Infants and very young children are enveloped, as it were, by their mothers' food networks. Dependent and helpless, the child is fed by mother or surrogate through or with her resources, either on the breast or through the bottle. This is the time of greatest physical and emotional intimacy between nurturing adult and child. Infants are not actually indulged with attention or food, but are given adequate amounts of each. The child is held, carried about at least part of the day, and fed. It is as though the child at this stage is still an extension of the mother, and there is no doubt about nurturing duties. Weaning, however, begins early. Nearly all of the women interviewed indicated that babies should be weaned altogether (off breast and bottle) by the ninth to twelfth month. (See Chapter IV.) Kittitian health officials have suggested that working mothers may wean their children by their tenth week, or leave them with other kin during the day and nurse them only in the evening (Dr. C.H. Yorke: personal communication).

The infant about to enter childhood begins to toddle about, becom­ ing more and more mobile, more independent. He or she begins to physically extricate himself (herself) from the mother (or surrogate) and is no longer cared for or included in the same way within mother's food network resources. By the age of one or two, the child becomes, in a sense, even more vulnerable. Nurturing adults no longer provide adequate physical and emotional attention, since the child is no longer, a dependent infant; yet the youngster is not accepted as a regular member of a food consumption unit. He may not yet have a place at the table or a set of eating utensils. He is not considered "ready" for adult foods, and may continue to subsist on his corn meal porridge on into the second year. And he is not yet able to forage on his own. Since nutritional needs grow and change throughout this period, it is not surprising that the diet of these young children is very often substandard. Hospital statistics indicate that this age group suffers most greatly from mal- and undernutrition, a common situation in tropical areas. A medical officer also pointed out that many of the children hospitalized for gastro-intestinal disorders are suffering from nutritional deficiencies which either cause or exacer­ bate their conditions. (Actual kwashiorkor is rare on the island today as a result of the UNESCO powdered milk program.)

Some mothers with whom 1 spoke expressed the feeling that children of this age do not really need much "relish" (i.e., animal 141 protein); others seemed to feel that children should not have very much protein food. As one health official said, "It is not accepted custom to give protein foods to infants." I asked my female informants about these feeding practices but not one was able to express the underlying rationale. (Also see Chapter VI.) For the most part, however, they emphasized the economics of feeding a family; they could not afford to provide other kinds of foods to the young ones, who are less in need than older members of the food consumption unit anyway. This differential and apparently inequitable food distribution is similar to that described by Gross and Underwood among sisal workers in Brazil (1971). Since the economic situation is similar to that in St. Kitts— strenuous physical labor for low wages most of which goes to purchase food--relative food deprivation of young children could be adaptive for overall economic productivity.

Childhood (Stage II. Interstice II) Between the ages of three and five, the child's mobility and inde­ pendence increase. By the time the five year old is ready for school, his diet has begOn to improve. By this age, he is being included in family meals and has in many cases become involved with a peer group of scavengers. Then together and individually they spend a great deal of time gathering and stealing foods from the village, mountain, and sea. In this way their diet is supplemented with mangoes, guavas, coconuts, tamarinds, gineps, sea grapes, tululu, whelks, moray eels, and so on. I never developed a method for quantifying these food supplements or accurately determining the nutrients they add to diet of village youngsters, but I am sure that for some children they are of considerable importance. The children who have been left in the care of a grandmother or other relative, those who are considered the most unruly and disobedient, are those most likely to run about the village and the environs, raiding fruit trees and gardens. While this praedial larceny understandably angers the victims, the young thieves are usually those same youngsters whose nutritional needs are less likely to be met in this social context .*■

During these childhood years, nearly all boys and girls attend school. As indicated in the ethnographic section (Chapter V), very few continue past the primary grades, in part because of the high academic standards and costs of secondary schools, in part because most young people out of primary school are ready to assume an adult

1. Medical officers in St. Kitts generally support my observations of relative food deprivation of children in these conditions. They indicate that children most likely to be hospitalized with nutritional deficiency diseases are those from large "unstable" families, whose mothers are working. One physician indicated that government spon­ sored day care centers were being established, partly in the belief that the children of working mothers would be better fed and cared for there "than by older siblings or grandmothers” (Dr. C.H. Yorke: personal communication). 142 role in the village. Young women, in particular, begin their families at this age; young men begin to look for work. Some leave the island as quickly as possible to seek employment in St. Croix or beyond. Faced with adult responsibilities and roles, intensive foraging ceases.

During this young adulthood period, however, networks of food- containing links are rudimentary; that is, the range of the network is narrow. Occasionally, a young couple will marry, especially if the girl is pregnant, but my ethnographic data indicate that young people are more likely to establish and terminate a succession of dyads with sexual partners that are relatively casual, entailing neither coresidence nor a wide range of mutual responsibilities. This may be a particularly difficult period for young people and especially for young mothers. Lacking a husband or steady beau, friends with regular incomes, adult children earning a living, or steady employment, the young woman may be hard pressed to find enough to eat. The few people who actually came to me for food and financial help were of this age category. Furthermore, some of the lowest scores on the Nutritional Practices Assessment interview were those of people in the 15 to 19 age bracket. In fact, of the seven interviewees in the youngest age category, four received low nutrition scores of less than 20. (Specifically, one score of 15, four scores of 19.) The food recall interview with one mother of 15 years of age indicated that she had eaten little more than bread, a small amount of rice, and very small portion of back and neck in a three day period, for a nutrition score of 15 (24 points maximum). Her scores indicated inadequate intake of all four food groups. The other four young adults all scored low in the milk and fruits and vegetable categories but had adequate intake of meat and grains.

Thus, by the age of 15 or 16 most Kittitians are independent of nurturing adults and established food consumption units, and they have left the peer group of fellow foragers. Yet they have not established a wide range of stable ties involving economic and subsistence obliga­ tions with mates, employers, employed friends, and neighbors.*-

Adulthood (Stage III, Interstice III) During adulthood Kittitians continue to extend the range of food­ relevant network links. More stable man-woman relationships may be established, for example, sometimes involving coresidence.2 One

1. Cohen describes this process of maturation and growing independence in rural Jamaica. He says that a Jamaican boy will become an indepen­ dent breadwinner by the age of 14; henceforth he is free from parental authority and help (1971:430). 2. As Gonzalez said of the Black Caribs: " . . . a woman can ill afford to cleave only unto one man...for in such systems the chances that any one man may fail are high...By dispersing her loyalties...a woman increases her chances of maintaining her children and household even when any one attached male is incapable of helping her (1970:242)." 143

manifestation of these dyads is commonly the sharing of foodstuffs; the man provides money and/or food items, and the woman cooks for him. (The statistics presented in Chapter V also suggest that approx- mately half of the Kittitians marry at some point, but people in the lower stratum are likely to marry later in life, perhaps after the family is complete and the children growing up.) Through the extension of these and other relationships, the network range expands, resulting in a variety of food resources to be tapped. One young woman of 27 fed herself and her four children through food gifts and money from the two men who fathered her sons, the employer of her current boyfriend, a friend with a garden, a grandmother, a friend of that grandmother, two relatives overseas, and the village anthropologist. Nutrition studies and my own research indicate that most adult Kittitians in the middle age category (approximately 25 to 50 years) have an adequate and generally balanced diet.

During the later years of adulthood, network links begin to die off and move on. Some older folks continue to maintain small gardens, but employment is usually unavailable and income often drops to welfare payments and, for some, retirement benefits. This amounts to approxi­ mately two to six dollars per week, scarcely enough to live on! Economic conditions are not so .grim, however, for old women with a large number of lineal kinspeople working. Some of these women actually do quite well with all their remittances coming in regularly, especially if they have only a few grandchildren and greatgrandchildren to care for. For them there is adequate money and sufficient food. For old women without such kin network links, or for many old men, food consumption is minimal. Even considering reduced nutritional needs at this life stage (or interstice, as I have labeled it in Table 16) some old folk are undernourished.

Evidence of the nutritional situation during infancy and childhood exists in my own ethnographic observations and the results of other nutritional studies. Above and in Chapters V and VI, for example, I have described cultural patterns which circumscribe the diet of infants— the ambiguous attitudes of their mothers toward them, the necessity for most mothers to find employment, leaving the babies with surrogates, and the beliefs relevant to supplementary feeding of youngsters. Statistics and discussions which express the nutri­ tional deprivation of small children are provided by Ashcroft, et a l . . (1966), Yorke (personal communication), and St, Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla (1972:6,7). Indications of relative dietary adequacy of individuals in the stages and interstices of adulthood, however, exist in the re­ sults of the Nutritional Practices Assessment interviews. This evidence is discussed in detail in this chapter.

Some problems emerged in attempts to find the best way of expressing the relationships between age (or life stage) and nutrition scores. Originally, all subjects' ages were placed in one of the five age categories, to 19 years, 20 to 29 years, 30 to 39 years, 40 to 49 years, and 50 and older. Nutrition scores ranged from 12 to 24. 144

TABLE 16 FOOD AND NUTRITIONAL IMPLICATIONS OF LIFE STAGES AND INTERSTICES

life stage food resources nutritional status

I. Breast and/or bottle Generally adequate INFANCY feeding through the nutrition, especially (birth to nine mother (or surrogate)- for breast fed babies. months) infant dyad. Some supplementation•

Interstice A Weaning of toddler; child Protein-calorie malnu­ (nine months- not yet incorporated in trition indicated by three years) food unit. clinical statistics.

II. Child incorporated into Some degree of under­ CHILDHOOD food consumption unit; nutrition, no serious (three years- supplementation through malnutrition. fourteen years) peer group foraging.

Interstice B Assumption of adult role Undemutrition suggested (14 years - and activities; few food by nutrition interview 25 (?) years) resources. results.

III. Utilization of a variety Generally adequate ADULTHOOD of food resources includ­ nourishment, although (25 years - ?) ing widening range of caloric intake low. network links involving food.

Interstice C Dwindling food resources, Undemutrition suggested (?) food links; network range by nutrition interview narrows. results.

The distribution of 45 scores according to age category was, thus, more diffuse than for socio-economic status. Demonstrating concisely the entire range of scores in each age category was not possible, but the average nutrition score for each category yielded the graph in Figure 8. In this first program run, there were a great many empty and low value cells in the crosstabulation of age categories and nutrition scores. The resulting chi square was 3 6 . 4 3 2 3 9 with 36 degrees of freedom, significance of 0 . 4 4 8 5 .

I made the decision, then, to collapse the age categories to approximate the three adult stages and interstices described above. Unfortunately, I had not recorded specific ages in the original inter­ viewing process, but assigned each subject directly into the appro­ priate age category. The three age categories I was able to define from the interviews do not correspond exactly to the stages identified average nutrition scores 23 24 . . 0 0 . . -19 DISTRIBUTION OF AVERAGE NUTRITION OFNUTRITION AVERAGE DISTRIBUTION

SCORES BY AGE CATEGORIES SCORESBY AGE 20-29 g categories age FIGURE 8 FIGURE

30-39

40-49

50 - 145 young adulthood middle adulthood late adulthood DISTRIBUTION OF NUTRITION SCORES NUTRITION OF DISTRIBUTION 2 3 4 S B 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 IB IS 14 13 12 BY AGE CATEGORIES BY AGE urto scorea nutrition FIGURE 9 FIGURE 147

in ethnographic observation, since I would place individuals in their late 20s in the middle adult category, on the basis of these field observations. Nevertheless, the overall relationship between age and nutrition can still be seen, as Figure 9 demonstrates*

A final computer program was run, with some categories further collapsed. In this last step, the nutrition scores were grouped into high (19-24) and low (12-18) categories. The crcosstabulation resulted in the distribution of scores illustrated in Table 17. With only two degrees of freedom, a chi square of 5 . 4 8 5 0 1 and signifi­ cance of .0644 is derived. This is approaching a significant statis­ tical relationship and generally supports my ethnographic observations that nutritional adequacy is, in part, a function of age, or, more specifically, of life stages. (A gamma score of -.4 4 6 1 5 also resulted with these collapsed categories for age and nutrition score, a rather strong indication of an inverse relationship between age and nutri­ tional adequacy, the highest age category tending to have the lowest nutrition scores. If it were not for the fact that the young adult group also tends to have lower scores, the relationship would be even higher.)

Based on the summary of all ethnographic, nutritional, and statis­ tical data, I identified and defined the major life stages and inter­ stices with respect to utilization of food resources and resulting dietary conditions (Table 16). These analyses do not, of course, mean that all individuals in these categories would test under- or mal­ nourished. The statistics only indicate a tendency within the whole group for lower nutrition scores. The results of the computer analysis are represented in Table 17*

TABLE 17 PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF COLLAPSED NUTRITION SCORES BY AGE CATEGORY

early middle late adulthood adulthood adulthood high 13 12 9 34 scores 8 1 . 3 % 9 2 . 3 % 56.3% 75.6 %

l o w 3 1 7 11 scores 1 8 . 8 % 7 . 7 % 4 3 . 8 % 2 4 . 4 %

16 13 16 45 35.6% 28.9% 35.6% 100%

Other Research Results The major research findings are those which deal with the rela­ tionships between economic, cognitive, and social factors and nutrition, discussed above. However, several other findings should be described as well. I had been interested initially in the investigation of effects of gardening on diet. I had hoped originally to see how the 148 diet of peasant farmers changes as they cease farming activities and become wage earners. 1 had predicted that the socio-economic change would produce significant diet change as a consequence of changing social relationships and food purchasing decisions. 1 found in St. Kitts that the shift from gardening to wage earning and back to gardening is a traditional cycle related to the seasonal nature of sugar cane. Thus, the traditional food habits were adjusted to the cycle. The first program with the entire range of nutrition scores suggested no relationship between economically important gardens and nutrition scores (chi square of 1 0 . 8 0 9 9 4 with nine degrees of freedom, significance of 0 . 2 8 9 0 ) . A percentage distribution of collapsed scores by presence or absence of gardening is presented in Table 18. Approxi­ mately one third of the individuals with gardens received low nutrition scores, while only one sixth of those without fall into that category. This is not surprising, since old folk., who tend to score lower on nutrition interviews anyway, are far more likely to garden than young people (see Chapter V).

TABLE 18 PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF NUTRITION SCORES BY PRESENCE OR ABSENCE OF GARDENS

garden no garden high 14 20 34 scores 66.77. 83.37. 75.67. low 7 4 11 scores 33.37. 16.77. 24.47.

21 24 4 5 46.77. 53.37. 1007.

A crosstabulation of age categories with presence and absence of gardens (Table 19) demonstrates this strong relationship, with a resulting chi square of 10 . 1 7 2 1 3 with two degrees of freedom, and a significance of .0062. 149

TABLE 19 PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF AGE CATEGORIES BY PRESENCE OR ABSENCE OF GARDENS

garden no garden 0-29 3 13 16 1 8 . 8 % 8 1 . 3 % 3 5 . 6 %

3 0 - 4 9 6 7 13 4 6 . 2 % 5 3 . 8 % 2 8 . 9 % 50 + 12 4 16 7 5 . 0 % 2 5 . 0 % 3 5 . 6 % 21 24 4 5 4 6 . 7 % 53.3% 1 0 0 %

With such a strong relationship as this, in fact, I would have pre­ dicted even fewer gardeners to have scored high on the nutrition interview. I feel that for some older individuals, and especially older men, the garden may make an important difference in diet when employment and kinship resources are nonexistent or inadequate.

Finally, I will note the relationship suggested between age category and socio-economic status. Out of the sample of 11 individ­ uals classified as middle stratum, only one is in the "late adulthood" age category, while six are in "early adulthood." Again it is not surprising that the upwardly mobile are more likely to be the rela­ tively young, who have had educational and economic opportunities older Kittitians were denied. The fact that nearly 94% of the oldest age group is also classified as "lower class," or "peasant-rural proletariat" suggests that in most cases they participate in a relatively narrow range of socio-economic relationships and have few social resources to be tapped for foodstuffs.

Summary This chapter has considered and discussed the various factors— economic, cognitive, and social--which affect food habits and diet. It has been demonstrated that economic conditions generally produce food conservatism, minimizing the assumption of radically different food choices in St. Kitts. The traditional beliefs in strengthening foods also persist as conservative factors in food choice; the cogni­ tive orientation of limited good, which I suggest exists in some form on the island, results, however, in food distribution differentiation. Since food is seen as existing in limited amounts, it is either hoarded or shared covertly with a few close individuals. Differen­ tial food distribution is also a function of network size and range, and, thus, a function of age. The conclusions that might be drawn from these discussions are the subject of the final chapter, Chapter VIII. CHAPTER VIII

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

To assess and summarize the results of this study of food distri­ bution and diet, it is necessary to review the course of the investiga­ tion. The major goals of my research and dissertation, once again, are (1) to analyze the differential distribution of food within a delimited segment of a West Indian society, (2) to identify the socio­ cultural parameters of differential food flow, and (3) to specify the effects such a distributive system has upon individual diet.

The weight of ethnographic and nutritional evidence suggests that the quality of and changes in social relationships in Kittitian society are the most significant factors which affect food flow. These social parameters, expressed in a series of assumptions and hypotheses, and relevant cognitive influences on diet, are discussed below. Finally, the possible adaptive significance of the Kittitian food distribution system is considered.

Social Relationships and Differential Food Distribution Underlying the entire research project was the following assumption:

The nature and quality of interpersonal relationships in a society influence food distribution pathways. Conversely, channels of food distribution are expressions of the nature and quality of interpersonal relationships.

While anthropological literature provides this perspective, my own research results also support it. In the work of Richards (1948), Henry (1951), Shack (1971), Cussler and deGive (1952), and others, we have been shown that food is passed along through lines of regular inter­ action, and in the so-called "simple" societies these are often the lines of group structures such as those based on kinship. The sharing of food and taking meals together are commonly acts which both integrate and express group solidarity and, perhaps, equality. Inequality based upon age, sex, or any other criterion, may also be expressed and rein­ forced by separation of eating activities and differential food allot­ ments.

In societies in which social structure is individuated and strati­ fied, one would predict that food distribution would reflect the lack of group structures as well as the class system. That has been demon­ strated in this dissertation. Food in St. Kitts does not flow in regular structural channels because of the lack of structures. Further­ more, there exist physical, social, and cognitive barriers which proscribe many kinds of interpersonal relationships. Individuals who choose to share and redistribute foodstuffs on a non-contractual basis face sanctions such as "street talking" and, thus, must take pains to avoid detection of their misbehavior. The lack of food and eating ritual also demonstrates the quality of interpersonal relationships and social forms. An important social function of ritual is integration of groups and reinforcement of group relationships and identity; since

150 151 groups are rare in Kittitian society, so is ritual, especially involving food.

In St. Kitts, therefore, an individual comes to receive food through individually established dyads (both contractual, singlestranded and primary^ multistranded dyads) that make up a network of social resources to be tapped. Individuals do not receive food through channels of inclusive group relationships.

These Kittitian data were gathered by participant observation methods, rather than by the Nutritional Practices Assessment Instrument, which could not measure such sociocultural characteristics.

On the basis of the general assumption above, the following hypothesis was formulated:

The diet of individuals is, in part, a function of their locus within the structure and organization of their societies.

There is scant literature which deals specifically with this relationship between individual diet and social position, since few anthropological food studies have focused on individuals and differen­ tial food distribution. An exception is the Cussler and deGive (1952) contribution which demonstrated that in the rural southern United States the position of an individual in webs of social relationships affects diet by shaping food perceptions and expectations of the individual and circumscribing the food flow to that position. Another relevant discussion is that of Gross and Underwood (1971) concerning the relative food deprivation of children among Brazilian sisal workers. My own research on Nguni food distribution indicated that women, and especially young married women, are systematically deprived of certain foodstuffs because of social and ritual inferiority. (The Kittitian evidence, which demonstrates clearly the relationship between social position and diet, is discussed below with respect to the specific hypothesis.) The factors which shape food flow differ in each of these cases, but the general hypothesis, that the diet of individuals is a function of their social positions, is upheld,

A common element in many examples of relative food deprivation is the economic or productive marginality of the categories of deprived individuals. Children, old people, and in some instances, women, who are either unable to produce or who are culturally barred from important economic activities, are among those most likely to suffer the effects of differential food distribution. Although this system is not necessarily a conscious strategy, it is, nonetheless, likely to be adaptive for the whole society. Consideration of a probable adaptive function of the Kittitian distributive system is discussed in the concluding pages of this dissertation. 152

The corollary of the general hypothesis Is:

If there are changes in maj or social relationships within a society, the food distribution system will also change.

This is the situation that was described to me by the officials of the Food and Nutrition Institute in Jamaica. The changes in social relationships to which they referred were those of the upwardly mobile members of Jamaican society, demonstrated primarily by a shift toward more and more contractual food transactions. A more dramatic example of this change, however, is seen in Turnbull’s (1972) discussion of the Ik. The destruction of their hunting activities and life style brought about extreme disruption of traditional social relationships, and within a few years had produced major change in the related patterns of food sharing. The ultimate result was a social system characterized by extraordinary individualism. (See Chapter VI.)

I have concluded that all of these general hypotheses and assump­ tions are supported by ethnographic data, including my own. Descriptive data, however, do not explain relationships. For this level of explana­ tion I have turned to my specific Kittitian research. The specific assumption, for example, is:

In St. Kitts, as on many West Indian islands, social structure is individuated, and interpersonal relationships are expressed in egocentric networks.

In the writings of such authors as Mintz (1971), Cohen (1971), Whitten and Szwed (1970), and Wagley (1957), the competitive and individuated nature of West Indian societies are displayed. The balance of the assumption, however, referring specifically to St. Kitts, is supported entirely by my own ethnographic observations and analyses. Chapters V and VI contain a summary of these descriptions of competitiveness and individuation; Chapter IV provides the his­ torical antecedents of these socio-economic conditions.

Ethnographic evidence on which this social picture is based includes verbal behavior (verbal competition and "street talking"), observations and interviews concerning household composition and sub-household food consumption units, observations of hidden food sharing, and the actual tracing of food from its production or delivery to supermarkets to its consumption within a food unit. Even some of the frustrations of field research produced results, as in my attempts to investigate the usages of food in ritual, hospitality, and regular social events. The fact that such occasions are rare proved to be important ethnographic information.

Once the individuation and competitiveness were established as sociocultural fact, investigation of networks followed. The collection of individuals' food networks was initially helpful and revealing, but after looking at a few it became obvious that their ultimate 153

utility for this project was limited because each is unique. Alto­ gether, however, these data are convincing evidence of the quality of social relationships, and the existence of overlapping egocentric networks.

Based on the above assumption concerning the nature of inter­ personal ties on St. Kitts, I formulated the following specific hypothesis:

The diet of individual Kittitians is, in part, a function of their locus and involvement in a network of social relationships.

To gather appropriate ethnographic and nutritional data for testing this hypothesis, I employed both participant observation and the Nutri­ tional Practices Assessment Instrument. Although the village research population and sample were so small that some statistics were insig­ nificant, the Instrument provided the framework for the systematic gathering and quantifying of social and food facts. Despite the difficulties of getting certain kinds of information and of arriving at significant statistical relationships, the combination of method­ ologies was generally successful. (Chapter III includes a more complete discussion of interviewing techniques and problems.) The analysis of both ethnographic and nutritional data supports the hypothesis that network involvement affects individual diet. The observed situation that younger and older adults have a relatively difficult time getting sufficient foodstuffs because of lower incomes and fewer social resources is reflected in the distribution of nutrition scores; the lowest scores are those in the younger and older age categories. The bar graphs in Chapter VII aid in the visualization of this dis­ tribution.

Finally, the specific corollary states:

When the locus of individuals relevant to their network relation­ ships changes, diet will also change.

The individual's locus or position vis-a-vis others in society may change through a number of social means. My research experience in Challenger's Village suggests that the two major types of changes occur when individuals enter new life stages or assume a new socio-economic status. In the progression through various life stages, for example, individuals generally expand and broaden their range of network links. As adult villagers establish ties with mates, employers, and friends, and reinforce ties with overseas relatives, they also expand their range of resources. In old age, however, one of two different patterns may emerge. Old women with a number of children and grandchildren or other kin dispersed throughout more wealthy areas of the Caribbean and beyond may fare well. Having several children will usually prove a good strategy for females in the long run (a fact with great implications for family planning policies in the Caribbean). Old men and childless women, on the other hand, face a narrowing of their networks, and, thus, a reduction of social resources. But in the middle adult years, 154

the realignment and extension of ties which result In more food-cdn- taining dyads reflected In the nutrition scores for this age .category; none fell in the "low" range.

While the life stage parameter of diet became apparent to me only during the course of my research, the second factor, socio-economic status change, I had predicted prior to field work. Some individuals, in other words, move vertically upward in the social system, by virtue of increased educational and job opportunities and changing life styles and goals. Among the members of the middle stratum in Challenger's Village, this mobility entails the establishment of more urban rela­ tionships and fewer rural ones. Although the effects of this mobility on diet are not as great or significant as I had predicted, diet is modified in the direction of greater amounts of food within the frame­ work of traditional food choices. The results of nutrition interviews with middle stratum villagers do not indicate the nature of the change, only the magnitude. Full understanding of what the nutrition scores mean for the lower and middle strata comes through ethnographic obser­ vations.

Cognitive Factors in Diet The research indicated that cognitive factors also affect the diet of Kittitians, specifically traditional food attitudes and beliefs and the image of limited good (Foster:1967) in its Kittitian manifestation. The belief that some of the "slave foods" produced independently of the sugar estates are strengthening still persists, and still affects food choices. Even many of the people in the middle stratum continue to choose foods and prepare meals on the basis of these old ideas. In this sense, the cognitive pattern is a conservative influence, mini­ mizing and leveling differences in diet between the lower and middle class villagers.

While the belief in strengthening foods affects diet by shaping food choices, the image of limited good affects food consumption by influencing the flow of food throughout the society. Since a villager must take care not to reveal how much he has of food and other posses­ sions, the giving and receiving of food takes place irregularly and covertly. For this reason, the limited good cognitive orientation promotes differential rather than equitable food flow. Those that have, tend to keep.

Differential Food Distribution and Adaptation It is my observation that several features of the Kittitian social and food distribution systems are adaptive. The individuation, for example, is an adjustment to low and fluctuating economic fortunes, since' individuals can move and adjust more quickly than groups to new opportunities.

I also suggested above that the inequities in the distribution of food in Challenger's Village may actually reflect a difference in pro­ ductivity in different categories of villagers. It is my impression 155

that the stages during which nutrition is generally adequate are more economically productive life periods than the interstices (with the exception of infancy). During childhood, food is foraged and shared in peer groups; most mature, resourceful, and healthy adults are economically productive in a variety of ways. But in between these stages and as individuals become older, productivity is low. As among the Brazilian sisal workers, the producers get a greater share of available energy sources.

Of special interest is the life stage of young adulthood, when teenagers are beginning to assume adult roles and young women are beginning their families. My observations and figures indicate that many of these new mothers are inadequately nourished. While their undernutrition may cause them some physical problems, it could prove fatal to their new offspring. The high infant mortality rate, which has been a prominent feature of Kittitian statistics as long as population figures have been collected, may be due in some measure to the poor nutrition of mothers. At the cost of much suffering, this is also adaptive, as it reduces population on an overpopulated, overtaxed island.

Finally, the cognitive levelers of diet, the traditional food attitudes, may also be adaptive, both for the individual and for society. Kittitians who begin to adopt radically different eating habits will have to pay high prices for foods which may not be good nutritional bargains. Furthermore, since strengthening foods are locally grown, adherence to traditional food patterns results in continuing support of local agricultural industries.

Summary While all the cognitive, economic, and social factors influence the diet of Kittitians, a primary factor producing differential food flow and 'Effecting diet is the level or stage of network involvement. During the life stages of infancy, childhood, and adulthood, all data indicate a generally adequate intake of foods for most of the inhabi­ tants of Challenger's Village. Yet many individuals in those months or years of life when they are making the transition from one stage to another have a diet which is less than adequate. X suggest that the major social parameter of these patterns of food distribution and con­ sumption is the fact that during these interstitial periods individuals are also transitory in network involvement. And in a society in which the flow of economic resources follows network rather than inclusive group relationships, these individuals fall outside many distribution channels, and, thus, lack access to the crucial resource, food.

To conclude, I feel the broad goals of this research have been met, that this dissertation:

1) adds to the growing body of data concerning the complex rela­ tionships between culture and human diet; 156

2) provides new ethnographic data from a part of the Caribbean which has generally been overlooked in the studies of social scientists; and

3) illustrates how cultural anthropologists may draw upon research techniques and tools of other fields in such a way as to enhance the value of anthropological research.

I also hope that my research contributes useful information con­ cerning sociocultural factors promoting and affecting human health which may benefit scientists in other fields. APPENDIX A

A SUMMARY OF STUDIES ON NUTRITIONAL STATUS AND DIET IN ST. KITTS

The following summary of Kittitian diet and nutritional status was compiled on the basis of the results of four nutrition studies conducted in the island's schools and clinics during the 1960s (INCCD 1962, Stuart et. al. 1962, Ashcroft et. al. 1965, Low 1970). A variety of techniques have been employed in these studies, including weighing and measuring consumed foods (Stuart et. al., INCCD), anthropometric indices (Ashcroft et. al., Low), clinical analyses of blood, urine, etc. (INCCD, Stuart et. al.). and food recall (Low, INCCD). Table 21 indicates the average consumption of various nutri­ ents as suggested by Stuart et. al. and INCCD.

Ashcroft et. al. (1965:278) pointed out that protein intake is low for some categories of individuals, such as infants and pregnant women. All studies have indicated the low levels of Vitamin A during certain seasons, and INCCD added that intake of iron and riboflavin is low and intake of Vitamin C is below recommended levels (1962:143).

The height and weight figures for school children and infant mor­ tality statistics provided by Ashcroft et. al. (1965) suggest that the nutritional situation for children is less favorable on St. Kitts than on the islands of Anguilla and Nevis, where incomes are quite low. The nutritionists who conducted the study felt this is due to the greater intake of fish on Anguilla and the lack of economic opportunities for women, who, thus, stay home to nurture infants for a longer period.

TABLE 20 INFANT MORTALITY RATES FOR ST. KITTS, NEVIS, AND ANGUILLA, 1959-1964

1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964

St. Kitts 81* 116** 122 70 86 59 Nevis 35 70 35 40 40 23 Anguilla 47 66 80 38 32 58

SOURCE: Ashcroft et. al. "Heights and Weights of Primary School-Children in St. Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla" (Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Vol. 68:1965), 278.

*per 1000 live births **outbreak of gastro-enteritis (ibid.)

157 158

TABLE 21 AVERAGE DAILY NUTRIENT INTAKE PER PERSON

Questionnaire Calculated

Calories Stuart 1,639 INCCD 1,870 1,569 Caloric Intake as % of Requirements 89.5 89 % of Calories, Fats Stuart 17 INCCD 26.2 22 % of Calories, Protein Stuart 13.2 % of Calories, Carbohydrate Stuart 69.8 Protein, gm Stuart 54 INCCD 80 68 Fat, gm Stuart 31 INCCD 55 38 Carbohydrate, gm Stuart 286 INCCD 269 234 Calcium, mg (INCCD) 384.5 164 Iron, mg " 8.7 6 Vitamin A, I.U. " 3,274 408 Thiamine, mg* " .68 1.02 Riboflavin, mg* " .86 .76 Niacin, mg* 10.6 6.7 Vitamin C, mg* 23.2 7

SOURCE: Stuart et. al. "Diet, Serum Cholesterol, Protein, Blood Hemoglobin, and Glycosuria in a West Indian Community (St. Kitts, W.I.) (British Medical Journal, Vol. 2:1962) 1284, Table I; also, INCCD The West Indies: Nutrition Survey (Washington, D.C.: The Government Printing Office) 141, Table 53.

^Corrected for cooking losses. APPENDIX B

NUTRITIONAL PRACTICES ASSESSMENT INTERVIEW FORM: MODIFIED FOR KITTITIAN RESEARCH

1. Sex: (1) male (2) female 2. Age: (1) 0-19 (2) 20-29 (3) 30-39 (4) 40-49 (5) 50 & older 3. Marital Status: (1) single (2) married (3) divorced (4) widowed 4. If married, is spouse living in home? (1) yes (2) no 5. Number in Household: (1) one (2) two (3) three (4) four (5) five (6) six (7) seven (8) eight (9) more than eight 6. Mother (1) yes (2) no 7. Father (1) yes (2) no 8. Children (1) yes (2) no 9. Siblings (1) yes (2) no 10. Grandmother or Grandfather (1) yes (2) no 11. Grandchildren and/or Greatgrandchildren (1) yes (2) no 12. Other kin (1) yes (2) no 13. Non-kin (1) yes (2) no 14. Education: (1) no formal schooling (2) primary level (3) secondary level (4) post-graduate training (university, business school, etc.) 15. Gardening: (1) no garden (2) kitchen garden (3) mountain garden (4) both 2 & 3 (5) other 16. Gardening is: (1) seasonal (2) year round activity 17. Gardening is regular source of cash income: (1) yes (2) no 18. Garden provides most of consumed provisions: (1) yes (2) no 19. Type of work or occupation: (1) none (2) gardening or farming (3) estate work (4) unskilled labor (other than estate work) (5) skilled labor (masonry, carpentry, etc.) (6) white collar work (clerking, teaching, etc.) 20. Job or occupation is: (1) seasonal (2) year round work 21. Regular cash remittances from relatives (monthly or several times per year): (1) yes (2) no 22. Land Ownership: (1) none (2) house site (3) other empty land (as garden) (4) other dwelling sites 23. House is: (1) owned by interviewee or other household member (2) rented (3) other 24. Does interviewee rent land, as for a mountain garden? (1) yes (2) no 25. House construction: (1) wood frame (2) masonry (3) wood frame and masonry (4) other 26. Electricity: (1) yes (2) no 27. Plumbing: (1) yes (2) no 28. Number of rooms: (1) one (2) two (3) three (4) four (5) five (6) six (7) more than six rooms 29. Livestock: (1) yes (2) no

159 160

30. Food given regularly to interviewee by someone other than spouse: (1) none given regularly (2) by lineal kinsman (3) by sibling (4) by other kinsman (5) by friend or neighbor (6) by employer or employee (7) by kinsmen of more than one category (8) by both kin and non-kin (friend or neighbor) (9) other 31. Food given regularly by interviewee to someone other than spouse: (1) none given regularly (2) to lineal kinsman (3) to sibling (4) to other kinsman (5) to friend or neighbor (6) to employer or employee (7) to kinsmen of more than one category (8) to both kin and non-kin (9) other 32. When do you usually eat your main meal of the day? (1) noon (2) afternoon (3) evening 33. Which of the following foods or food groups do you consider impor­ tant for good health? (1) fish, meat, chicken, etc. (2) milk (3) eggs (4) rice (5) fruit (6) corn, cornmeal, cornmeal porridge (7) other grains, including bread, dumplings, cereal, etc. (8) greens, green vegetables, other vegetables including cabbage, tomatoes, carrots (9) root vegetables 34. At what age do you feel children should be completely weaned (off breast and bottle)? (1) 3 months (2) 6 months (3) 9 months (4) 1 iyear (5) more than 1 year 35. When do you feel that children should begin to eat relish (meat)? (1) birth to 3 months (2) 3 to 6 months (3) 6 to 9 months (4) 9 months to 1 year (5) more than 1 year 36. What fuel do you use for cooking? (1) wood (2) gas (3) kerosene (4) other 37. Approximately how much of your weekly income is spent on food? (1) less than 507. or approximately half (2) 50 to 70% (3) 70 to 907. (4) 907. or nearly all of income (5) can't judge What home-made or purchased preparations do you use regularly to promote good health? 38. Bush teas: (1) yes (2) no 39. Tonics: (1) yes (2) no 40. Vitamins: (1) yes (2) no 41. Which type of fat do you use for cooking: (1) animal fat (2) lard (3) butter (4) margarine (5) imported bottled oil (6)sweet oil (as purchased in village shops) (7) sweet oil and either butter or margarine (8) other combination 42. What do you generally use as a spread onbread or rolls: (1) nothing (2) butter (3) margarine (4) mayonnaise (5) some combination of 2, 3, & 4 (6) other Estimate how many bottles, cans, glasses or cups of the following beverages the interviewee drinks in an average seven day period. 43. Carbonated soft drink: (1) none (2) one or two (3) three or four (4) five or six (5) seven or eight (6) more than eight 44. Beer: (1) none (2) one or two (3) three or four (4) five or six (5) seven or eight (6) more than eight 45. Coconut water: (1) none (2) one or two (3) three or four (4) five or six (5) seven or eight (6) more than eight 46. Lemonade: (1) none (2) one or two (3) three or four (4) five or six (5) seven or eight (6) more than eight 161

47. Coffee: (1) none (2) one or two (3) three or four (4) five or six (5) seven or eight (6) more than eight 48. Tea (all kinds): (1) none (2) one or two (3) three or four (4) five or six (5) seven or eight (6) more than eight 49. Mawby: (1) none (2) one or two (3) three or four (4) five or six (5) seven or eight (6) more than eight How many pieces of the following items does the interviewee eat in an average week? 50. Pastries: (1) none (2) one or two (3) three or four (4) five or six (5) seven or eight (6) more than eight 51. Cake: (1) none (2) one or two (3) three or four (4) five or six (5) seven or eight (6) more than eight 52. Sugar cakes: (1) none (2) one or two (3) three or four (4) five or six (5) seven or eight (6) more than eight 53. Cookies, biscuits: (1) none (2) one or two (3) three or four (4) five or six (5) seven or eight (6) more than eight 162

SCORING SYSTEM FOR NUTRITIONAL PRACTICES INSTRUMENT

Average 9 Portion rimes eaten in last 3 days 10+ 8-9 6-7 4-5 2-3 1 0 Never

1. Milk as a beverage 6 6 6 4 3 1 0 0 2. Milk used on cereal, pudding, fruit 5 4 3 2 2 1 0 0 3. Milk used in cream soup, pudding 5 4 3 2 2 1 0 0 4. Ice cream, ice milk, yogurt 5 4 3 2 2 1 0 0 5* Cheese 5 4 3 2 2 1 0 0 6. Eggs 5 4 3 2 2 1 0 0 7. Dried beans and/or peas 5 4 3 2 2 1 0 0 3. Nuts and/or peanut butter 5 4 3 2 2 1 0 0 9. Meat, fish, poultry 6 6 6 4 3 1 0 0 10. Orange, grapefruit juice 2 2 2 2 2 1 0 0 11. Tomato and/or tomato juice 22222100 12. Other fruit 2 2 2 1 1 10 0 13. Dark green, yellow and/ or orange vegetable 2 2 2 2 2 10 0 14. Other vegetable, includ­ ing potatoes 2 2 2 1 1 1 0 0 15. Bread, roll, muffin, biscuit 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 16. Breakfast cereal 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 17. Spaghetti, macaroni, noodles, rice. 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0

SOURCE: Schwartz, The Relationship of Nutrition Education to Subsequent Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of Ohio High School Graduates (Ph.D. Dissertation, The Ohio State University, 1973). Milk Group - composed of foods in groups 1 to 5 - total of 6 points Meat Group - composed of foods in groups 5 to 9 - total of 6 points (continued on following page) 163

Fruit and Vegetable Group: Citrus fruits - groups 10 and 11 - total of 2 points Dark green vegetables - group 13 - total of 2 points Other fruit and vegetables > groups 12 and 14 - total of 2 points Bread and Cereal Group - groups 15 to 17 - total of 6 points Total possible score ...... 24 points APPENDIX C

SOME MEDICINAL PLANTS OF ST. KITTS

"Cattail" Verbenaceae Stachytarpheta jamaicensis (L) Vahl "Herringbone" Leguminosae Zornia reticulata Sm. "Licorice, Jumble beads" Leguminosae Arbrus precatorius L. "Common sage" Verbenaceae Lantana urticifolia Mill. "Basil" Labiatae Ocimum basilicum L. "Pingwing" Apocynaceae Catharanthus roseus (L) G. Don "Donkey rub-down" Leguminosae Rhynchosia reticulata (Sw.) DC. "Maiden apple" Cucurbitaceae Momordica charantia L. "Cankerberry" Solanaceae Solanum bahamense L* "Fever grass" Gramineae Andropogon citratus DC. "Guava" Myrtaceae Psidium guajava L. "Trumpet bush" Moracceae Cecropia peltata L. "St. John's bush" Ribiaceae Psychotria nervosa Sw. "Fern" Polypodiaceae Asplenium cristatum Lamk. "Worm grass" Chenopodiaceae Chenopodium ambrosioides L. "French Sticky thyme" Labiatae Plectranthus amboinicus (Lour.) Launert "Cattle tongue" Compositae Pluchea carolinesis (Jacq.) G. Don "Love bush" Crassulaceae Bryophyllum plnnatum (Lam.) Iken "Bottle-cod" Capparaceae Capparis flexuosa (L.) L. "Popololo" Tiliaceae Corchorus siliquosus L. "Strong man bush" Phytolaccaceae Petiveria alliacea L.

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