Understanding the Contemporary Caribbean
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EXCERPTED FROM Understanding the Contemporary Caribbean edited by Richard S. Hillman and Thomas J. D’Agostino Copyright © 2003 ISBNs: 1-55587-983-7 hc 1-55587-959-4 pb 1800 30th Street, Ste. 314 Boulder, CO 80301 USA telephone 303.444.6684 fax 303.444.0824 This excerpt was downloaded from the Lynne Rienner Publishers website www.rienner.com i Contents List of Illustrations ix Preface xiii 1 Introduction Richard S. Hillman 1 2 The Caribbean: A Geographic Preface Thomas D. Boswell 19 Defining the Caribbean 19 Climate and Weather Patterns in the Caribbean 23 Landforms in the Caribbean 26 The Caribbean Amerindian Population 31 Patterns of European Settlement After Conquest 33 The Rise and Fall of Sugarcane in the West Indies 35 Population Problems 38 Emigration from the Caribbean 39 Urbanization in the Caribbean 41 Economic Geography of the Caribbean 43 Conclusion 48 3 The Historical Context Stephen J. Randall 51 Conquest and Colonization, 1492–1800 52 Nation Building and Socioeconomic Transition in the Nineteenth Century 60 The Non-Spanish Caribbean in the Early Twentieth Century 67 The Emergence of U.S. Hegemony, 1898–1930s 70 The Emergence of Labor Organizations 74 War and Cold War, 1939–1959 75 The Cuban Revolution 78 Conclusion 80 v vi Contents 4 Caribbean Politics Thomas J. D’Agostino 85 The Past as Prelude 85 External Influences, Internal Dynamics, and New Forms 87 The Case of Puerto Rico 91 Socioeconomic Conditions and Political Consciousness 94 Postwar Transitions 95 The Case of the Dominican Republic 102 The Anglo-Caribbean 103 The Case of Jamaica 104 Decades of Challenge and Change: The 1970s and 1980s 110 The Case of Grenada 113 The Resurgence of U.S. Interventionism 115 The Case of Haiti 119 An Era of Uncertainty: The 1990s and 2000s 121 5 The Economies of the Caribbean Dennis A. Pantin 129 Common Economic History 129 Some Differences 131 Current Economic Structure 133 Current Economic Performance 137 Current and Projected Economic Challenges 140 Conclusion 144 6 International Relations H. Michael Erisman 149 Caribbean International Relations: A Historical Overview 151 The Dynamics of Caribbean International Relations in the Modern Era 156 International Challenges Confronting the Caribbean 170 7 The Environment and Ecology Duncan McGregor 179 The Physical Setting 180 Historical and Recent Land Use Change 184 Climate Change and Caribbean Environments 194 Sustainability and the Environment: Some Reflections 199 8 Ethnicity, Race, Class, and Nationality David Baronov & Kevin A. Yelvington 209 The Mix of Ethnicity, Race, Class, and Nationality Across the Caribbean 211 Historical Legacies 212 Ethnic, Racial, and National Minorities in Caribbean Society 220 Imagining the Caribbean Nation 223 Contemporary Realities and Caribbean Migrant Communities 229 Conclusion 234 Contents vii 9 Women and Development A. Lynn Bolles 239 The Sociocultural Context of Caribbean Women 239 Caribbean Women’s Early Struggles 243 Women in the Hispanic Caribbean 246 Caribbean Women’s Continuing Struggles 247 Gender, Class, and Familial Organization 252 The “Independent” Woman in the Contemporary Caribbean 257 Women and the Organization of American States 259 Conclusion 259 10 Religion in the Caribbean Leslie G. Desmangles, Stephen D. Glazier & Joseph M. Murphy 263 Categories of Caribbean Religions 264 Working the Amalgam 266 Vodou 273 Santería 280 The Rastafari and the Dread 285 Spiritual Baptists 291 Caribbean Religions in the Diaspora 299 Conclusion 301 11 Literature and Popular Culture Kevin Meehan & Paul B. Miller 305 Indigenous Cultural Patterns 306 The Early Colonial Era: Material Changes and Cultural Adaptation 309 The Nineteenth Century: Toward Cultural Autonomy 312 The Early Twentieth Century: Literary Movements, Vernacular Writing, and Cultural Unification 317 The Mid-Twentieth Century: The Dialectic of Exile and Nationalism 320 The Late Twentieth Century and Beyond: The Dialectic of Return and Disillusionment 324 Conclusion 328 12 The Caribbean Diaspora Dennis Conway 333 The Encounter with Europe: Domination of the Caribbean 335 Caribbean–North American Circulations, 1880–1970 338 Caribbean Diaspora Networks, 1970s to the Present 342 Conclusion 348 13 Trends and Prospects Richard S. Hillman & Andrés Serbin 355 The Intergovernmental Dynamic 356 Transnational Civil Society 359 The Forum of Greater Caribbean Civil Society 360 The Future 361 viii Contents List of Acronyms 369 Basic Political Data 371 The Contributors 377 Index 379 About the Book 393 1 Introduction Richard S. Hillman he Caribbean is considerably more important and certainly more complex Tthan its popular image suggests.1 Widely known as an attractive string of underdeveloped island nations in close proximity to the United States, the region’s pleasant climate and natural attributes have attracted large numbers of tourists. Short visits to beautiful beaches and resorts, however, have con- tributed to a superficial vision of the Caribbean region. It is an interesting, significant, and exciting place for much more profound reasons. Although there is some truth to the stereotype of the Caribbean as a trop- ical paradise, the region’s historic, cultural, socioeconomic, and political influences far exceed its small size and low status in global affairs. Indeed, political and ideological movements and developments in the Caribbean have provoked international reactions. Moreover, throughout history the people of the Caribbean have been engaged in heroic struggles to liberate themselves from the strictures and exploitation of colonialism, slavery, imperialism, neo- colonialism, and dependency. Historically, the perception of the region has varied from that of an extremely valuable asset to more powerful nations to one of benign neglect. Its role as provider of sun, sand, and surf to Americans and Europeans, for example, has obscured the fact that great power rivalries have been played out in the Caribbean. In fact, the United States has intervened in the Caribbean more than in any other geographical area of the world. The impacts of migra- tion patterns, investment, and commerce, as well as illicit narcotics traffick- ing, have been significant not only in the Western Hemisphere but also in Europe and throughout the world. Similarly, Caribbean literature, art, and popular culture have had global influences. 1 2 Richard S. Hillman Thomas J. D’Agostino Deep Bay, Antigua The Caribbean peoples have made outstanding contributions in many fields, both in their home countries and in those countries to which they have migrated. Their presence is apparent in professions such as health care and education, as well as in commerce, construction, music, cuisine, sports, and government. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who first rose to the posi- tion of chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, is a first-generation U.S. cit- izen of Jamaican origin. Baseball legend Sammy Sosa was born in the Dominican Republic (in fact, one of every four players in Major League Base- ball is from the Caribbean). Many actors like Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier, singers like Bob Marley and the Mighty Sparrow, academics like Orlando Patterson, and writers like Derek Wolcott, V. S. Naipaul, John Hearne, Jamaica Kincaid, Aimé Césaire, and Gabriel García Márquez repre- sent the wealth of talent emanating from the Caribbean. Ironically, as North Americans and Europeans flock to the Caribbean vacationland, the people of the region seek to leave their homelands. Their quest for upward socioeconomic mobility has resulted in large population concentrations abroad. New York City, for example, contains the largest urban concentration of Dominicans outside Santo Domingo. Similarly, New York is the second largest Puerto Rican city next to San Juan. And Miami has become so influenced by Cubans, Jamaicans, and Haitians, among others, that it is commonly referred to as “the capital of the Caribbean.” The Caribbean has always been considered a geopolitical and strategic crossroads (see Maps 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3). From the fifteenth century to the end UNITED STATES T H Miami E a d • i B r A Gulf of Mexico lo # F H of Nassau A its M Stra ANDROS A Atlantic Ocean ISLAND S Havana# W TURKS & Yucatan CUBA E Channel S T CAICOS ISLANDS Cancún • I N D I E S G Guantánamo L R • DOMINICAN E E W E • A R MEXICO CAYMAN A Santiago REPUBLIC VIRGIN D ISLANDS T de Cuba WindwardGonaîves Passage• Santo Ponce ISLANDS ANGUILLA I S E Port-au-Prince San Juan ST. MAARTEN/ST. MARTIN Montego Bay R # Domingo# # L • • ST. EUSTATIUS A Mona Passage • # • SABA N Belize City HAITI PUERTO BARBUDA # • JAMAICA A San Pedro de Macoris # D Belmopan Kingston N RICO ST. KITTS ANTIGUA T I L L Mayagüez NEVIS St. John's S BELIZE E S MONTSERRAT # GUADELOUPE S Basse-Terre # E GUATEMALA DOMINICA Roseau D L S # HONDURAS # MARTINIQUE R L Fort-de-France D Guatemala I A Tegucigalpa# Caribbean Sea # ST. LUCIA T Castries N # BARBADOS W N A San Salvador NETHERLANDS ST. VINCENT & THE# # D A GRENADINES Bridgetown L EL SALVADOR NICARAGUA ANTILLES N S ARUBA Kingstown I I CURAÇAO R # Managua E # GRENADA # BONAIRE W Bluefields S St. George's • Willemstad S E ISLA DE MARGARITA L Port-of-Spain TRINIDAD # AND TOBAGO COSTA # Cartagena RICA Limón • Choroní• Caracas • # Panama Canal Barlovento San José• Colón • #Panama PANAMA Gulf of N VENEZUELA Panama #Georgetown Paramaribo GUYANA # W E Pacific COLOMBIA #Cayenne #Bogotá SURINAME FRENCH S Ocean GUIANA John Bogdal Map 1.1 The Caribbean Region •Tampa St. Petersburg• UNITED N STATES T Freeport• H W E E Gulf Miami • NEW B a PROVIDENCE A S of d H ri # lo A Mexico F Nassau M of A ts ANDROS S Strai Atlantic Ocean Havana Matanzas # • Santa Clara • • Pinar • Sancti Spiritus TURKS & Cienfuegos W CAICOS ISLANDS del Rio • CUBA E S T # Camagüey• Cockburn Town Holguín I N • D I E S G Manzanillo • Guantánamo Cap-Haïtien R E • Monte Cristi A • • Samaná CAYMAN T Santiago dward Passage • Santiago San Pedro de ISLANDS E de Cuba • Win Gonaîves • • Macoris BRITISH VIRGIN George R HAITI • assage DOMINICAN ISLANDS Town Port-au-Prince REPUBLIC San Juan Montego Bay Ocho Rios # # # • • • Ponce Negril • • Mona P U.S.