Frontiers of the Caribbean

52 4 Frontier retentions Managing (and not managing) ‘wild’ frontier remnants: the St Vincent Grenadines In this chapter I wish to tease out the different, more contemporary meanings of the frontier in the southern extreme of the collective thirty- two- island state of SVG. To the south of the St Vincent main island lie the Grenadines. They stretch over some 60.4 km (37.5 mi) and have a combined area of 45 km2 (17.4 mi2). Roughly two-thir ds of these islets belong to SVG and the rest to Grenada. Seven of the larger St Vincent Grenadine islands have permanent inhabitants. They include Bequia, Mustique, Canouan, Mayreau, Palm Island, Petit St Vincent and Union Island. The remaining islets comprise uninhabited smaller rock formations of various sizes and shapes above the water line. What frontier issues might a small sovereign state with such a porous and variegated southern boundary (peripheries of a periphery) experience? Before 1792, concessions to settle the Grenadines were given to colonisers by both French and British governors. Most of the islands that were large enough to support a small population became associ- ated with single landowning families: for example the St Hillaires of Mayreau, the Snagg family of Canouan, and, in the twentieth century, the Eustace family of Mustique and the Tobago Cays. They operated simple social systems that tied the populations, of no more than a few hundred on each populated island, to the land through sharecropping, keeping of animals and fishing. In the twentieth century a small propor- tion of the men, many of whom were good sailors, obtained half-ye arly Philip Nanton - 9781526114921 Downloaded from manchesterhive.com at 09/25/2021 05:09:55AM via free access 53 Frontier retentions 53 employment working as seamen on ocean- going bulk transport ships registered in Liberia or Panama. Until the late twentieth century neglect and degradation have been the historical experiences of each tiny populated Grenadine island. This neglect took the form of a lack of basic amenities as a result of mainland uninterest from successive Government administrations, both colonial and postcolonial. The island of Canouan illustrates the common experience of neglect and resource shortages. Located near the middle of the chain of the Grenadines, Canouan comprises a mere 1,832 acres (741 ha). In a period of about 100 years – that is, until 1986 – the island’s population crept up only to 800 people. Before 1955 there was no police station, and although it had a small fee- paying primary school dating from 1897, the first government school was opened in 1928. A medical doctor and dentist might visit monthly, depending on weather conditions. The first political elec- tions were superficial events that offered ineffective representation. The first representative for the Grenadines region never visited the island. Residents remember that the next representative couldn’t be bothered to visit, even when in 1958 Hurricane Janet hit the island destroying most of the buildings. With regular droughts from 1930, drinking water had to be imported each dry season for fifty years. In the early 1990s the island remained without so basic an amenity as electricity. One past Prime Minister, Sir James F. Mitchell, a descend- ant of a Canouan islander, summarised the longstanding plight of the Grenadines through the experience of this island. He described Canouan as ‘a remote island, with a small population encircled by hostile winds and currents, lacking both strategic importance, and voting power, [that] did not consequentially, at any historical point in time draw the attention of the various administrations – who remained indifferent to its infrastructural and other developmental needs’ (Mitchell, 1996: 194). Neglect has reinforced strong island loyalties and led to occasional attempts at secession. The most recent was in 1979, when a small group in Union Island, SVG’s most southern dependency, led by Lennox Philip Nanton - 9781526114921 Downloaded from manchesterhive.com at 09/25/2021 05:09:55AM via free access 54 54 Frontiers of the Caribbean ‘Bumber’ Charles, failed in an attempt by military arms to separate that island from the then fledgling State of SVG.1 This historic frontier status, characterised by central Government indifference and neglect, has, in the past twenty or so years, changed dramatically. The reason is the lure of the ‘exotic wild’ for the wealthy yachting tourist or foreign homeowner. Bequia has established an international reputation as a destination for yachting enthusiasts. In 1958, for a sum of GBP45,000, Mustique was acquired on a long lease by Colin Tennant. By 1993, the Mustique Company had built seventy- five foreign exclusive homes and another twenty- five people had bought development lots (Vaughn, 1994: 28). In 1995 two- thirds of Canouan was leased to the Italian-Sw iss developer Antonio Saladino, who headed the company Canouan Resorts Development Ltd (CRD) (Lewis, 2010). The modern frontier appeal these atolls hold is their remoteness. Fed by year- round warm breeze, sunshine and substantial foreign capital expenditure, these features conspire to turn frontier remoteness into frontier exclusivity and exoticism. Firstly, for the newly arrived entrepreneur who plans to invest in the island there is the Crusoe act of ‘discovery’ and a romantic Crusoe experience. The author of a thick coffee- table picture book about Mustique, the foreword of which claims ‘This book is about fantasy realized’ (Vaughn, 1994: n.p.), describes a first experience of the then undeveloped Palm Island in the following way: ‘It was heaven at first … To be alone on the island with no development … We lived a Robinson Crusoe life there. We had nothing, but we had ourselves, and the nic- est thing in the world is to own nothing’ (Vaughn, 1994: 5). Saladino, the main expatriate entrepreneur in Canouan, recounted to me his Canouan Crusoe experience when he first stumbled across that island: The discovery of the island of Canouan was as a result of sailing with friends on a motor yacht and visiting most of the Grenadine islands … we saw this unknown, beautiful, lush land and having sailed around, were astounded by the number of great beaches. The combination of lush and strong colours of the vegetation with the pure turquoise of the waters was Philip Nanton - 9781526114921 Downloaded from manchesterhive.com at 09/25/2021 05:09:55AM via free access 55 Frontier retentions 55 very reminiscent of the island of Sardinia and its outer islands. The obvi- ous question was why no developer had ventured there.2 These tourism developers offer their clients the frontier experience of an exclusive and romanticised relationship with nature. The author of Mustique suggests that: ‘the best thing about Mustique is that after 35 years of development, the construction of seventy- five houses, and the passage of thousands of visitors, one can still make solitary music on Mustique from the rhythm of the beetles’ (Vaughn, 1994: n.p.). Wealthy developers have now put substantial amounts of money for tourism development into at least five tiny SVG island developments. In return they usually obtain a wide range of taxation and other lucra- tive privileges for their investments. This is, of course, all part of the frontier financial process.3 But how do islanders, from St Vincent and Canouan respectively, experience the frontier process? In 1990 CRD acquired 1,200 acres (485.6 ha) – around two-thir ds of Canouan – on a long lease from the Government of SVG. It since acquired another 78 acres (31.6 ha) from the State’s United Labour Party Government. The company spent over $200 million on infrastructure – roads, electricity, water desalination plants, a health clinic – and rebuilt the local police station. It has built a new airport; repaired hurricane destruction dam- age promptly; and with business tourism partners built a hotel, a golf course, a casino and holiday villas for sale. Foreign partner developers come and go (they have included Donald Trump, the hotel chain Raffles and most recently the Irish developer Dermot Desmond). The most recent strategy appears now to be similar to that pursued in Mustique, essentially constructing homes for exclusive foreign home ownership. Before arriving at this goal the frontier living experience of islanders was somewhat different. As recently as the 1980s, local Canouan households were required to be self- sufficient. They supported themselves on their own produce: salt collection, but mainly by fishing and small- scale agriculture: grow- ing peas, corn and cassava. Local residents stored their harvests and sold the produce after they replanted. There was local fishing for men Philip Nanton - 9781526114921 Downloaded from manchesterhive.com at 09/25/2021 05:09:55AM via free access 56 56 Frontiers of the Caribbean and whelk collection on the rocks around the coast for women. In the absence of refrigeration, preserving fish by salting for domestic use or sale – a process locally known as ‘corning’ – was widespread and long established. Sailors also worked on merchant shipping for half- year periods. Since the exclusive tourism developments on the island, many Canouan people have restructured their way of life. In a period of about fifteen years the shift has been from centuries of almost subsistence living to servicing international tourism. From the company’s point of view the rate of this process has been hampered by an inherited low standard of education and an economy traditionally based on farm- ing and fishing. The islanders appreciate the employment and have expressed surprise at the company’s willingness to support individuals in difficult circumstances. They can see the tangible changes to their living conditions – more regular health care, opportunities for house ownership and for educating their children to secondary school level, as well as the opportunity to obtain computing and other technical skills, all of which were in short supply when they were younger.

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