Portland State University PDXScholar Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations Black Studies 2002 Not Everyone Who Speaks Spanish is From Spain: Taino Survival in the 21st Century Dominican Republic Pedro Ferbel-Azcarate Portland State University Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/black_studies_fac Part of the Latin American Languages and Societies Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Citation Details Ferbel, P. J. (2002). "Not Everyone Who Speaks Spanish is from Spain: Taíno Survival in the 21st Century Dominican Republic". KACIKE: The Journal of Caribbean Amerindian History and Anthropology This Article is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Black Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. KACIKE: Journal of Caribbean Amerindian History and Anthropology ISSN 1562-5028 Special Issue edited by Lynne Guitar NEW DIRECTIONS IN TAINO RESEARCH http://www.kacike.org/Current.html Not Everyone Who Speaks Spanish is from Spain: Taino Survival in the 21st Century Dominican Republic Dr. P. J. Ferbel Introduction that has persisted to this day. That heritage, together with the historical The national identity of the evidence for Taíno survival presented by Dominican Republic is based on an my colleagues Lynne Guitar and Jorge idealized story of three cultural roots-- Estevez, points me to the understanding Spanish, African, and Taíno--with a that the Taíno people were never extinct selective amnesia of the tragedies and but, rather, survived on the margins of struggles inherent to the processes of colonial society to the present. colonial domination and resistance. The story of Taíno extinction was Further, African, Taíno and mixed Afro- created as a colonial strategy to Mestizo culture have been marginalized disempower the Native people and as a in favor of nationalist ideologies of way to legitimate the importation of slaves progress and civilization found in the from Africa. Ironically, the Taíno culture embrace of Hispanidad and Catholicism. that survives may be considered the In such a way, Dominicans have been strongest and most deeply planted “roots” disconnected from their African, their of the contemporary Afro-Mestizo Criollo indigenous, and their mixed Afro-Mestizo Dominican identity. Anthropology teaches Criollo (Creole) ancestry and cultural us today that there is no such thing as a heritage, even though it is these “pure” race or a “pure” culture— with ancestries and heritages which mark every generation, the composition of a Dominicans with the significant emblems population changes. Therefore, even of their contemporary identity. though the physical appearance of In this paper, I assess the survival Dominicans may be mixed-- multi- of Taíno culture by building on the work of biological-- they all share a common uni- two important studies addressing Taíno cultural heritage simply by practicing heritage in the Dominican Republic— traditional Dominican cultural forms. Just Bernardo Vega's (1981) “La herencia because Dominicans look “African” or indígena en la cultura dominicana de hoy” “European” or “Mixed” does not mean and Garcia Arévalo's (1988) they cannot legitimately celebrate their “Indigenismo, arqueología, e identidad Taíno heritage. And just because nacional.” My conclusion is that there is Dominicans speak Spanish it does not significant cultural heritage of Taíno origin mean their strongest cultural root comes Dr. P. J. Ferbel - Taino Survival in the 21st Century -__________________________________2 from Spain. Finally, just because working in the Cibao region of the Dominicans want to celebrate their Taíno Dominican Republic, the land the Taíno roots does not necessarily mean they called Quisqueya. I first went to the want to negate their African or European Dominican Republic in 1992 to conduct or other heritages. research on the commemoration of the Today, as professors, researchers, Columbian Quincentennial. At that time, I and students we must accept the assumed what I read in textbooks and responsibility to critically re-examine the journals about the extinction of the Taíno stories of Taíno extinction from a position was true. I found many romanticized free from racial politics and nationalist representations of Taínos used as agendas. In such a way, we open the decoration on buildings, hawking door for all Dominicans to understand products like mascots, and generally their true history, identify with all their presented in ways that suggested they ancestors, celebrate their traditional were frozen in a time before Columbus culture, and use this knowledge to help (see Figure 1). There was little public them find their path beyond Columbus's discussion about history or cultural wake. identity, and the official channels that promoted heritage and identity were focused on celebrating the Hispanic past Taíno Cultural Heritage and a myth about a tripartite identity that led principally to the creation of merengue My knowledge of Taíno cultural music. The Taíno were extinct. Period. heritage comes from five years living and Figure 1 Representing Taínos: Hatuey Soda Crackers I was therefore surprised to find knowledge, whereby many Dominicans many strong cultural forms of Taíno origin practiced strong indigenous cultural forms practiced in daily Dominican life, but did not identify with them. In fact, especially in the campo (see Figure 2). I seen as socio-economically was also struck by the ironic and unprogressive, they were often ashamed contradictory expression of Taíno cultural by these cultural displays. At the same © 2002, P. J. Ferbel KACIKE: The Journal of Caribbean Amerindian History and Anthropology http://w ww.kacike.org Dr. P. J. Ferbel - Taino Survival in the 21st Century -__________________________________3 time, the Taíno archaeological heritage how the traditional culture of Quisqueya was plundered and vandalized (see existed in opposition to the economic Figure 3), history and culture were topics realities of "modernization." In other of interest only for the upper class, and words, development towards a Western there were little resources available for economy meant movement away from communities to encourage traditional traditional Dominican culture and Taíno cultural activities. I soon began to realize heritage. Figure 2 Traditional casabe making on a buren griddle at Guagui, La Vega Figure 3 Vandalism of petroglyphs, Rio Chacuey, Dajabon. Photo credit: Jason McIntire "Heritage" may be defined as the 1995; Garcia Arévalo 1988, 1990; Vega cultural and biological legacy that 1980; Weeks and Ferbel 1994). This contemporary people have carried on Taíno heritage has been passed on for from their ancestral past to become a part generations, originating with the of their communal identity in the present. Arawakan speaking people who migrated Taíno heritage can be found in the into the Caribbean from the Orinoco River Dominican Republic in many forms, Valley some 1500 years before Spanish including language, agriculture, food exploration. Archaeologists believe a ways, medicinal knowledge, craft distinct Taíno culture had developed in technologies, architecture, spiritual the Caribbean by the year 600 A.D. and beliefs, family life, festivals, popular thus flourished for 900 years before culture, and genetic bloodlines (Ferbel Columbus (Rouse 1992; Weeks and © 2002, P. J. Ferbel KACIKE: The Journal of Caribbean Amerindian History and Anthropology http://w ww.kacike.org Dr. P. J. Ferbel - Taino Survival in the 21st Century -__________________________________4 Ferbel 1994). Given this time frame, it extinct in official documents—for the should come as no surprise that the purpose of legitimating colonial control Taíno rooted their culture with a profound and rationalizing the importation of understanding of the Caribbean African slaves—references to Indians landscape. continued to appear in wills and legal The impact of 15th century proceedings, demonstrating their survival European colonization on the Taíno was on the margins of colonial society. nothing short of devastating, and Over the years, a poor, but landed, completely re-structured the trajectory of peasantry developed from the original their native life ways. Confronted with group of Indians, Africans and deadly foreign diseases, unable to Europeans, who continued to share schedule their agricultural planting, forced bloodlines and culture, developing their into systems of social, economic, and own communities in the countryside. As political domination, losing rights to land, these communities were engaged in a free expression, and, in many cases, to struggle to live on the land, they used life itself, the Taíno had to find radical their repertoire of cultural knowledge to ways to survive. Resistance took many best survive. Naturally, they relied on forms. Many Taíno fought against the their Taíno heritage, which represented intruders, who had the distinct advantage many generations of knowledge, tradition, of coming from a place with a history of and oral history about the land. This is guns, swords, horses, dogs, and trickery. still true for present-day Dominicans, Many Taíno hid in isolated Maroon especially in the agrarian countryside. communities, along with runaway African slaves, far from the Spaniard towns and plantations. Others were forced into slave Taíno Heritage and serf positions