Education and Popular Culture in the Caribbean: Youth Resistance in a Period of Economic Uncertainty by Pedro A

Education and Popular Culture in the Caribbean: Youth Resistance in a Period of Economic Uncertainty by Pedro A. Noguera, Ph.D. School of Education, UC Berkeley While the role of education in political socialization and the construction of national identity in the Caribbean has been recognized and studied by several scholars (Bell 1967; Fagen 1969; Jansen 1991; Torres 1991; Miller 1991) , its relationship to popular culture has received considerably less attention. In part, this is due to the tendency on the part of Caribbean scholars to conceive of educational institutions primarily as instruments of the state used to propagate and reinforce the hegemony exerted by domestic and foreign elites over political and economic institutions(Carnoy and Samoff 1989; Henry and Stone 1983; Miller 1989). 1 In this regard, curriculum content, student assessment and placement, and the recruitment of training of teachers, have been viewed as the primary means through which social reproduction and the dissemination of the dominant ideology is carried out. This paper will explore the relationship between education and the dynamic popular culture that exist among Caribbean youth. Paget Henry (1983) points out that in the post-emancipation period education has served as a vehicle for cultural colonization, holding 1 Due in part to the lack of research conducted in the evolution of educational systems in the Caribbean, the field has not been subject to the kinds of debates related to cultural reproduction and structural correspondence that have characterized the sociology of education in North America and Western Europe. Errol Miller's work has helped to make the connections between British colonialism and the character of Caribbean education systems explicit, however a theoretical framework linking changes in the political economy of the region to institutional policies and practices in education remains largely undeveloped. 2 out the possibility of social mobility for those able to acquire the most highly valued cultural capital - a European cultural orientation and identity. With some important modifications, primary and secondary educational institutions throughout the Caribbean have continued to serve as transmitters of a foreign, Anglo-American, cultural hegemony, even during the decolonization period. 2 However, the transmission and embracement of a foreign culture is never complete or absolute. Patterns of non-conformity and resistance are clearly evident among Caribbean youth, especially within the popular culture. Drawing upon the work scholars such as Giroux (1992), Willis (1977) and Ogbu (1978), this paper will analyze youth resistance and the ways in which schools are responding to the emergence of a rebellious youth culture. This will be considered in light of recent changes in the political economy of Caribbean nations brought about by neo-liberalism and structural adjustment policies which influence the social and political context in which youth culture reacts and is shaped. 2 Although there have been efforts to infuse greater Caribbean content into the school curriculum, the Euro-American bias has remained largely intact. In Grenada, where efforts at Caribbeanizing the curriculum had made tremendous progress under the People's Revolutionary Government, there has been a total return to past practices since the U.S. led invasion. At the university level, however, the argument could be made that Caribbeanization has been more thorough and has occurred at a much faster pace. See Words Unchained by Chris Searle . (London: Zed Books, 1984) for a description of Grenadian efforts to reform the cultural content of education, Grenada: Revolution in Reverse by James Ferguson (London: Latin American Bureau, 1984) for changes in Grenadian education since the U.S. invasion, and The Newer Caribbean-Decolonization, Democracy and Development edited by Carl Stone and Paget Henry (Philadelphia: Institute for the Study of Human Issues, 1983) for a discussion of curriculum changes at the University of the West Indies. 3 In this exploration of the ways in which current economic and political developments in the Caribbean have influenced the relationship between education and youth culture, I will be moving across two distinct theoretical traditions within the sociology of education. The first pertains to how the character of educational institutions are shaped and influenced by the social structure of Caribbean societies. The second is concerned with the role of education in cultural reproduction processes. Rather than assuming more direct correspondence in the tradition of Bowles and Gintis (1976) and Connell (1987), I will follow the theoretical framework developed by scholars such as Carnoy and Levin (1985) and Morrow and Torres (1994) which recognize the existence of parallel connections between social structure and education without assuming a more deterministic correspondence. Such a distinction allows for greater openness to the possibility that education, like the State, occupies a position of relative autonomy in relation to forces of economic power, and therefore creates room for agency and resistance to be considered as forms of social action that can actually influence social practice and public policy. Decolonization and Culture in the Caribbean Within the context of colonial and post-colonial discourse, culture has assumed a central place in analyses of power and domination. (Fanon 1967, Memi 1965, Mazuri 1978, Wa Thiong' 0 1986, Said 1979) In order to sustain foreign domination without constant reliance upon extreme forms of coercion, colonizing powers 4 have historically employed a variety of strategies aimed at "harmonizing the economic and political domination of the people with their cultural personality"(Cabral 1973:38). This could take a variety of forms including: the propagation of foreign religions, the use of educational institutions and media to promote the values and culture of the foreign power, and the establishment economic and political institutions modeled after those found in the colonizing society which control and dominate civic life. 3 Ultimately, the viability of any attempt at colonization rests upon the successful implementation of efforts of this kind. When such efforts have failed the colonizing power is faced with two choices: either complete reliance upon coercive measures including genocide to obtain compliance, or abandoning the colonizing effort altogether. In the Caribbean, the French annihilation of the Caribs in Grenada represents an example of the former, 4 while triumph of African slaves in Haiti and the relatively early abandonment of the French colonial effort there is a striking example of the latter. 5 In the post-colonial period a central feature of decolonization is the reconstruction of a national culture and identity.(Ake 1967; Apter 1965) This is generally a difficult and complicated task 3 Walter Rodney's analysis of strategies employed by Europeans in their colonization of Africa presents an incisive account of how cultural subversion was linked to political and economic exploitation. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (Washington, DC: Howard University Press, 1974) p. 203-223 4 In Grenada, the French literally wiped out the Carib population in 1654 following several years of successful defense of parts of the island. See Grenada The Peaceful Revolution by Catherine Sunshinc(Washington, DC: EPICA Taskforce, 1982) p. 8,9 5 For an historical analysis of the Haitian revolution see Haiti, An Insiders History of the Rise and Fall of the Douvaliers by Elizabeth Abbott (New York: Touchstone Books, 1988) p. 8-29 5 because most political, economic and social institutions have been created in the image of the colonizing power. Completely remaking these so that they begin to reflect and embody indigenous sensibilities and aspirations is no simple matter, especially given that those who typically inherit positions of leadership in the post- colonial period are the individuals who were most closely identified with the culture of the foreign power. Amilcar Cabral, a leader of the anti-colonial struggle in Guinea Bissau, describes this dilemma in the following manner: The experience of colonial domination shows that, in the effort to perpetuate exploitation, the colonizers not only create a system to repress the cultural life of the colonized people; he also provokes and develops the cultural alienation of a part of the population, either by so-called assimilation of indigenous people, or by creating a social gap between the indigenous. elites and the popular masses. As a result of this process of dividing or deepening divisions in society, it happens that a considerable part of the population, notably the urban or peasant petite bourgeoisie, assimilates the colonizers mentality, considers itself culturally superior to its own people, and ignores or looks down upon their cultural values...(1973:45) According to Cabral, the only way to overcome this separation is through a It reconversion or 're-Africanization' accomplished through daily contact with the popular masses in the communion of sacrifice required by the struggle." (1973:43) Such a process was initiated during the 1960s and '70s in most parts of the Caribbean. The emergence of a new generation of middle class leaders following independence was accompanied by the 6 affirmation and ascendence of the once repressed Afro-Creole culture. Throughout this period, nationalist expressions which affirmed these cultural traditions were combined with

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