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Foreign Investment and Local Stratification in the US Virgin Islands

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Foreign Investment and Local Stratification in the US Virgin Islands Virgin Capital: Foreign Investment and Local Stratification in the US Virgin Islands by Tamisha Navarro Department of Cultural Anthropology Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Charles Piot, Supervisor ___________________________ Deborah Thomas ___________________________ Anne Allison ___________________________ Karla Slocum ___________________________ Ian Baucom Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Cultural Anthropology in the Graduate School of Duke University 2010 i v ABSTRACT Virgin Capital: Foreign Investment and Local Stratification in the US Virgin Islands by Tamisha Navarro Department of Cultural Anthropology Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Charles Piot, Supervisor ___________________________ Deborah Thomas ___________________________ Anne Allison ___________________________ Karla Slocum ___________________________ Ian Baucom An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Cultural Anthropology in the Graduate School of Duke University 2010 Copyright by Tamisha Navarro 2010 ABSTRACT Virgin Capital explores the impact of the Economic Development Commission (EDC) program in the US Virgin Islands and asks, “How do contemporary circulations of capital and people alternately build upon and complicate long-present hierarchies?” This dissertation approaches the EDC, a tax holiday program that has attracted a number of primarily American bankers to the island of St. Croix, as a space in which struggles over quasi-offshore capital produces tensions rooted in race, class, color, gender, and generation. These clashes surrounding ‘appropriate’ financial and social investment have both integrated St. Croix into the global financial services market and produced a great deal of tension between EDC community and residents of St. Croix. Moreover, the presence of this program has generated new categories of personhood that in turn have sparked new debates about what it means to ‘belong’ in a territory administered by the United States. These new categories of personhood are particularly gendered and alternately destabilize and shore up long-standing hierarchies of generation, gender, and place. The ethnographic basis of Virgin Capital is 16 months of fieldwork I conducted on St. Croix, USVI. Throughout the dissertation, I bring academic writing together with the perspectives of Crucians and ‘EDC people.’ These viewpoints are central to this project as they make clear the ambivalent positioning of the EDC program and its participants in the current moment of increasingly global circulations. iv For my fellow Crucians. As always, I only gone to come back. v CONTENTS Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………...iv Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………….ix 1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………..1 Tracing the Emergence of the EDC Program in the USVI………………………..4 Theoretical Significance…………………………………………………………..8 Methodology……………………………………………………………………..12 ‘You is One of We’: Positionality in the Field…………………………………..17 Chapter Outline…………………………………………………………………..19 2. Caribbean Development……………………………………………………………….22 Intra-Territorial Divisions: St. Croix vs. St. Thomas…………………………….28 Slave Uprisings in the DWI and the US Purchase……………………………….31 Becoming American: Adapting to a US Racial Hierarchy………………………36 Stimulating Economies: Divergent Strategies Across the USVI………………...38 Industrialization………………………………………………………………….40 Migration and Dislocation……………………………………………………….51 Beyond Industrialization: Financial and Information Management in the Caribbean…………………………………………………...54 3. The EDC Program: An Overview……………………………………………………..61 From Industry to Finance: Shifting Development Paradigms…………………...63 Virtual Development: States, Markets and the EDC…………………………….67 vi Grounding Globalization: Historical and Contemporary Factors Contributing to the Centrality of the EDC Program on St. Croix………………..74 Requirements and Frustrations: Local Critiques of the EDC Program…………..76 SWAT Gear and Bank Statements: Government Raids and the EDC…………...91 Financial Services as Development……………………………………………...99 ‘Strange’ Clothes and Ideas: EDC Dress Codes and ‘Cultural’ Differences…...103 4. Pirates in the Caribbean: EDC Internships…………………………………………..108 Pursuing Internships…………………………………………………………….112 My Life as an ‘EDC Girl’………………………………………………………123 Working to Get Familiar………………………………………………………..128 Intra-Office Dynamics………………………………………………………….132 Quarterly Meetings……………………………………………………………..139 More of the Same: Stanford Indictment………………………………………...142 5. Racialization and the EDC Program…………………………………………………156 Between ‘Slave Days’ and Globalization………………………………………158 Local Reaction to the EDC Program…………………………………………...159 Segregated Neighborhoods: Access to ‘EDC People’………………………….163 ‘We’ vs. ‘Dem Deh’: Shifting Antagonisms……………………………………167 Racial Tensions and the EDC…………………………………………………..169 A Black Majority: Violence and the EDC……………………………………...169 ‘EDC People’ as Whites………………………………………………………..173 White Before EDC: Long-Term White Residents……………………………...174 vii ‘EDC People’ as ‘Racist’……………………………………………………….180 ‘EDC People’ and Land: Increasing Property Taxes and Real Estate Costs…………………………………………………………...183 ‘EDC People’ and Crime……………………………………………………….185 Blacks, Whites, and Natives……………………………………………………189 6. Easy Money: EDC Girls & EDC Wives……………………………………………..206 ‘EDC Wives’ and Increased Philanthropy……………………………………...215 ‘EDC People’ and Long-term Whites: Competitive Giving and Status………..217 ‘Respectable’ Pastimes…………………………………………………………219 ‘EDC Girls’: New Identities Through Consumption…………………………...223 Processes of Subject Production………………………………………………..231 Negotiating a New Identity……………………………………………………..246 7. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………...250 References………………………………………………………………………………255 Biography……………………………………………………………………………….268 viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation is the product of my lifelong connection to St. Croix. It would never have come into being without the persistence of my mother, who insisted on raising me on that magical island, over my frequent complaints about the lack of shopping malls, escalators, and snow. Mom, I thank you for giving me the gift of being a Crucian, your unconditional support and unwavering confidence. I thank God for strengthening me and for the opportunity to complete this fulfilling journey. On St. Croix, I owe a debt of gratitude to a number of people who enriched my life and work before, during, and after fieldwork. Deanna James, I’m not sure how I got by before being introduced to your strength, vision, and sisterhood. Nicole Y. Canegata, my sounding board and cheerleader, you saw this project coming to fruition—and insisted that I see it, too. Ana Castillo, there are not enough words to express how grateful I am for your open door, listening ear, and rice & beans. Emily Graci, thank you for listening. At the EDA, I thank especially Albert Bryan, who made my research at the agency possible and made time for an inquisitive grad student, and Paul Arnold. During my time at Duke, I was fortunate to work with and learn from scholars of the highest order. Deborah Thomas, thank you for a full decade of intellectual growth, mentoring, and direction. The seed of this project was planted when we met. Charles Piot, thank you for so generously giving of your time and talent—you pushed me intellectually ix and enabled me to see connections I had no idea existed. Anne Allison, your scholarship is staggering, and your dedication to your work and students is humbling. Thank you for making me feel welcome from the moment I arrived at Duke. Karla Slocum and Ian Baucom, thank you for clarity and insight. Mark Anthony Neal, thank you for your unflagging support and encouragement. Commiserating with my fellow graduate students at Duke made much of this journey possible: thank you to Jenny Woodruff, Anne Gulick, and Reena Goldthree. To my Durham family—Bianca Williams, Jamaica Gilmer, and Micah Gilmer—‘thank you’ does not do justice. The late nights, early mornings (except Bianca), and long phone calls paid off: We did it! At Wesleyan University, I am grateful to Krishna Winston for introducing me to the Mellon program and graduate study. I sincerely thank Kehaulani Kauanui for her academic guidance. This project was made possible financially by a number of donors to whom I am grateful: the Center for Caribbean and Latin American Studies at Duke University provided me with support to attend formative conferences and conduct preliminary fieldwork; the Mellon Foundation provided financial assistance and arenas for emotional support throughout my graduate career; the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research funded my dissertation fieldwork; and a Dissertation Fellowship from the Ford Foundation enabled me to immerse myself completely in the project of writing this dissertation. x Thank you to Shatema Threadcraft, a peer who entered my world at just the right moment. I would also like to thank my dear friends who have been providing me with crucial support since our days at Wesleyan: Akilah Whittaker and Anmarie Paul. Lastly, I thank Anto Sugrim whose confidence in my abilities pushes me further than I’d imagined possible. xi 1. INTRODUCTION “Much of what happens in electronic space is inflected by the cultures, the material practices, the imaginaries
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