University of Warwick institutional repository: http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of Warwick http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap/36383 This thesis is made available online and is protected by original copyright. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item for information to help you to cite it. Our policy information is available from the repository home page. a_ HISTORY AND CULTURAL IDENTITY: BARBADIAN SPACE AND THE LEGACY OF EMPIRE A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY Marcia P. A. Burrowes University of Warwick Centre for British and Comparative Cultural Studies February 2000 ii I dedicate this thesis to my Mother, Hazel Patricia Burrowes, and to the memory of Captain Faye Darlington (1961-1998) iii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES Vi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ix DECLARATION Xi ABSTRACT Xii Introduction 1 Chapter One : History, Historicality and its Narratives I Introduction 13 II The Island 21 DI The Missing Early Inhabitants 27 IV Colonisation 38 a) The Controversial Names 39 b) The Landing Party and the Rest 46 c) 'a quintessential New World slave society' 51 V Emancipation and Independence 56 a) 'iron tooth'd ratchets' 56 b) Emancipation Day 1997 57 VI Summary 65 Chapter Two: Barbadian Cultural Identity and its Contradictions I Identity and Fluidity 68 a) Wrestling with the Statue of Nelson 68 b) 'Living in the shadow of Englishness' 75 II Decolonisation and Culture 85 a) Culture and Theory 85 b) Black Barbadian Heritage and Deculturation 91 iv i) Benitez-Rojo and the old paradigm 92 ii) The issue of deculturation 96 IV Summary 103 Chapter Three: The Myth of 'Little England' and its revival in the Independence Era I Introduction 105 II Mythical Hide and Seek 110 III 'Little England': a History 116 a) 1789-1899 117 iii) 'in' but not 'of' the Caribbean 118 iv) Little Empire 120 v) 'nearest to the mother country' 122 vi) Loyalty and Home 123 vii) A Sobriquet 126 b) 1900-1966 127 i) 'More English than England': the travel writer's view 127 ii) 'England nebber fear' 131 c) 1966-1999 135 i) 'death with reprieve' 135 ii) A Tourist Ploy 139 IV In Writing the Nation 145 V Summary 147 Chapter Four: The Barbados Landship: The Cloaking of a Heritage I Introduction 149 II Sailing with the Landship 153 HI Key Stages in Landship History 156 a) In Pursuit of Origins 157 b) The Early Stages 162 c) 1920s & 1930s 169 d) Independence and Beyond 178 V IV Landship Rituals 183 a) A Landship Parade 183 b) Deck, Dock and 'Waters' 192 V Towards a greater understanding of the Landship 194 a) Creating space through the 'body voice' 194 b) A poet's view 197 c) Running your hands over the Cloak 200 VI Summary 202 Chapter Five: The Crop Over Festival: Re-Emergence of Traditions I Introduction 205 II The Carnival Paradigm 207 III Historical Development of the Festival 212 a) Harvest Home 217 b) The Slave Period 220 c) Post-Emancipation 222 ii) The Early Years: 1838-1899 223 iii) Plantation Ledgers: 1878-1894 227 iv) Winding Down: 1900-1966 234 IV Crop Over in the Era of Independence 238 a) 'an invented tradition': 1974-77 238 b) Kadooment and the Consolidation of Crop Over: 1978-99 246 V Summary 255 Concluding Contradictions: Memorandum to the Ministers of Culture and Tourism 258 Bibliography 264 vi LIST OF TABLES 1.1 Barbados Population Estimates: 1655-1715 .52 4.1 Landship Societies: 1898-1912 165 4.2 Landship Societies: 1930-1939 173 4.3 Landships Re-Launched in 1972 .180 5.1 Plantation Ledgers: Carlton, Sion Hill and Rock Dundo, St. James (1889-1894) .229 5.2 Plantation Ledger: Charnocks, Christ Church (1888-1889) 230 5.3 Advertisement for the Ice Establishment, Bridgetown: June 1879 .231 5.4 Plantation Ledgers: Bromefield and Hannays, St. Lucy (1875-1886) 233 5.5 Calendar of Crop Over Events: 1976 243 5.6 Calendar of Crop Over Events: 1989 ..254 vii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure: 1. Map of Barbados xiii 2. The Landship on parade, Independence Day, 30 November 1974. 187 3. The Rodney performing their 'hop/drop' exercise at a Landship parade, October, 1974 187 viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS BA: Barbados Archives CO: Colonial Office Records, Public Records Office, UK JBMHS: Journal of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society The Times: refers to the 1875-1888 editions of the Barbadian newspaper published in Bridgetown, Barbados. ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I would like to thank all of my informants, especially the members of The Barbados Landship, for sharing their thoughts and experiences with me. I also thank my supervisors at Warwick, Professor David Dabydeen and Dr. John Gilmore. I especially thank David for his insightful comments on the drafts and for those moments of sound West Indian cheer. I thank John especially for the knack of sending me off in search of the most obscure 17th and 18th century references, which turn out to be exactly what was needed for the argument. I thank the staff and students of the Centre for British and Comparative Cultural Studies. Special thanks to the Centre for Caribbean Studies, especially to the Director, Dr. Gad Heuman, and Secretary, Majorie Davis. I am indebted to Professor Fred Inglis who first encouraged me to do this project in 1993. I thank him for giving freely of his time, after he left Warwick, to read drafts and critically analyse the work and thus see it through to completion. Special thanks to Professor Jerome Handler for his advice, and for making his own work available for me to read. I also thank the staff at the Barbados Archives, the Barbados Public Library, the British Newspaper Library, the British Library and the Public Records Office. Thanks also to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Youth Affairs in Barbados for nominating me for the Commonwealth Scholarship and granting me leave to do this project. Many persons walked with me on this journey. I thank those in Barbados, especially Peta Alleyne, Dr. Richard Goodridge, Trevor Marshall, Sandra Newton and Dr. Pedro Welch. I thank Dr. Mike Alleyne for all those supportive emails from Tallahassie and Professor Michael Levine for those words of advice from occasionally dreary Toronto. x Of those who walked with me here at Warwick, I especially thank Dr. Ozlem Berk, Tony Bethel-Bennett, Edgar Hassan, Elma-Gene Isaacs, Marianna Torten, Donna Thompson, Lisa Wickham-Branche, Kathy Williams, and all members of the Caribbean community whose very presence kept me sane. Special thanks to Valda Henry for the exemplary healthcare during my chicken pox saga. Special thanks also to Pauline Yates for rescuing me from my printing woes at the end. Warmest thanks to Juanita Haynes, for sisterhood and friendship, and for making 9A Samos Road the haven to which I could escape and collect my thoughts. Thanks also Asa Haynes. Now four years old, I thank him for keeping me in touch with the curious things of life. One of the persons who encouraged me to do this thesis was Captain Faye Darlington. I am indebted to Faye for her support, even in the last months of her life. My Mother, Hazel Patricia Burrowes, provided much needed love and spiritual guidance. She also sacrificed the most through my absence from Barbados over the years. I give her my love and my gratitude. Finally, my thanks to God and to my spirits, who, as Kamau Brathwaite would say, opened the door for me. xi DECLARATION Herewith, I declare that all of the work presented in this thesis is entirely my own, unless otherwise referenced, and has not been submitted for any other award. xii ABSTRACT This thesis explores issues surrounding Barbadian cultural identity in the post-colonial period. Emphasis is placed on the role of history in constructing cultural identity. Beginning with the debate involving the Lord Nelson statue which stands in the capital of Barbados, the question of negotiating post-colonial space is closely examined in the three case studies that form the body of the research. These are based on evidence gathered from both archival and secondary sources, as well as personal interviews. The case studies review the following: the history of the usage of the 'Little England' motto and its renewed use in the post-colonial period; the historical development of the community group known as the Landship, whose trademark is to wear naval livery and dance their naval manoeuvres during their parades; the history of the Harvest Home/Crop Over festival of the slavery and post-slavery periods, as well as the history of the modern street festival that it has become. The thesis argues that elements of the colonial discourse gain new life in the post-colonial period because of the struggle between the colonial narrative of History and the emerging new histories. It proposes that in this Barbados example, the performance culture has provided new grounds for advancing the process of decolonisation. 59°30'W Speightstown St James Holetown —13°10'N St Thomas St Michael BRIDGETOWN 0 5 km Highways 1-7 0 3 miles Land over 300 m q. Land over 150 m =MEP M.• Parish boundaries 59°30'W Topography of Barbados Source: Hilary Becldes, A History of Barbados: From Amerindian Settlement to Nation-State (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), p. viii. 1 INTRODUCTION They sowed in the depths the seeds of an invisible presence. Edouard Glissant, Caribbean Discourse: Selected Essays, tr.