University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations Dissertations and Theses August 2015 An Ethnography of African Diasporic Affiliation and Disaffiliation in Carriacou: How Anglo-Caribbean Preadolescent Girls Express Attachments to Africa Valerie Joseph University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2 Part of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Joseph, Valerie, "An Ethnography of African Diasporic Affiliation and Disaffiliation in Carriacou: How Anglo-Caribbean Preadolescent Girls Express Attachments to Africa" (2015). Doctoral Dissertations. 370. https://doi.org/10.7275/6962219.0 https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/370 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations and Theses at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. 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AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF AFRICAN DIASPORIC AFFILIATION AND DISAFFILIATION IN CARRIACOU: HOW ANGLO-CARIBBEAN PREADOLESCENT GIRLS EXPRESS ATTACHMENTS TO AFRICA A Dissertation Presented By Valerie Joseph Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May 2015 Department of Anthropology © Copyright by Valerie Joseph 2015 All Rights Reserved AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF AFRICAN DIASPORIC AFFILIATION AND DISAFFILIATION IN CARRIACOU: HOW ANGLO-CARIBBEAN PREADOLESCENT GIRLS EXPRESS ATTACHMENTS TO AFRICA A Dissertation Presented by Valerie Joseph Approved as to style and content by: _______________________________________ Robert Paynter, Chair _______________________________________ Amanda Walker Johnson, Member _______________________________________ Kevin Quashie, Member ____________________________________ Tom Leatherman, Department Head Department of Anthropology DEDICATION For my husband, Jim, who supports and loves me beyond all possible reckoning. And when music comes to us With its heavenly beauty It brings us desolation For when we hear it We half remember That lost native country From the poem "Music" by Anne Porter ACKNOWLEDGMENTS One evening, about twenty-five years ago, I attended a scholarly lecture on palm reading. Held in an upscale Washington, D.C. bookstore, the gentleman offered, after the talk, to read the palms of anyone who was interested. I got on the line and when it was my turn, he looked at my palm and said, “You’re going to get your doctorate.” In that moment, I realized he was a quack. How fitting, at this moment, then, to acknowledge this gentleman who will never know how I held fast to his words as tightly as I’d hold a talisman in my fist. During my most difficult times in this journey, I’d say “Maybe he wasn’t a charlatan. Maybe he was right and I actually will succeed in finishing this degree.” Thank you wherever you are. You helped me get through. Thirty years ago, I videotaped a group of young girls performing “cheering” and knew that I was witnessing something beautiful and special. They do not know how powerfully they moved and influenced me to explore African retentions in the Americas and the ways in which Africa has deep meaning whether or not we acknowledge that fact. Thank you. There are so many other people whom I will unintentionally neglect to mention. And I apologize in advance. I am rushing to get this thing submitted and this section, correctly done, should have taken a week or so. But, I am at the eleventh hour! If your name or affiliation is not listed, please know as you read this, that I feel regret for the lost opportunity to honor you publically. To my friends and family and folks in Carriacou, how I miss you. I miss the rock-solid daily sense of belonging that I experienced during the three years of fieldwork vi which was “home” work. That connectedness was sustaining as the warmth and light of the sun (which I also miss terribly). You challenged me, you loved me, you supported me. Thank you for the wisdom and the warmth. I learned a lot from you and look forward to the next time I will be in Carriacou. I have to thank my family in Carriacou and Grenada, on both sides, and friends. If I try to name them all, I will inevitably miss many but I must name Kervin Stiell, Hilda Stiell, Trevor Stanislaus, Diane Stanislaus, Earl Stanislaus, Nestor Stanislaus, Magdalene Antoine, Peter Antoine, Rooney Alexis, Ronnie Alexis, Gertrude Alexis, Fitzroy Alexis, Denise Alexis, Phil Alexis, Sonny Alexis, Natasha Alexis, Stephen Alexander, Clemencia Alexander, Barba Alexis, Rosemary Ballen, Agnes Bibby, Cosnel McIntosh, John Oscar Blair, May Blair McKensie, Bertrand, Bennet Frank, Joan Bristol, Barbara Charles, Cuthbert Snagg, Margaret Epps, Michael Caesar, Christine David, Corine McDonald, Ifil Joseph, Vena Joseph, Alexia David, Winston Fleary, Merlyn Gay, Cleopatra Lambert, Francelyn Lessey, Irene Leopold, Felicity McCloud, Mary Noel, Rena Noel, Luther Rennie, Frances Phillip John (Sister), Sharon Bristol, Patrick Compton, Ruben Patrice, Pastor Guy, Sister Guy, and Venus. Thank you. And, all the children, especially the girls! Thank you. I acknowledge my first advisor, Dr. Enoch Page, who believed in me from the beginning and encouraged me to not settle for simplistic or lazy readings or analyses but to go beyond what I thought I could do. He said that sometimes “Black people are given success in exchange for being limited.” He pushed me to think about how limiting myself was not only an emotional act, grounded in a personal integration of racial subordination, but a political act that helps to sustain a system of White privilege. Thank you so very much. vii My dissertation committee was the best committee in the world! The feedback and support I received was incomparable. I grew in so many ways because of your enormous contributions to my thinking. You all challenged me in the best ways possible. Thank you to former members, David Samuels and Martin Wobst. Thank you to the current committee: Amanda Walker Johnson, Kevin Quashie and my incredible, amazing, chair, Robert Paynter. Bob, when I had absolutely no faith, when I panicked and knew I was not going to finish (at least not in May 2015), when I thought I was going to jail (not really but still!), you were the warm calm voice that said, “We’ll get you through this.” You encouraged me to write in any way I could, giving me exactly the right amount of the freedom and guidance that I needed. You understood my work and made the powerfully insightful suggestions that helped me bring forward the critical insights that, for all its flaws, make me proud of this dissertation. Thank you. I need to thank my fellow Anthropology students, especially the Sister Scholars who are all brilliant and powerful folks: Andriana Foiles (Xmas!), Vanessa Martinez, Julie Skogsbergh, Samantha Davis (Political Science), Evelyn Jeffers, and Donna Moody. Thank you ladies! Writing together in the same space, sharing food and talking about our struggles and accomplishments was so important. I am glad we did it. The warmth and support from other anthropology folks must be mentioned: Liz Braun, Angela Labrador, Juan Florencia, Chris Douyard, Zach DuBois, Kamela Heyward, Anthony Martin, Quentin Lewis, Alanna Rudzik, Broughton Anderson, Chris Sweetapple, Vania Payne, Heidi Bauer-Clapp. Thank you all. I have to thank the professional administrative staff in the department office: Debbie Averill, Grace Rock, Lisa Wegiel, and Shelley Silva. They are, each one, beyond viii excellent. Shelley, you helped me get through the paperwork and bureaucracy with such good humor and the utmost professionalism. You are just wonderful. Thank you to friends outside of the department who have known about this project for years and years: Chas. Brack, Mary Anna Ireland, Howard Kaplan, Elaine Brigham, Diane Fedorchak, Roma Kaplan, Camille Davis, Mary Pat Dunleavey, Carol Webster, Hermence Matsotsa, Robin Waite, Rosemary Stanfield Johnson, Jennifer Berman, Donna Mejia, Dimi Reber and Vanessa Adel, my Movement Therapy cohort, especially Motohide Miyahara; my Social Justice Education cohort, especially Lisa Dawn Thompson and Tanya Kachwaha. Thank you my friends. Your love is a force of nature that I can feel all the time. To Brian and Lois Carroll, I am in awe of your bottomless well of love, generosity and good will. Thank you for giving me your support without question. To my parents, Michael Joseph and Monica Joseph. Thank you for your never- ending belief in me. You always knew I could do it. Never once did you reveal a modicum of doubt even as the years slowly passed and you saw me struggle. Never did you say, “Are you sure you want to stick with this?” You just kept encouraging me in the most matter-of-fact ways. Thank you so much for that. And, my dad’s wife, Helen. Thank you for your enthusiastic bolstering of me. To my sisters (in-law), and all my brothers and other brothers (in law), thank you all. When we would be on vacation together and I stayed at the computer all those times, you never let me feel left out even though I had to be left out in order to do my work. You were always encouraging, always welcoming. That meant a lot to me. Thank you. ix To Mogatsaka (Daddy Boom Boom) and Zanaya (Baby Boom Boom). I love and appreciate you both. There are not enough words in the world to express what I feel. You are intrinsic to who I am and what I do everyday. Ke a lo rata. Thata. x ABSTRACT AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF AFRICAN DIASPORIC AFFILIATION AND DISAFFILIATION IN CARRIACOU: HOW ANGLO-CARIBBEAN PREADOLESCENT GIRLS EXPRESS ATTACHMENTS TO AFRICA MAY 2015 VALERIE JOSEPH, B.A., ANTIOCH COLLEGE M.A., ANTIOCH NEW ENGLAND M.A. UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS, AMHERST M.A.