June 2014
Female Genital Mutilation campaign for total ban. Caroline Muraldo talks dance. Caribbean Ethnicity. Daughter of the Diaspora, Zanana Akande.
Issue 24
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Contents
Female Genital Mutilation campaign for total ban. page 3 Time for Change.
page 5
Caribbean Ethnicity
page 12
Women directors
page 17
The dangers of D deficiency page 20 Daughter of the Diaspora
page 22
The delightful Tonka bean
page 28
Cover photo courtesy Google images
Published by Culturepulse through Issuu.com Editor - David Kalloo Advertising and sales - Culturepulse Production and design - Cashewmedia Contact: culturepulse@hotmail.co.uk www.issuu.com/culturepulse Twitter: @culturepulse1 Facebook: facebook.com/culture.pulse.3 Member: European Press Federation Contributing writers: Ansel Wong, Mas Assassin, Nichola MacDonald, Soshina Stephen, Nasser Khan (Trinidad), Caroline Muraldo, Jimmy Kainja (Malawi), Akilah Holder (Trinidad), and Tessa Robinson,
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Female Genital Mutilation - campaign for a total ban.
Had it not been for #Bring Back our Girls I am sure that the current drive to highlight the horrific practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) would have dominated media banners. Female Genital Mutilation is nothing new, it is a practice that has been ongoing for centuries among certain cultures and, it does not pertain specifically to African countries. In fact it is prevalent in some Islamic cultures but not specific only to Islamic cultures. The practice is carried out in the Middle East, South America and Oceania, The US and Europe, however, according to UNICEF, the highest concentration of reported FGM is in Africa with Somalia, Egypt and Eritrea having the highest percentage of girls and women between the ages of 15 – 49 years who have undergone FGM.
practice.
its foreign aid budget ‘dedicated to the eradication’ of the procedure. The death of former Paris model and FGM campaigner Katoucha Niane has also propelled the plight of FGM to the fore in France. Niane herself was subjected to the procedure at the age of nine. Further afield in Canada, the Ontario Human Rights Commission has also endorsed their obligation as a signatory recognising FGM as a human rights violation and has since had a revised code to their 1996 legislation. In Canada there are over 70,000 immigrants and refugees from Nigeria and Somalia where FGM is practiced and there is strong evidence to suggest that many families send their daughters out of Canada to have the operation performed.
Earlier this month the Department for International Development hosted a meeting by the Young People’s Conference comprising of delegates from UNICEF, Plan, NSPCC, Karma Nirvana and Integrate Bristol which had FGM high on its agenda for its forth coming conference. Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron, in his address to the International Women’s Day called the practice ‘disgusting’ and said, “The country will not rest until someone was prosecuted” for the practice of Female Genital Mutilation. In backing his pledge, the Prime Minister has announced an investment of £35m of
Campaigns to have the procedure banned and, better educate people on the dangers of exposing young girls to such horrific experiences has had enormous success both on the African continent and Europe. Statistics show that in Egypt where the highest 3
percentage (91%) exists, and where almost 80% of FGM is carried out by a medical practitioner, just over 45% are in favour of FGM being banned altogether. However, in Benin, Ghana and Iraq almost 90% want the practice to stop.
procedure would be done in a more sterile environment.’ Although there is a strong message going out that FGM is bad for your health, people are turning to the medicalise option where it can be done safely. Orchid Project founder and chief executive, Julia Lalla-Maharajh emphasized that; ‘When female genital cutting is done by medical practitioners it carries the risk of the practice being seen as more acceptable.’ The London MEP, Marina Yannakoudakis has also added her voice behind the campaign against FGM, calling on the Home Secretary Theresa May to set up a unit to tackle FGM just like it has with forced marriages. At present the Met Police have launched anti FGM campaign at major UK airports including Heathrow where the focus is on flights to and from countries where the practice is prevalent.
Interestingly, in countries such as Guinea, Senegal, The United Republic of Tanzania and Guinea-Bissau many young girls are not opposed to FGM but would prefer better hygienic conditions for the procedure. Overall, support for the practice is on a decline especially with many people and communities having access to educational material regarding FGM. The result is a welcomed boost for those campaigners’ especially in countries such as Sudan and Egypt where the highest levels of FGM is documented.
David Kalloo
In recent months new evidence has emerged where British families are taking girls to Singapore and Dubai where the ‘medicalised’ FGM are carried out. A spokesperson for Coventry University said ‘people were flying there because they thought the 4
Time for Change? While there are so many factors, which have contributed to the current predicament describe, and many of the problems would be solved by the establishment of dance institutions dedicated to dance forms of Africa and the African Diaspora especially The Caribbean, I have chosen to consider first an issue that cries out for the most immediate attention. This is the problem of generic terms and how they are utilised as referents for the dance forms of Africa and the Caribbean.
If language is the exercise of power and the act of naming is an act of empowerment then what is not named or misnamed becomes an impotent backdrop for someone else’s story. (B. Dixon Gottschild 1996)
By Caroline Muraldo No matter how the work of practitioners of traditional dance forms from Africa and the AfricanCaribbean in Britain are considered, it is in crisis. While our more renowned companies are being down sized or closed down, the lesser known continue to cry out for administrative and financial assistance. In addition, too many educational institutions fail to see the real significance and value of utilising work from this area of dance including leading dance institutions.
Here lies an area of concern, which has far reaching consequences seriously hindering the possibility of significant progress towards the deserved recognition and appreciation. It is also an issue were the responsibility for and initiation of radical change rests squarely on the shoulders of the practitioners of traditional African and African derived dance forms.
Some of the issues stem from the lack of enough adequate training in technique and understanding of cultural and socio-historical background of the dance forms (the only way to combat this at the moment is to go to the country of origin), the dissemination of misleading or incorrect information about these dance forms and related issues both technical and academic, lack of opportunity for the development of teaching and choreographic skills appropriate to the work, the need for informed constructive critical discourse, severe lack of cohesion and mutual support within this area of the dance community, the forcing of the teaching of these dance forms into the mould of western dance forms, to name but a few. It also does not help matters that we are working within a marginalized area of practice, which is already generally undervalued within this society.
Currently the popular term for dances from African and the AfricanCaribbean section of the Caribbean peoples is the American term ‘African people’s dance’. This term appears to be favoured above terminology such as ‘Black dance’ or ‘African dance’ which is also employed to refer to encompass all dance forms that are African derived. Superficially all these terms appear to be logical and helpful as umbrella terms however when one considers the implications of such terms in more depth one will soon realise that in fact the consistent use of such terms contribute significantly to the perpetuation of the crisis outline above. Distinctions between African and African-Caribbean peoples are not commonly made by the indigenous 5
British community, while in Americas the American people of African descent are referred to as African-American and African-Caribbean, there is no equivalent generic term for the same section of the community in Britain other than Black-British. This situation is exacerbated by the lack of education regarding African and AfricanCaribbean cultures in our schools resulting in a general ignorance and awareness of the fact the Africa is the second largest continent consisting of arguably 54 countries, whose boundaries were actually created by colonial power, with between 1,500 to 2000 distinct languages crossing these boarders. Each language represents a distinct culture with a multitude of dialects according to the size of the population to which the language belongs, each dialect representing a subculture (for example Nigeria has 3 main languages and 347 dialects). Each of these cultures and subcultures have their own range of dances forms bearing in mind that African cultures have traditionally created dances to comment every facet of life such as rites of passage, specific occupations, community status, religious observance etc. This situation may well be a grossly misinformed legacy of Pan–Africanism which itself fought to promote the belief in the uniqueness and spiritual unity of African and Caribbean people’s.
action films, is nothing more than the idea of the half-naked savage shaking, shivering and jumping around, perpetuating the notion of the dances of the African continent having no structure or technique as expounded by early anthropologists and dance scholars such as Laban, Kirstein, Sachs, Sorrell. Consult any of the early books on the world history of dance and you will find no mention of the true nature of dances from Africa. Relegated as the focus of interest of the first chapter, leaving more than two thirds to relate the history of European classical and contemporary ballet, the books will depicted the dances of Africa if mentioned at all, along with the dance traditions of the South Pacific Central and South /America as ‘primitive’ and they may state that these ‘primitive’ dances are still performed today (Sorrell: Dancing Ancient and Modern) I doubt whether the Negro is capable of inventing any dance at all…a gift for dance inventing as well as the higher development of the other arts and sciences seem to be the privilege of other races…(Laban: A life for dance Macdonald & Evans Ltd London 1975) Is it any wonder that especially many children of black communities while proud to be ‘black’ often feel a shamed to be associated with their Africa heritage and anything perceived to be from the continent of Africa. To acknowledge oneself as black does not equate acknowledging oneself as ‘African’ or ‘of African heritage’. The pernicious brainwashing of colonialism left as one of its legacies still pervading the resultant cultures today, the view ‘ the nearer to white you are the better you are’ so while you
Mainstream media and education continue to make little attempt to challenge the notion of Africa being a place where there are starving black people with swollen bellies and flies crawling around their faces in constant need of the ‘white’ man’s aid. As for representations of dances from Africa, most often seen in a Hollywood jungle 6
cannot deny the obvious colour of your skin you can disassociate yourself from any part of your past that you wish. For example it was not long ago that I happened upon a conversation by members of a Caribbean elders group that I teach, were individuals were vehemently denying any African connection. Not an uncommon occurrence among any age group, furthermore, it is also not uncommon for me to come across both children and adults, from both white and black communities, referring to Africa as if it is one country and more than once in general conversation or when I teach dances from that part of the world I have been asked ‘do you speak African then?’
‘African-American’ thereby has a double association that encompasses the notions of both indigenous black Americans and African heritage in American hegemony. The term ‘African people’s dance’ is thereby understood in a cultural context, which supports understanding. On the other hand however, in Britain the use of the term ‘African People’s dance’ has no further significance than using the term ‘Black Dance’ which we shall consider shortly, as there is no equivalent hegemonic context in Britain to achieve the same aim. The term ‘African People’s dance’ refers to all the dance forms of the African continent and the African Diaspora ever conceived from the beginning of time to the present day. While the term ‘African dance’ is primarily used to denote traditional dance forms of all peoples’ from Africa it is also used in a different sense to include the African Diaspora. This is in the same sense as persons from the Diaspora referring to themselves as ‘African’ not to denote country of birth but ancestral heritage.
A few years ago a friend of mine who was head of dance at a secondary school in west London attended a national conference for dance teachers. At this meeting the lecturer showed a picture that depicted a moment from an African-Caribbean dance form yet referred to it as African. When my friend questioned this she was told that the difference was merely semantic. After many, many years of teaching and performing I have come across such occurrences time and time again.
In the British context, the word ‘African’ in both terms misleads understanding of what the term ‘African people’s dance’ actually means resulting in a the term ‘African people’s dance’ erroneously taking on the primary meaning of ‘African dance’. As a direct consequence the use of the term ‘African Peoples’ dance serves to make diasporic traditional dance forms invisible e.g. traditional Caribbean dance forms
In America there is no doubt who the term ‘African-American’ refers to, that is black people by virtue of the fact that they are of African heritage born and bred in America and allows this section of the community to be perceived quite distinctly from black people’s born and bred in the multitude of countries of Africa and the Caribbean living in America. In other words all of these people groups are black and all of African ancestry but of distinct cultures. The word ‘African’ in
The term ‘African Dance’ itself is not without its own problems. The equivalent of this term would be for example ‘European dance’. To 7
comprehend the ridiculousness of this term in most contexts, imagine yourself in Ghana on holiday and someone tells you there is a two-hour European dance class going on, what would your response be? Bewilderment? Even an ‘English’ dance class would leave you none the wiser as to what the content of the class was going to be. And yet there are very few people who would question the continued practice of entitling our courses ‘African dance’ While students have built up over the years an expectation of what they are going to study in these classes the term perpetuates the idea that African dance consists only of the handful of dances forms from Africa which are currently taught in this country.
It should now be clear that the utilisation of the terms ‘African peoples’ dance’, ‘African Dance’, ‘Black dance’, ‘Contemporary African dance’ and although each not totally without merit given the right contextual usage, are not only usually misnomers but obscure fundamental understanding. I find myself teaching classes entitled ‘African Dance’ or African-Caribbean Dance on the same course with fellow tutors teaching classes such as Ballet, Kathak, Jazz, Contemporary ballet. What does this imply? How can there possibly be parity between my class and that of my fellow tutors? The implication must be that the myriad dance forms of Africa and the Caribbean must be simple in the extreme and seriously lacking in technical challenge. After all if you can go to a dance class for one dance form week after week, year in year out and still need to attend in order to improve your technique and yet learn the dances of whole of Africa or the Caribbean (or both) in the time slot this must surely be the conclusion.
The term ‘Black dance’ fares no better. The term refers to the dance forms of Black people and therefore encompasses all that the terms ‘African peoples dance’ and ‘African Dance’ in its both senses denote. Yet the term ‘Black Dance’ can be perceived as an even larger generic term as it arguably also includes the work that is performed or choreographed by a black practitioner. While the work itself does not have to be of African origin the practitioner must.
It is clear to me that even specialists in the world of dance have drawn this conclusion. For example while teaching at a dance department at a leading university I was once informed that a discussion had been held in my absent as to whether there was enough information about the dances of Africa and the Caribbean to develop a three year course. I was astounded. Experts from a variety of non-African or nonAfrican derived dance forms held this discussion. The fact is that all too often our work is seen as merely ‘good fun’ with little appreciation or understanding of the rich inherent value and potential contribution that could be made by these dance forms to
There is also a fourth term that has recently started to utilised more frequently which is ‘contemporary African dance’ while this term at least attempts to place the work within a particular time period, that is the present, thereby disassociating itself with historical traditional dance forms the term is still far too broad to have any real definition for the reasons already outline above.
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the development and appreciation of dance and dancers in this country, an opinion that I have actually heard voiced more than once
polyrhythmic, polycentric and polydynamic usage of the body that often exists within any single movement i.e. there can be at least two or more simultaneous rhythms with a specific dynamic for the execution of these rhythms within each utilised body part and each movement initiated from a different part of the body ( Dixon Gottschild 1996).
How can one justify stating that one is teaching African or African-Caribbean dance if this multifaceted area of dance is as enormous as I have outlined? The important factor to note here is that the emphasis of the ‘African or African-Caribbean dance’ class is quite different to that of other dance classes. Students are given the opportunity to merely physically ‘taste’ a range of dance vocabulary from a range of dance forms (albeit a very limited range in light of the title of the classes) rather than to perfect a range of dance vocabulary and technique within a specific dance form as in other dance classes. Unless this fact is fully explained by the tutors, the repercussion of this practice is the idea that the multitude of dances of Africa and the Caribbean can be learnt within a few weeks of one class a week while other non- African or African derived dance forms take years to perfect.
In addition the dances traditions are taught completely out of context and therefore devoid of purpose and cultural understanding. It is therefore generally considered unlikely that vast majority students will ever truly master the dance vocabularies, as they should be performed as in their original context, no matter how long the students work at it. Detailed proficiency in specific dance forms thereby becomes secondary to physical challenge and enjoyment. It may however be time to reconsider this notion. While the argument for the current practice maybe arguably based on a sound premise, there is an urgent need to recognise that while the teaching of traditional dances from Africa and The Caribbean continues to be put on a par with specific single non-African or African derived dance forms under ridiculously broad umbrella terms the notions of inferiority in regards to the dances from Africa and The Caribbean will continue to be perpetuated. The answer is surely it is to either stop the current practice in favour of specialism or add specialism to the current practice as an important opportunity for students to study dance forms into the same depth as other dance forms popularly taught in this country.
There are many reasons underlying this practice but a main one is that the vast majority of students attending this type of class tend to be of non-African heritage and those of African heritage brought up in English society whose movement background is likely to be completely contrary to the requirements of any dance vocabulary taught in these classes, muscle memories have been establish that are extremely difficult to change. For example while western dance forms tend to be mono-rhythmic, monocentric and mono-dynamic three fundamental interdependent characteristics shared by dance forms from Africa and the Caribbean are the 9
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This would mean reaching deep into the forms and insisting on correct physical and contextual understanding incorporating the meaning and employment specific the form, rather than the norm of touching a range of unconnected dances that does nothing to further the appreciation of the complexity of this area of dance as a whole.
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Further to this, there needs to be a move away from the careless use of the generic terms ‘African peoples’ dance’, ‘African Dance’, ‘Black dance’ and ‘Contemporary African dance’ in favour of much more apposite terms. Even to entitle a class ‘traditional dances from Gabon’ would at least make dancers aware that there is a country in Africa by this name and that the dances they will be studying will be specific to cultures of that area. It would be even more informative to entitle long term classes with the name of the specific sub-culture from which the dance form has been derived or even better the actually dance form. In the interests of the future and development of African and African derived dance forms, the title of one off workshops or short term courses should be specific and teachers of these forms must begin to prefer concentrating one or two dance forms more in depth rather than introducing any more than that. In this way an important shift can be made which towards educating the perception and appreciation of the true nature of dance forms from Africa and the Caribbean.
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Ethnicity and Identity in the Caribbean By David Kalloo
The Caribbean is a mosaic of ethnic
diversity, linking the archipelago with a multitudinous people, culture, religion and race. Christopher Columbus accidental discovery of the Caribbean in the 15th century fired the starting pistol that has shaped ethnicity and race in the region. This was perpetuated later by slavery and indentureship that followed the abolition of the slave trade. Race, religion, linguistics and customs are all symbolic in the way how Caribbean identity and ethnicity are constructed and how it has shaped Caribbean societies today.
Traditional African Drumming in Tobago
Already, we begin to see the complexities of Caribbean identity at a glance through its diversity of ethnicities in a region of a complex racial structure of many ethnic peoples.
Race and ethnicity is a complex area in any society. However, the structure of the Caribbean is made up of islands and colonies on the peripheries of the Caribbean Sea which add to its complexities. Mervyn C. Alleyne in his book The Construction and Representation of Race and Ethnicity in the Caribbean and the World, explains the mixture of ethnicities in the Caribbean:
Ralph Premdas, like Alleyne, recognises the complexity of the Caribbean structure and gives his description of the regions: There are whites, blacks, browns, yellows, reds, and an assortment of shades in between. There are Europeans, Africans, Asian Indians, Indonesian Javanese, Chinese, Aboriginal Indians, and many mixes. There are Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Rastafarians, Santeria, Winti, Vudun etc. They speak in a multitude of tongues- Spanish, English, Dutch, French, and a diverse number of Creoles such as papiamentu, sranan tongo, ndjuka, saramaccan, kromanti, kreyol, as well as Hindustani, Bhojpuri, Urdu,etc. In whatever combinations of race, religion, language, and culture they cohere and coexist, they dwell on small islands and large………Perhaps no other region of the world is so richly varied.
The first important socio-historical fact is the relatively large number of different ethnic groups thrown together in a relatively small physical spaces (in some cases less than one hundred square miles) and therefore unable to avoid one another. In addition to the indigenous peoples, there were Europeans of different nationalities, ethnicities and subethnicities, Africans, of different ethnicities, Indians (also diversified), Chinese, Arabs, Jews, Japanese.............in many or most cases, all these different groups were significantly represented in these small spaces. 12
abandoned in favour of the allencompassing 'negro' a word that was adopted and used to describe African slaves and became associated with slavery. Although they were deprived of their ethnic names the cultural traits of African slaves survived. Stuart Hall asserts that: Customs and traditions that were retained in and around slavery, in plantation, in religion, partly in language, in folk customs, in music, in dance……survived the trauma of slavery. Garifuna women in Belize
Through this survival, many of the African ethnic identity are still visible in the Caribbean territories today. One of the traits of African culture that is homogenous throughout the region is African percussions in the music, from calypso to reggae. These customs and traditions survived not because of an individual ethnic group but as a collective Africaness.
Photo courtesy Robert Singleton
Here we can see how the region is made up of a diverse population it is by large made up of people predominantly from African descent, with the exception of Trinidad, Suriname and Guyana where there is a large percentage of Indians (Asian) who came to the Caribbean through indentureship. In some of these territories the ratio is almost evenly distributed. What is crucial here too, is the diversity of languages that is part of the multi-ethnic Caribbean.
There is a common identity that links the Caribbean regardless of race, religion, cultural customs or linguistics. That link is migration. The ethnic construction of the Caribbean is based on migration to the region and Hall makes the point that: 'The histories of migration forced or free, of peoples who now compose the population of these societies whose cultural traces are everywhere intermingled with one another.'
Slavery had displaced millions of Africans over hundreds of years to the Caribbean. It is in the Caribbean that the identity of ‘African’ took shape. Slaves brought to the region came from various tribal groups on the African continent. Many of them from the Ibo, Ashante, Yoruba and Mandinga tribes. During slavery, the Africans were devoid of constructing or defining their identity, according to Alleyne apart from being: 'Unable to construct and define freely their own identities ........had to accept definitions of themselves imposed from outside.'
These cultural traces that Hall speaks of helped to shape ethnic identities in the Caribbean by the people of the diaspora. In order to proclaim an identity they had to look back to a place from where they had never been. This was their quest to find an anchor, to establish some ancestral placement in the perceived homeland. Many second generation AfricanCaribbeans and Indo-Caribbeans had never been to Africa or India. For that matter neither had second generation
Stripping the slaves of their identity the colonial powers assault was their re-naming of the people. Ethnic African names were quickly 13
Portuguese, Chinese, Javanese, Syrians or Lebanese. Second generation Caribbean people of whatever ethnicity constructed the notion of a homeland or 'Mothercountry' through narratives.
or villages, but invisible imaginary homelands.’
ones,
For many people in the diaspora to the Caribbean-and those out of the region, there is the inherent need to re-enact through narratives in order to construct identities amid intermingled societies. These narratives constructed from memories and myths weld together a sacred attachment to the imaginary homeland. Indians who arrived in the Caribbean constructed similar narratives and myths holding in high esteem the India that they left as a mystical place. Hindus and Muslims identified themselves not by caste and ethnicity but by belonging to India, the sacred land. Professor Seecharan of the Caribbean Studies Centre at London Metropolitan University recalls his greatgrandmother: ‘Kalia, could not read Hindi or English; yet she kept to the end a copy of Hanuman Chalisa, an excerpt from the Ramayana…..I recall, as if it were yesterday, this tattered booklet smeared with incense, obviously used, but certainly unread. This was no eccentricity: it came from India and for years after her death…..it was brought out on auspicious days, and ritually touched as it were the last link to an ancestral essence.’
It is through narratives that people connect with that ancestral space, remembering and also forgetting aspects of identity. Stewart Hall argues: '.......Identity is always a question of producing in the future an account of the past; that is to say, it is always about narratives, the stories cultures tell themselves about who they are and where they came from.'
One interesting aspect of people and the ideology of the homeland is when they do return to that ancestral space. There is an often a stark reality that the place imagined is not the place they had perceived. West Indian writer Mary Condé, while in Africa discovered that her identity in relationship to her ethnicity was far different to what she had imagined, Condé confessed: ‘When I was living in Africa I was just a French West Indian living in the motherland.....I discovered that Africa was not my homeland.....Africa helped me to discover that I am not an African. I
A cross-section of Trinidad's diverse population
Salman Rushdie equates the same ideology as Hall regarding the diasporic people and the relevance of remembering and forgetting when looking back to the homeland. ‘...If we do look back, we must also do so in the knowledge-which gives rise to profound uncertainties-that our physical alienation.....almost inevitably means that we will not be capable of reclaiming precisely the thing that was lost; that we will, in short, create fictions, not actual cities 14
understood that I did not really belong there. I am not an African. I am West Indian and I belong to the West Indies, Africa helped me to see exactly who I am.'
identity. Countries such as Bosnia where conflict between Serbs and Croats, both sharing the same faith, are locked in conflict of ethnic cleansing. The same fate gripped Rwanda with the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups in Africa. The fall of Sadam Hussain’s regime in Iraq has added fuel to the flames of ethnic conflict between the Sunis and Shiite Muslims there. These countries have been thrown into turmoil when mass genocide took place, wiping out ethnic lineage purely on the grounds of the belief that, ethnic superiority prevails over the other through politics.
How do we perceive ethnicity and its relation to identity? Alleyne argues that ‘physical features are the bases for the construction of racial (and colour) classification.’ These features can be host things; from the hair texture to facial features such as the shape of the nose, to an array of skin pigmentations. However, race and colour are not the only component of identity. In the political sphere, different ethnicities can form a political identity. Alleyne citing a claim that Walter Rodney made: 'Black Power.....in the West Indies......refers primarily to people who are recognisably African or Indian.' In describing black people of Trinidad and Tobago Alleyne refers to a quote by Millette who says that, 'When I speak about black people in Trinidad and Tobago, I speak of people who are drawn from Indian stock as well as people who are from African.' Yet when the calypsonian Leroy Calliste, aka Black Stalin sang the calypso Caribbean Man, East Indians in Trinidad and Tobago felt that Black Stalin referred specifically to Africans who had crossed the Atlantic during slavery. Some time later another calypsonian, Brother Marvin sought to redress the imbalance by incorporating an Indian theme to his song Jahaji Bhai. In a sense, Marvin is redressing the voyage of the Indians across the Kala Pani (black water) to the Caribbean, which like the Africans, would eventually become their new homeland.
Although there are areas of conflict in the Caribbean, the region has been spared of such atrocities as ethnic cleansing. In the Caribbean countries where there is an almost even balance of African and Indians (such as Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname) there have been incidents that were deemed a form of ethnic cleansing. Premdas records the claims of an Indian female member of parliament protested in Trinidad: 'Ms. Hulsie Bhagan an Indian member of the Trinidad and Tobago parliament charged the African-dominated ruling regime........with complicity in ‘ethnic cleansing’. At a time a spate of crime had hit central Trinidad where Indians predominated........Ms. Bhagan’s outburst that Indian women were being terrorize and raped by African men.’ Bhagan’s claims proved unfounded and her views were not shared neither by her Indian counterparts nor the general public. A similar experience took place in the early 70s when Rastafarians in Trinidad was singled out and blamed for a spate of armed robberies that plagued the country.
Ethnicity and identity within the political sphere have provoked ethnic conflict in many countries where ethnicity and race construct an
Premdas raises another area where the occurrence of ethnic cleansing was being perceived. In this case it was in 15
Guyana, another country where there is a large proportion of Indians and Africans. He writes that: 'The defeated African dominated party (PNC) charged the newly elected Indiandominated Peoples Progressive Party with ‘ethnic cleansing’ because of the dismissal and reshuffle of personnel in the predominately African public service.'
Though the Caribs have lost some vital traits in their identity, some craft skills are still maintained such as; canoe making and basket weaving which are cultural forms of Carib ethnicity. In Belize, there is another group known as Island Carib or Black Carib but more correctly as Garifuna. This ethnic group are in fact: ‘The best preserved forms of the ancestral language and culture of the islands (Lesser Antilles) are thus now to be found in these communities on the Caribbean coast of Central America', making the Garifuna’s one of the purest Africans in the Caribbean.
These ethnic cleansing claims did not incur conflict as did clashes in Suriname between the Creoles and the Maroons. Premdas noted further that ‘The Bush Negroes had been submitted to genociadal treatment; many were displaced from their traditional homeland.’ Because of this conflict many were force to migrate while others sought refuge in refugee camps in neighbouring French Guiana.
The traumas of slavery not only destroyed cultural ethnicity among the African population but also the language of the African race in the Caribbean. Clearly from the people that have migrated to the Caribbean and to quote Hall “forced or free”, their language has been preserved as part of their racial and ethnic identity. The French language is still widely spoken in the French Caribbean islands as is Spanish in the Hispanic Caribbean and too English in the English Caribbean territories. There is no single island in the Caribbean where African language is preserved culturally or otherwise.
The Maroons were subjected to areas of inhospitable conditions in order to survive and having faced near genocide in Suriname. Alleyne accounts that: ‘The most notable case of a group which has preserved and consciously recognizes an African ethnicity is that of the maroon societies of Jamaica and Suriname. The life span of these groups has stretched from the inception of these New World societies to present time.’
This loss of ethnic continuity owes its demise to colonial subjugation. On one hand the French ensured that slaves were assimilated into French culture and religion and in doing so slaves had to learn to speak French. The British on the other hand - brutal in their subjugation- did not deem slaves worthy enough to worship through the medium of Christianity. In contrast indentured labourers from India were allowed to a great extent to be free to worship in their given faiths.
Other groups that have preserved some ethnic and cultural identity are the Caribs on the island of Dominica. Here however, the Caribs retained some measure of racial phenotype. Alleyne argues that: This phenotype is becoming less distinctive as more and more miscegenation with the non-Carib population takes place..........The community has not preserved the Carib language, but speak Frenchbase Creole language........it is Roman Catholic by religion, with no traces of syncretic forms.
Aspects of African religious cultures survived through masking their forms of worship with that of Christianity. In Cuba the religious aspects of the slaves 16
were masked in Catholicism in the Senteria, many of the African traits through drumming are visibly present in Cuban musical culture. Yoruba ethnicity took its forms in the Shango religion in Trinidad where it was met with strong opposition from the colonials and was not practiced openly until a few decades ago. Vodun or Voodoo religion, Haiti’s, national religion; are in some ways affiliated with Africa. However, Alleyne’s argument to this affiliation is the lack of support in 'being able to pinpoint the exact African modality with which they are ethnically linked.'
connotations that assign meaning and classification to race and ethnicity. Alleyne claims that these traits, 'have emanated from all human societies and go back as far in human history as we can fathom.' Given the regions’ past since the arrival of the Spanish, slavery then indentureship a clear picture begins to emerge of how these all helped in shaping a Caribbean identity that is fluid and ever changing. We can see clearly that the people of the Caribbean live amongst each other without ethnic conflict which exists throughout other global regions.
Perhaps one ethnic affiliation with the Caribbean that is not directly linked to Africa but born out of the virtues of the Maroons is the Rastafari religion. Their movement (religion) have spread beyond the Caribbean and into the Western world through migration and through its affiliation with reggae music that was perpetuated by one of the most prominent icons of Jamaican culture, Bob Marley.
There is a uniqueness that is inherently Caribbean, an identity that is not uniform; where no one island looks like the other, ethnically nor economically. Yet Hall describes that the Caribbean: …provides a kind of ground for our identities: something to which we can return, something solid, something fixed, around which we can organize our identities and our sense of belongingness……peoples cannot survive for long and succeed without the capacity to touch ground, as it were in the name of their cultural identities.
Reggae music as a Caribbean culture had also spread the language of the Rastafarian, Jamaican Creole or better known to Jamaicans as patois. Rastafarians too, have constructed an identity of homeland in Africa as the ‘Motherland’. They have cited a specific place in Africa- Ethiopia. Here they have formed links with Ethiopia, proclaiming Haile Salassie as their supreme leader.
Byron Lee, Jamaican musician of Chinese heritage
How does this Caribbean mosaic of ethnic diversity survive through a common identity? Does the emphasis on colour, race and class still, today influence how people see themselves in the universal phenomena of ethnicity and identity? The answer to that may be quite simply, yes. This is because of the way human beings denote and make 17
Is TV pushing out women directors? Recently, Directors UK (DUK) threw
High lights any diversity whatsoever, not since Desmonds, Porkpie, The Richard Blackwood show, The Crouches and The Kumars has any production company or television channel embarked on seeking to address this deficiency.
out a challenge to broadcasters to have at least 30% of all television programmes directed by women by 2017. The came in light of a study that found ‘significant inequality in key genres’ of of productions for television dramas.
The vice-chair of DUK Beryl Richards said: ‘The lack of monitoring of equality among the largely freelance directors workforce has had repercussions for freelancers.’ This has prompted the DUK to call on the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky to have explicit delivery ‘requirements for producers as part of their commissioning process.’ However, this is no guarantee that it would seek to redress the imbalance of women directors across the board.
Directors UK analysis found that during a decade (2003-2013) women were getting fewer opportunities in the industry and wants the industry to ‘reflect on its own membership’ where some 27% of its 1,418 members are women. The DUK revealed that women directed just 22.7% of the 142 series studied by the DUK. Phillipa Lowthorpe director of Jamaica Inn and Call the Midwife says: ‘early experiences and the chance to experiment really shape a director’s future.’ There is, according to the DUK an improvement in technology and science shows with a 29% being directed by women. However, there has been a total non-existence of women directors in areas such as Scifi/fantasy and Game shows/panel shows making up a total of 9% while entertainment and comedy muster a mere 12% during 2003- 2013. That figure was significantly reduced during the period 2011-12 to 2% and 8% respectively.
Ramjohn Holder and Norman Beaton in Desmonds
These figure does not take into account the lack of ethnic directors or for that matter Caribbean/African productions by directors from that ethnic perspective. The industry has been starved of any production that
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19
Missing the sun… The dangers of the D deficiency. Averdine Soshina Stephen. get to the problem. After a week waiting for my results, the blood works revealed that I was vitamin D deficient. I have never been D deficient in my life, growing up in the Caribbean and visiting at least once a year after my departure up until a 3 years ago, it had not affected me. After leaving the GP's office with an intravenous dose of the vitamin, curiosity led me to learn more about what my deficiency meant.
It was April, it was spring and I was feeling unusually low. I was constantly and continuously fatigued despite how well I seemingly slept, or how early for that matter. I was crying, literal tears, because I was not sleeping or resting…I was crashing on my bed by 7 pm and struggling to get out of bed for work the following morning. I had been a successful but wavering converted vegan and thought perhaps my body hadn’t adjusted to dietary change as well as I had anticipated, at the beginning; often getting the meals and vitamins wrong. Family and close friends suggested I should revert to the dairy eating vegetarian, which made me feel even more deflated and, devoid of energy. The very thought of failing a venture upon which I was really passionate to embark on was having an effect on me. I showed persistence and thought I’d give being a vegan a go yet again. After some additional research I sought out vitamins known to be lacking in a typical vegan diet such as B vitamins, a major support to normal energy yielding metabolism and contribute to the reduction of tiredness and fatigued, this should do it, I thought. The truth is I wasn’t eating well and, I sure as heck wasn’t resting well.
The first thing I learnt was that taking a good multi supplement, one that has the right proportions of vitamins and minerals is essential. However, that alone is not enough to stave off the dull gloomy heaviness of the winter blues. A balanced diet, good rest and regular exercise all contribute to optimum health especially, during the autumn and winter seasons and that special attention should be paid to people with specific dietary needs.
One Month into the course, and still no resemblance of spring or sun. I observed that my energy was not improving, I was still feeling tired, low, even sad and lacklustre. Being cautious, I contacted my GP who suggested some preliminary tests to
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So what is Vitamin D, and what is it good for?
65 years of age and lastly if you are exposed to less than 10-30 minutes of sun exposure at least twice a week.
Vitamin D is one of the important vitamins needed for good health. Vitamin D is made in our skin by activating and absorbing the ultraviolet rays of the sun. This can be inhibited by the weak sun in this hemisphere, time spent indoors and the use of sun blocks and sunscreens. Vitamin D is important for supporting a healthy immune system, supports muscle function, regulate mineral concentration of calcium and phosphorous in the body and maintains strong bones by calcium absorption.
Sourcing Vitamin D The best source of vitamin D is getting adequate exposure to the sun, at least a couple of hours a day on your face and arms (through a glass window does not count). Failing that, foods such as milk and salmon is another good source. A good supplement goes a long way and you can pick this up at any good health shops. You should also consult your GP or nutritionist (both of which I consulted) about the best supplement suitable to your needs. With summer soon upon us I for one would be taking advantage of topping up on my vit-D by basking in the sunshine - when it eventually appears.
Many people of African and Asian heritage report feeling low in energy, fatigued and run down during the winter months and are particularly at risk of vitamin D deficiency. Other criteria that contribute to the risk of the deficiency are if you live in a region with long winters, if your activities restrict you to long periods of time indoors, if you’re over
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Tribute to a daughter of the Diaspora, Zanana L. Akande She received a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters of Education. Zanana also went to the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Zanana Akande was married to Isaac who died in 1991, she has three children.
In keeping with our monthly column to feature someone from the Diaspora who has made significant contribution to their community and society, we present Canadian born Zanana Akande.
Following in her parents footsteps, Zanana worked as a school teacher and a principal for the TDSB. In the 1960’s at an early teaching position, Zanana was asked by colleagues to eat her lunch in the basement, away from rest of the staff. Although her complaint to the school board on racism was heard and adjustments made, Zanana never had lunch at the school again, preferring to eat off school grounds. Zanana designed programs for students with special needs and was a long-time member of the Federation of Women Teachers Associations of Ontario. In her Youth, Zanana was a member of the Co-Operative Commonwealth federation and was friends with future NDP leader Stephen Lewis and his siblings. Zanana was a long-time member of the NDP. She was elected for the NDP in the Torotno riding of St.Andrews -St.Patrick in the 1990 provincial election. She won a tight three way race against incumbent Liberal Ron Kanter and Conservative candidate Nancy Jackman.
Zanana L. Akande was the first black woman elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, and the first black woman to serve as a cabinet minister in Canada. Zanana L. Akande was born in Toronto in the Kennsington Market district. Her parents came from St. Lucia and Barbados, where they had worked as teachers, but because blacks were not allowed to hold teaching positions in Canada at the time they were unable to continue in their field. Zanana went to Harbord Collegiate, and then she attended the University of Toronto.
In that election the NDP won a majority government and Zanana was named Minister of Community and Social Services in Bob Rae’s first cabinet on Oct. 1. 1991. As minister, 22
Zanana presided over an increase in welfare benefits to Ontarians at the lowest income level. Her Government initially planned to phase out the provinces food banks as part of an anti-poverty strategy, but was forced to accept their continued existence. On May 4.1992, the so-called “Yonge Street Riot” occurred in Toronto due to media reports surrounding the Rodney King case, the acquittal of the LAPD officers charged, and the ensuing LA riots. While the damage along Yonge Street was relatively minor, it as a major event in Toronto, in order to manage the fallout from the incident, Rae appointed Akande as his parliamentary assistant. One of her accomplishments was the creation of the jobs Ontario youth program which created summer employment for thousands of youth from 1991-94. Zanana was a parliamentary assistant until Aug. 31 1994, when she resigned from the legislature in protest against Rae’s handling of the Carleton Masters controversy. Zanana returned to her former job as a principal.
Arts Against Apartheid Festival, Community Unity Alliance, the Congress of Black Women and Harbour front Centre. Zanana has also been the recipient of many awards including the African Canadian Achievement Award for Education, the Onyx Award for Exemplary Service to the Community, Black History Makers Award, and the Arbor Award from U of T and awards of distinction from the Congress of Black Women and the YWCA. She is also on the Committee on Youth Employment, Doctors Hospital, Nelson Mandela’s Children’s Fund and a board member of Factory Theatre as well as a lecturer at universities. Additionally she was also the co-founder of Tiger Lily, a newspaper for visible minority women and hosted a Toronto Arts Against Apartheid Festival.
In 2004, Zanana was awarded the Constance E Hamilton award for her work addressing equity issues in the community. As of 2006, Zanana was the president of Harbour front Centre and was on the boards of the YMCA and Centennial College. She is also a member of the Urban Alliance on Race Relations. Zanana is or has been a volunteer with many organizations such as the YWCA of Greater Toronto, United Way of Greater Toronto, the Family Service Association, Elizabeth Fry Society, Canadian Alliance of Black Teachers, Federation of Women Teachers Association of Ontario, Toronto Child Abuse Centre, Toronto 23
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Did You Know? Did you know that eating raw Kale or having it in smoothies can play havoc with your health? Raw cruciferous in vegetables can interfere with your thyroid function. Did you know that up to 36 percent of drugs sampled in the sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia have been found to be either fakes or of sub-standard? Did you know that in Panama’s Guna society when a man marries he goes to live with his wife’s extended family? If his wife gives birth to a daughter he is allowed to moved away and establish a household of his own. Did you know that the US National Security Agency intercepts and analyses up to 200 million text messages a day? Did you know that E-Cigarettes have proven to be more effective than nicotine gum and patches in helping to quit smoking? Studies carried out by University College London found that those using E-cigarettes were up to 60% more likely to quit smoking. Did you know that BA is offering flights and hotel accommodation to 13 Caribbean destinations, including Grenada, Trinidad and St Kitts starting from £549pp for 7 nights? Did you know that from July 2014 all London buses will be cashless? All fares on London buses must be prepaid through Oyster card or payment by debit or contactless cards. For those who do not have the correct fare on their Oyster card, you are allowed one journey. The fare will be debited when next you top up your card. Did you know that the sign making industry employs over 5 million workers across the UK? Did you know it is against the law to jump the queue at a bus stop. Did you know that using women in skimpy outfits to sell and promote products is still the most failsafe method of marketing? Almost 80% of companies use the method to promote their wares. Did you know it is illegal to carry a plank along a pavement? This is an offence under s 54 of the Metropolitan Police Act 1839. Other offences covered by s 54 include flying kites, playing annoying games, and sliding on ice or snow in the street. Did you know it is illegal to be drunk on licensed premises? Under s 12 of the Licensing Act 1872, “every person found drunk… on any licensed premises, shall be liable to a penalty”. It is also an offence under the Metropolitan Police Act 1839 for the keeper of a public house to permit drunkenness or disorderly conduct on the premises. Furthermore, under the Licensing Act 2003, it is an offence to sell alcohol to a person who is drunk, or to obtain alcohol for consumption.
Have you got a quirky piece of knowledge you would like to share? Send it to culturepulse@hotmail.co.uk
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27
The delightful Tonka bean
administered for snake bites while the oil from the beans was used for earaches and ear infections.
By David Kalloo
Tonka bean (Dipteryxodorata), for those of you who know the fruit will attest to its delightfully sweet mango like pulpy flesh and an almost chocolate taste. Tonka beans are native to South America and can be found in places such as Guyana, Suriname, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela and many other Caribbean islands including Trinidad.
Biological and clinical research have found that Tonka beans contains chologogue, choleretic, antispasmodic, hypoglycemic, anti-diuretic, antispermatogenic and anti-inflammatory actions. Studies carried out on animals ingesting high dosages of Coumarin found extensive liver damage, growth retardation, testicular atrophy and cardiac paralysis.
The Tonka bean trees grow from 10-30 metes tall and produces thousands of fruit each season. The name ‘Tonka’ derives from the Carib and Tupi Amerindians who used Tonka beans for medicinal purposes and the tree for timber and canoe making.
Eating Tonka bean fruit is not harmful and neither is the actual bean itself, unless consumed in large quantities which is highly unlikely as it is used sparingly when added to food products.
The Tupi Indians called the Tonka bean tree ‘Kumarin’ which may have translated into the main ingredient of Tonka bean known as coumarin, an ingredient that can prove lethal in large doses. The toxins in coumarin can cause liver damage and is known to be carcinogenic, hence the US and UK government imposing a ban of its use in food products. Tonka beans was used to flavour pipe tobacco, perfume and soaps.
Tonka beans are still used as a vanilla substitute in throughout the Caribbean and on the South American mainland and, in many Brazilian herbal medicines. It was noted that had it not been for the UK and US restrictions on Tonka beans and the ingredient coumarin, the beans might have enjoyed a similar commercial success as cocoa beans. One of my childhood experiences with Tonka beans in Trinidad, was the fun you had carving faces with various hair styles on the seed pod once you had consumed its sweet pulpy chocolatey tasting flesh.
Native Indians on South American mainland used Tonka beans as a herbal medicine, boiling the bark of the tree and bathing patients who suffered from high fever. The beans were also fermented in rum and
Dipteryx odorata Tonka bean, cumaru, amburana, rumara, kumaru, sarapia, charapilla, tonquin bean.
28
Frantz Fanon Frantz Fanon was born in 1925 to a
accept the consciousness of the
Middle class family on the French
French, identifying blackness with evil
colony of Martinique. At the age of 18
and sin. It is through these conditions
he left the island and volunteered to
that the black man is alienated from
fight with the Free French in World
himself. Before Fanon left France, he
War 2.
had begun to make analysis of racism and colonization with Black Skin
He remained in France to study
White Mask, base around lectures and
medicine and psychiatry on a
experiences in Lyon.
scholarship in Lyon where he married a French woman Jose Duble. Fanon’s
Fanon believes that the black man has
life was short-lived and in 196, he died
two dimensions, according to Fanon. A
of leukaemia. During his existence, he
black man behaves differently with a
devoted himself to understanding and
white man than he would with another
the psychoanalysing of racism with the
Negro. Much the same as any ethnic
European contact with the Negro.
group, for example, in England; an Asian person would interact differently
Fanon’s cultural background and
whilst among his/her fellow
experiences led him to conceive
compatriots than he/she would with
himself as French. Being born and
an English person.
raised in a French colony, schooled in a French system of education and
In Fanon’s assessment, though his
spoke the language of France.
analysis is more deep rooted, the Asian
Understandably, he would consider
would have retained an original
himself to be French. However, when
language whereas, the Negro would
Fanon encountered French racism, it
have lost his/hers through
decisively shaped his psychological
colonisation. In the case of the French
theories about culture and language.
colonies, becoming masters of the French language, however, this would
It is Fanon’s belief that to be colonised
be alien in France and considered
by a language has a larger implication
dialect.
in assuming culture. To speak French
Racism according to Fanon generates
as far as Fanon was concerned was to
harmful psychological constructs and
29
in an attempt to escape the association
masks. This interpretation, Fanon
with blackness with evil, the black man
may have found in linguistics.
dons a white mask. Fanon insists that
Claiming that language is also a
the two categories depend on each
cultural vehicle, however, the native
other. Neither can exists without the
had no language. The language he
other, like binary code.
spoke was the language of the master, the language that opened doors to
Fanon, like Cesaire believed he was a
French culture and society.
black Frenchman, but Fanon’s entire life was dominated by French
The notion that black was evil and
subjugation. To speak a language is to
white good, grabbed Fanon in looking
assume culture and both Fanon and
at the relationships with white men
Cesaire spoke French eloquently.
with women of colour. Fanon speaks
However, they were only French in
of Mayotte Capecia, a woman of colour
Martinique. In Martinique, they
obsessed with the white man. Mayotte
assumed the only culture they knew
was in no doubt that she wanted to
and assumed the language of France,
love a white man, claiming that it did
the language that had defined the
not matter whether he was handsome
Negro. Metropolitan France, the
or ugly; as long as he was white. His
colonizer had denied the Negro his
eyes blue and his hair blond. She had
language, thereby denying him his
detested her grandmother, a Canadian
Africanness.
could have loved a Martiniquean. Moyotte decided then that she could
The ideology of racism is endowed
never love anyone but a white man.
with colonialism. Fanon sees the oppression produced by the coloniser
Fanon became alienated with the
on the colonised where the coloniser
French imperials when the war for
exploits and, in Fanon’s terms, the
Algeria broke out. He resigned his
pauperization of the native. Thus,
post with the French government as
denying him the quality of a human
head of a Psychiatry hospital in Algeria
being.
and fled to Tunisia and openly supported the Algerian Independence
Fanon drew from his experiences as a
Movement.
Martiniquean and searched for a psychoanalytic interpretation to racism
For Fanon, violence was an important
and to why black men wore white
tool in the fight for liberation, for 30
violence as much as it can subjugate it
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In Fanon’s short life he had managed with his book Black Skin White Mask to a great degree of passion, explore and analyse the inadequacy and
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people of colour crippled and denied their basic right of speaking the language of the country. An act that has left a universal and psychological dent in the psyche of the black man,
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David Kalloo
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Maya Angelou (Marguerite Annie Johnson) 32
4 April 1928 - 28 May 2014