Martinique is a Caribbean island, which also happens to be a department of France. Due to the different people that are living there, and their cultural and social backgrounds, it makes Martinique a very unique place to live. Much of Martinique’s social policy and culture is influenced by France and their structures, mainly because unlike many other European colonizers, France never gave up or lost its hold on Martinique (Revauger). What are unique to Martinique as their own island, however, are their race, class, and gender systems. Though this has bee influenced by France, various other Caribbean islands, and the West Indies through various contacts with each culture and their people, it is combined into a culture that is all their own.
Though Martinique is not the only Caribbean island that France colonized, it is one of the few that are left under French control and therefore Martinican society is more like that of France’s than on any other Caribbean islands. This does not mean that everyone is okay with staying under French rule, though; there is a small group of nationalists, which fight and strive for independence for the island. Most of the population is contented with their autonomic place within the French Republic. Most Martinicans, while preserving French West Indian cultural identity through Creole language, music, cuisine, and mores prefer not to sever their political ties with France. Though being a department is not always positive, for the most part, Martinique and France have a mutually beneficial relationship. Martinicans, because they are considered French citizens, receive the welfare programs that France provides. This covers health care, retirement, benefits if they experience widowhood, and assistance fo...
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...e French influence that it has received, and is still getting through its departmentalization. In certain ways, Martinique looks a lot like the Westernized world and Europe; this can be seen in it’s economy, race relations, social welfare programs, and cultural norms. However, while colonization played a huge role in making Martinique what it is today, it’s native roots are still visible in much of the demographics of the country and the Creole presence within the department. Martinique is a unique Caribbean island in the sense that it never fought with its colonizers for independence, but it still has managed to blend the French, with the African, with the native, with the West Indian and has used different aspects of each of these cultures to ensure that no other place would be able to replicate Martinique in demographics, economy, culture, geography, or society.
Values, morals, traditions, and life styles differ from one culture to another and this can result in communication difficulties for people of varying backgrounds. From the text, one can conclude that the author’s mother grew up in Haiti and still has relatives living there (pgs. 2-3); therefore, she is very firm in her native customs. Countries such as Haiti tend to live by traditional ideologies and old school ways of living. Compared
The debate on Puerto Rican Identity is a hot bed of controversy, especially in today’s society where American colonialism dominates most of the island’s governmental and economic policies. The country wrestles with the strong influence of its present day colonizers, while it adamantly tries to retain aspects of the legacy of Spanish colonialism. Despite America’s presence, Puerto Ricans maintain what is arguably their own cultural identity which seems largely based on the influence of Spain mixed with customs that might have developed locally.
By tracing the roots of Puerto Rican development from the Spanish invasion to today, one can see the influence of the dominant power in the interaction between different races of Puerto Rico, effecting how they viewed each other, and themselves. Isabel’s family, which is composed of Spanish and Corsican immigrants, reflects the attitudes that helped form Puerto Rican racial divisions. While she speaks from the point of view of a member of the upper class, there is a great deal of history behind the attitudes that influence the House on the Lagoon that she only lightly touches upon. Although Puerto Rican society has been racially mixed, issues such as class, imperialism, and outside prejudices have created a split between the different races.
Haiti is one of the most unusual countries in Latin America as it is the only French-speaking nation in the Caribbean as well as the first to receive its independence. Haiti’s most unique characteristic, however, is in regard to race. “The population of Haiti on the eve of the French Revolution was made up of over 90% black slaves, with whites numbering only about 40,000 out of a total population of 519,000” . This large disparity can be explained due to the fact that, at one time, Haiti was one of the wealthiest places in the world during French colonization. At the time of the French Revolution in 1789, the sugar production of Saint Dominique exceeded that of all the British West Indies, and on the eve of the revolution the colony accounted for more than one-third of the foreign commerce of France. “Saint-Domi...
The island of Grenada is located in eastern side of the Caribbean and it is of a somewhat oval shape and about 120 square miles in size. In Grenada, English is the predominant language but French Patois is still spoken in many places. Grenadians are mostly black and of Christian faith but a small number of whites can be found on the island due to its Spaniard influence from the times of its discovery by Christopher Columbus. The volcanic terrain and because of its average temperatures of 80 degrees Fahrenheit, Grenada yields a lot of vegetation that consist of mostly of fruits and dense woods. In 1979 Maurice Bishop took power while the island faced hard economic times. Moscow and Havana quickly capitalized of Bishop’s seize of power in the island and within 3 days they sent in Cuban ships full of weapons and building materials. In November 1979 Bishop announced that Grenada would begin the construction of a 10,000 ft runway for a new airport on its southwest island called Point Salines. The issue with building this runway was that Cuba wa...
Marie-José N’Zengou-Tayo, “’Fanm Se Poto Mitan’”: Haitian Woman, the Pillar of Society in Feminist Review, No. 59, Rethinking Carribean Difference (1998): 118-142
The unification under Boyer lasted for twenty-two years. The Dominicans regained their independence from the Haitians in 1844. The political unrest in both countries between the time of their independences and the United States occupation of the nations of 1915 and 1916 was staggering. “Haiti had 33 heads of state, with an average time in power of 3.4 years. Meanwhile, between independence in 1844 and the U.S. military occupation in 1916, the Dominican Republic had 61 heads of state, with an average time in power of only 1.2 years” (Jaramillo & Sancak). The political landscape on both sides of the island were identical. There was no foreign interest on the Haitian side of the island from the period of their independence to the American intervention. Due to a chaotic political landscape and with Haiti’s policy of no foreign landowners allowed there was no hope for the previous Caribbean powerhouse to take its place on the throne of sugar
For years, the sugar plantations of the French colony of Martinique have been a major contribution to their economy. The amount of labour needed for the continued production of sugar lead to the immigration of contracted French labourers, enslavement of the remaining Indigenous population, and importation of enslaved Africans. The procurement of slaves was one of the methods used to curb the large capital required for the operation of these plantations. Although these slaves were emancipated in 1948, they still remained the majority of labourers working in the sugar plantations, even as ‘freed men’. The plantation systems are a huge part of Martinique’s economic history. Sugar plantation systems constituted a significant facet of France’s colonization of
Before the revolution started in Saint Domingue, Saint Domingue was producing 60% of the coffee around the world and produced 40% of the worlds sugar at the same time (Haitian Revolution, www.webster.edu). Comparing all the French colonies, Saint Domingue was the most profitable and the most successful of its possessions. Saint Domingue was the most prosperous and wealthiest island in the Caribbean, but for Plantation Owners. In 1789, mulattoes were about 28,000, followed by white people which where 32,000, and the last group was black slaves, which numbered up to 500,000 (Haitian Revolution, www.webster.edu). The lowest class in saint Domingue was the black slaves, which outnumbered the whites 10 to 1. Saint Domingue had so many slaves that out of the 1 million slaves at this time in the Caribbean, the slave population in saint Domingue mad up half of it. Since this colony was mostly driven by its slave labor, it was one of the richest and the colony that gave more profit of them all in that time. What made this colony one of the richest colonies was their land. Their soil was very fertile and it had and ideal climate, letting it grow a lot of its main productions, like sugar, coffee, cocoa, Indigo, tobacco, cotton and vegetables. When the revolution started to spark in 1789, there we...
The Pandora’s box of information that I have discovered about Puerto Rico under early U.S rule provide some fascinating details on the background of contradictions that characterize debates on the political, economic and social issues concerning the island. Since its invasion in 1898, the United States has shaped the policies of the island according to its own discretion in spite of the people of Puerto Rico. The country did not have time to shed the skin of Spanish colonial rule before the United States set foot on the island to add its own layer of imperial legacy. The island was taken as a compromise to end the Spanish American War. How the newly acquired territory would take shape, and some of the local and international influences that might have contributed to the evolution of the Puerto Rican political, social and economical structure are some of the issues that I hope to address. As is customary an attempted commentary of this sort cannot be complete without the subject of identity, after all, this issue seems to be at the core of the status of the island.
Puerto is a mixing pot of cultures that include a history of Native American roots, Spanish conquest and oppression. Puerto Rico has been the property of another nation for most of modern times creating a vast amount of unique cultural elements. All these facets contribute to its brief history.
societies to reexamine their view of the Caribbean. In this paper the following topics in The
Through the Spanish colonial era briefly describe above, it is evident that Puerto Rican society was a very culturally diverse island. Despite this there has always been heavy emphasis placed on the whiteness of the society by the white elite that dominate the island. José Luis González wrote a controversial article titled Puerto Rico: The Four-Storeyed Country in which he expressed his view that Puerto Rican society was not predominately white but rather black because of the thousand of slaves that were taken to the island to work on Sugar plantations. Gonz...
When one thinks of Barbados, one thinks of luscious, turquoise blue waters; soft white sand beaches; blue, white clouded skies; fresh fruits; exotic, delicious dishes and honeymoons. One, however, tends to forget the formation of this land. This Caribbean luxury Island has much history and great heritage. In this report, I will detail Barbados’s location, history, labor relations, population size and structure, industries, plus add a little zest with the beauty of the Island.
The social composition of the Caribbean is the result of the racial alliance and allocation of occupation. The plural society model becomes apparent to see in the consideration of the racial alliance and distribution of occupation. There is verification of all three theories in the Caribbean society but amongst them plural society is the clear choose to relate to the Caribbean society today, because it best explains what is taking place in society today especially in Trinidad and Tobago.