- File photoNDTC dancers in concert.
Avia Ustanny, Freelance Writer
Brathwaite, Nettleford, Marley, Louise Bennett, Cesaire, Salkey, Vic Reid, Selvon, Kitchener, Rhone, Walcott, Lewin and Gloudon.
THESE ARE but some of the distinguished players and participants in what we have come to call a Caribbean culture.
What importance should we place on culture, on our existence as a distinct unit and differentiated people in the international community? What use it is to declare that were are Jamaican, or we are Caribbean? How will this serve us in this the new millennium?
The cultural/familial ties that bind us together become more important as we are absorbed into a virtual global community of ideas and action. Culture, described as the way of life of a people, refer to the ties that make us one, and remain central to our sense of self-identity and to our ability to achieve as Caribbean peoples. This is the contention of those who desire recognition of our community of unique ideas and that we are islands with a distinct identity and history.
The University of the West Indies, in its six-yearly conferences on culture, seeks to emphasise this importance. This week the work of Kamau Brathwaite, poet laureate, will be central to its discussions. Six years ago, the focus was on Rex Nettleford, a man who has done much to persuade a national and Caribbean public of the central place culture ought to take.
In the first conference, Erna Brodber's paper - 'Re-engineering Black Space' - commented on the need to fill the cultural vacuum created by the experience of enslavement and colonialism. To paraphrase her "We being asked to leave the barracks and being no longer slaves with foot shackles and chains yearn for a new home and new allegiances."
This new space or abode and the change to bring it about, can only begin in the minds of Caribbean men and women. The shackles have fallen, but the duty remains to think ourselves free or into a position of self-determination and self- love. This week Outlook examines the relevance of protecting our way of life. First, we try to determine, however, what it is. Is our culture simply folklore and festivals, food and dance?
Kendel Hippolyte, the St. Lucian writer asks is culture everything from the way we kiss to the food we eat? Is culture a myth?
We ask - is culture much ado about nothing? Or do we need to know it, and know ourselves, in order to be free?
Embracing the past
A KNOWLEDGE of history is important to cultural identity.
Rosemary Allen, in her paper, "In search of an identity; An analysis of the commemoration of the slave revolt of 1795 August in Curacao, makes similar observances.
The quest for recognition of these slave revolts increased after the 1960s and onwards. The slave revolt brought to light that the enslaved did not always resign themselves to their social position and that they manifested an awareness...In the 20th century self-awareness became, together with the search for identity, major concerns.
The question asked with increasing urgency from the '60s coming down was Who are we? This was twinned with the another Who were we?
To think 'I am' requires 'I was', the author notes. "Through assessing the collective past future aspirations can be realised." Asking the question who are you and how are you distinct from other persons is the necessary path to embracing self-identity.
Dr. J. Tunde Bewaji, in his 1996 paper, "Their self as the focus of self identity," comments that an ability to trace genealogy along paths of honour play a great role in the definition of self. "It enables the consciousness to form along patterns of valour, real or apparent, as presented in the rendition of history or heritage," he stated.
The African Caribbean psyche is faced with a blatant denial of history and ethnic heritage. In many places, they contend with a history full of lies, notes Bewaji. If the truth were to be re-discovered and embraced, its potential for providing new energies would be profound, the author seems to believe. He posits this on the ability of the Chinese, in the last century, to withstand western penetration. Behind them was the psychological clout provided by the knowldege of 5000 years of history.
Dr. Bewaji notes the Yoruba saying,"There are periods in one's life when one will be unable to go forward and the only option is to retreat." Knowing the past, knowing what worked and what did not is important.
