DOMINICA

Indigenous Resurgence in the Contemporary Caribbean: Amerindian Survival and Revival. Edited by Maximilian C. Forte. Published by Peter Lang, New York, 2006

Contributor: Kelvin Smith at the time of writing was in the final stages of his PhD in the Department of Sociology at the University of Essex. His research looks at the economic and political positioning of the indigenous community of Dominica, and how it has been affected by the initiatives of the global finance and development organizations. Funded by the European Social Research Council, he conducted fieldwork during 2003 in the Carib Territory.  He also teaches part time within the Anthropology pathway at the University of East London.

Chapter: Chapter Four. Placing the Carib Model Village: The Carib Territory and Dominican Tourism
Abstract:
A ‘Carib Model Village’ was first suggested by indigenous activists within the Carib Territory of Dominica in the mid 1970s. It was envisaged as a center of indigenous arts and crafts, providing education for the community and a focus of indigeneity for those who visited the Carib Territory. From the late 1970s to the early 1990s the project was considered by various national, regional and international funding bodies, until it was finally realized in 1998 through funding from the Caribbean Development Bank. In 2003, however, the completed project remained unused, falling into disrepair. Whilst various tales of political and development contest and intrigue surround the project, this chapter looks at the Carib Model Village using paradigms and theories of spatial production and perception. The placement of the project within the social landscape is considered and how it effects the construction of that space. This links to two notions of ‘place’ through which the Model Village is recognized.  It is a ‘place’ for performing a Carib identity, and is thus situated within the dominating structures of tourist perception of the island and the Carib Territory. However, this contrasts to a concept of the Model Village as a ‘place’ of Carib performativity, in which an indigenous identity is reiterated by the re-enactment of indigenous practices.  It is suggested that the inability to negotiate this spatial tension has led to the Model Village’s current displaced situation.

Kelvin Smith photographed this scene of Carib handicrafts for sale along the road in the Carib Territory. Since then, on February 17, 2006, the Territory has seen the reopening of the Kalinago Barana Aute (Carib Cultural Village by the Sea).

Websites on the Caribs of Dominica:

BBC—Video Nation: CARIBS, by Saturine Dodds—abstract of online video clip: ”Saturine is contemplating the future of her tribe, the Caribs. Though the population of the Carib Territories is over 3,000 she believes you will only find about 300 pure Caribs among them. In the past the Carib Chiefs would force women to leave the Territory if they married a non-Carib man but now they are not so strict”.

Carib/Kalinago website from Dominica—titled the official Carib Territory Website, pages feature Carib history, Carib groups, publications, and crafts for sale.

Interview with Chief Garnette Joseph: An interview conducted by Kalinago e.V., on the topics of the role and powers of the Chief, challenges facing the Carib Reserve and the issue of race.

News from and about the Carib Territory of Dominica

Official Website for the Commonwealth of Dominica—“The First Settlers”: “Introducing the indigenous people of Dominica to the rest of the world is but a small contribution to the already growing effort by the Caribs themselves. Like a nation within a nation their culture has survived the test of time, which is a tribute to their steadfastness and resilience.”

Report on the Caribs of Dominica, United Nations Economic and Social Council, Commission on Human Rights, Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, Forty-fifth session, E/CN.4/Sub.2/1993/34/Add.1, 19 July 1993—extract: “In the reply submitted by the Government it was stated that settled minorities existed in Dominica. These were the Caribs which were recognized as an ethnic group in the Carib Reserve Council Act. Pursuant to this act, Caribs were vested with reserved lands and provided with a degree of local autonomy by way of devolution of power. As to the question of whether the Caribs benefit from cultural and educational institutions specifically designed to meet their needs, it was stated that they benefited from such institutions to a limited extent only, since formal educational institutions were fully integrated. Like other segments of the population of Dominica, the Caribs had the right and the possibility to participate to some extent in the planning, implementation and benefits of development policies through the local government authorities. The Caribs benefited from affirmative action as they were vested with reserved lands and special status had been conferred on the Carib Council and their Chief. Furthermore, they enjoyed direct representation in the national legislature of Dominica as they had substantial control over one Parliamentary seat….”

On the Voyage of the Gli-Gli, by Simon Lee, Caribbean Beat Magazine, May-June 2003, Issue 61—extract: “The Kalinago were building a 35-foot dugout canoe in preparation for a voyage down the islands, from Dominica back to their ancestral homelands at Santa Monica and Kabakaburi on the Pomeroon River in Guyana. It was no coincidence that I returned to Dominica just in time for the sea trials of the Gli Gli canoe, hewn by 20 men from the trunk of a single gommier tree felled high in the rainforest and dragged down to Salybia. Jacob Frederick, the Carib artist who'd first conceived of the epic voyage, had decorated Gli Gli's blue hull with a traditional yellow-and-roucou Amerindian design.”

Quest of the Carib Canoe—Extract: “In 1995 Tortolian Artist Aragorn Dick-Read travelled to the island of Dominica and met a local Carib Indian craftsman called Jacob Frederick. Their collective creative minds combined to form the idea behind what would become much larger than their sum; to build and sail a traditional Carib Indian dugout canoe from Dominica to Guyana and up the Orinoco river.  The journey's end would symbolically re-unite the 3500 Caribs isolated on Dominica with their tribal ancestors that flourish in Guyana, a country covered and connected mainly from the Orinoco's many tributaries….”

The Carib Canoe Project Proposal—A Carib Cultural Expedition from Dominica to Belize—Extract: “The Carib Canoe Project is pleased to present a proposal to the Carib people of Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Trinidad, and Guyana to undertake a cultural expedition in two traditional canoes from Dominica to Belize. To complete the symbolic unification of the Carib/Garifuna/Kalinago tribes that started on the 1997 Gli Gli Expedition from Dominica to Guyana. The Garifuna people of Belize are the descendents of the Carib/Kalinago people of St. Vincent who were forcibly removed from their island by the British in the 1780’s. The reconnection between the Caribs of the Southern Caribbean and the Garifuna people of Belize will complete the symbolic circle of unity within the Carib tribe. To search for, meet with, make connections between, and draw attention to the surviving indigenous people of the Greater Antilles and the Yucatan Coast….”

“Summary Report of the Research Carried Out on the Gli Gli Carib Canoe Projects Recent Expedition From Dominica To Guyana,” by Aragorn Dick Read—summary of the expedition, with details on encounters with Carib communities in different island locations visited in the journey to Guyana.