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FD11A Caribbean Civilisation

Telling the Caribbean Story


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Objectives

By the end of this session students will realise

that :History is perspective driven and subject to

change based on the available evidence.History today is becoming more accurate asthe tools of academia allow us to overcomemany of the initial biases of the earlyhistorians.


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The story of the Caribbean, like any

other storyis intended to convey aseries of ideas.


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Historians give us ideas about the history of

Caribbean civilisation and culture.


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To tell the story the historian collects facts about theregion.


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The facts are made into a story (narrative) that all

can understand.


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The meaning of the story is put together by the

people telling the story.


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As a result the stories may have different meanings.

This is called the bias of the historical story.


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Caribbean historians may tell adifferent story to non-Caribbean

historians


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The bias of the historical story is as a result of

human factors:

GenderSex

Age Nationality

Class Religion

Education Economics


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So the story of Caribbean civilisation has been told in

different ways.


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The Europeans for example,

arriving in the region in 1492, sawthe area as an uncivilised one with

no culture


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This idea was wrong ( i.e. aEurocentric perspective)


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It was also wrong as it was written only from a male

perspective ( i.e.. Androcentric).


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The first Caribbean story was therefore written by nonCaribbean people.


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As a result, present day historians are actively engaged inovercoming much of the biases of the earliest recorded

histories of the Caribbean


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To re-write the Caribbean story historians use the Critical

Method" which tests the information.


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By testing the stories the early androcentric andEurocentric focus of the Caribbean is being changed.


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Today for example we know now that Carib Cannibalismwas a myth .


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This myth was put forward by the Europeans to justify their

destruction of the native people who resisted them .


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Today Caribbean historians no longer see the term Caribas a valid one..


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This clearer picture is aided by the historians use of the toolsof other sciences and disciplines

Anthropology

Archaeology

Forensic Sciences

Natural SciencesSocial Sciences

Linguistics

And many others.


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Today new terms such as Tainos,Lucayan and Kalainago now

replace the former Carib andArawak.


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The process by which historians give new versions of theregions history based on more detailed insights and evidence

is called


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Through Revisionism a clearer (better) story of theCaribbean is obtained.


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The course FD11A Caribbean Civilisation is thus aRevisionist Course which provides an updated Caribbean

perspective of the Regions culture and society


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To achieve this we will carefully test all the evidence given tous.


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We will be alert to the particular perspective of the storytellerand test the results using the Critical Method.


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Recorded history is perspective driven

Therefore Historical stories/accounts can be changed The history we traditionally know about theCaribbean has, largely, been given to us by othersWhen perspectives change (through Revisionism) thestory/interpretation may change.

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