Name: Ameera Chaitram

Class: Upper Six

Subject: Caribbean Studies
Teacher: Miss Kamala Rambally
Question: To what extent can it be argued that genocide and revolution
are central themes in Caribbean history.

In Caribbean history, both genocide and revolution are indeed central

themes, as they were a result of the Caribbean’ s people exposure to
oppression by the European colonization and enslavement.
In the pre emancipation era, the indigenous people were subjected to
cruel punishments, overwork from the encomienda system, even at
war with the Europeans and were exposed to the European diseases
like cholera and small pox. This caused them to die and even commit
suicide, resulting in the theme of genocide. Even their culture was
eradicated by the colonial masters as they were deemed superior.
Genocide was also prominent in 2015, whereby the Dominican Republic
was set out to begin an ethnic purge of Dominicans with Haitian
ethnicity. This was a continuation of the 1900’s massacre of Haitians by
the Dominican dictator, which sparked an international outcry leaving
large numbers of Haitian people subjected to harsh treatment by the
Dominican government. As a result of genocide, various cultural
identities have been absorbed and reformed.
Apart from this, even though the Kalinagos had died out, they survived
longer as they were warriors, hence creating the revolution theme of
the Caribbean. Most of this theme surrounds the Haitian revolution
which was the only successive revolution as the Africans didn’t have the
power like the militia to successfully carry out their revolts.
In 1804, Dessalines declared Haiti’s independence thus emerging as the
first black republic of the world. This success inspired enslaved
populations elsewhere and Haiti was replaced by Cuba as the major
sugar industry in the Caribbean.
Contrary to genocide and revolution, during the pre-emancipation time,
there were several acts of resistance and resilience. For example, both
the Amerindians and Africans ran away from plantations and even
committed suicide. Even the Kalinagos became nomadic to avoid
capture by the Europeans. Also, cultural resistance was a strategy
which lead to the birth of the steel pan.
In addition to this, within the post emancipation era, the Europeans
needed a source of labor. This period was known as indentureship,
whereby the Indians were contracted laborers and free to return home
after indentureship or remain in the Caribbean given property. This was
a form of slavery except that they were allowed to practice their
culture and not subjected to the brutal conditions as the Amerindians
and Africans. Despite this fact, they still had violent demonstrations and
even created small businesses like marketing.
Another strategy taken by the slaves were an armed uprising, known as
rebellions. This was evident, in Guyana and was led by Cuffy, as a result
of harsh treatment and desire for freedom. This lasted for almost a
year, most slaves were hanged, burned and broken at the wheel. At this
time, Cuffy forced the whites to retreat to a fort to negotiate with him
however he was betrayed by his kin. Thus, the revolt ended in failure.
But after emancipation, the people of the Caribbean were now
recovering from the trauma of enslavement and bonded labor of the
oppressive era before. Thus, this era of independence resulted from the
theme of revolution as well as political changes were made, which
moved countries of the Caribbean from being colonized by the
Europeans to being able to manage their own state of affairs. As a
result of this, political, educational and economic enfranchisement
developed.
In conclusion, genocide was indeed a central theme evident in the
Caribbean history mainly existing in the encomienda system.
Meanwhile, revolution was also a central theme in the Caribbean
history during encomienda system until independence was attained by
most Caribbean countries after emancipation and indentureship, which
in turn allowed people to value the freedom acquired.