Making the Caribbean a nation of living cultures

Aug 24, 2008 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
CARIFESTA is here! And last Friday evening, Guyana staged the opening ceremony of CARIFESTA, after a 36-year absence.

For me, CARIFESTA is about understanding each person’s culture, and appreciating those cultures — essential ingredients for national unity.

The first item at the opening ceremony, the Parade of Nations, truly was picturesque, faithfully depicting a diversity of cultures, giving us a sense of some equal coexistence of our collective cultures. CARIFESTA is about culture and bonding.

Culture is about our way of life. But, even today, I am struggling to come to grips with what Caribbean culture is or should be.

The then President of Guyana, Mr. Linden Forbes Burnham, in opening remarks at the Artists and Writers’ Conference in 1970, mandated each member to seek answers to these questions:
“What do I mean by the Caribbean? What may I call the culture or sub-culture of the Caribbean?

Is a cultural revolution taking place? What is this ‘cultural revolution’ which we all accept as being necessary? How do I bring it to fruition? These questions are for you to answer; this is your field of expertise” (Andrew Salkey, 1972).

And I can add other questions to figure out the notion of Caribbean culture: What is this ‘one’ culture? Who or what determines what goes into the ‘one’ culture? Would ‘one’ culture not create ethnic dominance? What is ‘common’ culture? Should we have a national culture?

The answers to these questions would help us to have a sense of belonging, having an investment in the country in which we live.

But without genuine answers to these questions, confusion will rule the roost in any government’s attempt to realise national cohesiveness; and then the talk about national unity will be empty rhetoric.

I think it is clear that Guyanese are part of a larger community, due to the presence of common organisations in areas as education, the economic system, the political system, (health, the legal system, etc.) and Guyanese involvement in these common organisations helps them to create and relate to a ‘Guyanese’ culture. But this is just the starting point for constructing national cohesiveness, as Abraham would argue.

And so policies and programmes of national unity, at the beginning, can be directed toward this ‘Guyanese’ culture; but these may have to be programmes and policies that recognise the existence of different cultures. Professor Norman Girvan endorses this point when he asserts:

“The reality is diversity, and surely this it is to be welcomed, indeed, celebrated. It would be a boring Caribbean indeed if we were all the same.

For the same reason, I believe it is mistaken to think of creating a specific Caribbean identity by means of something called ‘cultural integration.’

Indeed, it might even be dangerous, for this lofty ideal begs the question of integration into what, on whose terms, and who will be the arbiter of what constitutes the integral Caribbean culture.

Would it not be far more sensible to speak of cultural understanding, interaction and exchange; of mutual respect for, and tolerance of, cultural differences; and of the practice of cultural compromise and consensus?” Girvan speaks out against ethnic dominance in the forging of national unity.

And President Bharrat Jagdeo, at the opening ceremony of CARIFESTA X 2008, noted: “In returning home, CARIFESTA has moved from being a Caribbean Renaissance from the 1970s to a source of empowerment, pride, and a more confident establishment of identity.” This stage of empowerment tells us that we are ready to consolidate a Caribbean identity.

There are important lessons here for developing multicultural societies, in terms of how not to create a national culture and national unity.

No culture should be left behind in building national cohesiveness. And, for me, CARIFESTA is a constant reminder to us all to recognise and appreciate each other’s culture.
Prem Misir

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