| people of the Territory and an awareness of the Carib presence and culture throughout the region.Although the history of Caribbean is slowly being rewritten by the descendants of slaves and indentured labourers from a Creole rather than a colonialist perspective, little has been done to correct the European stereotyping of the original inhabitants of these islands, a futher insult added to the horrendous genocide they had already suffered.
Many Caribbean school textbooks still perpetuate the myth of Carib cannibalism, for which the experts agree there is little historical evidence. Human flesh was not eaten as food but as a ritual practice to gain possession of dead enemies' or ancestors' qualities This might occur before a raiding expedition or during initiation when it was hoped young men would inherit the bravery of a distinguished warrior.
The Caribs or Kalinago -Island Caribs - (as the Amerindians who migrated up through the Antilles called themselves to distinguish themselves from their parent tribe in north west Guyana) resisted the Spanish rather than succumbing like the more peaceful Arawak speaking Tainos who preceded them. For this they were demonized in much the same way as the "voodoo savages" of Haiti would later be demonized for daring to overthrow their French slave masters and threaten the whole system of Caribbean plantocracy.
The Spanish managed to account for most of the Tainos in the Greater Antilles. The Caribs put up fierce resistance against the Spanish and subsequently the French and English throughout the Lesser Antilles, which had been their undisputed territory from about 1400. In 1651 the last 30 Caribs in Grenada leapt to their death at Sauteurs cliff, rather than surrender to the French. It wasn't until 1797 that the Black Caribs of St Vincent (descendants of Caribs and runaway slaves) were finally defeated by the British and dumped on the islands off Honduras and Belize.
A Carib lament records the demise of this proud people:
Tooking ma kanari
Minara tanara manaricou
Kimabouisi cana kivacou
Destroyed our strength;
myself without birthright, food or weapon.
Without strength my plants, our land and water;
Without weapons I am destroyed.
Our strength is without defences, fortress or land.
Wai'tukubuli (Dominica) with its inaccessible mountains and forests "a natural citadel", became the last Carib stronghold and retreat; a base for attacking neighbouring colonies and the site of reprisal massacres. Although declared neutral territory by the French and English in 1686 and again in 1748, French settlers had established themselves on the west coast by 1700 and the Caribs began withdrawing to the wild east coast.
By the time a British Commission of 1893 arrived to investigate Conditions, the Caribs had been reduced to living on 232 acres at Salybia. Their petition to the Commissioner makes pitiful reading: "We donąt have nothing to support us, no church, no school, no shop, no store. We are very far in the forest; no money, no dress. They call us wild savages. ..It is not savages but poverty."
The British formally granted some 3,700 acres of common land to the Caribs in 1903 and officially recognized the office of chief (effectively no more than village elder), yet conditions barely improved. By 1930 there was an uprising on the Territory, sparked by conflict with police over smuggling. Two Caribs were shot dead and the Chief Jolly John imprisoned. The first road was only cut through the Territory in 1970 with some electricity and telephone lines following in the 1980s.
Independence in 1978 and successive governments dominated by Afro Dominican politicians have hardly alleviated conditions for modern Caribs, most of whom live by farming or fishing, supplementing their subsistence lifestyle by the traditional crafts of basket work or dugout canoe building. Intermarriage; the virtual disappearance of the Carib language, the harsh economics of small island life and the incursions of the global village (from drugs and crime to dancehall and brand name clothes) have all taken their toll on Carib identity.
It's in this context that the work of Jacob Frederick and other cultural activists like the outgoing Chief Garnett Joseph must be viewed. Now in his 40s Frederick is a self- taught artist, attempting to document events in Carib history like the 1930 uprising (which his mother then a small child vividly remembers), Carib myths, legends and lifestyle.
It was he who conceived the historic 1997 Carib Canoe Project. This voyage of rediscovery involved constructing a 35ft dugout from a single giant gommier tree and sailing down the islands back to the ancestral homelands in Guyana, the original voyage of migration in reverse. Besides being a practical demonstration of boat-building and navigational skills - ("I wanted to see if the boats were worthy of a long sea voyage") - the voyage was about re-establishing Carib identity among Dominican Caribs and contacts with the culture which was slipping from them: "It was an opportunity to search out the Caribs in South America, to see if they'd retained parts of the culture we'd lost, so we could learn and bring it back," Federick said.
He painted the hull of the Gli Gli canoe using a traditional Taino motif and the canoe proved just as worthy as the 80 footers of 500 years before. There were emotional reunions with Carib descendants down the islands and a state reception from the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs in Guyana.
But three years later much of the euphoria of the voyage has dissipated. Frederick has been back to Guyana to learn hammock making from the Macussi and Wapishana tribes of the Rupununi but other planned cultural exchanges have not materialized. Heąd hoped to set up an art school on the Territory but when I left him he bartered a picture so I could send him some paints.
For now he's focusing on "the first visual arts exhibition in the Carib Council Office". Besides, his own work, two other family members will be exhibiting, his brother and former Chief Faustulus (who pioneered calabash carving on the Territory) and eldest daughter Debbie who paints, makes copper jewelry and does calabash carving.
Among his paintings which are intuitively representational is the historical 1930 Uprising, in which the head of Jolly John presides over a depiction of the fatal shooting incident. For Frederick this is also family history as his Uncle Royer was one of the men killed. Another picture commemorates the old trail through the forest and over the mountains Carib farmers took to carry produce down to Roseau market on the west coast, a three to four day trek.
His most impressive piece to date is a complex wood carving called 'Legends' celebrating local tribal myths and legends. At the base of the carving is the great snake which is said to have emerged from the sea at 'L'Escalier Tete Chien' (staircase of the dog-headed boa). This is the guardian spirit of the Caribs, which can be invoked by burning an offering of tobacco in the forest at Sineku above the petrified rock stairway.
At the head of the staircase in the carving is the wrinkled figure of the sorceress Bihi, who chased her daughter and the daughter's lover Ebitimu up into the sky where the three became transfixed as the constellation Orion. Another legendary figure commemorated is Hiali, father of the Carib nation who was turned into the moon after his mother discovered his incestuous relationship with his sister.
Besides the Gli Gli, a small hawk which is a Carib symbol of bravery, Frederick has decorated the reverse of the carving, with some of the petroglyphs found at Londonderry Bay, further north. In future work he plans to incorporate many more of these traditional motifs.
While his plans for a Territory art school remain on hold, he has not abandoned his mission of keeping Carib culture alive for future generations and educating the young people of the Territory. Inspired by artifacts he has recently dug up around Salybia, the oldest settlement, he has founded an archaeological club "to develop interest among the young people in traditional arts."
(Simon Lee - Caribbean Today writer)
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