Caribbean

Caribbean Pluralism

While the name of the region derives from the indigenous Caribs encountered by Christopher Columbus in his first contact with what was to become known as the New World, comparatively few indigenous people remain as elements of the present population of the region. The complexity of the region must be seen in the diversity of its geography, its politics, and its cultural traditions and values.

In physical terms, the region covers such diverse places as Mexico and Isthmus Central America, countries on the northeastern tip of the South American continent, and the islands within the Caribbean Basin, as well as those on the rim facing the Atlantic. Like the Mediterranean, the Caribbean Sea is shared by a large number of states, often with little in common. Their proximity to other seas, such as the Atlantic or the Pacific, may be far more defining of some countries and their people.

Unlike the concept of Europe or North America, the notion of the Caribbean as a physical entity does not denote a common identity or shared destiny. Another paradox is that some countries often thought to be Caribbean are geographically outside the region but share common histories and cultural norms with those that are clearly Caribbean. Thus, Guyana, Guyene, Surinam, and Belize in South and Central America as well as the Bahamas in the Atlantic are perceived as Caribbean rather than Latin American or North American. The identity of being Caribbean may therefore be more general than an unambiguous racial, ethnic, or geographical definition.

[Page 238]Caribbean diversity is also to be found in the variety of politics in the region. For example, Haiti has experienced violent regime change repeatedly since the beginning of the 19th century; Cuba is one of the last remaining communist regimes in the world and has been embargoed by the United States since the early 1960s; Puerto Rico remains semiautonomous as part of the United States; the Commonwealth democracies remain; and Guadeloupe and Martinique are overseas departments of metropolitan France. These factors suggest the range of societies to be found in the Caribbean.

They also point to the rich mosaic of Caribbean racial and ethnic identities, because the post-Columbian peopling of the region represents many of the world's population and cultures. Predominantly, the region has been shaped by centuries of different European nation-states' struggle for power from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Thus, there are British, Danish, Dutch, French, and Spanish Caribbeans, distinguished by the key factors of language, religion, customs, traditions, and mores. The region's linguistic diversity is almost matched by the kaleidoscope of its religious practices, including Catholicism, various denominations within Protestantism, Hinduism, Islam, retentions of African religions such as Voodooism, newer communities of Rastafarians, and so forth.

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