(SH, C-U)
Eric W. Blake
Social Sciences Division
University of the Virgin Islands
Throughout this conference you are likely to hear several perceptions of the concept of culture in a universal sense and several perceptions about what Virgin Islands culture is or ought to be. Discussion relating to what Virgin Islands culture is or ought to be are becoming more frequent, but they are not new. In 1991 and 1992 we in the United States Virgin Islands (USVI) witnessed an intensification of these discussions due to several occurrences. A few that readily come to mind are the participation of the Virgin Islands (VI) in the Smithsonian Folklore festival of 1991 in Washington, D.C. and the 40th anniversary celebration of the St. Thomas carnival. In the 1970s there were several community forums focussing on various aspects of VI culture. I recall one in particular in 1972 that was sponsored by the Caribbean Research Institute of the College of the Virgin Islands now the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) under the direction of the late Dr. Norwell Harrigan. This conference addressed the topic, "Virgin Islands Culture: Myth or Reality?" The pros and cons expressed then about VI culture are similar to many being expressed today; however, today the cons can be negated more easily because there is empirical data as to the important components of culture, such as producing art, literature and music. The data being presented at this conference attest to this.
The theme of this panel, From the Cradle to the Grave, could suggest that we discuss as best as we can some developmental aspects of VI culture in a general sense. The assigned object for this panel however is for a highlighting of some cultural universals pertaining to [the] VI family. In the time allotted to me I will focus on some things that my research and experience suggest fit into the theme. I wish to preface this with some theoretical points about culture that may be helpful in following the presentation.
Simply put, culture is the way of life of a people. It is a totality of learned socially transmitted behavior. Cultures vary widely and each is unique. To the sociologist, culture consists of all the shared products of human society. These products are of two basic kinds, material and nonmaterial. Material culture consists of all the artifacts, or physical objects, human beings create and give meaning to, e.g. books, clothing, games. Nonmaterial culture consists of abstract human creations, e.g. languages, ideas, beliefs, rules, customs, myths, skills, family patterns, political systems (Robertson, 1988). Other variables of a culture include norms, folkways, mores, taboo, law, sanctions, values, etc.
The theme of this panel, Cradle to Grave, implies change. Sociologists contend that cultural change is inevitable, and stems mainly from discovery, invention and diffusion. Changes in material culture are usually more readily accepted than changes in nonmaterial culture. Culture shapes us, but collectively we, in turn, shape and change the culture we pass on from generation to generation. (Robertson, 1988). In this context the cradle is the past generation and the grave the present generation. "Bring Back the Culture", a popular calypso of 1992, written by Whadablee, a Virgin Islands artist speaks to the desire of many Virgin Islanders for return of old customs. What in the VI culture is being lost or diffused that we need to bring back? Put another way, what was in the cradle phase of VI culture and what is in the grave phase? Some of this cradle phase content may be found in the writings of Virgin Islanders J. Antonio Jarvis, "The Virgin Islands and Their People"; Earl B. Ottley, "Trials and Triumphs: The Long Road to a Middle Class Society in the Virgin Islands"; Valdemar A. Hill, Sr., "A Golden Jubilee: Virgin Islanders on the go under the American Flag"; Darwin D. Creque, "The U.S. Virgin Islands and the Eastern Caribbean" and writings of other Virgin Islanders and others such as I Paiewonsky, Isaac Dookhan, William Boyer, Gordon Lewis, Ariel Melchior, Albert Campbell. The grave phase content is becoming plentiful through contemporary dissertations by Dr. Marilyn Krigger, Dr. Charles Turnbull, Dr. E. Aracelis Francis and others; also books and articles found in periodicals like "The V.I. Voice". UVI students are also writing research papers addressing aspects of this in their senior seminar classes. Some of what is considered lost are such things as appropriate respect for elders and authority by the young; community respect for burial customs; abandonment of religiousness, sustained interest in indigenous music, dances and games.
The Cradle Phase of VI Families
Sanctioning Children’s Behavior
After the Arawaks and the Caribs the major inhabitants were the slaves from Africa. The first slaves are reported to have arrived in the Virgin Islands between 1681 and 1682 (Creque, 1968). Virgin Islands slaves were emancipated from Danish rule in 1848. The emancipated slave was at a loss as to what to do with his sudden freedom, having been accustomed to the paternalistic relationship which existed under slavery. The ex-slaves now faced the stern reality of providing food and shelter for himself and his family (Creque, 1968). Later in time, 1944, Jarvis would describe Virgin Islanders as very imitative, adaptable and self-possessed. Also, there is no such thing as a typical Virgin Islander in dress, manners, physique, or color. The people are varied, complex and hard to classify; but they do share certain general beliefs, cultural and recreational habits, superstitions and economic problems (Jarvis, 1944).
Slavery, as an institution, played havoc on the structure and functioning of families of slaves in the Americas and the Caribbean including the Virgin Islands. Socialization of children in VI culture and authority patterns within families for children were impacted to a larger degree by other major institutions such as religion, government, education, health care and the economy. The general outlines of family structure and family patterns in the VI are similar to those within the Caribbean region in general and among the emancipated slaves in particular (McKenzie, 1993). Some family forms or unions in which children were socialized are Married, Common-Law, Visiting, No Longer Living with Husband or Common-Law Partner. In the post emancipation period and for a considerable time after many families lived as extended families, primarily for economic reasons. Within the extended family structure children were subject to a variety of authority in terms of admonishing children for negative behavior and attitude carried over to kinship relations, both blood and fictive, godparents, teachers, ministers and other clergy, adult neighbors and some others. Children in the VI during this period and up to the early 1950s were socialized to expect this kind of authoritative intervention. Ottley in particular and Jarvis to a degree cite some of these cultural characteristics pertaining to sanctioning the behavior of children.
The following from Ottley illustrates this:
Young people were relatively well-behaved. There were a few bad eggs who were candidates for reform school, but except for harmless pranks, a lot of skylarking and an occasional
fight between individuals or rival gangs , most kept out of serious trouble. Those who misbehaved faced serious punishment at home. You were taught to respect your elders, and if one was rude to an adult or used a bad word, he was whipped, and sometimes forced to wash his mouth with vomit-inducing soap water or kneel for hours on sharp stones.
All of us were afraid of Elliott Thomas, the rough, stern-faced Main Street grocer, who frequently and vociferously expressed the view that a good whipping was all that was needed to coax the most unruly youth into exemplary.behavior.
Religious Influences
Missionary work of the various churches made a distinct contribution to the cultural life of the Virgin Islands Negro (Terms like Black and African American are contemporary and older people today still have difficulty in their use.) Religion played an important role in the lives of the Danes in the colony, prior to the hegemony of the Americans, and the Sabbath was kept holy. Attendance at the Lutheran service - the national church of Denmark - was compulsory (Creque, 1968). Church-going was obligatory. Children were forced to attend Sunday services and Sunday school, and no matter how poor the family was, you had a special suit that was put aside for Sundays (Ottley, 1982). The specific contributions of religion and churches to the culture were in education, both secular and nonsecular. Fraternal organizations like the St. Joseph or Mary and Joseph lodges
also indirectly infused many of the same cultural practices.
Virgin Islanders are great joiners of societies and clubs. If it is fantastic in its aims, ostentatious in its methods, and has elaborate ceremonies and costumes, it will make all the others suffer for a while. Until the novelty wears off (Jarvis, 1944). According to Jarvis the people changed readily from one religion to another, baptized their children anywhere, and thought nothing of it. The role and importance of godparents started within the church because culturally, from a secular and nonsecular sense, godparents felt high obligations to look after their godchildren.
Burial Customs
There were some practices which showed respect for the dead that were viewed as cultural. Two such practices were Wakes and the Closing of the Doors of Businesses as the hearse with the coffin passed . Wakes are watches, which include singing of hymns, eating and drinking held with the dead body throughout the night until the next morning. Prior
to funeral homes and the embalming of bodies, this practice was practical, since the internment of the body was usually within 24 - 48 hours after death; however, there is no reason why abbreviated wakes as still held in some mainland communities with funeral homes cannot be continued. Wakes and the funeral allowed the family to profess allegiance (Jarvis, 1944). Business closed their doors out of respect for the family of the deceased, it was traditional and part of good customer relations; however, today, business on the route of the funeral do not need this aspect of customer relations, nor do they see a need to carry on traditions of this type.
Towards the Grave Phase of VI Families
Children of the 1960s to the present time in the USVI are culturally different from the children during the period that we termed the cradle phase because culturally the USVI has changed. There are still embodiments of the historic culture; with the current trend to bring back some of these cultural traits, a balance that we may wish to sustain and pass on will be achieved. However, diffusion, the spread of cultural elements from one culture to another, has taken place. This occurred primarily through the influence of mass media, tourism and a new racial and ethnic mix resulting from the continued migration of people from the Eastern Caribbean and the US mainland. Granted, the data shows that the population has always been mixed along racial, class and ethnic lines, but the dynamics of interaction are changing. The population in the Virgin Islands grew from 62,468 in 1970 to 101,809 in 1990 (U.S. Bureau of the Census). This population increase came about due to the pull factor to meet employment needs of the community. Also, and not too many natives were returning from their earlier migration to the
U.S. Mainland during the 1940s and 1950s. The new native children were socialized under different cultural elements and parents experienced difficulty in providing quality
time in parental care. Family structure has not changed much from the past although we have more nuclear and single parent families without the assistance once provided by the extended structure. Industrialization, modernization and an understanding of the purpose and use of public welfare have been contributing factors. The role of kin, neighbors and social institutions in terms of admonishing children for negative behavior and attitude has changed. Legal statutes and unwillingness of parents to accept traditional intervention have contributed to this change. One of the current results is that many children today appear to have no respect for elders nor authority and they fear neither man nor God.
Since the Virgin Islands are impacted by global consequences and mass media and since the current leadership desire tourist from all parts of the world it is important for the VI not to become culturally deprived. Virgin Islanders have to identify all of their cultural universals that are uniquely theirs and not allow for a cultural lag. We need to enthusiastically observe our holidays and partake in cultural revivals, and most of all we need to live as a people and a family. Family reunions are on the upswing and this practice needs to be publicized and commended. If some of these suggestions are followed then there will never be another conference like the one of 1972 where we begged the question, Virgin Islands culture...myth or reality?
QUESTIONS:
1. To what recent events does Professor Blake attribute the current resurgence in interest in defining Virgin Islands culture?
2. Explain how the then College of the Virgin Islands was involved in exploring issues related to Culture two decades before the current institute?
3. When Professor Blake re-states the arguments of the past relative to the pros and cons of Virgin Islands Culture, does his statement reflect a negative or positive state of affairs at present? Explain!
4. From what you know of the discipline "Sociology" explain how Professor Blake's reading of the panel title "From Cradle to Grave relates to his own academic background as a professor of Social Work!
5. What are the essential kinds of shared products that define culture as viewed by the sociologist?
6. Give two examples of nonmaterial culture and relate each one to at least one material product.
7. Do you believe that the three agents of change mentioned by the presenter are stated in their natural order of emergence in human society? Explain briefly!
8. According to the bilateral relationship between Culture and us set forth by the presenter, what happens to us during the "cradle stage"?
9. Explain briefly how calypso might relate to promotion of Virgin Islands Culture.
10. Does the metaphor of the cradle phase, as employed here, suggest a desire to return to a certain past?
11. How does Professor Blake provide, from the Virgin Islands historical record of societal organization, reinforcement for the frequently heard pronouncement these days that "it takes a village to raise a child?"
12. What was it about the Lutheran Church that was likely to strengthen its authority respective to attendance of even the poorer folks at church services?
13. Do you see a contradiction in the readiness of the folk on the one hand to change from one religion to another, while these same folk felt a high obligation towards their godchildren?
14. Do these two behavior patterns say anything to you about the morality of Virgin Islands folk at the time?
15. Name two major factors implicated in the presenter's article when he says that children of the 1960s are culturally different from those of the cradle phase?
16. Can the advent of funeral homes be seen as contributing to the disappearance of wakes?
17. Is racial and ethnic mixing a new phenomenon in the Virgin Islands? What is the significant point to be made here?
18. Based on this article, can it be assumed that parents will again accept correction of their children by persons outside of the immediate family?
19. Professor Blake notes that businesses along the funeral route closed their doors during the passage of a funeral cortege, and part of it was the good public relations such an act produced. How do you explain today's general disregard for this practice?
20. What do we know about the time parents reserve for their children in recent years?
21. How does the reduction in the rate of extended families in the population appear to be impacting on child-raising?
22. When all is said and done, can Professor Blake be said to have remained completely objective in the matter of cultural preservation in the Virgin Islands?
ACTION QUESTIONS:
1. An earlier selection in the present manual, albeit a sub-section of a larger narrative, bears the title "Grave to Cradle. How would you account for the difference in perspectives between Professor Blake and the presenter in that instance?
2. Study the piece on Jarvis and Social Studies Reform and explain how Jarvis fits the metaphor of cradle and grave.
3. Read Carol Henneman's editorial, then Professor Blake's section on traditional child-raising practices. Are you able to perceive arguments in Blake concerning why the village concept may no longer work in the Virgin Islands?