(adapted froman earlier version in 1990 Festival of American Folklike) (JH, SH, C-U)

Editor's note: This article is included in the manual in order to shed light on the sociolinguistic and cultural contexts in which many of the ethnological processes discussed in the volume are rooted and evolve.

Gilbert A. Sprauve

A key to unraveling the Islands' rich cultural flux and variety is the perspective compounded of linguistic and sociological sciences. Thus the major cultural groupings are to a large extent subsumable under the rubric "sociolinguistic sectors." Approaching the society in this way provides one means of gaining a clear cultural perspective on the complex and creative ways the following sectors of the population interact, communicate and compete with each other in relatively peaceful and harmonious settings:

1. Crucians

2. St. Thomians/St. Johnians

3. British Virgin Islanders

4. French

5. Puerto Ricans

6. Kittitians/Nevisians

7. Antiguans

8. Dominicans/St. Lucians

9. Trinidadians

10. American Blacks

11. American Whites

12. Arabs

13. Indians

14. Haitians

15. Dominicans from the Dominican Republic

The sociolinguistic approach taken here is useful in understanding the forces that bind together the society of these islands, themselves microcosms at once of the

ethnically mixed Greater West Indies and of the United States melting pot. The author admits to a predilection for an approach defined less by conflict among the various groups and more by the cultural wealth which attends diversity and which, to some extent, is the by-product of intense economic exploitation and adversity. Others may be inclined to survey our island communities from a sociological vantage point and rely on

surface conflictual indices, thus reducing the groupings to "Blacks," "Whites" and "Others"or "Natives," "Aliens" and "Others." Such an approach would obviously underscore antagonisms still present in our islands.

Cultural divisions, indeed, also can be marked by conflict. This may be heard in the terms utilized for other-group identification in conflictual - and quasi conflictual, that is, festive - settings. These include "cha-cha" for Virgin Islands French folk, "garrot" for folk from the Eastern Caribbean islands and "Tomians" for St. Thomians. "Crucians" for St. Croix natives and "Tolian" for Tortolians carry no significant negative or conflictual charge. "Pappa" and "mamma" are used frequently to refer to Puerto Ricans in the Virgin Islands, as "johnny" is to refer to Arabs.

If preservation of the Islands' rich cultural variety is on our list of priorities, then all sociolinguistic instruments marshalled to serve that feature deserve our attention, from lyrics of our calypsos to folk stories told in West Indian Creole. For the survival and persistence of the consciousness that we call "Virgin Islands culture" is by no means a trivial historical matter. To understand the workings of the engine that drives this consciousness we must first glance back at the economic and political forces that came to bear on these islands during the past half century.

The most dramatic expansion ever in the Virgin Islands economy began in the late fifties and early sixties of the present century; it is still in progress today, much to the dismay of a wide cross-section of our populace. Some historians date the groundwork for this boom to the years of the Second World War. Almost overnight these islands came under intense pressures to be the showcase par excellence of unchecked capital development and exponential commercial expansion. (Weren't we, after all, an American territory operating in the free enterprise system? And weren't the islands unsurpassed in natural beauty, the ultimate commodity for wealthy and adventurous visitors and investors?) When we consider these pressures from the outside, combined with local leaders' self-consciousness about poverty and their naive vulnerability to grandiose schemes of wealth for all, then we can comprehend why suddenly the doors were thrown open and the forces of development unleashed. This kind of accelerated development everywhere hinges on the availability of cheap- labor. The Virgin Islands were no exception. But Virgin Islanders were also coming into their fuller rights as United States citizens/subjects; this meant that, although their wages did not enjoy full equity with those of United States citizens on the mainland, they were still a decent cut above those of our fellow West Indians on our neighboring islands. The ambitious Virgin Islander who felt hemmed in by inadequate wages at home routinely pulled stakes and traveled to "The Big City" - usually New York - to make his fortune. The ambitious West Indian, analogously stymied by low wages on his home island, was all too ready to fill the order when developers from the Virgin Islands - latter day raiders - arrived on their shores in pursuit of able-bodied laborers for Virgin Islands industry and construction.

Thus was set in motion a new version of the famous triangular trade, this one involving the United States. the Virgin Islands and other islands in the Caribbean. The Virgin Islands were the hub of this trade, rather than simply one corner, so the analogy with triangular patterns is perhaps imperfect. But in effect the three part trade worked as follows. From the brow of an under-paid labor force transported to and toiling in the Virgin Islands, substantial revenues in the made their way to these islands. On the other hand, when Crucians discuss their past and their cultural traditions they pay homage to ancestors, including relatively recent ones, whose place of birth was on one of the Eastern Caribbean islands such as Antigua, Barbados, Nevis or St. Kitts. Several mini carnivals or ethnic celebrations in our islands demonstrate this bi-directional orientation. British Virgin Islands/American Virgin Islands Day is primarily a St. Thomas and St. John fete, while Eastern Caribbean Day is celebrated on St. Croix. Dividing along similar lines, Fathers Day in St. Thomas--including boat races and a fishing tournament - toasts the contribution of the French settlers and their descendants; while on St. Croix, Puerto Rico/VI Friendship Day celebrates the presence of those who migrated from Vieques and Culebra to our shores.

A robust debate has been going on in the Virgin Islands about whether these festivals promote unity or disunity. But in each community the grand-daddy of the annual celebrations is clear: it is Carnival on St. Thomas and St. John, and Festival on St. Croix. All groups participate and compete in these events. Calypsonians flock to them from the Greater Caribbean to meet the challenge of feting and entertaining the Virgin Islands in all its cultural diversity. In this way, the fissures of rampant exploitation and its attendant cynicism are subjected to intense festive meltdown. And the culture prospers.