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What type of music do the Creole play?How do you catch a land crab?How do you dance the limbo?Guadeloupe is an island in the Caribbean Sea.The people who live there are mostly Creole.In this book, you will learn all about the way they live.It is always warm in the Caribbean, but hurricanes are common.Most houses are made of concrete to keep them from blowing away.

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Customer Reviews (3)

A must read for those interested in caribbean prehistory
I had the honor to work with Jose on the Batey del Vivi excavations in Utuado Puerto Rico. Undisputably, he is an authority in caribbean prehistory. This book is the result of his hardwork and relentless pursuit in the understanding of our prehistoric ancestors.

A Taino treasure
I am currently doing research on Taino art and found this book a tremendous aid in understanding the sculpture as it relates to Taino culture and myths. I haven't read a better, or a more current book that gave me such clear understanding of the Taino people and their art. This is a must read.

An excelent contribution to Taino culture history
Jose Oliver's recent work on Taino iconography and symbolism is by far the most serious handling of the subject in many decades. Fully bi-lingual, knowledgeable in the ethnohistory and archaeological sources at hand, and with good years of experience in Puerto Rican indigenous past he now enters the realm of Hatian (Haity-Quisqueya)early history and culture to compare, contrast and critically reflect on the paradigms of the past. He has fresh new insights andpertinent knowledge of the work of other colleages to excite into new search for meanings and simbolic associations. We might differ in details and approaches which must not distract us from a work well done. The combination of ethnohistory and archaeology as well as a clear geographic-historical sense are some of the keys to serious reconstructions of the past. ... Read more

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Plucked from tropical America, the pineapple was brought to European tables and hothouses before it was conveyed back to the tropics, where it came to dominate U.S. and world markets. Pineapple Culture is a dazzling history of the world's tropical and temperate zones told through the pineapple's illustrative career. Following Gary Y. Okihiro's enthusiastically received Island World: A History of Hawai`i and the United States, Pineapple Culture continues to upend conventional ideas about history, space, and time with its provocative vision. At the center of the story is the thoroughly modern tale of Dole's "Hawaiian" pineapple, which, from its island periphery, infiltrated the white, middle-class homes of the continental United States. The transit of the pineapple brilliantly illuminates the history and geography of empires--their creations and accumulations; the circuits of knowledge, capital, labor, goods, and the cultures that characterize them; and their assumed power to name, classify, and rule over alien lands, peoples, and resources. ... Read more

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The "tropics" was created by some in the temperate zone
"Pineapple Culture" is on the ROROTOKO list of cutting-edge intellectual nonfiction. Professor Okihiro's book interview ran here as cover feature on August 12, 2009. ... Read more

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Material Culture in Anglo-America examines the extent to which regions project cultural identities through the material forms of objects, buildings, and constructed environments. Utilizing more than 130 illustrations and essays by scholars representing a variety of disciplines, this volume explores the material constitution of the West Indies, Carolina lowcountry, and Chesapeake Tidewater—three historically related regions that shared strong likenesses in culture, commerce, and political development in the colonial through antebellum eras, yet also cultivated the distinctive regional flair with which they are now associated. Without reducing regionality to iconic signatures of place, the essays in this volume explore broadly the built and crafted artifacts that define and confine cultural identity in these geographic areas, locating regionality in the distinctive uses of objects as well as in their design and creation.

The contributors—an impressive and international array of historical archeologists, art historians, literary historians, museum curators, social historians, geographers, and historians of material culture—combine theoretical reflections on the poetics of representative material culture with empirical studies of how things were made and put to use in specific locales. They argue that there was a “presence of place” in the built environments of these regions but that boundaries were imprecise. The essays illustrate how the material culture of urban and rural settings interpenetrated each other and discuss the complications of class, race, religion, and settler culture within developing regions to reveal how all of these factors influenced the richness of crafted artifacts. The study is further grounded in several striking case studies that dramatically demonstrate how constructed things can embody communal self-understanding while still participating in an overarching transatlantic cultural community.

In addition to Shields, the contributors are Benjamin L. Carp, Bernard L. Herman, Paul E. Hoffman, Laura Croghan Kamoie, Eric Klingelhofer, Roger Leech, Carl Lounsbury, Maurie D. McInnis, Matthew Mulcahy, R. C. Nash, Louis P. Nelson, Paula Stone Reed, Jeffrey H. Richards, Natalie Zacek, and Martha A. Zierden. ... Read more

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The idyllic landscapes of the Eastern Caribbean belie a dramatic and often cruel history. Fought over by imperial navies and vulnerable to natural disasters, these small islands have also been marked by slavery, migration and a tradition of resistance. With their people rooted in every continent, a powerful mix of influences has created today's striking cultural diversity and self-expression. Today, as tourism replaces agriculture, the islands of the Eastern Caribbean face the challenge of economic survival and maintaining their distinctive identities.Easter Caribbean in Focus is an authoritative and up-to-date guide to this fascinating region. It explores: the history, the culture, the economy, the society and where to go and what to see. ... Read more

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Paradise - A Closer Look
This slim book is a helpful and fact-filled introduction to the history and socio-economic trends in the Caribbean basin. Its focus is on the gentle arc of islands stretching from Anguilla to Trinidad. Sugar, bananas, and oil are among the commodities that have and continue to play a role in the economic life of the region. The author gives us a brief history of the Caribbean's past reliance on the slave trade to support its agricultural economy and the sometimes bloody uprisings prior to its eventual abolition in the nineteenth century. It is the kind of information you will not find in Fodor's or most travel brochures (I write this note standing at a Curacao resort photographing an idealized mural of healthy black servants - the second I have seen today). Of greater interest to the curious North American may be the history of colonial involvement which has left its ethnic mark on the islands' culture along British, French, and Dutch lines. Anglo-Canadians will almost certainly be amused to recall that it was in the Treaty of 1763 that Britain opted to retain Canada - dismissed by Voltaire as a "few acres of snow". In exchange, the delighted French retained a dotted cluster of islands that for all its imagined similarity to paradise is extraordinarily difficult to locate on any map - Guadeloupe. The impact of tourism is tremendous in the Caribbean today and it seems only destined to grow with cheap airfares and travel 'channels' of information breathlessly promoting the regions' splendid climate and recreational amenities. While some voice reservations about the cultural or ecological impact of this recent 'invasion', others might argue that the material benefits imparted to the island economies are real, needed, benign, and re-occurring. Each island's cultural identity is a dynamic asset that can be protected but not totally controlled from change with civic planning and an eye toward promoting the preservation of local traditions. In this way tourism and local identity can evolve together. The cultural impact of tourism, the development of off-shore banking enterprises, an ever-present awareness of the United States (the CNN Effect) get little attention and are generally beyond the scope of this book. The sinister threat of the drug trade moving through the islands is noted (A vacationing Amsterdam physician tells me to read SNEEUW OVER CURACAO, J.van den Heuvel [untranslated]). These are topics that warrant serious attention. Reading Ferguson's introduction is a reasonable place to prepare for that more serious study. ... Read more

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Unique Caribbean crafts for kids resource
Beginning with a map and historical information on the Caribbean, step-by-step guidelines for eight projects follow:Cuban yarn dolls, Puerto Rican "vejigante" masks, Jamaican woven fish, Barbadian shell crafts, Grenadian spice hangers, Haitian metal cutouts, as well as drums and tap-tap trucks.Appropriate for grades 3-7 (the younger grades with adult help; safety comments provided as needed), each project also includes colorful photos, diagrams, templates, (easily acquired) supply lists, and suggestions for variations.Most include a small map and additional facts about the country of origin.The book concludes with a metric conversion chart, glossary, index, and suggested reading (fiction, folktales, nonfiction).

I have not been able to locate another resource like this one.The crafts range from very easy (the yarn dolls, shell crafts, coffee can drums, woven paper fish, and spice hangers) to more difficult (the masks, which involve papier-mache; the tap-tap trucks, which use modeling clay; and the metal cutouts, which use disposable aluminum pie pans that may have sharp edges when cut).The recommendations for grades 3-7 are probably appropriate (I have worked with many second graders who have difficulty with paper weaving, cutting with scissors, and anything involving glue!). ... Read more

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Food in the Caribbean reflects both the best and worst of the Caribbean's history. On the positive side, Caribbean culture has been compared with a popular stew there called callaloo. The stew analogy comes from the many different ethic groups peacefully maintaining their traditions and customs while blending together, creating a distinct new flavor. On the negative side, many foods and cooking techniques derive from a history of violent European conquest, the importation of slaves from Africa, and the indentured servitude of immigrants in the plantation system. Within this context, students and other readers will understand the diverse island societies and ethnicities through their food cultures. Some highlights include the discussion of the Caribbean concept of making do—using whatever is on hand or can be found—the unique fruits and starches, the one-pot meal, the technique of jerking meat, and the preference for cooking outdoors.

The Caribbean is known as the cradle of the Americas. The Columbian food exchange, which brought products from the Caribbean and the Americas to the rest of the world, transformed global food culture. Caribbean food culture has wider resonance to North, Central, and South America as well. The parallels in the food-related evolution in the Americas include the early indigenous foods and agriculture; the import and export of foods; the imported food culture of colonizers, settlers, and immigrants; the intricacies of defining an independent national food culture; the loss of the traditional agricultural system; the trade issues sparked by globalization; and the health crises prompted by the growing fast-food industry. This thorough overview of island food culture is an essential component in understanding the Caribbean past and present.

Customer Reviews (2)

Decent historical overview, but low on culture
Neatly organized. Seems like it was heavily edited to fit cookie cutter approach for the Series.Adequately researched where info seems high on facts and less on experience. Allowances should be made for author to qualify her research in her own preface or introduction, similar to how Higman qualified his research in Jamaican Food by saying that he would cover only a specific area. Not much about how people view food- connections with social relations, sexuality , religions (1 paragraph about Rastafarian and food), food taboos, economics ("trus" food at the grocery shop, undervalued cows which used to be a sign of wealth), linguistic and visual interactions (food metaphors in language and music and art). Nothing about Jewish traditions. The historical info can be found on the web or in a Food Reference book but it is nicely organized here and offer a decent intro to Foods in the caribbean. Being from the Caribbean, I learned a lot more about food as a way of life from the Culinaria Caribbean book.

Author talks. . .
I wrote this book because I have always been moved by the experience of consuming Caribbean food, and because I love reading and writing about it -- whether it be my own writing, or reading the writing of others. The awareness that diverse groups of people have come together -- in various states of contentment and discontentment -- to produce even a morsel of one Caribbean meal both humbles and excites me. It was out of this modest idea that I wrote this book. I hope you enjoy it. I would love to answer any questions you have about it. ... Read more

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This book focuses on the post-emancipation period in the Caribbean and how local societies dealt with the new socio-economic conditions. Scholars from Jamaica, the Virgin Islands, England, Denmark and The Netherlands link this era with the contemporary Caribbean. ... Read more

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Every year, on a weekend before Christmas, the small Caribbean island of Carriacou, Grenada, holds its annual Parang Festival, featuring concerts, performances of local quadrille dance, Hosannah band (a cappella singing) competitions, and the climactic string band competition. Born in the years leading up to Grenada's 1979 Socialist Revolution, the Parang Festival today offers a vehicle for Carriacouans to articulate and assert a progressive understanding of local cultural identity as well as a regional, pan-Caribbean belonging. Rebecca S. Miller examines the varying impact that factors such as cultural ambivalence, globalization, and technology have had on the performance of Carriacou's folk and traditional music and dance forms. Using historical sources and current ethnography, she illuminates the enduring significance of the Parang Festival to illustrate the social and political history of Carriacou as well as this culture's contemporary process of modernization. The book includes a web link allowing the reader to listen to a variety of musical examples. ... Read more

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Of Arawak descent, the Taino – whose ancestors migrated to the Caribbean from the Amazon Basin in South America during the 6th century – were the first people encountered by Christopher Columbus. Although they ceased to exist as an autonomous society within 60 years of the arrival of Spanish colonizers, the Taino – skilled agriculturists and navigators and accomplished weavers, potters, and carvers – developed a complex political, religious, and social system, and made a substantial contribution to the biological, cultural, and linguistic makeup of large areas of the Caribbean. To this date, Caribbean communities in the Antilles and in New York and other large American cities exhibit the survival of Taino practices in their worldviews, religious beliefs, language, music, and food. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

My Taino Bible
As a Taino artist this book is like a bible to me. Lots of pictures, essays and informative bibliography.
Thanks,
[...]

TIANO
Great book on a subject matter that is difficult to find. Wonderful photos. Fast delivery in excellant condition.

Probably your only view of Taino art
Great photos of Taino art. Ricardo Alegria is listed as the author but apparently he's just a contributor. Good thing, since decendants of Tainos could have an issue. Those who know understand what I mean. It's a shame that most of the Taino art is held in private hands because it should be more accessible to the public, especially to those of us with Taino roots. This book is second best.

Great work, but outdated in some respects
"Taíno: Pre-Columbian Art and Culture from the Caribbean" is a great collection of some of the most beautiful objects of the Caribbean Taíno.It is a necessity for any who is interested in Greater Antillean Pre-Columbian history for this reason.
Still, for the more specialized audience some of the papers will appear to be a bit outdated and therefore it is not a recommended read for archaeologists that hope to abstract some information that can be of help in a wider archaeological debate from its pages. On the other hand, even over a decade after its initial publication, there are not yet any works that are so widely available that give such a good introduction to Taíno culture.

Taino Bible
This book was an incredible read. The pictures are absolutely riveting. As a Dominican, I am proud of my culture and reading this book will do the same from you. I refer to this book so often just to look at the beautiful images, I guarantee that you will do the same. ... Read more

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Caribbean Studies is an emerging field. As such, many topics within this discipline have yet to be explored and developed. This collection of essays is one of the forerunners of examining the literature, language, and culture of the Caribbean. By exploring the works of such prominent literary scholars as Samuel Selvon and Lorna Goodison as well as the myriad of issues pertaining to the Caribbean experience, this volume provides an engaging overview of literary, language, and cultural analysis. Because of this wide range of essays, this text meets a need to examine the Caribbean in its complexity, which is rarely addressed. ... Read more

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This exciting addition to the Culture and Customs of Latin America and the Caribbean series provides readers with an all-encompassing look at contemporary life in Puerto Rico. Having always been under the watchful eyes of other colonies and countries, Puerto Rico's own customs and traditions have managed to flourish throughout the ages, culturally uniting what is a politically divided island.In addition to gaining an understanding of Puerto Rico's political relationship with the continental United States, students can explore extensive narrative chapters that cover contemporary religion, cuisine, sports, media, cinema, literature, performing arts, and visual arts. An essential for high school and public library shelves, Culture and Customs of Puerto Ricois the perfect research resource for students and general readers.

This exciting addition to the Culture and Customs of Latin America and the Caribbean series provides readers with an exhaustive look at contemporary life in Puerto Rico. Having always been under the watchful eyes of other colonies and countries, Puerto Rico's own customs and traditions have managed to flourish throughout the ages, culturally uniting what is a politically divided island.In addition to gaining an understanding of Puerto Rico's political relationship with the continental United States, students can explore the small island nation's history with Spain during the colonial era. This fascinating volume provides illustrative narrative chapters on religious practices in Puerto Rico, as well as religious and secular festivals. Social customs, such as sports, cuisine, gender issues, family values, and nightlife, are discussed in depth. Extensive coverage on the media, performing arts, cinema, visual arts, and literature provides students with a solid foundation in Puerto Rican past and contemporary culture. An essential for high school and public library shelves, Culture and Customs of Puerto Rico is the perfect research resource for students and general readers.

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In The Peoples of the Caribbean, archaeologist Nicholas J. Saunders assembles for the first time a comprehensive sourcebook on the archaeology, folklore, and mythology of the entire region, charting a story 7,000 years in the making. Drawing on decades of study in the Caribbean and South America, Saunders explores landmark archaeological sites, such as Caguana in Puerto Rico, with its ceremonial architecture and ballcourts, and plantation sites, such as Jamaica's Drax Hall.

The author dives into the underwater archaeology of Spanish treasure galleons and untangles stories of cannibalism, zombies, and hallucinogenic snuffing rituals. He examines the impact of key Europeans, such as Christopher Columbus, and introduces readers to the native people, such as the Arawak, who welcomed them. Bringing the story up-to-date, Saunders chronicles the struggle of the indigenous people, from the Caribs of Dominica to the Taíno of the Dominican Republic, trying to reclaim and revitalize their historical cultural identity.

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Best reader on the Haitian Revolution
A great reader on the Haitian Revolution. It is cheap, short, and has a great summary of the revolution at the beginning, so it is perfect as a supplementary reading in classes on slavery, Atlantic History, Haitian history, etc.
The documents are well chosen and representative. John Garrigus is a thorough researcher, and it shows: the documents are taken straight from the French archives.

College Coursework
I purchased this book for college coursework in a core history class. We were assigned a paper on the book. Other people in my class did some outside research, but there was enough information between the text and all the source documents that I didn't find outside sources necessary.

Fascinating
I could not be helped but be moved by the documents in this book.The author did an incredible job of helping the reader understand the importance of San Domingue and the other French colonies by including letters, articles and transcripts. This was so important to my research about the nation that would eventually become Haiti and other colonies that found themselves in similar circumstances.These accounts tell the real truth about life in the French colonies and the resolve of the inhabitants. ... Read more

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From the arrival of the first Europeans in the region until the 1930s, plantations--building their fortunes on sugar and to a lesser extent on cotton, indigo, tobacco, coffee, and bananas--brought unprecedented wealth to Old World owners, effected a fundamental shift in the landscape and economy of the Caribbean and the Atlantic world, saw the enslavement of first indigenous populations and then imported Africans, and led to bloody wars on both sides of the Atlantic over control of the lucrative sugar market. In this comprehensive volume, Moya Pons explores the history, context, and consequences of the major changes that marked the Caribbean between Columbus' initial landing and the Great Depression. He investigates indigenous commercial ventures and institutions, the rise of the plantation economy in the 16th century, and the impact of slavery. He discusses the slave revolts and struggles for independence, seen by European landowners not as a matter of human or political rights but as an expensive interruption to their profit flow. History of the Caribbean traces the fate of a group of small islands whose natural resouces transformed them first into some of the wealthiest places on earth and then into some of the poorest. This book intertwines the socioeconomics of the Caribbean with Atlantic history in a captivating narrative that will fascinate a general audience and provide new insights for specialists. History of the Caribbean: larger image Please Choose: Add to Cart:

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Trinidadian sitarist, composer, and music authority, Mangal Patasar once remarked about tan-singing, 'You take a capsule from India, leave it here for a hundred years, and this is what you get'. Patasar was referring to what may be the most sophisticated and distinctive art form cultivated among the one and a half million East Indians whose ancestors migrated as indentured laborers from colonial India to the West Indies between 1845 and 1917. Known in Trinidad and Guyana as 'tan-singing' or 'local-classical music' and in Suriname as 'baithak gana' ('sitting music'), tan-singing has evolved into a unique idiom, embodying the rich poetic and musical heritage brought from India as modified by a diaspora group largely cut off from its ancestral homeland. In recent decades, however, tan-singing has been declining, regarded as quaint and crude by younger generations raised on MTV, Hindi film music, and disco. At the same time, Indo-Caribbeans have been participating in their countries' economic, political, and cultural lives to a far greater extent than previously.Accompanying this participation has been a lively cultural revival, encompassing both an enhanced assertion of Indianness and a spirit of innovative syncretism. One of the most well-known products of this process is chutney, a dynamic music and dance phenomenon that is simultaneously a folk revival and a pop hybrid. In Trinidad, it has also been the vehicle for a controversial form of female empowerment and an agent of a new, more inclusive, conception of national identity. Thus, "East Indian Music in the West Indies" is a portrait of a diaspora community in motion. It documents the social and cultural development of a people 'without history', a people who have sometimes been dismissed as foreigners who merely perpetuate the culture of the homeland rather than becoming 'truly' Caribbean. Professor Manuel shows how inaccurate this characterization is. On the one hand, in the form of tan-singing, it examines the distinctiveness of traditional Indo-Caribbean musical culture. On the other, in the form of chutney, it examines the new assertiveness and syncretism of Indo-Caribbean popular music.Students of Indo-Caribbean music and curious world-music fans alike will be fascinated by Professor Manuel's guided tour through the complex and exciting world of Indo-Caribbean musical culture. Peter Manuel, an authority on the music of both North India and the Caribbean, is Associate Professor in the Department of Art, Music, and Philosophy at John Jay College. He is the author of several books, including "Popular Musics of the Non-Western World" (Oxford University Press), "Cassette Culture: Popular Music and Technology in North India", and "Caribbean Currents: Caribbean Music from Rumba to Reggae" (Temple University Press). ... Read more