When we think of the cultures and nationalities of the Caribbean, we tend to focus on one specific geographic location, whether it’s an island nation or on the Caribbean Basin mainland. However, one key group, the Garinagu people, (also called the Garifuna) who have shared historical roots on the islands of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, have spread their branches over time and can be found not only in Honduras, the place to which they were historically exiled after a long series of wars, but also in well-established communities in Belize, Nicaragua, and Guatemala. They have also migrated to the United States, where approximately 200,000 live—many in the Bronx borough of New York City, though census data for the U.S. is still inexact.
Join me today for an introduction to and exploration of Garifuna history, culture, and contemporary challenges.
Caribbean Matters is a weekly series from Daily Kos. If you are unfamiliar with the region, check out Caribbean Matters: Getting to know the countries of the Caribbean.
The story of the genesis of the Garifuna people, according to most Caribbean historians, starts with the Transatlantic Slave Trade and a shipwreck off the shores of St. Vincent. Liz Swain tells the story:
In 1635, two Spanish ships carried West African peoples captured from the Yoruba, Ibo, and Ashanti tribes of what is now Ghana, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. Both vessels were shipwrecked near St. Vincent, an island north of Venezuela in the Lesser Antilles. The Africans escaped and swam to shore. The Island Caribs sheltered the refugees. The mixture of these two groups resulted in the blending of ancestry, traditions, and language. The new people called themselves "Garifuna" or "Karaphuna" in Dominica. There is some debate about the definition of the appellation. Gari is African for food, according to Father Amadeo Bonilla, a Catholic Garifuna priest from Honduras interviewed for this essay. In contrast, the authors of Belize: A Natural Destination, say that Garifuna roughly translates to "cassava-eating people."
Swain continues with what would ultimately be the end of most of the island’s Garinagu:
In the eighteenth century French people settled on St. Vincent and co-existed with the Island Caribs. The British tried unsuccessfully to gain control of the island in 1713. The British labeled the Garinagu the "Black Caribs" and referred to the Amerindians as the "Red and Yellow Caribs." That labeling would be used as a tool to discredit Garinagu claims to St. Vincent, according to Mark Anderson, in the paper, "The Significance of Blackness: Representations of Garifuna in St. Vincent and Central America, 1700-1900."
By 1750, the Garifuna population had increased and was prosperous. However, their way of life was threatened after the 1763 Treaty of Paris gave the British control of St. Vincent. The British knew the fertile land of St. Vincent was ideal for growing sugarcane and tried several strategies to obtain it. These efforts included arguments that the land belonged to Red and Yellow Caribs (the Amerindians) and the Black Caribs had no claim on the land. The situation escalated into war in 1772, with the French joining the Garinagu in the fight against the British. The leader during much of these struggles was Joseph Chatoyer, a chief named paramount chief and king in 1768. Chatoyer was respected as a leader, military strategist, freedom fighter, and priest. He signed a peace treaty in 1773 that shifted property boundaries. The British continued to press for more land, however, and by 1795 the Garinagu decided to take their land back from the British. Chatoyer led the revolt, going into battle on March 10 with Garifuna and French soldiers. On March 12, he gave a speech in French titled "The 12th Day of March and the First Year of Our Liberty." While historical accounts state that Chatoyer was murdered two days later, various causes of death are listed. In some accounts he was shot in battle, while other sources said he died in a duel.
For a detailed history, I suggest you read The Black Carib Wars: Freedom, Survival and the Making of The Garifuna by British journalist Christopher Taylor.
Chief Chatoyer, though killed in the revolt, is the national hero of St. Vincent, and National Heroes Day is celebrated there on March 14. This Twitter thread covers the history.
Yuremin and The Garifuna Journey, two documentary films that are frequently screened together and were directed by Andrea E. Leland, cover not only the history on St. Vincent but the fate of the Garifuna dropped onto the shores of Central America. The Yurumein trailer:
There is no trailer available for The Garifuna Journey, which is described here:
Genocide, exile, Diaspora and persecution did not break the spirit of the Garifuna people. Descendants of African and Carib-Indian ancestors, the Garifuna fought to maintain their homeland on the island of St. Vincent in the Caribbean. The Garifuna resisted slavery. For this love of freedom, they were exiled from St. Vincent to Roatan in Honduras by the British in 1797. Despite exile and subsequent diaspora, their traditional culture survives today. It is a little known story that deserves its place in the annals of the African Diaspora. In first person Garifuna voices, this documentary presents the history, the language, food, music, dance and spirituality of the Garifuna culture. It is a celebratory documentary, with engaging scenes of fishing, cooking, dancing, cassava preparation, thatching a temple, spiritual ritual, ritual music and dance all demonstrating the Garifuna link to the Carib-African past. Working closely with Garifuna tradition bearers, this ‘outsider and insider’ collaboration is the first of its kind, one that captures the triumph of spirit of the Garifuna people. With vivid and engaging footage shot entirely in Belize, the documentary celebrates the continuity of Garifuna culture in the face of overwhelming odds.
You can, however, download a study guide. Here is a short clip from the film posted to YouTube by Leland.
The current political status of the Garifuna in Central America is in flux, particularly in Honduras, where they are not recognized by the Honduran government as a distinct people, according to Minority Rights Group International:
Garífuna are one of two Afro-Honduran communities regarded as distinct ethnic groups within the country, having preserved an ethnic and cultural identity apart from the mestizo mainstream. As with other indigenous communities, Garifuna are closely associated with traditional ancestral lands but are not recognized by the Honduran government as a people. Many Garifuna activists avoid calling themselves Afro-descendant, since they feel that it detracts from their unique culture and identity ...
While there are significant Garífuna populations in the cities, most are located in coastal communities extending from Nicaragua to Belize. Garífuna are distributed in some 43 villages in Honduras mainly in the departments of Cortés and Gracias a Dios. With at least 100,000 Garífuna living in the United States, millions of dollars from this group are pumped into the Honduran economy annually through transfer payments to relatives.
Rural Garífuna communities live mainly on subsistence agriculture, fishing and foreign remittances. Unemployment is high, and many men emigrate in search of income, reinforcing the traditional matriarchal structure of the Garífuna family.
Honduran Garifuna Activist Miriam Miranda is a leader of the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH). She just authored this cry of outrage for In These Times.
The Garifuna are being forcibly displaced from our beautiful traditional lands along the Caribbean coast of Honduras.
Our livelihoods are threatened by the expansion of the global tourist industry, African palm plantations, so-called “Special Economic Development and Employment Zones” (also called Model Cities), and drug cartels that run cocaine through our territories, destined for U.S. markets.
We’re also under threat from gated retirement communities with U.S. and Canadian financing, as well as mining and hydroelectric projects, including projects with development bank financing.
The dire situation of the Garifuna in Honduras was explored in depth in the 2017 documentary Lands to Die For. While the average person in the U.S. knows nothing or next to nothing about the Garifuna, our nation’s policies in Latin America are contributing to their oppression.
From Rights Action: "Lands To Die For" is a sobering portrayal of some of the violent and corrupt challenges facing the Garifuna people, lead by the OFRANEH organization, in the context of the violence and repression, impunity and corruption that characterize the Honduran military, economic and political elites and their international partners. While the roots of Honduras’ problems date back to before 2009, the U.S.- and Canadian-backed military coup on June 28, 2009 – that ousted the democratically elected government of President Zelaya – marked a serious and qualitative turn for the worse. Since then, the U.S. and Canadian governments, the U.S. military, and the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank have maintained or increased economic investments with and military support for the repressive, corrupt regimes in power. Investments in mining, dams, African palm, tourism, “model cities” and more, increase as the indices of murder, government repression, corruption and impunity increase. Since 1998, Rights Action has supported and worked with people and groups highlighted in “Lands To Die For”, including Berta Caceres and her organization COPINH, Miriam Miranda and her OFRANEH organization, and more.
It is important to also examine Garifuna communities here in the U.S. Contradictions abound in the culture as a result of migration here and the return to the home countries, which is explored in this short documentary, produced, directed, and edited by Ben Petersen in 2013.
Speaking of Garifuna communities here, the largest one is in New York, and I was delighted to see that the powers that be in the city are recognizing it.
Join me in the comments below for more on the Garifuna and a roundup of news from the Caribbean. While you are posting, take a listen to some music from The Garifuna Collective, described here on the Kennedy Center website:
The Garifuna Collective was co-founded and led by the late Andy Palacio (1960–2008), a musician dedicated to preserving the unique Garifuna language and culture. Today this group of accomplished, multi-generational Garifuna artists continues to tour and perform in Palacio’s memory and with his commitment to keeping Garifuna tradition and language alive against their threatened extinction. The hybrid culture of the African-Amerindian Garifuna communities, located on the Caribbean coasts of Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras, is influenced by West Africa and indigenous Carib, as well as the Arawak Indian language.
Here they are live on KEXP in Seattle in 2019.
Read the first installment of Caribbean Matters here, and last week’s entry on the Kalinago of Dominica here.