Women, Art, and Culture in the New Grenada
1984; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 11; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1177/0094582x8401100303
ISSN1552-678X
Autores Tópico(s)Australian History and Society
ResumoCan straw, fiber, and wood, the basic raw materials of Caribbean arts and crafts, be reshaped to reflect the consciousness that distinguishes 110,000 from most other Caribbean peoples? During my visit to Grenada in July 1983, the answer to this question became apparent as I began to view and understand the role of art in relationship to history and the more recent social changes that have taken place in Grenada since their March 13, 1979, revolution. Yvonne Palmer, the director of Grencraft and the Grenadian National Handicrafts Institute (GNHI), and Jacob Ross, a director of cultural programs within the Ministry of Culture, were my two principal informants. During our long discussions I realized how the arts became an effective arm of the people's revolutionary struggle, inspiring form and content for the media of straw, fiber, and wood, as well as dance, poetry, and music. The art media now reflect the developing consciousness and pride of the people or worker-artists in their future. I also visited, interviewed, sketched, and photographed the teachers and students of GNHI and people of St. George's (the capital) and Gouyave, Sauteurs, and Grenville, who shared with me some of the daily aspects of their lives as well as future aspirations. As exemplified by Jacob Ross's statement that We are in the process of rewriting our history. It wasn't Columbus who discovered Grenada in 1498, but the Carib Indians who found Columbus standing on their shores, the new Grenadians are seeking to redefine themselves as a people and a nation free from their past colonial domination and the corrupt Eric Gairy dictatorship that followed.
Referência(s)