Beyond Ethnicity: Writing Caribbean Histories through Social Spaces
2011; Routledge; Volume: 6; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/17442222.2011.617589
ISSN1744-2230
Autores Tópico(s)Cuban History and Society
ResumoAbstract Ethnic groups have frequently functioned as building blocks for the narration of Surinamese and, more generally, Caribbean social histories. This focus on ethnicity may lead to the portrayal of society as made up exclusively of racial/ethnic groups with primordial loyalties and attachments and pure, distinct cultures. Such an approach makes it impossible to understand social life but through an ethnic lens, while barring us from asking how ethnicity has been construed, deployed and contested. This article attempts to formulate an alternative vantage point and methodology for narrating Surinamese and Caribbean social histories. It argues for historical narratives that take differentiated geographies, rather than naturalized ethnic groupings as their vantage point. Keywords: CaribbeanSurinamesocial historyethnicityplural societynational histories Acknowledgements The present argument started out as a talk at a Surinamese studies day in Amsterdam in 2008 (de Koning, 2009 de Koning, A. 2009. Voorbij het multiculturele paradijs … Etniciteit en Suriname's sociale geschiedenis (Beyond the multicultural paradise... Ethnicity and Suriname's social history). OSO, 28(1): 12–27. [Google Scholar]), but it has taken considerable time and effort to articulate its more general implications. The author is grateful to the many colleagues and friends who have helped by offering their insights along the way. The author would particularly like to thank Eileen Moyer, Andrew Gebhardt, Yvon van der Pijl, Guno Jones, Paul Tjon Sie Fat, Rosemarijn Hoefte, Gerry van Klinken Hebe Verrest, Wayne Modest, Kevin Yelvington and the anonymous reviewers. The author is most grateful to Rivke Jaffe, who read several drafts and always came back with insightful and encouraging advice. Notes 1. This research was part of a larger project on Suriname's 20th-century social history at the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV) headed by Rosemarijn Hoefte and financed by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). 2. Mai means mother in Sarnami; it was frequently used by non-Hindustanis for older Hindustani women, especially foodstuff sellers. 3. 'Ons Belang' is a relatively new term. People more commonly referred to this type of shop as bakbawinkri/bakovenwinkel (plantain/produce shop). 4. These figures do give a skewed impression, since the Marowijne district was mainly populated by people who were not included in the census because they were categorized as living in tribal communities. 5. Available at http://www.moengo.com/
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