Educational Media Reviews Online

“Our ancestors were written out of history. Finding out what our story is continues to be a work in progress. It is true that a few more books have been written, but Caribbean history remains largely under researched. In some ways the damage has already been done, because most people believe there are no true Caribs, because an only true Carib is a dead Carib.” Tracy Assing, The Amerindians.

The Amerindians is a documentary that details the history and the current day concerns of one of the few remaining indigenous communities in the Caribbean. Tracy Assing, the director and narrator of the film, is a member of the Santa Rosa Carib Community located in Arima, Trinidad. Ms. Assing learned in school that there were 2 tribes in the Caribbean: the Arawaks and the Caribs. The Arawaks were peace loving farmers and the Caribs, warlike cannibals. Both groups were eventually decimated by the Spanish. Assing understood she was Carib, but the Caribs were annihilated; these revelations made her begin to ask her family who were they and lead her on a journey to discover the truth about her identity. Assing knew what the history books alleged, but wanted to speak to respected educators to find out if research discovered any new information. She found Dr. Basil Reid (Lecturer in Archaeology) and Dr. Bridget Brereton (Professor of History) both of the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine. Dr. Reid thinks there needs to be a way to redefine history. History in the Caribbean starts with the beginning of the arrival of Columbus. However the Amerindians were there long before Columbus’ arrival, with a history of their own. Dr. Reid also states that researches use the terms Arawak and Carib as a function of convenience, but these terms don’t mean much in relations to Caribbean archaeology since it is not possible to go back in time and ask these individuals how they referred to themselves. Dr. Brereton further explains that the inhabitants present at the time of European contact were divided into several ethnic communities, but they or their ancestors came from the northern area of South America and spoke a language from the Arawakan Language Group. Traditionally, historians had written Amerindians out of the national history. They have followed the narrative that the pure-blooded Amerindians disappeared, and that evidence was accepted as proof that Amerindians as Amerindians had no part to play in the modern history of Trinidad or Tobago.

In reality, by the end of the 15th century there were as many as 40,000 Indians living on the island. Based on early writings of French, Spanish, Dutch and English explorers it is known that some of their tribal names were Taino, Guarani, Yaio and Warao. However, in the late 1780’s the last Spanish governor Jose Maria Chacon gathered together the remaining Christianized Amerindian people and relocated them to Arima. Since then, Arima has been seen as the main center of Amerindian settlement and civilization for the remaining indigenous population in Trinidad. Only converted Indians were allowed onto the mission in Arima because priests and bishops felt that segregation was the only way in which the Christianized Indios would not be tempted by the pagan practices of the uninitiated. The residents of the mission were first referred to as Indios and within time then Carib. Later migration of Indios were integrated onto the mission where they mixed with the converted Indios (their descendants are now the current population of Arima).

In 1974, the Santa Rosa Carib Community was formed. Its main mandate was the up keep of the Santa Rosa Festival. The President/Chief of the organization Ricardo Bharath-Hernandez realized there was more at stake and invited descendants of other indigenous groups from Guyana, Suriname and St. Vincent for a community exchange. Thus began the Amerindian Day of Recognition, celebrated on October 14th of every year. Not everybody is satisfied with the Amerindian Day of Recognition. Cristo Adonis (Santa Rosa Carib Community’s Medicine Man) views the celebration as a show. He thinks the additional land requested by the Carib Community should be given to them so there could be a better celebration, not only for song and dance but in a more educational way with young people being more involved and along these lines the different parties that come to Trinidad for the for the Amerindian Day of Recognition can stay for longer than a few days and participate in workshops.

The Santa Rosa Festival, which celebrates the Feast of Santa Rosa de Lima (the first canonized Roman Catholic Saint from the Americas) still takes place each year during the last weekend of August and has become a uniting and dividing factor among the members of this society. Assing admits that she stopped taking part in Festival when she was 8 years old because she felt the legend of Santa Rosa had more in common with the fantasy stories written by Edith Blyton that she was reading at the time. Also, by then she had developed an awareness that being indigenous had less to do with being a good Catholic and more to do with the sense of belonging to the land. Cristo Adonis is in agreement with Assing. Adonis respects the elders that take part in the Festival and would not want it to end but his opinion is the myth is a made-up story. Meanwhile, Parish Priest Monsignor Christian Pereira confirms that the validity of the story may be questionable, but understanding the meaning of the myth is more important than whether it was true or false.

There are also other issues of contention within the Santa Rosa Carib Community. Assing and her cousins grew up hunting, fishing, harvesting fruit, herbs and flowers and learning how to plant corn and cassava. Now her cousins’ children will not fish in the river due to the pollution and houses take up spaces where gardens would have been made. When the Spanish arrived they found bones within dwellings and it was assumed this was confirmation of cannibalism, but what was going on was a form of ancestral worship. When individuals died, the bones of the deceased remained with their relatives. The bones were used to communicate with those who had passed on by making offerings to them and using them in smoke ceremonies; it was like the member of the family was still alive. Today when someone dies, they go to the Catholic Church where there is a mass, procession and funeral and the deceased is put into the ground. No indigenous aspect to the funeral rite remains. Assing sees this as a loss of connection with her ancestors, a loss of tradition and a loss of an important avenue of communication.

During the “Consultation” on: Indigenous People Rediscovering and Preserving a Way of Life (held December 13, 2009 at the Arima Town Hall) Assing retold a story where she had a frank discussion with the President of the Santa Rosa Carib Community Ricardo Bharath-Hernandez (who declined to be interviewed for the documentary). She asked him what he wanted his legacy to be and later put forth a proposal to have the community center become an operational research center. She describes as a child how she visited the community center where she saw artifacts, woven baskets and mats, and photographs. Now as an adult she walks into the community center and sees the same things, even though many researchers have come to interview members of the community and as a consequence there is video. Equally, there are books and papers being written, therefore the question remains how can and why don’t the youth of the Carib Community have access to this information. Assing felt this is something that needs to be addressed because there is more to the Santa Rosa Carib Community than the Catholic festival.

Between these two entities the core of the main dispute within the Carib Community is once again revealed: Assing feels that the Carib Community is more than and has more to offer than the Santa Rosa Festival, while Ricardo Bharath-Hernandez feels due to the Santa Rosa Festival the remnants of the indigenous population in Arima has survived. Nonetheless, during the 2010 Amerindian Day of Recognition celebration, the Minister of Arts and Multiculturalism, Winston Peters gave assurances that he would ensure indigenous people would receive land they deserved and through the Amerindian Project Communities in collaboration with the Santa Rosa Carib Community, the government is working on several proposals for long-term development of the indigenous community. The pacing of the documentary is slow and it does not pick up until after the 15 minute mark. The first half of the film is basically dedicated to giving background information about the Santa Rosa Festival. While, I understand the background information was necessary to show that the concentration on the Festival is taking away from the further exploration and preservation of the Carib culture, too much time was taken up on the Festival. Also at times the film seemed disjointed. The film would have flowed better if it started with the history of indigenous peoples in the Caribbean, followed by the community issues and ending with the information about the Festival. The movie does show some interesting artifacts and illustrations and when it focuses on the land and nature, the colors and surroundings are vibrant, and the cinematography is crisp and clear. Even though the film has its problems, the second half of the movie does make up for the first half and as Tracy Assing states, there is not a lot of research being done on Caribbean history much less history of indigenous cultures in the Caribbean. Hence, I would still recommend The Amerindians.