Role of Race for Caribbean Peoples

The Role of Race for Caribbean Peoples

The end of slavery in the Caribbean resulted in one of the most diverse regions in the world. The region is made up of an array of nationalities, languages, and even religions. Consequently, the region is also made up of several different ethnicities, races, classes, and nationalities. According to historical records, ideas associated with race did not exist before the seventeenth century. It is a concept that humans invented to create identities based on the differences in human being’s physical appearance. Today, race is becoming a main form of human identity, especially for “low status” minorities (Smedley, 1998). For Caribbean peoples, much like many across the globe, race plays a significant role in their sense of identity. Specifically, it plays a role in how they perceive themselves and how others perceive them and plays a role in determining their social power and class. The historical legacies of colonialism, the plantation system, and the slavery system, all contributed to the identities of Caribbean peoples.

Before continuing, it is important to note that race is socially constructed. Essentially, races “represent bundles of traits given differing values” (Hillman & D'Agostino, 2009, p. 225). Racial groups were identified by the dominant group with the intent to subjugate other groups in an attempt to maintain their own dominant status. People were categorized into these different groups which were then used as a way to create social distance between those who were different from the dominant group. For example, during the period of slavery, elites used this idea to differentiate those who were different from them. Leaders associated different rights to different categories of “white”, “African”, and “Mulatto” (Smedley, 1998). These categories were used to justify the enslavement of Africans, inequality within society, and the abuse of Native Americans. This had and continues to have an impact on the...