October 30, 2024 • 43 mins
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What can Aruba teach us about cultural resilience and the quest for autonomy? Join Strictly Facts as we sit down with Dr. Gregory Richardson from the Instituto Pedagogico Arubano to unveil the intricate layers of Aruba's history and culture. Dr. Richardson, a notable educator and researcher, sheds light on how Aruba's unique status within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, known as status aparte, was realized in 1986. Together, we explore the island's indigenous roots, colonial legacy from Spain, Britain, and the Netherlands, and the powerful role activism has played in shaping Aruba's identity today.
Our conversation takes a deeper look into the political and cultural dynamics that have defined Aruba and the wider Dutch Caribbean over the years. We discuss the island's linguistic diversity, where Dutch serves as the language of instruction, yet Papiamento and Spanish hold cultural significance. The 1970s brought waves of calls for autonomy, and we dissect Gilberto François "Betico" Cruz's crucial leadership in achieving Aruba's separate status. As we navigate through the 2010 restructuring of the Dutch Caribbean and the ongoing debate over independence, we draw parallels with the situation in Puerto Rico and reflect on the complex identities that emerge from these small island societies.
The episode crescendos with an exploration of Aruba's vibrant cultural expressions. Dr. Richardson helps us understand how the island's cultural practices are acts of autonomy, allowing Arubans to assert their identity beyond political boundaries. Experience the rich tapestry of Aruba's culture, where music and language are not just modes of expression but also tools of cultural assertion in this fascinating journey into Aruba's heart and soul.
Dr Gregory Richardson is an educator and researcher at the Instituto Pedagogico Arubano (Aruba), a part time lecturer at the University of Aruba and a postdoc researcher at the The Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV) . He has published several works on Calypso Music in Aruba and the region; also in the area of identity and diversity, Other areas of research include, general Latin American and Caribbean studies, sociolinguistics, music, practitioner-based research and education. He is also involved in community based activities.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Strictly Facts, a guide to Caribbean
history and culture, hosted byme, Alexandria Miller.
Strictly Facts teaches thehistory, politics and activism
of the Caribbean and connectsthese themes to contemporary
music and popular culture.
Wagwan everyone, Thank you somuch for joining me for another
(00:23):
episode of Strictly Facts, aguide to Caribbean history and
culture.
As a lover of Caribbean stories,I'm always enjoying learning
from and alongside otherCaribbean scholars and
storytellers from around theregion.
Today's episode is no different, as we traverse the Caribbean
histories of an island that Ihave not yet had the pleasure of
(00:44):
traveling to, but certainlywould love to, Aruba.
And so joining this show forthe first time is Dr Gregory
Richardson, an educator andresearcher at the Instituto
Pedagogico Arubano, a part-timelecturer at the University of
Aruba and a postdoc researcherat the Royal Netherlands
Institute of Southeast Asian andCaribbean Studies.
(01:07):
So, before we jump into ourepisode talking about Aruban
history and culture today, DrRichardson, why don't you kick
us off with telling us a bitabout where you call home and
what inspired your passion forLatin American Caribbean stories
and histories, especially inthe Dutch Caribbean?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Hi, hi hi.
Buen dia, buen tarde, buennoche.
So good morning, good afternoongood evening, alexandria and
your audience.
First and foremost, thank youfor allowing me an opportunity
to share some of the narrativesof the Dutch Caribbean,
specifically in this case, aruba.
So for me, it's an honor to beable to share with you and your
(01:47):
audience.
So my passion actually startedat a young age.
Actually, I always found itvery interesting to see how
different cultures come togetherand seeing that Aruba is a very
diverse society with folks fromdifferent parts of the world
and this is exemplified as wellin the languages that we speak
(02:09):
and let's say what we would callthe creolization aspects of the
culture I was always fascinatedby it and specifically in how
it's exemplified in throughmusic as well as through
language, as well as the waypeople communicate and connect
with each other.
So, yeah, I continued my mystudies in this area and, of
(02:33):
course, I was found itinteresting also to communicate
with others.
So I went down the the path ofto become a teacher history
teacher and then I followed upwith Latin American and
Caribbean studies and culturalanthropology in the Netherlands
and elsewhere as well.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
I'm really excited as well to have you, dr Richardson
, so I appreciate your time andsharing with us.
I hope our episode is a bit ofan introduction about this rich
history and diversity that youare privy to and sharing with us
, and so, for those who are notfamiliar with the history of
Aruba, I hope this is a greatintro and hope for many more
(03:14):
episodes to come on StrictlyFacts.
And so, before we get into someof the more recent diversity
and languages and cultures thatyou mentioned, why don't we
begin just touching briefly onAruba's historical timeline,
pointing to, you know, probably,a lot of the similarities of
the other islands in somecontext?
(03:37):
But I do think one thing thatis important to note is the
various colonial bodies who youknow were responsible in helping
sort of shape this diversityright.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Oh, yes, I think it's very important.
So we have a lot ofsimilarities in that sense.
Geographically, aruba issituated in the southern part of
the Caribbean, just above,let's say, venezuela, so
probably next to Trinidad.
Aruba is probably one of theclosest islands physically to
the mainland of Venezuela.
It's close to the Lake ofMaracaibo In a bit I'll talk
(04:10):
more about that as it relates tothe oil refineries and so forth
.
We're part of what we call theABC Islands, and that's part of,
let's say, the southern part ofthe Dutch Caribbean in this
case, and we also have the SSSislands.
So the ABC would be then Aruba,bonaire and Curacao, and the
SSS, st Martin, st Eustatius andCeiba.
(04:34):
So Aruba is actually, asmentioned before, just as the
other Caribbean islands, in manyinstances a history of the
indigenous communities,amerindians, and especially in
this case, what we call theKaikiteyo group Amerindians, and
(04:55):
they were part of what we callthe Arawakan language group, and
this was a group, of course,throughout the Caribbean, but in
this case very closely relatedto the groups that are in the
northern part of Latin America,mainly in Venezuela and in
Colombia.
And, of course, after theperiod of colonization, when the
(05:17):
Spanish came in, theyconsidered these islands as what
they called islas inutiles, souseless islands.
That was very interesting tosee how, from a colonial
perspective, these islands aredescribed, from their position.
Of course, throughout thedifferent periods it has changed
(05:39):
from, let's say, from Spanishrule to British rule and Dutch,
and eventually the Dutchactually remained on the island,
first via the, let's say, theWest India Company and
thereafter a more organized,let's say, governmental
structure, and this, of course,is basically up until today,
(06:04):
aruba is part of the Kingdom ofthe Netherlands.
Of course there are specific,unique organizational structures
within the kingdom and maybe ina bit we can talk a bit more
about that.
But as of today, we're stillpart of the Kingdom of the
Netherlands.
As of today, we're still partof the Kingdom of the
Netherlands, but we have aspecial status, which is called
(06:27):
the status aparte, which weobtained in 1986.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Thank you for offering that history things
that I've learned, whether it's,you know, episodes on Curacao
and you know, of course, otherepisodes of the Caribbean,
thinking about all of our sortof independence or
decolonization movements right,I think you brought us very
promptly to the 20th century,which is definitely at the heart
of our discussion today.
(06:59):
One thing that I really findtremendous in this framing and
coming to understand a littlebit more about Aruba is the
decades of activism that reallyhave helped to shape.
You know I don't want to jumpahead because I know it's coming
, but you know these longerhistories which have led to its
current status today, right,which have led to its current
(07:21):
status today, right, and sopaint for us what that early
20th century period of activism,but also, you know, wealth and
growth and development was forAruba, especially alongside, I
think you know, coming from theBritish Caribbean perspective,
sort of similar to what we sawwith the West Indian Federation.
(07:42):
Yeah, so if you go into the 20thcentury with the West Indian
Federation.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Yeah, so if you go into the 20th century, I think
it's important to describe alsowhat happened prior to that
period.
Just in short, yeah, so it hasswitched from different colonial
, quote-unquote rulersthroughout the different periods
and eventually after, let's say, in 1863, on the 1st of July,
(08:06):
the emancipation.
There were differentdevelopments that are taking
place and what you saw withinthe Caribbean itself, there were
different hubs or differentislands in which actually an
industry was taking off, whichis, of course, a very common
part of Caribbean history aswell.
(08:26):
So which you also had migrationprocesses taking place
throughout the region.
So, even prior to the 20thcentury, we can think of,
actually, in Central America, onthe Caribbean coast of Costa
Rica, panama, panama Canal Canaland Costa Rica and Limon, as
well as in the DominicanRepublic, in places such as San
(08:50):
Pedro de Macuris and La Romanaand other areas as well in Cuba.
So there was always a move,migration, especially with the
influence of the multinationals,primarily North American
multinationals, for the next bigindustry.
Now, what happened in the 20thcentury?
(09:10):
The discovery of oil in theLake of Maracaibo in Venezuela,
prompted the next development aswell.
So, of course, because themultinationals, in this case the
Lago Oil Refinery whichestablished in 1924, which is
part of the Esso family, did notwant to, of course, establish
(09:32):
themselves on the Venezuelanmainland, so they looked for
more, let's say, friendlierterritories to establish these
industries.
So in which you had Aruba andCuracao establishing these large
oil refineries and with thediscovery of oil as well in
Trinidad, you also had Trinidadas well.
(09:54):
So these areas, these islands,became known as the oil
countries.
So let's say that was the newfrontier black gold, so to speak
.
And for the case of Aruba, arubawas very interesting in the
sense that, of course, beingpart of the wider structure of
the, let's say, the Kingdom ofthe Netherlands, you had Curaçao
(10:16):
as primarily the main island,the island of government, in
which actually you had all thefive other islands actually
connected to Curaçao.
Of course you had Suriname aswell.
Prior to 1975, it was also partof the constellation, or at
least of the Dutch kingdom, andSuriname, which is in the Latin
(10:37):
American continent, got theirindependence in 1975.
So we continued with the sixislands, but Curaçao was the
island of, let's say, the mainadministration island.
Aruba was mostly seen as a sortof an island where they herded
cattle and different type ofproduction to serve the main
(11:00):
island.
But with the establishment ofthe oil refinery in 1924 on the
island of Aruba, that created anenormous shift, and to be able
to support this new industry itwas very important to bring in
labor from the other islands aswell, and so you saw sort of a
(11:20):
shift in where these migrantswould normally go they would
come then in this case they wererecruited to come to work in
the refineries on both Aruba andCuracao.
And in the case of Aruba, theoil refinery was located in the,
let's say, the southeasternpart of the island, which is one
of the cities called SanNicolas, and in San Nicolas it
(11:44):
became a sort of a melting potof different cultures.
So you have, let's say, theNorth American managers as well
as many folks from theAnglophone Caribbean primarily,
who established themselves there, and of course that had a major
impact on the local populationin many ways, let's say
culturally, socially, in areligious aspect, in so many
(12:06):
different ways.
And I think that's also veryinteresting because the impact
of that migration, it can stillbe felt today.
And just to add, the reason whythey recruited primarily these
laborers from the AnglophoneCaribbean is because it was an
American oil refinery and theyprefer to have skilled and
(12:29):
English-speaking laborers, andthat was, of course, to be able
to help them with the industryas well.
So you can imagine that, let'ssay, prior to 1924, you're
looking at a population that had, let's say, approximately
you're looking at less than10,000 persons.
Within the space of less than25 years, this went up to 50,000
(12:54):
, 60,000.
And at this moment thepopulation is approximately,
let's say, around 100,000,110,000.
So, depending on the statisticsyou look at, but that is
actually to highlight the impactof this industry on the local
(13:15):
population.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
I'm glad you brought up the Panama Canal earlier
because a lot of these thingscan sort of be paralleled in
terms of the US or Americaninfluence, in sort of marking
how the movement and migrationsof Caribbean people within the
region, sort of changingdemographics of Aruba because of
(13:44):
this migration, what was alsothe political state like, amidst
you know, centuries of callsfor whether that's
decolonization or just, you know, folks potentially wanting to
separate from the Netherlandsand become independent, etc.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Okay, what is very interesting is a very good point
, that that you brought forwardis just like any other um, let's
say all the other movements inthe, in the region, let's say
not only in the caribbean, butalso in the, let's say, on the
african continent, um, as well.
You saw that there was a pushfor, um, yeah, more autonomy, um
(14:19):
, and, in sense, to a certaindegree, also more independence
as well, and what you notice isthat with this influx of the
migrants, you also had theestablishment and development of
trade unions as well.
So that was kind of theinfluence of the Anglophone
Caribbean played an enormous,enormous part actually in the
(14:42):
development of, let's say, thetrade union culture and so the
establishment of trade unionsyou had.
For example, one of the tradeunionists was a former prime
minister of Grenada, which isEric Gehry, actually used to
work in the Lagual Refinery andalso had a function there, and
also a trade unionist work inthe Lagwall Refinery and also
(15:03):
had a function there, and also atrade unionist as well, as a
former leader of Grenada as well.
The New Jewel Movement is aMorris Bishop was actually born
on the island of Aruba.
So from this period you had theinfluence of different islands
as well and in that process Nowlocally, you can imagine that
that had also sort of a bigimpact because prior to this
(15:24):
migration you had a localpopulation that spoke primarily
Papiamento within the Dutchcontext.
So perhaps, maybe we'll discussthat a bit later, but Dutch is
the language of instruction inschools, but the lingua franca
has always been Papiamento onAruba for a very long time and
(15:45):
of course, spanish as well, theinfluence of Spanish being so
close in the proximity of LatinAmerica and so forth.
So you see that taking placeNow in the 70s, there were
increasing calls, calls for moreindependence, more autonomy
(16:05):
within the Kingdom of theNetherlands.
It was juxtaposed to Curacaobeing the bigger island.
In many cases, if you want tomake a comparison within the
Anglophone Caribbean context andif you want to go over to the
Federation and so forth, curacaowas seen as, for example,
(16:26):
jamaica or Trinidad, within thelarger constellation and with
the smaller islands actuallyfeeling that their voices are
not being heard within thelarger debates, and so they were
sort of, let's say, infightingon a political level but also,
um, on the cultural level.
And and then you saw thismovement in the 70s.
(16:49):
Prior to that, there weredifferent political movements on
the island, with differentpolitical parties, but
eventually led by GilbertoFrancois Cruz, which is more
popularly known as Betico Cruz.
He was actually the face, theperson that actually galvanized
(17:10):
and was able to take thesentiment higher up and
eventually leading to the statusof party movement, which
actually meant that within theDutch Caribbean, that Aruba
would actually step out of theconstellation of the Netherlands
Antilles.
The Netherlands Antilles wassimilar to, for example, the
(17:33):
construction of the Federationand in the sense that you had a
Dutch Caribbean, let's say, theDutch Antilles, of six islands,
where you would have a, let'ssay, prime minister and
parliament primarily, at least,the focal point was in Curaçao
(17:54):
and, of course, the differentislands also had seats and
representatives as well, fromthe different islands, who would
represent their constituencieswithin the Dutch and Delhi's
government, and you would havesmaller governments on the
islands, but, of course, verysimilar to what you see on the
other islands as well.
There was quickly it becameinfighting, or many of the
(18:17):
politicians or the community onthe island of Aruba itself felt
that their voices were not heard, or the smaller islands felt
that their voices were not heard.
This led to the start of theSeparatist movement and in 1986,
aruba became a separate statuswithin the Kingdom of the
Netherlands.
So then the Kingdom of theNetherlands consisted of the
(18:39):
Netherlands, so then the Kingdomof the Netherlands consisted
then of the Netherlands asmainland, the Netherlands, until
these are five islands, whichwere then Curacao, bonaire,
ceiba, st Eustatius and StMartin and Aruba.
And in 2010, the constructionof the Dutch Caribbean, the
(19:03):
Kingdom of the Lands, also wentthrough another, I would say,
change, where you had thenSkurasao, the larger island and
St Martin also obtaining theirseparate state as a status apart
, and Bonaire, ceiba and SintEustatius became special
(19:25):
municipalities, so in Dutch youwould say bijzondere gemeentes
within the Netherlands.
That would be a sort of aconnection directly with the
Netherlands.
Of course, this discussion isvery complex in the sense that,
if we're talking about the callfor independence independence as
(19:46):
in the case of Jamaica,trinidad, the other islands as
well there are small groupsperhaps, and mainly on some of
the islands, that are activelycalling for complete
independence.
But the discussion among thelocals they would prefer still
(20:11):
to have the constellation thatthey're in, at least in some way
or form, even though it's verycontentious, it's always a
debate, a push and pull, a sortof a tension between the
Netherlands, the government ofthe Netherlands and the
governments of the islands.
But the overall consensus,though, is that that idea of
(20:33):
complete independence is still asort of almost, in many cases
even a non-discussion.
But I mentioned, for example,the rest, let's say the
Anglophone Caribbean, but inmany ways, aruba and the Dutch
Caribbean is also very similarto Puerto Rico in that sense,
but the difference would be that, for example, in our case, the
(20:55):
islands that have their statusapart.
They have their own primeminister, they have their own
parliament, courts, and yet weall have the dutch european
passports, but internationalaffairs are in the hands of the,
the dutch.
So it's a kind of a, let's say,a complex construction and often
(21:17):
very difficult to explainsomeone who's not in that
particular situation.
So, if you ask me, it's notalways rosy, as they say,
there's always these discussions, there's always this tension
and it's somewhat very, I wouldsay, creole, in the sense that
(21:37):
it's sort of a relative identity, contextual identity, depending
on time and place in whichpeople highlight certain aspects
of, let's say, quote unquote,their constructed identities,
whether in some moments they arevery proud to be an Aruban
Aruban as in we have our ownflag, we have our own anthem and
so forth.
(21:58):
But yet, within perhaps a largercontext, you, you claim this um
dutch identity, you claim thisdutch european identity as so
sort of uh um dubois talks aboutdouble consciousness and uh, I
think, in the case of thecaribbean, I think we're talking
about multiple consciousness inthat sense, because I liken it
(22:22):
to Anansiism, so Kompanansi,what we call Kompansi on our
islands, sort of shape-shifting,depends on the situation in
many cases, how we can maximizewhatever situation we're in
based on sort of what we wouldcall in Dutch onderhandeling.
So we're always in conversation, depending on on.
So it's a sort of a what wewould call in dutch on the
handling.
So we're always in, inconversation, we're depending on
(22:44):
.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
So it's a, it's a negotiation that makes perfect
sense to me, though, I think tobe a caribbean person is to
understand how we negotiate, um,and even you know and it varies
by generation, right, we mayhave, you know, grandparents who
are like, oh, we were betterwhen we were under british rule,
or you know whatever, um,whereas you know somebody from
(23:07):
today, might you know, reallychampion independence.
But to your point, right, thecomplexities and the multiple
consciousnesses, if that's theword of, of negotiating, yeah,
and I think and I think and many, there may have been many
studies done on this as well.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
So if you look at even the work of uh um
creolization, and not onlythrough language but also on
multiple identifications so thework of edward lisan you can
think of, but also from jamaica,um rex nelford, and
specifically related to the artsand so forth, you really see
this idea of and bradway as well.
So grappling with this multipleconsciousness, so how we
(23:43):
navigate this space, and I thinkit's very interesting.
That is also one of the reasonswhy I'm so fascinated by the
region we're in, because it'snot only to do with these
multiple ways of experiencingand making sense of the world.
But you cannot just put it inspecific boxes.
(24:05):
And when you see, let's say,often the North American
rhetoric or let's say, europeanrhetoric when it comes to
discussions on race, on identity, this idea of just putting
someone in a box, it's a veryspecific way of looking at
things and I think when you'rein the region, you're going to
realize that this is it's verycomplex and people have found
(24:29):
ways to navigate it.
And this is not to say thatit's a sort of a utopia and this
that it's perfect.
It's not.
There definitely are racialtensions, tensions in language,
tensions in race, at least theway we construct this, at least.
But yeah, that's always anequation and how we position
ourselves and how we give formto this.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
I'm glad you brought us to that point of tensions in
culture, right?
We started our discussiontalking a little bit about some
of the different migrations toAruba, so could you explain to
us the aftermaths of thesemigrations and how you know,
generations later, thesecomplexities have impacted not
only Aruba's demographics butthe culture, whether that's in
(25:14):
music or in education.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Oh, yes, I think yeah , migration has impacted Aruba
in many ways and, in that sense,the rest of the Caribbean as
well.
So Dr Luke Alofs and Dr FarahGreen, and others as well,
describe actually differentmigration waves of the 20th
century.
Example they would call theirmigration in the early half of
(25:42):
the 20th century.
That would be the firstmigration wave, even though
there are discussions regardingmore migration waves as well,
because even in prior industriesas well, you also had the
influx of other migrants fromdifferent parts of the world,
etc.
But let's say, on a wider scale, we're talking about two,
primarily in the 20th century.
So this is with the advent, I'dsay, of the Lago oil refinery.
(26:04):
This is where would be theinfluence of the Anglophone
Caribbean.
And when we switch from, let'ssay, black gold to what Dr Frans
de Guadeloupe calls visa goldsocieties in which we actually
focus on tourism, especiallytaking off in the 80s and the
(26:26):
90s, in which Aruba became oneof the leaders in the tourist
industry, especially given oursize, let's say always in the
top, let's say, seven, eighttourist destinations in the
Caribbean, we had an influxprimarily of Latin American
immigrants, mainly from Colombia, from Venezuela, from the
(26:49):
Dominican Republic, but it's notonly that, but also from
islands such as Jamaica, andeven as far as, not only in the
Caribbean, but from thePhilippines and different areas.
So that would be considered.
Then the second migration waveNow, of course, these migration
waves have impacted society inso many different ways.
So I would say, politically,socially, culturally and
(27:11):
linguistically, especially so inthe case of language.
You notice that okay, soPapiamento, just as Curacao and
Bonier speak a language calledPapiamento, just as Curacao and
Bonaire speak a language calledPapiamento.
And I heard you discuss thisalso with other scholars as well
.
A few that I can mention, ofcourse, are on our islands, are
Joyce Pereira, dr Joyce Pereira,ramon Todd-Andre, of course, dr
(27:35):
Frank Martinez-Arion fromCuracao, dr Frank Martinez-Arión
from Curaçao, and recently Iheard the conversation also with
Dr Keisha Wheel, who's doneinteresting work as well on Papi
Mendo.
So there are many others, butPapi Mendo is actually what we
call an Iberian lexifier, creole, and I don't need to go into
(27:58):
too much discussion, but it's aCreole based on Spanish and
Portuguese, but its origins,actually, its genesis actually
is from West Africa, and throughthat process of contact,
through that process ofcreolization, eventually these
languages develop, and in thiscase, the ABC Islands Language,
(28:21):
of course.
Course is very unique.
It has a special status in thesense that, even though it's
part of schools now, especiallynow, it's also the language of
popular music, language ofcommunication in a general sense
.
Because of the influx of themigrants of the Anglophone
Caribbean.
This, of course, had a majorimpact as well, because English
(28:44):
became then the language ofcommunication, primarily in the
area of San Nicolas, and alsothe language of industry Creole.
Actually, if you look at thedescriptions by linguists such
(29:05):
as Professor Hubert Devenish andothers of the Jamaica Language
Unit and much of the works thathave been done, you notice that
the four languages that werespoken on the island, so let's
say, the Pap grasses, the Dutch,the Spanish and English, the
English-based Creole, alsobecame part of the language
repertoire of some of thepopulation as well, and this has
been primarily exemplified yousee this through the carnival
(29:27):
celebrations.
So when you study migratorypractices, primarily from the
folks from the AnglophoneCaribbean, whether it be in
Central America and Costa Ricaand Panama, in the Dominican
Republic or elsewhere, theimpact of these groups were
actually such that they brought,let's say, their religion with
(29:48):
them, the introduction ofprimarily, let's say, protestant
religions, as in the case ofAruba, which was primarily Roman
Catholic, but you also had thecultural traditions.
So musical traditions, such ascarnival the pre-Lenten carnival
that is celebrated on theisland of Aruba is, in many
(30:09):
cases, in many ways modeledafter the carnival that are
celebrated in the rest of theAnglophone Caribbean, in many
ways modeled after Trinidad aswell.
But the main musical genre thatis played during Aruba Carnival
which is Aruba is a PapiMendoza-speaking country
primarily is calypso and socamusic, and this has been
(30:32):
embraced by literally, in manyways, the entire community.
So, even though some of thesongs are sung in both English
based Creole as well as PapiMinto or, they would add, maybe
Dutch or Spanish, but the main,the core, is actually still,
let's say, english.
(30:52):
So you see this influence.
Not only that, but when you look, look at the ethnic makeup of
the island as well.
So, let's say, quote unquoteAfro-Caribbeans have also made a
mark.
English is the second mostspoken language on the island of
(31:12):
Aruba.
So what you see is then sort ofa mixture between all these
different islands, and the wayyou identify, similar to what I
was discussing earlier,linguistically, also has to do
with depending on the situation,depending on context, and sort
of negotiating as well.
(31:34):
So I think migration hasimpacted Aruba in many ways and
still continues to impact Arubain many ways.
It's always interesting to seehow, for example, discussions
with, for example, in WesternEurope with the influx of
different migrant groups, or thediscussions in the United
(31:55):
States.
It always surprises me when itcomes to the way people deal
with the idea of others, evenusing terms of words, others
even using terms of words.
I think the rubric can be seenas an example of how I think,
(32:15):
perhaps maybe because of ahistory of forced migration
through transatlantic slavery,but as well as small spaces, had
to find a way to move forward,had to find a way to move
forward, had to find a way tosurvive and create a dignified
(32:36):
life.
And I think not only Aruba, butI think part of the rest of the
islands as well, are goodexamples here.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
And again I say it's not a perfect society, it's not
a utopian society, I would say,because there are tensions, but
yet I think there's much we canlearn from definitely I agree
with that, and just usunderstanding that the different
scope of you know our generalmakeup as as islands, as a
(33:06):
region, and even understandingour futures and evolutions.
I'd be remiss if I didn't bringup music, as I always do in
these episodes.
But you talked about Calypsoand so I, you know, would love
to know what are some of yourfavorite.
You know specific examples ofsongs or artists or albums that
(33:27):
this sort of multilingualhistory and you know specific
examples of songs or artists oralbums that this sort of
multilingual history and youknow demographic of Aruba shows
up in Calypso music on theisland.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
That's a very interesting question.
I would say, just to helpanswer this question, one of the
ways, interestingly, thatrubens identify, perhaps, maybe,
maybe, ethnic background and soforth is through, um, one's
surnames, and so, um, in thiscase, if you have, for example,
(33:58):
an english last name in my case,then richardson, you would say,
ah, okay, either yourgrandparents are from whatever
island or your parents are fromone of the, let's say, the
island in eastern caribbean, andthis is in my case.
I'm from saint martin and aswell as the island of montserrat
.
But you would hear someone witha spanish last name.
(34:19):
They would, okay, that personis such and such, or has that
background or other names aswell.
Okay, they can even identify,for example, from what region
you're from, and so forth.
So I think that is somethingthat is also very interesting.
So they would say, for example,up to today, still, the
different languages are spoken.
So the english-based creoles isspoken still in certain areas
(34:41):
and they would say, once youhear a last name, like, okay,
they would say who you for andyou would know as well that, um,
who do you belong to?
What is your?
What is your uh, your familytree.
So I think that is veryinteresting but to make the
switch over to um, to music.
Um, I was thinking about it.
(35:02):
I think one of the, the, thesongs, and which is not from a
local artist but one, one of the, let's say, the Soka pioneers,
or at least the one whopopularized Soka all around the
world, the Mighty Arrow.
So from his song Feeling Hot,hot, hot, I think, if I'm not
(35:22):
mistaken, in the late 80s hecame up with an album, a song
called Soka Roomba, and in SokaRoomba he of course he's from
Montserrat that's also theisland of one of my grandmothers
and he said he came to performin Aruba.
(35:43):
And when he came to perform inAruba he met this lady called
Carmen Sita.
She came up to him and sheasked him um, put some Roomba in
the Soca.
And that is basically the ideaof mixing the, the, the soul of
Calypso, the Soca music,together with the local culture,
(36:05):
maybe the more Latin-orientedculture, and creating a blend,
creating a stew of thesedifferent ingredients, and
that's what he called the songso Carumba.
I think that exemplifies whatAruba is.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
I will definitely add it to our syllabus for those.
I know the song, but I didn'tknow that sort of context in
terms of you know theperformance in Aruba, etc.
So I am definitely excited tocheck it out again for myself,
but also add it to our StrictlyFacts syllabus for our listeners
to check out as well.
And so our final question thatI will bring us to is really
(36:47):
thinking about this context ofmovement and migration and even
autonomy.
Right, I think there are a lotof ways that you know we
oftentimes think of autonomy andindependence in these very big
(37:07):
ways, like you know, fullindependence from the
Netherlands or from Britain, etc.
But there are a lot of otheryou know forms of autonomy or
resistance that you know wedon't always put in that same
category.
And so what are the ways yousee Arubans today proclaiming
their autonomy outside of?
You know that officialpolitical freedom from the
Netherlands?
Speaker 2 (37:26):
I think it's a very, very good point that you bring
forward.
So, like you said, there aredifferent ways in which we could
actually show the way we are,at least the idea of looking for
spaces of autonomy.
So autonomy can be seen from asort of a structural way,
political way, but it's alsovery personal in many ways, and
(37:50):
I think one of the ways thatRubens did with this, I think
it's, I would say, language.
Language in the sense that theidea of plurilingualism and
Professor Faraklas NicholasFaraklas has done lots of work
on this as well on the island,on our islands, in which you
actually through our languagerepertoire and being able to
(38:10):
what we call then code switchingor code mixing, depending on
your perspective, I think one ofthe ways that Arubans actually
exert their identity and somelevel of autonomy is actually
through the usage of language.
(38:32):
So their vast linguisticrepertoire can be seen as
perhaps to be one of the ways toresist authority in some way or
the other, in some way or theother.
So the fact that, let's say,you're primarily dealing with,
(38:53):
perhaps, maybe, monolingualcultures or perhaps people in
authority speaking a particularlanguage, the fact that you are
able to speak multiple languages, is seen as a source of pride,
but also as a way to be able tonavigate a space and to create a
space of your own, your ownautonomy.
So I think that is extremelyinteresting and I think, yeah,
(39:15):
there are several scholars thathave done work on this area, and
professor Nicholas Falaclas isone of them, and so, you see,
autonomy is not only taking froma, let's say, an official
position, position, a structuralposition on a larger scale, but
also, um, yeah, it's somethingvery personal and the way that
(39:36):
you navigate your own space,that you navigate in the own
space that you create.
So you would see, for example,even when there's gossip
involved, that if you want tosay something that you don't
want the person who is inauthority or that you are
resisting against to understand,you can actually, you would do
this in, perhaps, maybe, yourown language, and then switch
(39:58):
back and so forth.
There's a lot of language playtaking place within this setting
, which is extremely interesting, I would say.
Another way of, I would say,displaying or exerting some
level of autonomy, or claimingsome level of autonomy, is, as a
scholar, that is focusedprimarily on the Caribbean
region and also on music.
So, studying Calypso and Sokamusic, you see that the concept
(40:23):
of the breakaway or the sweetbreakaway, which is a sort of a
mambo, is that fleeting momentin the song in which actually
people they let loose and theyfree up.
Now, within that space, throughmusic, you see this not only in
soccer music, in clips andsoccer music, but you also see
it in salsa and merengue and bbachata, in the compa, in souk,
(40:52):
all of the different musicalgenres that are very popular on
the island.
You see this actually throughthe way the musicians play but
also the way that peopleactually dance.
So if you see, for example, aparty in Aruba, you go to a
party, you would hear music thatis let, that's a typical Aruban
(41:12):
music, a repertoire that'sperhaps if it starts with
typical music, and that would go.
That would switch to bachata,merengue, to French music, or
French Caribbean music, souk andcompas, or French Caribbean
music, souk and compas, and thenyou would go over to calypso,
(41:32):
soca, reggae, reggaeton, youname it.
Even in that space you see themgoing through these different
musical genres, but in the caseof the Aruban they see it as one
and I think that is also one ofthe ways they claim their form
of autonomy and I think it'salso very, very interesting when
you, when you look at thatautonomy through through
language or throughplurilingualism, autonomy
(41:56):
through body, autonomy throughthrough waste movement, so from
the dance hall and the roots,reggae, you name it.
So all of this coming together,I think it's something that we
could even actually do more workon.
We should do more work on.
I think there's a lot ofinsight that we can get from
(42:16):
this.
Speaker 1 (42:17):
Thank you so much for sharing that, dr Richardson.
I think for myself andhopefully for our listeners as
well, that puts a lot of greatercontext into this understanding
of Aruba, its history and itsculture, beyond just being a
tourist destination, and Icertainly hope to have several
more conversations aboutdifferent aspects of Caribbean
(42:39):
history and the multiplehistories that bring and make
Aruba what it is today.
So I certainly appreciate yousharing so much of your own
history and of Aruba with ustoday for this episode of
Strictly Facts.
As always, I will link all ofthe some of the readings and the
music and things that wediscussed today on our website
(43:01):
and till our next episode onAruba and other parts of the
Caribbean, I wish you all agreat day, great afternoon,
great night, as Dr Richardsonstarted us off with, and until
next time, little more.
Thanks for tuning in toStrictly Facts.
Visit strictlyfactspodcastcomfor more information from each
(43:24):
episode.
Follow us at Strictly Facts Podon Instagram and Facebook and
at Strictly Facts PD on Twitter.
Welcome to Strictly Facts, a guide to Caribbean
history and culture, hosted byme, Alexandria Miller.
Strictly Facts teaches thehistory, politics and activism
of the Caribbean and connectsthese themes to contemporary
music and popular culture.
Wagwan everyone, Thank you somuch for joining me for another
(00:23):
episode of Strictly Facts, aguide to Caribbean history and
culture.
As a lover of Caribbean stories,I'm always enjoying learning
from and alongside otherCaribbean scholars and
storytellers from around theregion.
Today's episode is no different, as we traverse the Caribbean
histories of an island that Ihave not yet had the pleasure of
(00:44):
traveling to, but certainlywould love to, Aruba.
And so joining this show forthe first time is Dr Gregory
Richardson, an educator andresearcher at the Instituto
Pedagogico Arubano, a part-timelecturer at the University of
Aruba and a postdoc researcherat the Royal Netherlands
Institute of Southeast Asian andCaribbean Studies.
(01:07):
So, before we jump into ourepisode talking about Aruban
history and culture today, DrRichardson, why don't you kick
us off with telling us a bitabout where you call home and
what inspired your passion forLatin American Caribbean stories
and histories, especially inthe Dutch Caribbean?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Hi, hi hi.
Buen dia, buen tarde, buennoche.
So good morning, good afternoongood evening, alexandria and
your audience.
First and foremost, thank youfor allowing me an opportunity
to share some of the narrativesof the Dutch Caribbean,
specifically in this case, aruba.
So for me, it's an honor to beable to share with you and your
(01:47):
audience.
So my passion actually startedat a young age.
Actually, I always found itvery interesting to see how
different cultures come togetherand seeing that Aruba is a very
diverse society with folks fromdifferent parts of the world
and this is exemplified as wellin the languages that we speak
(02:09):
and let's say what we would callthe creolization aspects of the
culture I was always fascinatedby it and specifically in how
it's exemplified in throughmusic as well as through
language, as well as the waypeople communicate and connect
with each other.
So, yeah, I continued my mystudies in this area and, of
(02:33):
course, I was found itinteresting also to communicate
with others.
So I went down the the path ofto become a teacher history
teacher and then I followed upwith Latin American and
Caribbean studies and culturalanthropology in the Netherlands
and elsewhere as well.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
I'm really excited as well to have you, dr Richardson
, so I appreciate your time andsharing with us.
I hope our episode is a bit ofan introduction about this rich
history and diversity that youare privy to and sharing with us
, and so, for those who are notfamiliar with the history of
Aruba, I hope this is a greatintro and hope for many more
(03:14):
episodes to come on StrictlyFacts.
And so, before we get into someof the more recent diversity
and languages and cultures thatyou mentioned, why don't we
begin just touching briefly onAruba's historical timeline,
pointing to, you know, probably,a lot of the similarities of
the other islands in somecontext?
(03:37):
But I do think one thing thatis important to note is the
various colonial bodies who youknow were responsible in helping
sort of shape this diversityright.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Oh, yes, I think it's very important.
So we have a lot ofsimilarities in that sense.
Geographically, aruba issituated in the southern part of
the Caribbean, just above,let's say, venezuela, so
probably next to Trinidad.
Aruba is probably one of theclosest islands physically to
the mainland of Venezuela.
It's close to the Lake ofMaracaibo In a bit I'll talk
(04:10):
more about that as it relates tothe oil refineries and so forth
.
We're part of what we call theABC Islands, and that's part of,
let's say, the southern part ofthe Dutch Caribbean in this
case, and we also have the SSSislands.
So the ABC would be then Aruba,bonaire and Curacao, and the
SSS, st Martin, st Eustatius andCeiba.
(04:34):
So Aruba is actually, asmentioned before, just as the
other Caribbean islands, in manyinstances a history of the
indigenous communities,amerindians, and especially in
this case, what we call theKaikiteyo group Amerindians, and
(04:55):
they were part of what we callthe Arawakan language group, and
this was a group, of course,throughout the Caribbean, but in
this case very closely relatedto the groups that are in the
northern part of Latin America,mainly in Venezuela and in
Colombia.
And, of course, after theperiod of colonization, when the
(05:17):
Spanish came in, theyconsidered these islands as what
they called islas inutiles, souseless islands.
That was very interesting tosee how, from a colonial
perspective, these islands aredescribed, from their position.
Of course, throughout thedifferent periods it has changed
(05:39):
from, let's say, from Spanishrule to British rule and Dutch,
and eventually the Dutchactually remained on the island,
first via the, let's say, theWest India Company and
thereafter a more organized,let's say, governmental
structure, and this, of course,is basically up until today,
(06:04):
aruba is part of the Kingdom ofthe Netherlands.
Of course there are specific,unique organizational structures
within the kingdom and maybe ina bit we can talk a bit more
about that.
But as of today, we're stillpart of the Kingdom of the
Netherlands.
As of today, we're still partof the Kingdom of the
Netherlands, but we have aspecial status, which is called
(06:27):
the status aparte, which weobtained in 1986.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Thank you for offering that history things
that I've learned, whether it's,you know, episodes on Curacao
and you know, of course, otherepisodes of the Caribbean,
thinking about all of our sortof independence or
decolonization movements right,I think you brought us very
promptly to the 20th century,which is definitely at the heart
of our discussion today.
(06:59):
One thing that I really findtremendous in this framing and
coming to understand a littlebit more about Aruba is the
decades of activism that reallyhave helped to shape.
You know I don't want to jumpahead because I know it's coming
, but you know these longerhistories which have led to its
current status today, right,which have led to its current
(07:21):
status today, right, and sopaint for us what that early
20th century period of activism,but also, you know, wealth and
growth and development was forAruba, especially alongside, I
think you know, coming from theBritish Caribbean perspective,
sort of similar to what we sawwith the West Indian Federation.
(07:42):
Yeah, so if you go into the 20thcentury with the West Indian
Federation.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Yeah, so if you go into the 20th century, I think
it's important to describe alsowhat happened prior to that
period.
Just in short, yeah, so it hasswitched from different colonial
, quote-unquote rulersthroughout the different periods
and eventually after, let's say, in 1863, on the 1st of July,
(08:06):
the emancipation.
There were differentdevelopments that are taking
place and what you saw withinthe Caribbean itself, there were
different hubs or differentislands in which actually an
industry was taking off, whichis, of course, a very common
part of Caribbean history aswell.
(08:26):
So which you also had migrationprocesses taking place
throughout the region.
So, even prior to the 20thcentury, we can think of,
actually, in Central America, onthe Caribbean coast of Costa
Rica, panama, panama Canal Canaland Costa Rica and Limon, as
well as in the DominicanRepublic, in places such as San
(08:50):
Pedro de Macuris and La Romanaand other areas as well in Cuba.
So there was always a move,migration, especially with the
influence of the multinationals,primarily North American
multinationals, for the next bigindustry.
Now, what happened in the 20thcentury?
(09:10):
The discovery of oil in theLake of Maracaibo in Venezuela,
prompted the next development aswell.
So, of course, because themultinationals, in this case the
Lago Oil Refinery whichestablished in 1924, which is
part of the Esso family, did notwant to, of course, establish
(09:32):
themselves on the Venezuelanmainland, so they looked for
more, let's say, friendlierterritories to establish these
industries.
So in which you had Aruba andCuracao establishing these large
oil refineries and with thediscovery of oil as well in
Trinidad, you also had Trinidadas well.
(09:54):
So these areas, these islands,became known as the oil
countries.
So let's say that was the newfrontier black gold, so to speak
.
And for the case of Aruba, arubawas very interesting in the
sense that, of course, beingpart of the wider structure of
the, let's say, the Kingdom ofthe Netherlands, you had Curaçao
(10:16):
as primarily the main island,the island of government, in
which actually you had all thefive other islands actually
connected to Curaçao.
Of course you had Suriname aswell.
Prior to 1975, it was also partof the constellation, or at
least of the Dutch kingdom, andSuriname, which is in the Latin
(10:37):
American continent, got theirindependence in 1975.
So we continued with the sixislands, but Curaçao was the
island of, let's say, the mainadministration island.
Aruba was mostly seen as a sortof an island where they herded
cattle and different type ofproduction to serve the main
(11:00):
island.
But with the establishment ofthe oil refinery in 1924 on the
island of Aruba, that created anenormous shift, and to be able
to support this new industry itwas very important to bring in
labor from the other islands aswell, and so you saw sort of a
(11:20):
shift in where these migrantswould normally go they would
come then in this case they wererecruited to come to work in
the refineries on both Aruba andCuracao.
And in the case of Aruba, theoil refinery was located in the,
let's say, the southeasternpart of the island, which is one
of the cities called SanNicolas, and in San Nicolas it
(11:44):
became a sort of a melting potof different cultures.
So you have, let's say, theNorth American managers as well
as many folks from theAnglophone Caribbean primarily,
who established themselves there, and of course that had a major
impact on the local populationin many ways, let's say
culturally, socially, in areligious aspect, in so many
(12:06):
different ways.
And I think that's also veryinteresting because the impact
of that migration, it can stillbe felt today.
And just to add, the reason whythey recruited primarily these
laborers from the AnglophoneCaribbean is because it was an
American oil refinery and theyprefer to have skilled and
(12:29):
English-speaking laborers, andthat was, of course, to be able
to help them with the industryas well.
So you can imagine that, let'ssay, prior to 1924, you're
looking at a population that had, let's say, approximately
you're looking at less than10,000 persons.
Within the space of less than25 years, this went up to 50,000
(12:54):
, 60,000.
And at this moment thepopulation is approximately,
let's say, around 100,000,110,000.
So, depending on the statisticsyou look at, but that is
actually to highlight the impactof this industry on the local
(13:15):
population.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
I'm glad you brought up the Panama Canal earlier
because a lot of these thingscan sort of be paralleled in
terms of the US or Americaninfluence, in sort of marking
how the movement and migrationsof Caribbean people within the
region, sort of changingdemographics of Aruba because of
(13:44):
this migration, what was alsothe political state like, amidst
you know, centuries of callsfor whether that's
decolonization or just, you know, folks potentially wanting to
separate from the Netherlandsand become independent, etc.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Okay, what is very interesting is a very good point
, that that you brought forwardis just like any other um, let's
say all the other movements inthe, in the region, let's say
not only in the caribbean, butalso in the, let's say, on the
african continent, um, as well.
You saw that there was a pushfor, um, yeah, more autonomy, um
(14:19):
, and, in sense, to a certaindegree, also more independence
as well, and what you notice isthat with this influx of the
migrants, you also had theestablishment and development of
trade unions as well.
So that was kind of theinfluence of the Anglophone
Caribbean played an enormous,enormous part actually in the
(14:42):
development of, let's say, thetrade union culture and so the
establishment of trade unionsyou had.
For example, one of the tradeunionists was a former prime
minister of Grenada, which isEric Gehry, actually used to
work in the Lagual Refinery andalso had a function there, and
also a trade unionist work inthe Lagwall Refinery and also
(15:03):
had a function there, and also atrade unionist as well, as a
former leader of Grenada as well.
The New Jewel Movement is aMorris Bishop was actually born
on the island of Aruba.
So from this period you had theinfluence of different islands
as well and in that process Nowlocally, you can imagine that
that had also sort of a bigimpact because prior to this
(15:24):
migration you had a localpopulation that spoke primarily
Papiamento within the Dutchcontext.
So perhaps, maybe we'll discussthat a bit later, but Dutch is
the language of instruction inschools, but the lingua franca
has always been Papiamento onAruba for a very long time and
(15:45):
of course, spanish as well, theinfluence of Spanish being so
close in the proximity of LatinAmerica and so forth.
So you see that taking placeNow in the 70s, there were
increasing calls, calls for moreindependence, more autonomy
(16:05):
within the Kingdom of theNetherlands.
It was juxtaposed to Curacaobeing the bigger island.
In many cases, if you want tomake a comparison within the
Anglophone Caribbean context andif you want to go over to the
Federation and so forth, curacaowas seen as, for example,
(16:26):
jamaica or Trinidad, within thelarger constellation and with
the smaller islands actuallyfeeling that their voices are
not being heard within thelarger debates, and so they were
sort of, let's say, infightingon a political level but also,
um, on the cultural level.
And and then you saw thismovement in the 70s.
(16:49):
Prior to that, there weredifferent political movements on
the island, with differentpolitical parties, but
eventually led by GilbertoFrancois Cruz, which is more
popularly known as Betico Cruz.
He was actually the face, theperson that actually galvanized
(17:10):
and was able to take thesentiment higher up and
eventually leading to the statusof party movement, which
actually meant that within theDutch Caribbean, that Aruba
would actually step out of theconstellation of the Netherlands
Antilles.
The Netherlands Antilles wassimilar to, for example, the
(17:33):
construction of the Federationand in the sense that you had a
Dutch Caribbean, let's say, theDutch Antilles, of six islands,
where you would have a, let'ssay, prime minister and
parliament primarily, at least,the focal point was in Curaçao
(17:54):
and, of course, the differentislands also had seats and
representatives as well, fromthe different islands, who would
represent their constituencieswithin the Dutch and Delhi's
government, and you would havesmaller governments on the
islands, but, of course, verysimilar to what you see on the
other islands as well.
There was quickly it becameinfighting, or many of the
(18:17):
politicians or the community onthe island of Aruba itself felt
that their voices were not heard, or the smaller islands felt
that their voices were not heard.
This led to the start of theSeparatist movement and in 1986,
aruba became a separate statuswithin the Kingdom of the
Netherlands.
So then the Kingdom of theNetherlands consisted of the
(18:39):
Netherlands, so then the Kingdomof the Netherlands consisted
then of the Netherlands asmainland, the Netherlands, until
these are five islands, whichwere then Curacao, bonaire,
ceiba, st Eustatius and StMartin and Aruba.
And in 2010, the constructionof the Dutch Caribbean, the
(19:03):
Kingdom of the Lands, also wentthrough another, I would say,
change, where you had thenSkurasao, the larger island and
St Martin also obtaining theirseparate state as a status apart
, and Bonaire, ceiba and SintEustatius became special
(19:25):
municipalities, so in Dutch youwould say bijzondere gemeentes
within the Netherlands.
That would be a sort of aconnection directly with the
Netherlands.
Of course, this discussion isvery complex in the sense that,
if we're talking about the callfor independence independence as
(19:46):
in the case of Jamaica,trinidad, the other islands as
well there are small groupsperhaps, and mainly on some of
the islands, that are activelycalling for complete
independence.
But the discussion among thelocals they would prefer still
(20:11):
to have the constellation thatthey're in, at least in some way
or form, even though it's verycontentious, it's always a
debate, a push and pull, a sortof a tension between the
Netherlands, the government ofthe Netherlands and the
governments of the islands.
But the overall consensus,though, is that that idea of
(20:33):
complete independence is still asort of almost, in many cases
even a non-discussion.
But I mentioned, for example,the rest, let's say the
Anglophone Caribbean, but inmany ways, aruba and the Dutch
Caribbean is also very similarto Puerto Rico in that sense,
but the difference would be that, for example, in our case, the
(20:55):
islands that have their statusapart.
They have their own primeminister, they have their own
parliament, courts, and yet weall have the dutch european
passports, but internationalaffairs are in the hands of the,
the dutch.
So it's a kind of a, let's say,a complex construction and often
(21:17):
very difficult to explainsomeone who's not in that
particular situation.
So, if you ask me, it's notalways rosy, as they say,
there's always these discussions, there's always this tension
and it's somewhat very, I wouldsay, creole, in the sense that
(21:37):
it's sort of a relative identity, contextual identity, depending
on time and place in whichpeople highlight certain aspects
of, let's say, quote unquote,their constructed identities,
whether in some moments they arevery proud to be an Aruban
Aruban as in we have our ownflag, we have our own anthem and
so forth.
(21:58):
But yet, within perhaps a largercontext, you, you claim this um
dutch identity, you claim thisdutch european identity as so
sort of uh um dubois talks aboutdouble consciousness and uh, I
think, in the case of thecaribbean, I think we're talking
about multiple consciousness inthat sense, because I liken it
(22:22):
to Anansiism, so Kompanansi,what we call Kompansi on our
islands, sort of shape-shifting,depends on the situation in
many cases, how we can maximizewhatever situation we're in
based on sort of what we wouldcall in Dutch onderhandeling.
So we're always in conversation, depending on on.
So it's a sort of a what wewould call in dutch on the
handling.
So we're always in, inconversation, we're depending on
(22:44):
.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
So it's a, it's a negotiation that makes perfect
sense to me, though, I think tobe a caribbean person is to
understand how we negotiate, um,and even you know and it varies
by generation, right, we mayhave, you know, grandparents who
are like, oh, we were betterwhen we were under british rule,
or you know whatever, um,whereas you know somebody from
(23:07):
today, might you know, reallychampion independence.
But to your point, right, thecomplexities and the multiple
consciousnesses, if that's theword of, of negotiating, yeah,
and I think and I think and many, there may have been many
studies done on this as well.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
So if you look at even the work of uh um
creolization, and not onlythrough language but also on
multiple identifications so thework of edward lisan you can
think of, but also from jamaica,um rex nelford, and
specifically related to the artsand so forth, you really see
this idea of and bradway as well.
So grappling with this multipleconsciousness, so how we
(23:43):
navigate this space, and I thinkit's very interesting.
That is also one of the reasonswhy I'm so fascinated by the
region we're in, because it'snot only to do with these
multiple ways of experiencingand making sense of the world.
But you cannot just put it inspecific boxes.
(24:05):
And when you see, let's say,often the North American
rhetoric or let's say, europeanrhetoric when it comes to
discussions on race, on identity, this idea of just putting
someone in a box, it's a veryspecific way of looking at
things and I think when you'rein the region, you're going to
realize that this is it's verycomplex and people have found
(24:29):
ways to navigate it.
And this is not to say thatit's a sort of a utopia and this
that it's perfect.
It's not.
There definitely are racialtensions, tensions in language,
tensions in race, at least theway we construct this, at least.
But yeah, that's always anequation and how we position
ourselves and how we give formto this.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
I'm glad you brought us to that point of tensions in
culture, right?
We started our discussiontalking a little bit about some
of the different migrations toAruba, so could you explain to
us the aftermaths of thesemigrations and how you know,
generations later, thesecomplexities have impacted not
only Aruba's demographics butthe culture, whether that's in
(25:14):
music or in education.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Oh, yes, I think yeah , migration has impacted Aruba
in many ways and, in that sense,the rest of the Caribbean as
well.
So Dr Luke Alofs and Dr FarahGreen, and others as well,
describe actually differentmigration waves of the 20th
century.
Example they would call theirmigration in the early half of
(25:42):
the 20th century.
That would be the firstmigration wave, even though
there are discussions regardingmore migration waves as well,
because even in prior industriesas well, you also had the
influx of other migrants fromdifferent parts of the world,
etc.
But let's say, on a wider scale, we're talking about two,
primarily in the 20th century.
So this is with the advent, I'dsay, of the Lago oil refinery.
(26:04):
This is where would be theinfluence of the Anglophone
Caribbean.
And when we switch from, let'ssay, black gold to what Dr Frans
de Guadeloupe calls visa goldsocieties in which we actually
focus on tourism, especiallytaking off in the 80s and the
(26:26):
90s, in which Aruba became oneof the leaders in the tourist
industry, especially given oursize, let's say always in the
top, let's say, seven, eighttourist destinations in the
Caribbean, we had an influxprimarily of Latin American
immigrants, mainly from Colombia, from Venezuela, from the
(26:49):
Dominican Republic, but it's notonly that, but also from
islands such as Jamaica, andeven as far as, not only in the
Caribbean, but from thePhilippines and different areas.
So that would be considered.
Then the second migration waveNow, of course, these migration
waves have impacted society inso many different ways.
So I would say, politically,socially, culturally and
(27:11):
linguistically, especially so inthe case of language.
You notice that okay, soPapiamento, just as Curacao and
Bonier speak a language calledPapiamento, just as Curacao and
Bonaire speak a language calledPapiamento.
And I heard you discuss thisalso with other scholars as well
.
A few that I can mention, ofcourse, are on our islands, are
Joyce Pereira, dr Joyce Pereira,ramon Todd-Andre, of course, dr
(27:35):
Frank Martinez-Arion fromCuracao, dr Frank Martinez-Arión
from Curaçao, and recently Iheard the conversation also with
Dr Keisha Wheel, who's doneinteresting work as well on Papi
Mendo.
So there are many others, butPapi Mendo is actually what we
call an Iberian lexifier, creole, and I don't need to go into
(27:58):
too much discussion, but it's aCreole based on Spanish and
Portuguese, but its origins,actually, its genesis actually
is from West Africa, and throughthat process of contact,
through that process ofcreolization, eventually these
languages develop, and in thiscase, the ABC Islands Language,
(28:21):
of course.
Course is very unique.
It has a special status in thesense that, even though it's
part of schools now, especiallynow, it's also the language of
popular music, language ofcommunication in a general sense
.
Because of the influx of themigrants of the Anglophone
Caribbean.
This, of course, had a majorimpact as well, because English
(28:44):
became then the language ofcommunication, primarily in the
area of San Nicolas, and alsothe language of industry Creole.
Actually, if you look at thedescriptions by linguists such
(29:05):
as Professor Hubert Devenish andothers of the Jamaica Language
Unit and much of the works thathave been done, you notice that
the four languages that werespoken on the island, so let's
say, the Pap grasses, the Dutch,the Spanish and English, the
English-based Creole, alsobecame part of the language
repertoire of some of thepopulation as well, and this has
been primarily exemplified yousee this through the carnival
(29:27):
celebrations.
So when you study migratorypractices, primarily from the
folks from the AnglophoneCaribbean, whether it be in
Central America and Costa Ricaand Panama, in the Dominican
Republic or elsewhere, theimpact of these groups were
actually such that they brought,let's say, their religion with
(29:48):
them, the introduction ofprimarily, let's say, protestant
religions, as in the case ofAruba, which was primarily Roman
Catholic, but you also had thecultural traditions.
So musical traditions, such ascarnival the pre-Lenten carnival
that is celebrated on theisland of Aruba is, in many
(30:09):
cases, in many ways modeledafter the carnival that are
celebrated in the rest of theAnglophone Caribbean, in many
ways modeled after Trinidad aswell.
But the main musical genre thatis played during Aruba Carnival
which is Aruba is a PapiMendoza-speaking country
primarily is calypso and socamusic, and this has been
(30:32):
embraced by literally, in manyways, the entire community.
So, even though some of thesongs are sung in both English
based Creole as well as PapiMinto or, they would add, maybe
Dutch or Spanish, but the main,the core, is actually still,
let's say, english.
(30:52):
So you see this influence.
Not only that, but when you look, look at the ethnic makeup of
the island as well.
So, let's say, quote unquoteAfro-Caribbeans have also made a
mark.
English is the second mostspoken language on the island of
(31:12):
Aruba.
So what you see is then sort ofa mixture between all these
different islands, and the wayyou identify, similar to what I
was discussing earlier,linguistically, also has to do
with depending on the situation,depending on context, and sort
of negotiating as well.
(31:34):
So I think migration hasimpacted Aruba in many ways and
still continues to impact Arubain many ways.
It's always interesting to seehow, for example, discussions
with, for example, in WesternEurope with the influx of
different migrant groups, or thediscussions in the United
(31:55):
States.
It always surprises me when itcomes to the way people deal
with the idea of others, evenusing terms of words, others
even using terms of words.
I think the rubric can be seenas an example of how I think,
(32:15):
perhaps maybe because of ahistory of forced migration
through transatlantic slavery,but as well as small spaces, had
to find a way to move forward,had to find a way to move
forward, had to find a way tosurvive and create a dignified
(32:36):
life.
And I think not only Aruba, butI think part of the rest of the
islands as well, are goodexamples here.
Speaker 1 (32:44):
And again I say it's not a perfect society, it's not
a utopian society, I would say,because there are tensions, but
yet I think there's much we canlearn from definitely I agree
with that, and just usunderstanding that the different
scope of you know our generalmakeup as as islands, as a
(33:06):
region, and even understandingour futures and evolutions.
I'd be remiss if I didn't bringup music, as I always do in
these episodes.
But you talked about Calypsoand so I, you know, would love
to know what are some of yourfavorite.
You know specific examples ofsongs or artists or albums that
(33:27):
this sort of multilingualhistory and you know specific
examples of songs or artists oralbums that this sort of
multilingual history and youknow demographic of Aruba shows
up in Calypso music on theisland.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
That's a very interesting question.
I would say, just to helpanswer this question, one of the
ways, interestingly, thatrubens identify, perhaps, maybe,
maybe, ethnic background and soforth is through, um, one's
surnames, and so, um, in thiscase, if you have, for example,
(33:58):
an english last name in my case,then richardson, you would say,
ah, okay, either yourgrandparents are from whatever
island or your parents are fromone of the, let's say, the
island in eastern caribbean, andthis is in my case.
I'm from saint martin and aswell as the island of montserrat
.
But you would hear someone witha spanish last name.
(34:19):
They would, okay, that personis such and such, or has that
background or other names aswell.
Okay, they can even identify,for example, from what region
you're from, and so forth.
So I think that is somethingthat is also very interesting.
So they would say, for example,up to today, still, the
different languages are spoken.
So the english-based creoles isspoken still in certain areas
(34:41):
and they would say, once youhear a last name, like, okay,
they would say who you for andyou would know as well that, um,
who do you belong to?
What is your?
What is your uh, your familytree.
So I think that is veryinteresting but to make the
switch over to um, to music.
Um, I was thinking about it.
(35:02):
I think one of the, the, thesongs, and which is not from a
local artist but one, one of the, let's say, the Soka pioneers,
or at least the one whopopularized Soka all around the
world, the Mighty Arrow.
So from his song Feeling Hot,hot, hot, I think, if I'm not
(35:22):
mistaken, in the late 80s hecame up with an album, a song
called Soka Roomba, and in SokaRoomba he of course he's from
Montserrat that's also theisland of one of my grandmothers
and he said he came to performin Aruba.
(35:43):
And when he came to perform inAruba he met this lady called
Carmen Sita.
She came up to him and sheasked him um, put some Roomba in
the Soca.
And that is basically the ideaof mixing the, the, the soul of
Calypso, the Soca music,together with the local culture,
(36:05):
maybe the more Latin-orientedculture, and creating a blend,
creating a stew of thesedifferent ingredients, and
that's what he called the songso Carumba.
I think that exemplifies whatAruba is.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
I will definitely add it to our syllabus for those.
I know the song, but I didn'tknow that sort of context in
terms of you know theperformance in Aruba, etc.
So I am definitely excited tocheck it out again for myself,
but also add it to our StrictlyFacts syllabus for our listeners
to check out as well.
And so our final question thatI will bring us to is really
(36:47):
thinking about this context ofmovement and migration and even
autonomy.
Right, I think there are a lotof ways that you know we
oftentimes think of autonomy andindependence in these very big
(37:07):
ways, like you know, fullindependence from the
Netherlands or from Britain, etc.
But there are a lot of otheryou know forms of autonomy or
resistance that you know wedon't always put in that same
category.
And so what are the ways yousee Arubans today proclaiming
their autonomy outside of?
You know that officialpolitical freedom from the
Netherlands?
Speaker 2 (37:26):
I think it's a very, very good point that you bring
forward.
So, like you said, there aredifferent ways in which we could
actually show the way we are,at least the idea of looking for
spaces of autonomy.
So autonomy can be seen from asort of a structural way,
political way, but it's alsovery personal in many ways, and
(37:50):
I think one of the ways thatRubens did with this, I think
it's, I would say, language.
Language in the sense that theidea of plurilingualism and
Professor Faraklas NicholasFaraklas has done lots of work
on this as well on the island,on our islands, in which you
actually through our languagerepertoire and being able to
(38:10):
what we call then code switchingor code mixing, depending on
your perspective, I think one ofthe ways that Arubans actually
exert their identity and somelevel of autonomy is actually
through the usage of language.
(38:32):
So their vast linguisticrepertoire can be seen as
perhaps to be one of the ways toresist authority in some way or
the other, in some way or theother.
So the fact that, let's say,you're primarily dealing with,
(38:53):
perhaps, maybe, monolingualcultures or perhaps people in
authority speaking a particularlanguage, the fact that you are
able to speak multiple languages, is seen as a source of pride,
but also as a way to be able tonavigate a space and to create a
space of your own, your ownautonomy.
So I think that is extremelyinteresting and I think, yeah,
(39:15):
there are several scholars thathave done work on this area, and
professor Nicholas Falaclas isone of them, and so, you see,
autonomy is not only taking froma, let's say, an official
position, position, a structuralposition on a larger scale, but
also, um, yeah, it's somethingvery personal and the way that
(39:36):
you navigate your own space,that you navigate in the own
space that you create.
So you would see, for example,even when there's gossip
involved, that if you want tosay something that you don't
want the person who is inauthority or that you are
resisting against to understand,you can actually, you would do
this in, perhaps, maybe, yourown language, and then switch
(39:58):
back and so forth.
There's a lot of language playtaking place within this setting
, which is extremely interesting, I would say.
Another way of, I would say,displaying or exerting some
level of autonomy, or claimingsome level of autonomy, is, as a
scholar, that is focusedprimarily on the Caribbean
region and also on music.
So, studying Calypso and Sokamusic, you see that the concept
(40:23):
of the breakaway or the sweetbreakaway, which is a sort of a
mambo, is that fleeting momentin the song in which actually
people they let loose and theyfree up.
Now, within that space, throughmusic, you see this not only in
soccer music, in clips andsoccer music, but you also see
it in salsa and merengue and bbachata, in the compa, in souk,
(40:52):
all of the different musicalgenres that are very popular on
the island.
You see this actually throughthe way the musicians play but
also the way that peopleactually dance.
So if you see, for example, aparty in Aruba, you go to a
party, you would hear music thatis let, that's a typical Aruban
(41:12):
music, a repertoire that'sperhaps if it starts with
typical music, and that would go.
That would switch to bachata,merengue, to French music, or
French Caribbean music, souk andcompas, or French Caribbean
music, souk and compas, and thenyou would go over to calypso,
(41:32):
soca, reggae, reggaeton, youname it.
Even in that space you see themgoing through these different
musical genres, but in the caseof the Aruban they see it as one
and I think that is also one ofthe ways they claim their form
of autonomy and I think it'salso very, very interesting when
you, when you look at thatautonomy through through
language or throughplurilingualism, autonomy
(41:56):
through body, autonomy throughthrough waste movement, so from
the dance hall and the roots,reggae, you name it.
So all of this coming together,I think it's something that we
could even actually do more workon.
We should do more work on.
I think there's a lot ofinsight that we can get from
(42:16):
this.
Speaker 1 (42:17):
Thank you so much for sharing that, dr Richardson.
I think for myself andhopefully for our listeners as
well, that puts a lot of greatercontext into this understanding
of Aruba, its history and itsculture, beyond just being a
tourist destination, and Icertainly hope to have several
more conversations aboutdifferent aspects of Caribbean
(42:39):
history and the multiplehistories that bring and make
Aruba what it is today.
So I certainly appreciate yousharing so much of your own
history and of Aruba with ustoday for this episode of
Strictly Facts.
As always, I will link all ofthe some of the readings and the
music and things that wediscussed today on our website
(43:01):
and till our next episode onAruba and other parts of the
Caribbean, I wish you all agreat day, great afternoon,
great night, as Dr Richardsonstarted us off with, and until
next time, little more.
Thanks for tuning in toStrictly Facts.
Visit strictlyfactspodcastcomfor more information from each
(43:24):
episode.
Follow us at Strictly Facts Podon Instagram and Facebook and
at Strictly Facts PD on Twitter.
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