Our Culture Doesn't Break, It Transforms: Evolving Caribbean Identity

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What remains of Caribbean identity when our most treasured traditions begin to shift? Bridging thoughts from our recent episodes, I tackle this profound question on cultural evolution. Caribbean culture has never been static—born from struggle, layered with influences, and shaped by resistance, our traditions have always been in motion. But what do we make of it when these traditions are to slip away?

There is a natural grief or worry in this loss, but perhaps we can also consider that culture never truly disappears; it simply translates and transforms. The heart of Caribbean identity persists in unexpected places. Our indomitable spirit of rhythm and rebellion continues today as we adapt to new technologies and circumstances. This isn't to dismiss the importance of preservation. Documenting stories, supporting local artists, and archiving our heritage matters deeply. But we can simultaneously honor what's fading while celebrating what's being born.

What does being Caribbean mean to you when old ways shift? Do you see echoes of our traditions in new forms? Share your thoughts through email, DM, or send a voice note through our website. This podcast is our collective story—and that story is still being written.

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Episode Transcript

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.
Hello everybody, wagwanpangwatagwan, welcome back to

(00:23):
another episode of StrictlyFacts, a guide to Caribbean
history and culture, the placewhere we dig into Caribbean
history, culture and the complexand beautiful ways we continue
to shape who we are.
I am your host, AlexandriaMiller, and have been really
working through questions justbased off our last two episodes

(00:45):
and really coming to understandwho we are as a people and how
we change right.
And so in our recent episodeswe looked into certain customs
and things of who we are,touching on art, touching on
junkanoo, touching on the frontroom, and how they've changed
and, in some cases, how theyfaded.

(01:05):
Today I sort of want us to sitwith that a bit and just ask you
all what does it mean to beCaribbean when the traditions we
grew up with start to shift ordisappear?
And maybe, more importantly,how do we define ourselves when
these customs change?
Let's start with sort of whatwe know.

(01:25):
Culture is not frozen.
It's not meant to be a frozenthing, and certainly for us as
Caribbean people who areconstantly moving and migrating
and returning.
Culture is never and has neverbeen a still thing.
It has always been dynamic,birth from struggled, layered
with influence, molded by theirneed to survive, to resist, to

(01:49):
belong.
Junkanoo, for example, is notjust a parade.
It is a remnant of defiance, ofAfrican celebration and
masquerade born under the weightof colonialism and slavery.
It's a creative resistance.
But it's also fun and messy andours.
When we see fewer junkanooparades or when the festivals

(02:11):
get commercialized and packagedfor tourists, there's kind of a
sort of grief we can really cometo understand right, a worry
that we're losing something,that something essential is
slipping away.
But here's the thing I don'tthink culture ever truly
disappears.
It just translates, ittransforms.
Just like our ancestors tookEuropean knowledge and

(02:36):
instruments and things andreally turned them into things
that are ours, right Tools ofrebellion, of rhythm and
resistance, we've always takenwhat we've been given and made
it something our own.
So maybe the question isn't arewe losing culture, but rather
what are we doing with it?
Now I look around and you know,when I see and think of our

(03:01):
Caribbean culture and customs, Istill see that spirit of who we
are in a lot of ways.
I still see it in the music,whether it's soca, whether it's
dancehall, whether it's a fusionof our genres, it really is
still a mix of our roots withmaybe global sounds, right?
I see it in social media, wherethere are oftentimes satirical

(03:24):
videos of, you know, what ourmothers did and how our parents
grew us up, right, and so justso much layered and layers of
cultural references that only wecan really intuitively
understand.
I see, in the costumes, youknow, during mass, right, there
are so many ways that thesethings translate.
And you know, you know, thoughwe may have not been a part of

(03:48):
our grandparents or elders'generations and experienced some
of their experiences, we stillsort of understand the power of
performance and the power of ourculture.
I also see in the small things,right in the slang, in the
recipes that are passed down inthe sound systems, in our

(04:08):
experiences, down in the soundsystems, in our experiences.
I was brought to this also, ina sense of a way, through a
recent podcast episode on styleand vibes.
So, big up to Michaela, youknow we are a part of this
beautiful Breadfruit Mediafamily and she and our lovely
producer, carrie Ann, had a justtremendous conversation about

(04:29):
dance hall culture evolving andhow we even come to understand
it, depending on where you lean,as part of sort of the
millennial gap.
And now going into the Gen Zera, right, where are you?
Are you an 80s or 90s dancehall person, or are you still
jamming with what is now in ourcurrent 2025 state, right?

(04:52):
And so all of these things, Ithink, are really helping to
underscore how we understandthese shifts, but it's still an
important part of who we are andhow we tell our stories.
Right, one through TikTok,through YouTube.
Culture is living.
It's not just always showing upin the same clothing, to make

(05:15):
an analogy.
And I think in a lot of ways,it's not just the younger
generations that are changingthings too, right?
Our parents and our elders aregetting hip to things, right?
I'm sure a lot of you get theWhatsApp voice notes and you
know stories from elder familymembers and in the group chats
right there.
They are also certainly a partof this evolving generation and

(05:38):
this evolving culture that makeup who we are.
That's exactly sort of what Imean when I say translation or
transformation.
It's still us.
It's just you know, under adifferent dialect of the culture
that has changed.
I also want us to sit withidentity for a second right.
What would it mean for us to beBahamas or Jamaica without

(06:03):
Junkanoo, for instance?
Right, who are we withoutcertain festivals and
storytelling traditions that wehave regularly?
Maybe the better way to askthis is what parts of us remain,
no matter what the form lookslike.
I think you know, being aCaribbean person born in the
diaspora, it's more than just asingle tradition.

(06:25):
It's the way we blend.
It's our languages, thecuisines, the religions and our
histories.
It's why I started this podcast, right?
It's the way we survive andcelebrate in the same breath,
the way we honor both roots andrhythm.
I always want us to think backto the ways that our culture has

(06:47):
never broken, right, it maybrand, but it doesn't break, and
that, I think, is somethingthat's always been beautiful to
me.
Now, none of this is to say thatwe shouldn't be worried about,
you know, parts of our culturethat we're losing.
Of course, that's not what Imean.
Preservation is certainlyimportant.
Archives matter, documentingour stories and our elders'
experiences, supporting localartists, things like that all of

(07:11):
these things deeply matter towho we are, because if we don't
sort of intentionally carrythese things forward.
It can be erased, but I thinkwe hold on to both of these
truths at once, right?
Both things can certainly betrue at once.
We can mourn what's fading andcelebrate what's being born or
reborn.

(07:31):
So maybe the questions and thesort of things that I'm trying
to unpack here, it's that maybeit's not about who we used to be
, but who we are still becoming,and that's exciting in a lot of
ways.
Right, it means that we haveagency.
It means that we're growing.
Sometimes, you know, thingsdon't look the same, but it does

(08:06):
mean that we're evolving and weget to shape.
Still a people of rhythm andresistance.
We are still a people who turnstruggle into song.
And so, when you're listeningright now, I want to ask you
what does being Caribbean meanto you?
When the old ways start to shift, do you see echoes of our
tradition in new forms?

(08:26):
Do you feel the same spirit,even if it's showing up on a
smartphone screen or onInstagram?
Tell us your thoughts.
Send me an email, send us a DM,send us a voice note.
We have a way for you guys tosend us a voice note on the
website, but let's build thisconversation together and really
help us to understand eachother and how we see our

(08:50):
beautiful culture evolving.
Because, you know, this podcastis not just mine, it's ours.
It's another way for us to tellour story of who we are, and
the story is still being written.
So with that I will close.
I thank you all for listeningto me rant a little bit and for
you know, just being part of theStrictly Facts journey, I, as

(09:12):
always, am your girl, alexandraMiller.
Until next time, lookle more.
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