The Peopling of the Caribbean: New Research Findings

From the Daily Express, where it was published with the headline: "Tech proves Columbus’ claims: Hundreds-year-old beliefs debunked," republished from scitechdaily.

Jan 27, 2020

Christopher Columbus’ accounts of the Caribbean include harrowing descriptions of fierce raiders who abducted women and cannibalised men—stories long dismissed as myths.

But a new study published on January 10 in Scientific Reports suggests Columbus may have been telling the truth.

Using the equivalent of facial recognition technology, researchers analysed the skulls of early Caribbean inhabitants, uncovering relationships between people groups and upending long-standing hypotheses about how the islands were first colonised.

One surprising finding was that the Caribs, marauders from South America and rumoured cannibals, invaded Jamaica, Hispaniola and the Bahamas, overturning half a century of assumptions that they never made it further north than Guadeloupe.

“I’ve spent years trying to prove Columbus wrong when he was right: There were Caribs in the northern Caribbean when he arrived,” said William Keegan, Florida Museum of Natural History curator of Caribbean archaeology. “We’re going to have to reinterpret everything we thought we knew.”

Columbus had recounted how peaceful Arawaks in modern-day Bahamas were terrorised by pillagers he mistakenly described as “Caniba,” the Asiatic subjects of the Grand Khan. His Spanish successors corrected the name to “Caribe” a few decades later, but the similar-sounding names led most archaeologists to chalk up the references to a mix-up: How could Caribs have been in the Bahamas when their closest outpost was nearly 1,000 miles to the south?

But skulls reveal the Carib presence in the Caribbean was far more prominent than previously thought, giving credence to Columbus’ claims.

Face to face with the Caribbean’s earliest inhabitants

Previous studies relied on artefacts such as tools and pottery to trace the geographical origin and movement of people through the Caribbean over time. Adding a biological component brings the region’s history into sharper focus, said Ann Ross, a professor of biological sciences at North Carolina State University and the study’s lead author.

Ross used 3D facial “landmarks,” such as the size of an eye socket or length of a nose, to analyse more than 100 skulls dating from about A.D. 800 to 1542. These landmarks can act as a genetic proxy for determining how closely people are related to one another.

The analysis not only revealed three distinct Caribbean people groups, but also their migration routes, which was “really stunning,” Ross said.

Looking at ancient faces shows the Caribbean’s earliest settlers came from the Yucatan, moving into Cuba and the Northern Antilles, which supports a previous hypothesis based on similarities in stone tools. Arawak speakers from coastal Colombia and Venezuela migrated to Puerto Rico between 800 and 200 BC, a journey also documented in pottery.

The earliest inhabitants of the Bahamas and Hispaniola, however, were not from Cuba as commonly thought, but the North-west Amazon—the Caribs. Around AD 800, they pushed north into Hispaniola and Jamaica and then the Bahamas where they were well established by the time Columbus arrived.

“I had been stumped for years because I didn’t have this Bahamian component,” Ross said. “Those remains were so key. This will change the perspective on the people and peopling of the Caribbean.”

For Keegan, the discovery lays to rest a puzzle that pestered him for years: why a type of pottery known as Meillacoid appears in Hispaniola by AD 800, Jamaica around 900 and the Bahamas around 1000.

“Why was this pottery so different from everything else we see? That had bothered me,” he said. “It makes sense that Meillacoid pottery is associated with the Carib expansion.”

The sudden appearance of Meillacoid pottery also corresponds with a general reshuffling of people in the Caribbean after a 1,000-year period of tranquillity, further evidence that “Carib invaders were on the move,” Keegan said.

Raiders of the lost Arawaks

So, was there any substance to the tales of cannibalism?

Possibly, Keegan said.

Arawaks and Caribs were enemies, but they often lived side by side with occasional intermarriage before blood feuds erupted, he said.

“It’s almost a ‘Hatfields and McCoys’ kind of situation,” Keegan said. “Maybe there was some cannibalism involved. If you need to frighten your enemies, that’s a really good way to do it.”

Whether or not it was accurate, the European perception that Caribs were cannibals had a tremendous impact on the region’s history, he said. The Spanish monarchy initially insisted that indigenous people be paid for work and treated with respect, but reversed its position after receiving reports that they refused to convert to Christianity and ate human flesh.

“The crown said, ‘Well, if they’re going to behave that way, they can be enslaved,’” Keegan said. “All of a sudden, every native person in the entire Caribbean became a Carib as far as the colonists were concerned.”

Indigenous Survival Day: Forgetting Myths of Extinction

The Lucayan: The Indigenous people Christopher Columbus could not annihilate

October 14, 2019

The Lucayan did not know it was Oct. 12, 1492. They did not know that their island, in what would become the Bahamas, had been spotted by Spanish explorers led by a Genoese man named Christopher Columbus. And they did not know that in less than 30 years, their island would be empty from the coming genocide. As Columbus and his men approached, the Lucayans greeted them warmly, offering food and water, and “we understood that they had asked us if we had come from heaven,” he wrote in his journal. Then he added, “With 50 men they can all be subjugated and made to do what is required of them.”

As the article progresses, it makes the observation that the previously dominant histories of Indigenous extinction in the Caribbean have now completely fallen apart, citing some of the latest research on the prevalence of Indigenous DNA in the contemporary Caribbean. The article takes us to the following reports:

TAÍNO: 'EXTINCT' INDIGENOUS AMERICANS NEVER ACTUALLY DISAPPEARED, ANCIENT TOOTH REVEALS
February 20, 2019

The tooth-derived genome is the first concrete genetic evidence that Taíno ancestry survives to this day. Scientists compared the ancient Bahamian genome to those of contemporary Puerto Ricans and discovered they were more closely related to the Taíno than to any other indigenous group in the Americas. This is likely to also be true of other Caribbean communities, the researchers said. 

Lead author Eske Willerslev, who has posts at both the University of Cambridge, U.K., and the University of Copenhagen, said in a statement: "It has always been clear that people in the Caribbean have Native American ancestry, but because the region has such a complex history of migration, it was difficult to prove whether this was specifically indigenous to the Caribbean, until now."

The study's other lead author, Hannes Schroeder from the University of Copenhagen, called the finding fascinating. 

"Many history books will tell you that the indigenous population of the Caribbean was all but wiped out, but people who self-identify as Taíno have always argued for continuity," he said in a statement. "Now we know they were right all along: there has been some form of genetic continuity in the Caribbean." 

Jorge Estevez, a Taíno descendent working at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York, assisted the project team. "I wish my grandmother were alive today so that I could confirm to her what she already knew," he said. "It shows that the true story is one of assimilation, certainly, but not total extinction."

Study identifies traces of indigenous 'Taino' in present-day Caribbean populations
February 19, 2018

A thousand-year-old tooth has provided genetic evidence that the so-called "Taíno", the first indigenous Americans to feel the full impact of European colonisation after Columbus arrived in the New World, still have living descendants in the Caribbean today. 

Researchers were able to use the tooth of a woman found in a cave on the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas to sequence the first complete ancient human genome from the Caribbean. The woman lived at some point between the 8th and 10th centuries, at least 500 years before Columbus made landfall in the Bahamas. 

The results provide unprecedented insights into the genetic makeup of the Taíno - a label commonly used to describe the indigenous people of that region. This includes the first clear evidence that there has been some degree of continuity between the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean and contemporary communities living in the region today. 

Such a link had previously been suggested by other studies based on modern DNA. None of these, however, was able to draw on an ancient genome. The new research finally provides concrete proof that indigenous ancestry in the region has survived to the present day.

Origins and genetic legacies of the Caribbean Taino
March 6, 2018

The Caribbean was one of the last parts of the Americas to be settled by humans, but how and when the islands were first occupied remains a matter of debate. Ancient DNA can help answering these questions, but the work has been hampered by poor DNA preservation. We report the genome sequence of a 1,000-year-old Lucayan Taino individual recovered from the site of Preacher’s Cave in the Bahamas. We sequenced her genome to 12.4-fold coverage and show that she is genetically most closely related to present-day Arawakan speakers from northern South America, suggesting that the ancestors of the Lucayans originated there. Further, we find no evidence for recent inbreeding or isolation in the ancient genome, suggesting that the Lucayans had a relatively large effective population size. Finally, we show that the native American components in some present-day Caribbean genomes are closely related to the ancient Taino, demonstrating an element of continuity between precontact populations and present-day Latino populations in the Caribbean.

I Am Taíno: Exploring the Indigenous Roots Throughout the Caribbean.

I Am Taíno: Exploring the Indigenous Roots Throughout the Caribbean.
Michelle Tirado | Indian Country | April 04, 2013

Extinguished. Vanished. Wiped out. These are just some of the words historians have used to describe the fate of the Taíno, the indigenous group that greeted the Spanish when they first set foot in the Americas in 1492. Even dictionaries define them as an “extinct Arawakan Indian tribe of the West Indies.” But try telling the growing number of people living in the Caribbean—Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Puerto Rico and other islands—as well as the United States mainland who identify themselves as Taíno that they no longer exist.

Frank Bosch Jr., identifies himself as Taíno. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York—with the accent to prove it—he is outraged over what he believes are lies in most mainstream history textbooks. “My ancestors are being labeled as dinosaurs—[the] museums and texts are wrong,” he says.

For most of his childhood, Bosch had no real awareness of his indigenous roots. All he knew was that he was Puerto Rican. But there were other traditions that were always present in his household, like the Santería that his grandmother practiced. A mixture of African, Indian and Spanish religious beliefs and practices, Santería is, he says, a form of voodoo. “She had little figurines, rocks with chalk written on it and stuff like that in the closets. There are two sides. They say one is good, and one is bad,” he says. A devout Catholic, Bosch says he was frightened by what his grandmother was doing.

When he was 16, after being asked “Where you from?” one too many times, Bosch decided to learn more about his Puerto Rican heritage, and he discovered it was a blend of three groups: African, Spanish and Taíno. He read every book, article or study he could get his hands on. One of the most significant works was a mitochondrial DNA study conducted in the early 2000s by Juan Martínez Cruzado, a genetics professor at the University of Puerto Rico, which found that nearly 62 percent of Puerto Ricans are Amerindian. Now 30, Bosch, a UPS worker, photographer and competitive bodybuilder, continues his quest, which will soon have him taking a sample of his DNA to be tested. He says he just wants confirmation and to pinpoint where the bloodlines are.

“You know about the Puerto Rican Parade in New York? It’s a tremendous parade—almost 100 blocks long—and a ton of Puerto Ricans come out, millions,” Bosch says. “They don’t even know their history.”

That history has been told by Irving Rouse in his book, The Taínos: Rise and Decline of the People Who Greeted Columbus. He says the Taíno people—whose ancestral origins have been traced back to the Guianas, the Orinoco Valley and Amazonia in South America—emerged in the West Indies in the latter part of the first millennium a.d. and reached their heyday at around 1200 A.D. Those who welcomed the Spaniards used the word Taíno, which translates to good or noble. This was not to identify the name of their race but to explain who they were not—their neighbors inhabiting the Windward Islands, the fierce Island-Caribs. They had different names for themselves: in Puerto Rico, for example, they were the Borinquen (also Boriken), and in the Bahamas, the Lucaya. Theirs was a society of villages ruled by a cacique (chief) and regional chiefdoms and that thrived on an economy based primarily on agriculture—growing such crops as cassava, sweet potato, beans and peppers—along with fishing.

The Taíno population and way of life deteriorated rapidly following the arrival of the Europeans. The men were forced away from their farms and into the gold mines, where, brutally overworked, many perished. There was starvation, and the lethal diseases the Spanish brought with them, including a small pox outbreak in 1519, and rebellions against the colonizers. The Taíno were further diminished by suicide, interbreeding with Spanish people and slaves brought in from Africa and other Caribbean islands, and by flight. When Columbus arrived, chroniclers of the day estimated they numbered more than 1 million on Hispaniola and Puerto Rico alone. “By 1524 they had ceased to exist as a separate population group,” writes Rouse.

Roberto Borrero identifies himself as Taíno. Named by Taíno community members Mukaro (translates to “Owl”), he grew up in New York City’s Spanish Harlem. He says he was more fortunate than most other inner-city kids in that his parents—who were born in Puerto Rico—started bringing him to the island and exposing him to his indigenous heritage at a young age. However, he stresses, there was never a focus on being Taíno. It wasn’t denied, but it wasn’t explored. “When my mother mentioned our Native heritage,’ he says, “for me, as a young kid in the city, it didn’t feel real because the only images I was getting of indigenous identity were from TV, and that was cowboys and Indians, and we didn’t look like that. We didn’t live in tipis. We didn’t ride horses. Who really wanted to be associated with that—they always seemed to be losing on TV.”

As Mukaro matured, he began to appreciate his Indian ancestry, the agricultural heritage of his father’s family, who lived on the island’s southwestern coast; the Native creation stories his uncle recited; his mother’s traditional cooking style, like the pasteles made from yucca; and the fermented drink made from tree bark that sat in the window sill of his family’s apartment when his grandfather visited them.

Mukaro’s interest in his Taíno background blossomed in high school. He recalls a history class that covered Columbus, the Aztecs and Mayans, without as much as a footnote on the Taíno. “I’m like, Wait a minute! Don’t we have a part in this story? Didn’t he meet our people first? At least that’s what I heard in my family. When I approached teachers on this, they said, ‘Oh, no. These people were wiped out.’ ” [I wondered], How could they be wiped out when I am here?”

Mukaro blames the disparity in the way history is taught in school—how the Taíno people have been dismissed—on who has, for the most part, told that history: the victors or the conquerors. There are not many books on Taíno history written from the Indian perspective, which he believes has added to the confusion in its own communities.

For Mukaro, now president of the United Confederation of Taíno People, a group devoted to promoting and protecting the human rights, cultural heritage and spiritual traditions of Taíno and other Caribbean Indigenous Peoples, there is no confusion. There is nothing to debate. The Taíno, he says, “never ceased to exist.”

Evidence of their survival can be found in the West Indies, where a few communities have held onto their Taíno heritage. Mukaro says they are located in undeveloped, mountainous areas in Cuba and the Dominican Republic. The same can be said of Puerto Rico before all of the development and industrialization. “Operation Bootstrap in the 1940s kind of pushed people out of these rural areas so it could be developed,” Mukaro explains. “Many of these folks were coming from this rural heritage, from this heritage that retained many of the Taíno traditions. So, they brought a lot of that with them to the urban areas.”

There is also proof in the movement of people reclaiming their Taíno identity. José Barreiro, assistant director for research and director of the Office of Latin America at the National Museum of the American Indian, identifies himself as Taíno. He was born and raised in Cuba, and moved with his parents to the United States in his teen years. He says the movement started in force in the early to mid 1980s and exploded with the birth of the Internet. His Taíno, a novel that recounts the life of a historical character, Guaikán, a Taíno, who as a boy is taken to Spain and adopted by Columbus after his first voyage and returns to the islands to serve as the navigator’s interpreter, was scooped up by the Taíno rediscovery wave when it was released in hardcover in 1993 (it was published in paperback in 2012).

“The identity itself has picked up a lot of strength,” Barreiro says. “Among our people, we are seeing families reuniting around these ideas.”

Just as exciting is a recent thrust by scholars to explore the survival of the Taíno. The national museum, for instance, has a project under way in conjunction with other museums and institutions in the contiguous United States and the Caribbean to explore Caribbean indigenous cultures, with a focus on the Taíno. Over the past two years, it hosted two workshops to explore sustaining cultural elements, such as language, tools, the construction of homes, medicine, identity and the various enclaves of Taínos in the Caribbean. Barreiro said the research will culminate in an exhibition at some point in 2015 or 2016.

Introduction to the Smithsonian Taino Symposium, August 2011

  Uploaded by eliudbonilla on Dec 29, 2011

"José Barreiro, director of the Office of Latin America at the National Museum of the American Indian, introduces the participants of the Smithsonian Latino Center's "Beyond Extinction: Consciousness of Taíno & Caribbean Indigeneity" symposium on August 26, 2011.

"Text from the invitation: This symposium features scholars on Taíno and Caribbean indigenous themes who will discuss the survival of Taíno language, identity, and material culture in contemporary Caribbean consciousness.

"Participants include archaeologist Osvaldo García Goyco, historian Alejandro Hartmann Matos, and biologist Juan Carlos Martínez Cruzado. Roberto Borrero, president, United Confederation of Taíno People, will serve as respondent. Moderated by José Barreiro, director of the Office of Latin America at the National Museum of the American Indian.

"This program is organized by the National Museum of the American Indian and the Smithsonian Latino Center and is supported by the Consortium for World Cultures, Smithsonian Institution."

Indigenous Cosmopolitans: New Book on Transnational and Transcultural Indigeneity in the Twenty-First Century

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Published by Peter Lang USA, 2010:
New York, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt am Main, Oxford, Wien.
X, 223 pp., num. ill.
ISBN 978-1-4331-0102-1
Order from the publisher, or,
Order from Amazon.com.

Book Synopsis:

What happens to indigenous culture and identity when being rooted in a fixed cultural setting is no longer necessary – or even possible? Does cultural displacement mean that indigeneity vanishes? How is being and becoming indigenous (i.e., indigeneity) experienced and practiced along translocal pathways? How are “new” philosophies and politics of indigenous identification (indigenism) constructed in “new,” translocal settings? The essays in this collection develop our understandings of cosmopolitanism and transnationalism, and related processes and experiences of social and cultural globalization, showing us that these do not spell the end of ways of being and becoming indigenous. Instead, indigeneity is reengaged in wider fields, finding alternative ways of being established and projected, or bolstering older ways of doing so, while reaching out to other cultures.

Reviewers’ comments:

“Timely and original, this volume looks at indigenous peoples from the perspective of cosmopolitan theory and at cosmopolitanism from the perspective of the indigenous world. In doing so, it not only sheds new light on both, but also has something important to say about the complexities of identification in this shrinking, overheated world.Analysing ethnography from around the world, the authors demonstrate the universality of the local – indigeneity – and the particularity of the universal – cosmopolitanism. Anthropology doesn’t get much better than this.”–Thomas Hylland Eriksen, Professor of Anthropology, University of Oslo; author of Globalisation.

“This collection takes the anthropological study of indigeneity to an entirely new level. Bringing together an impressive range of case studies, from the Inuit in the north to Aboriginal Australian in the south, the authors fundamentally challenge the assumption that that indigeneity and transnationalism are separate and opposed conditions. They reveal with engaging ethnographic richness and historical depth that contemporary indigeneity is a rooted cosmopolitanism and that this indigeneity of roots and routes is being continually reinvented in ways that challenge conventional understandings, both within anthropology and in the wider public arena. This exploration of re-rooted cosmopolitanisms and remixed cosmopolitan indigeneities is also a major contribution to the anthropology of globalisation….This theoretically sophisticated collection will be essential reading for anyone in the humanities and social sciences seeking to understand the nature of contemporary indigeneity.”–Jeffrey Sissons, Associate Professor, Cultural Anthropology, School of Social and Cultural Studies, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, Author of First Peoples: Indigenous Cultures and Their Futures.

Contents:

Maximilian C. Forte: Introduction: Indigeneities and Cosmopolitanisms

Maximilian C. Forte: A Carib Canoe, Circling in the Culture of the Open Sea: Submarine Currents Connecting Multiple Indigenous Shores

Craig Proulx: Aboriginal Hip Hoppers: Representin’ Aboriginality in Cosmopolitan Worlds

Carolyn Butler-Palmer: David Neel’s The Young Chief-Waxwaxam: A Cosmopolitan Treatise

Arthur Mason: Whither the Historicities of Alutiiq Heritage Work Are Drifting

Frans J. Schryer: The Alto Balsas Nahuas: Transnational Indigeneity and Interactions in the World of Arts and Crafts, the Politics of Resistance, and the Global Labor Market

Julie-Ann Tomiak/Donna Patrick: Transnational Migration and Indigeneity in Canada: A Case Study of Urban Inuit

Robin Maria DeLugan: “Same Cat, Different Stripes”: Hemispheric Migrations, New Urban Indian Identities, and the Consolidation of a Cosmopolitan Cosmovision

Linda Scarangella: Indigeneity in Tourism: Transnational Spaces, Pan-Indian Identity, and Cosmopolitanism

Nigel Rapport: Conclusion: From Wandering Jew to Ironic Cosmopolite: A Semi-Utopian Postnationalism

Download a PDF of the book advertisement sheet.

Download a PDF of the Table of Contents.

Caribbean held 5th Summit of the Americas

Trinidad and Tobago (UCTP Taino News) – A delegation of 10 Indigenous leaders traveled to Trinidad to attend the Organization of American States (OAS) 5th Summit of the Americas from April 17 to 19, 2009. The delegation’s intention was to further develop critical partnerships with States while presenting the views of millions of Indigenous Peoples from throughout the Americas. These views were encapsulated in a Declaration and Plan of Action developed at an Indigenous Leaders Summit, which took place in Panama City preceding the OAS Summit. While Trinidad’s Prime Minister Patrick Manning publicly declared his desire for the Summit to achieve prosperity for the peoples of the Americas with commitment and mutual respect, the Indigenous leaders experienced discriminatory exclusion.

Even at the parallel “Civil Society Summit” and other events leading into the 5th Summit, it was not possible for Indigenous Peoples to effectively participate because the government of Trinidad and Tobago would not accommodate the Indigenous Peoples Summit on site. The result of this exclusion was that the Indigenous leaders, representing millions of Indigenous Peoples from across the Americas, were not even considered “delegates” unlike members of civil society, youth, business and private sector delegates. Incredibly, a last minute decision by Trinidad's National Secretariat to increase the number of delegates from civil society from 10 to 40 individuals in the Forum with Ministers was not extended to Indigenous Peoples.

While much of the world was focused on the communications between U.S. President Barack Obama and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the Indigenous Leaders noted that the final 5th States Summit Declaration of Commitment failed to address Indigenous Peoples, despite the theme “Securing our Citizens’ Future by Promoting Human Prosperity, Energy Security and Environmental Sustainability.”

In the development of the Declaration of Commitment by State Governments, there were initially three brief references to Indigenous Peoples in the area of health, education and the draft American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In the final Declaration of Commitment, only two paragraphs refer to Indigenous Peoples, one which supports “voluntary” corporate social responsibility best practices, involving dialogues between the corporate sector, governments and Indigenous “groups”, and one that commits to the adoption of the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Commenting on the process and the State Summit Declaration, Assembly of First Nations Grand Chief Edward John voiced his disappointment: “We saw the 5th Summit as an opportunity to work in partnership with States of the Americas for the betterment of our people and securing a future where Indigenous Peoples are treated with respect and equality. But if our experience at the 5th Summit is any indication of the States’ intentions, we have a long way to go. Indeed, the 5th Summit represents a step backwards for recognition of Indigenous Peoples. At the 4th State Summit in Mar del Plata, Argentina in 2005, Indigenous Leaders were given the respect we deserve and had an opportunity to speak directly to Heads of States.”

Another member of the Indigenous delegation, Héctor Huertas, a Kuna leader from Panama stated "We have a clear vision of the path to follow and we will continue meeting with the OAS and its Member States in order to ensure that they comply with their international obligations in relation to Indigenous rights and their implementation in these American States. We will be vigilant that the 6th Summit be a space to measure the true fulfillment of the States’ commitment against violence and discrimination towards Indigenous peoples.”

The 5th Summit of the Americas was the first time a Summit of the Americas was held in a Caribbean state.


Posted with permission from La Voz del Pueblo Taino/The Voice of the Taino People c/o UCTP-US Regional Coordinating Office PO Box 4515, NY, NY 10163 Website: http://www.uctp.org/ Newslist: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Taino_news

Movimiento Indigena Jibaro Boricua

The web site for the non profit organization Movimiento Indigena Jibaro Borica (Movijibo) has moved. The new location can be accessed using this link. You may also find them on FaceBook.

Interesados en adquirir ejemplares del libro “Puerto Rico”: La gran mentira, y/o ejemplares del Disco Compacto de Kassabe, escribir o comunicarse con los autores a:

Uahtibili Baez y Huana Naboli

HC-02 Box 7529

Camuy, PR 00627

(787) 214-5763

movijibo@yahoo.com

On Leaving the Caribbean

Excerpts From a Culture Jumpers Diary...

I woke to the familiar sound of Spanish being spoken in the apartment stairwell. Parents were walking children to the bus stop. The dust had settled after the initial rough landing in our new American city, so far from our Caribbean home. It was time to settle in regardless of how dizzy or out of place we felt. The new sights and sounds were something we would simply have to get used to, after all, we were no longer in Cibao, and over the years culture jumping had become a matter of practice for us.

Smiling Mayan eyes peered out at the bus stop from a tightly wrapped bundle tucked neatly in a baby stroller. The crisp cold morning breeze stung my badly chapped lips, as I turned to face a sun that refused to warm me. These are the contrasts, adding to confusion, that contributes to my dizziness.

The grocery stores in the United States are larger than I had remembered. The range of products spread over a few acres of warehouse shopping included everything from home improvement and clothing, to a shocking display of twelve different kinds of olives. They did not however, have the regular olives or achiote I needed for the arroz con gondules. These were the cultural comforts that I would have to learn to leave behind.

Entering Starbucks was much like taking a passage through time, leaving the bright cold outdoors and being enveloped in a thick aroma of warm cafe while a jazz piano oozed from the speakers above. A menu boasted dozens of drink varieties swimming with corn sweeteners when all I craved was a simple café con leche with a spoon of real cane sugar. Next door to Starbucks was a little 20 by 20 Mexican grocery which carried the olives and a few spices I had unsuccessfully searched for at the larger grocery. There I discovered I could sadly replace the pasteles of Navidad with tamales. …It was going to be a rough Christmas.

The sound of the coquí singing after an afternoon rain has been replaced with the call of Canadian geese soaring above. It was both comforting and confusing to see a family of otters taking a swim. They never seem to take notice of me as I press the button and wait for the walk signal to grant me permission to cross the busy highway. Wild strawberries are planted at the local mall which has a woman's clothing store sporting ''Cacique'' underwear. I inquired within as to how the store got its name. The manager informed me, “I think it is European.” …Of course, isn’t everything?

At times I feel at home in the familiar surroundings and with the expectations of life in a small (and sometimes small minded) US city; like when the apartment manager asked me for my green card. At other times I feel like I have arrived on a new planet to discover life and document sub species for classification. Some things have not changed a bit, racism and ignorance abound here, while other things have changed too rapidly for me to take in, with highways replacing wetlands and nesting grounds. Then there were those twelve different kinds of olives on display at the mega grocery.

Twelve different kinds.

INDIGENOUS POLITICS: FROM NATIVE NEW ENGLAND AND BEYOND

TUESDAYS from 4-5pm (EST)

"INDIGENOUS POLITICS: FROM NATIVE NEW ENGLAND AND BEYOND"
WESU (88.1 FM), Middletown, CT

LISTEN ONLINE LIVE from WESU website:
www.wesufm.org

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On Tuesday, October 23rd, join your host, Dr. J. Kehaulani Kauanui for a look at the politics of Taino identity. The Tainos are the indigenous inhabitants of the Caribbean Islands. When Columbus landed at Hispaniola while trying to find an alternative route to India, he named the inhabitants "Indians." Today, many Taino-identified Caribbean people are challenging the official doctrine that has declared the Tainos extinct.

Listen to Dr. Marianela Medrano-Marra's lecture, "The Divine Feminine in the Taino Tradition," which was delivered at the Yale Peabody Museum on Indigenous Peoples Day, October 8, 2007. This program also features an interview with Jorge Estevez, Taino from Kiskeya (also known as the Dominican Republic), and Valerie Nana Ture Vargas, Taino from Boriken (also known as Puerto Rico) on the politics of Columbus Day and indigenous identities.

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Indigenous Languages of the Caribbean

CARIBLANGUAGE.ORG
Indigenous Languages of the Caribbean:

an exciting new resource that was researched and prepared by Keisha Marie Josephs. This website contains noun and verb lists, in some cases accompanied by sound files to aid learners in acquiring the proper pronunciation, as well as samples of how to conjugate verbs and construct sentences. For each of the languages covered by this website, there are links to useful resources at the bottom of each language's page. Languages included in this website are: Arawak, Galibi, Taino, Karifuna, Garifuna, Warao, and "ghost languages" (languages for which we can find few remaining traces). This impressively designed and well organized website was launched only recently, and I warmly recommend it to visitors. Hopefully, such sites will spawn greater collaboration and aid local efforts toward language revival.