Caribbean Theories Essay

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Each society is a product of the particular historical forces that shape it and give it form. Therefore, it is essential that in studying any society, in order to grasp a firm understanding of it, it becomes necessary to first study its origins. Throughout the vast literature about the Caribbean, three pervasive theories emerge in an attempt to explain the formation of contemporary Caribbean society. These theories or models have been titled as the Plantation society theory, the Plural society theory and the Creole society theory. The Plantation society theory is an attempt to explain Caribbean social structure in relation to the plantation experience. The plantation experience existed in the Caribbean for over three hundred years, along with which came the institution of slavery. Until the abolitionist movement came about in the 19th century, the Caribbean society was a slave society. Its base was the production of sugar cane, which needed heavy capital investments and cheap labour. This labour constituted at first of white servant labour, the poor whites, and felons of the society, etc. and lastly of contract indentured labour. The majority however was that of the imported African slave. As a result the Caribbean economy became identified with the black person and according to Lewis, (1983) the person and Caribbean economy shared the stigma of despised occupation. As it was the Europeans who came to colonise the Caribbean, the social relations of the Caribbean became shaped by the white master and black slave labour. The slaves were recruited through a horrific experience termed as the African slave trade. Africans were taken against their will through extremely harsh conditions and brought to the colonies. It is estimated that between 1450 -1888, approximately 10 million slaves with a 13 – 33% death rate were captured and transhipped to
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