Schetauna PowellPAS Study Abroad Journal

Trinidad stands as a nation that gained its independence during the global Civil Rights Movement. It is now entering into it’s 5th decade of autonomy. Being in one of the many countries of the diaspora that gained its independence during the latter half of the past century is a reminder of the Pan-African struggle for equality.

The statement I most remember hearing from our time in Trinidad and Tobago was said by our Professor, Liz Jones. She related words once said to her as a student in the study abroad program by Dr. Hudson, “You have to go abroad to realize that you are not a minority.” Being in a country filled with dark skinned people does have an effect on me, on the way I carry myself; no longer do I feel as if my every action must counter some preconceived stereotype about life as a African descendent.

Flora

The Mangrove tree, acts as the skeleton of the island. Giving off a gaseous smell, the roots prevents soil erosion

The Lotus flower is sacred in Indian culture. This particular location is Pitch Lake.

The Flamboyant Tree is seen throughout Trinidad. This location in particular is the Mount St. Benedict.

Being immersed in the natural elements of the island reinforces for me our reliance upon Nature for survival. During our tour we saw how many plants had practical uses that chemicals and artificiality have replaced in todays society. Trinidad has such a diverse and fertile landscape filled with beauty. In exploring the landscape, connecting the physical locations and artifacts of sugar production on the island with the accounts, I was able to put into perspective what the Plantation system truly meant not only for the people involved but for the land exploited too.

Fauna

The humming bird is a sacred bird for the island

The Emperor Zoo

Being able to experience the zoo allowed me to appreciate the diversity of life the tropical environment of the island supports. Even though many of the animals I saw at the zoo were not native to the island (with the exception of the white footed capuchin monkey) I enjoyed seeing many animals that I would have never seen in the United states (such as the flamingo).

Trinidad white footed Capuchin monkey

Maracus BeachExperiencing the beach allowed me to enjoy island life. The breath taking scenery seemed surreal. The thing that I most remember is the tumultuous weather, which suits a quality intrinsic to the nature of the Caribbean. The archipelago of the Caribbean, as said by Antonio Benitez-Rojo, is a “…discontinuous conjunction [of]…turbulences, whirlpools, clumps of bubbles…downpours, nighttime phosphorescences…a field of observation quite in tune with the objectives of Chaos,” (2). Being as such, enjoying the beach was an experience which required no expectation of stability, much like life.

Chagaramus

The memory of significance to me from Chagaramus was the blues musician who sang for us on the boardwalk. It surprised me to hear mentions of Georgia in the lyrics. To travel so far away from the American south to hear of it in the song…

Street Food

An Indian street vendor preparing Roti UWI Doubles Stand

Tamarain Treat

Roti

An Indian Food Stand

Much of the street food I encountered was Trinidadian-Indian cuisine

A large part of experiencing the culture for me came from simple comforts such as food. The food of the two islands reflect Trinidad and Tobago’s character: a spicy yet flavorful cuisine bound by the ingredients of Caribbean sea, defined by its mixed West African, Indian, Amerindian, and European heritage. The similarity between traditional island foods that I have been exposed to here in Trinidad and Tobago and those that I understand as being traditionally African American, served as a connecting point for me. Growing up in Houston, Texas, much of the cuisine I was exposed to was, as I now understand, Caribbean and Latin in its character. Bound by the Gulf of Mexico, and influenced by the Cajun creole culture of Louisiana and the Hispanic cultural cuisine native to Tejas, I grew up eating gumbo, greens, hot peppers, and seafood. I did notice that much of the food I came across in Trinidad was fried. It surprised me to find that nutrition issues were parallel in Trinidad as they are in the United States.

Macaroni pie and Callaloo

Bake and Shark

Salt fish and eggs

A thick Indian cookie

Aloo Pie

Turkey prepared the Trinidadian way

An Indian treat

ArchitectureMuch of the architecture in Trinidad reflects the country’s blended histories. The “magnificent seven” is part of that story. While some of the buildings have been utilized as official buildings for state affairs, and others remain in the care of private owners, it surprises me that some of the buildings have been left to fall into disrepair. Because of varying environments, each country must have unique architecture that can adapt and withstand the environment in which it is located. Thus the clearly European features of these buildings in downtown Port of Spain have been adapted with slotted windows characteristic of the island’s architecture. I enjoyed the tour through Port of Spain and taking a glimpse into the country’s history through its buildings.

In reading Eric William’s Capitalism and Slavery while on my trip to the country of his birth, I experienced how his genius helped create a country in which his actions as the first Prime Minister reflect the cultural nationalism of his life’s work. By creating government programs such as best village, Eric Williams guided Trinidad and Tobago to be a nation cogniscent of its past with an eye on its future. It is interesting to see how the country has been molded by the policies of one of the greatest thinkers of the 1940’s and era of Pan-Africanism. How such a country produced influential leaders such as Stokley Carmichel. In experiencing the intimate details of his life, both professional and personal an understanding of the man reveals his dedication to knowledge, unfailing determination and persistence, and love for his people, his family. It is in this dedication that a country, formed during an era of independence of “third world people”, lead by a genius and scholar of Pan-Africanism grew to become an epoch of modernity and innovation. Being able to see first hand the links Eric William had to African nations of historic importance such as Halie Selessi of Ethiopia, Kwame Nkruma of Ghana reinforces the links the diaspora has to African cosmology, epistemology, and axiology.

Afro Caribbean Cultural Practices: Moriah Wedding

In a sense, the Moriah Ole Time Wedding serves as both a reminder of old slave practices and as a sense of empowerment in cultural rootedness. It a reminder of the cultural adaptations enslaved West Africans had to make; it is a witnessing of the birth of new cultural traditions both European and West African in character.

Steel Pan (cultural practices)

The Steel Pan is the credited with being the newest instrument created in the past century. It is an instrument created out of necessity because of the banning of the drum on the island of Trinidad. Many groups contributed to its creation and like carnival, it is a collective symbol of African spirituality and culture. The steel pan is a essential symbol of resistance, and unity of culture in Trinidad. I enjoyed playing the steel pan. For me it is a testament of the ingenuity of the human soul.

Caribbean Dance: The Sailor Dance

Depicted here is one of the Carnival dances our group learned while in Tobago. In teaching us the movements our professor allowed us to reflect upon cultural similarities between the Carnival Sailor dance and Michael Jackson’s moonwalk. It is said that as a child Micheal saw the moon walk and liked it so much he began to do it backwards.

Legacy HouseChief Ifa Oje’ Won Yomi Abiodun

LeRoy Clarke

Legacy house was a spiritual experience for me. The paintings of LeRoy Clarke had similar links to my interest in Chaos theory and spirituality. For my paper I chose this topic to write upon.

Emancipation Village

Moko Jumbie Dancers, originate from West African traditions. Because of his towering height, Moko (a West African God) is said to watch over his village and is said to be able foresee evil and danger. The Moko Jumbie had become a defunct figure in carnival by 1990 but was revived and transformed into a uniquely Trinidadian Carnival character.Sitar Player

Emancipation Day

Held on August 1 of every year, emancipation day reminds the country of Trinidad and Tobago the Pan-African history of enslavement. For me it symbolized a shared struggle and reminded me of the June-teenth celebrations in Texas.

Indian Museum and Cultural Practice

A copper basin that was used to boil cane syrup in sugar cane factories up to the 1930’s

A “dhekhi”, a wooden instrument used to pound grains, cocoa, and coffee

A dwelling the Indian immigrants built upon arriving on the island

A model of the sea vessel that over 1 million East Indian and South Asian immigrants arrived on as indentured laborers between 1838 – 1917 after the abolition of the slave system.

In visiting the Hanuman Murti, the tallest statue of a Hindu deity outside of India, I could not help but think of the story of Rama and the Ramleela lecture we had earlier that same day. While, though unknowingly, I was already familiar with romantic epic of Rama and Sita (as a result of this live action movie called The Little Princess by Disney), having the significance of the Hindu deities to Indian personhood explained was very eye opening to me. I think that upon coming to Trinidad, I had the notion of the country as a utopia in which people of color cohabitated in harmony. Upon entering the country I felt as if I, as a woman of color, no longer had to work to disprove a stereotype. This lecture and experience for me was pivotal because it, rightly, allowed me to understand that no place exists in a bubble. The political rift between “black vs. white” still exists, even in a Caribbean culture where the demographic make up is nearly split half and half with an East Indian and West African population.

The Temple in the Sea

While there is tension, both political and racial, between those of East Indian immigrant descent and West African immigrant descent on the island, what is shared is a history of displaced peoples as a result of the Plantation system. Where the history of exploitation ends for one, it begins for the other. The Temple in the Sea serves as a symbol of shared struggle and perseverance against cultural hegemony that colonialism and capitalism engenders. Taking twenty-five years to build the temple, utilizing a bicycle to transport the building materials, and diligently building and rebuilding the temple over the course of time, the ingenuity of Seedas Sadhu, an Indian laborer who was sent to prison as a result of his dedication, speaks for itself. In witnessing the power of Sadhu’s life the temple was rebuilt after his death. The monument, for me, connected the shared resistance that is endemic to the culture of Trinidad.

Mount St. Benedict

In Trinidad, as in Mexico, Nigeria, and many other nations, Catholicism came to be a prominent religion because of a European presence and hegemonic cultural practices and politics. The cultural adaptation of Catholicism allows for corresponding figures in other religions to be coopted. Mount Saint Benedict located in the high mountains of St. Augustine, for me, serves as a reminder of this very fact. The location is very serene and serves as a place of rest and relaxation.

Religions and Spirituality

The shrine building practices of Hinduism and Catholicism knit together the seemingly disparate religions. In the Hindu religion, each colored flag represents a prayer to the corresponding God, while the candles represent the same practice in Catholicism. The beauty of the two, displays the similarity of spiritual practices that transcend politics. Upon seeing the two displays, the idea put forth in the lecture, and reinforced by the book The Journey of the Hero, allowed for me to understand that when it comes to religion, whoever, where ever you are around the world, you adapt the same story of life and the universe-whether that story be of Christ, Vishnu, or Ifa.

Fort GeorgeAn island with a Spanish history, populated by French people, and governed by English rules and culture, situates the now majority West African and East Indian population in a peculiar, multicultural country. Fort George is an emblem of such peculiarities. A Spanish outpost built under a British Governor, armed with English cannons (that were never fired), and made more militaristic by Prince Kofi Nti, the son of a West African Ashantee King. I found fort George to be a wonderful summation of Trinidad’s history.

La Vigie, Fort George

Toco Light House

Located at the edge of the island this point served as a crossroad for many West Africans. The decision to continue in this life as an enslaved, or to pass on and escape such a fate was the question posed to many who stood at the edge of these cliffs amidst the crashing waves of the sea. This location seemed, to me, to be the end of the world - an all or nothing state, which actually goes against a statement in The Repeating Islands that says, “The choices of all or nothing, for or against, honor or blood have little to do with the Caribbean of the culture of the Caribbean” (Benitez-Rojo, 10). Such a place precariously situated those who experienced an apocalypse of the “Old World” with the gravity of the new, the modern. The existence of such a location denies the easy categorization of the islands as a place immune to notions of the apocalypse, because the New World was birthed of an apocalypse.

Pitch Lake

Pitch, a hydrocarbon created from decomposed organic matter, is a natural resource, In more modern times it has been used to for road building and roofing. The story of pitch lake Lake made this natural wonder a sacred place for me.

Buccoo ReefThe reef was a beautiful wonder. I especially enjoyed the exfoliating properties of the crushed reef in Nylon pool. Going to the reef reminded me of the sacredness of the earth.

Grande Riviere Turtle Watching

I enjoyed my time witnessing the leather back turtle lay its eggs. It is amazing to me how the turtle travels back to the place of its birth to repeat a life cycle. Witnessing this allows me to understand the responsibility Trinidad as a nation has to the environment.

Caroni Bird Sanctuary

The bird sanctuary was a majestic experience, the scarlet Ibis, Trinidad’s national symbol is a fiery bird that is special to the island.

In conclusion, I feel that my experience in Trinidad and Tobago was an overwhelmingly positive one. In recollecting everything that occurred during the trip I will never forget what it truly meant to step outside of myself and experience the world. For this I say thank you to everyone with whom embarked on this journey with me. Periodically in this journal I have referenced the book The Repeating Islands: The Caribbean and Postmodern Perspective, Second Edition by Antonio Benitez-Rojo.