Dominica to observe History Week

History Week is being observed in Dominica from October 3-7, 2016. The theme for this year’s observation is Building Communities: 1838 – 1938.

The highlights of the week will be a feature lecture by Cozier Frederick, a historian of the Kalinago Territory and Development Officer in the Ministry of Kalinago Affairs, to be given at the Arawak House of Culture on Tuesday October 4 and the presentation of a web-resource by Dr. Schuyler Esprit of Create Caribbean Inc to be held at the Dominica State College on Thursday October 6.

Frederick’s lecture will focus on human settlement patterns and the process of building communities in Dominica starting with the Kalinago and proceeding to the period under consideration when the majority of communities as we know them today were created.

The new web resource which also focuses on the week’s theme is being developed by Create Caribbean Inc on behalf of the Cultural Division and will form part of the website dominicahistory.org which was launched during History Week 2015.

As in previous years, schools around the island are expected to hold special events, assemblies, lectures, and undertake classroom-based projects.
Also included in the week’s activities will be a special DBS Talking Point programme on the theme Building Communities.

The development of communities went through two major periods between Emancipation in 1838 and the attainment of political independence in 1978; the period 1838-1938, characterized by the creation of communities with minimal state intervention and a subsistence economy and the period 1938-1978, characterized by the consolidation of communities, population expansion, greater state intervention, expansion of infrastructure and integration into a modern capitalist economy and nation state.

Following Emancipation in 1838, the newly freed, former enslaved people of African descent moved out of the estates and settled on the fringes, in most cases near river estuaries and along the seashore. This was facilitated by the King’s or Queen’s Chains, depending on the gender of the reigning monarch, in which a perimeter of land along the entire coastline of the island was designated as the property of the Crown. In some cases, communities sprung up on lands owned or occupied by free peasants or mulattos and took on the name of the dominant landowner. In some cases, the origins can be traced back to the 1400s and earlier when the Kalinago were the sole inhabitants of Dominica.

In all cases, however, the period under consideration represents a major transformation, the laying of the foundations for the present-day communities and settlement patterns. In this period, the communities were built by various families through their own efforts, in relative isolation, with minimal intervention of the state. There were no motorable roads; journey to Roseau was made by sea or by trekking through the forests using trails such as the Chimen Letan.

The economy then was essentially a subsistence economy based on fishing and agriculture. The main crops during that period were coffee, cacao, sugar, vanilla, bay oil and limes. Despite the use of money, bartering was an important form of exchange. As the communities consolidated and the population grew, the first shops emerged. New technologies for the processing of cassava, bay oil, limes and sugar cane were introduced. Organized social life, recreation, leisure and church related festivities took root contributing to shaping and defining each community.

The intervention of the state began to be manifest towards the end of the 1800s with the building of the first roads, schools and police stations.
Another major intervention was that of the Church, particularly the Roman Catholic Church. That period saw the construction of the first chapels or church buildings in various communities.

By contrast, the period 1838 – 1978 represents a period of greater state intervention in terms of education, health, infrastructure (roads, telephony), culture and governance – the introduction of village and town councils. That period saw the modernizing of the economy, the introduction of new cash crops notably bananas and coconuts and the creation of financial institutions such as credit unions and banks. With the building of road networks, the communities became less isolated resulting in greater movement of people and their integration into the national economy and nation state.

In focusing on the period 1838 – 1938, History Week 2016 affords an opportunity for school students and community persons to look back, to research and to reflect on the origins of their particular community and link this to wider developments taking place in Dominica at that time. This will shed light on land settlement and ownership patterns, family and kinship patterns, social life and the economy. In so doing, one can better situate, contextualize and understand the evolution and development of the Dominican society, from its Kalinago origins, through plantation slavery and crown colony rule to the emergence of a modern independent state.

History Week is an annual event organized by the Cultural Division as part of Independence Celebration activities. It is aimed at creating greater awareness of Dominica’s history and the process of nation-building.