The Social Relations of Bereavement in the Caribbean

2008 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald Marshall ◽  
Patsy Sutherland

The objectives of this article are to discuss the various types of behaviors associated with grief and bereavement, and to examine the relationships, consequences, and outcomes of bereavement practices among the various religious and ethnic groups in the English-speaking Caribbean Islands of Jamaica, Trinidad, Grenada, and Barbados. The rituals associated with death and grief differs across cultures and is greatly influenced by religious beliefs and traditions. How these rituals are played out depend on the culture of origin and level of acculturation of the various groups into mainstream society. In the Caribbean region, expressions of grief represent religious and cultural traditions that may have a significant impact on social relations, particularly in multi-ethnic and multicultural societies. In the English-speaking Caribbean Islands of Jamaica, Trinidad, Grenada, and Barbados, mourning follows the patterns of traditional religious practices which have remained consistent over time. While families and friends may offer social support before and after burial or cremation, the social aspects of bereavement may also have implications for inter-group relations. Insights into bereavement practices and what it holds for ethnic and religious groups in contemporary Caribbean are presented.

Author(s):  
Monika Mueller

This chapter argues that in his 1929 novel The White Witch of Rosehall Herbert G. de Lisser relies on Haitian voodoo combined with European vampirism to present the murderous “white witch” Annie Palmer—who is based on a historical figure—as an emblem of gender transgression and abuse of power. In addition to imbuing her with extraordinary, supernatural female power, de Lisser casts Annie Palmer as a European-Jamaican Creole. She is bolstered in her evil machinations both by the social status bestowed upon her by her white heritage and her acquired knowledge of African Caribbean culture. Thus, she also becomes a larger symbol of the colonial presence in the Caribbean. In the context of the period the novel was written in, Annie Palmer’s fusion of cultural traditions results in an evil hybridity that she cleverly uses to her own murderous advantage.


1998 ◽  
Vol 64 (11) ◽  
pp. 4246-4254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marion Fischer-Le Saux ◽  
Hervé Mauléon ◽  
Philippe Constant ◽  
Brigitte Brunel ◽  
Noël Boemare

ABSTRACT The genetic diversity of symbiotic Xenorhabdus andPhotorhabdus bacteria associated with entomopathogenic nematodes was examined by a restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of PCR-amplified 16S rRNA genes (rDNAs). A total of 117 strains were studied, most of which were isolated from the Caribbean basin after an exhaustive soil sampling. The collection consisted of 77 isolates recovered from entomopathogenic nematodes in 14 Caribbean islands and of 40 reference strains belonging toXenorhabdus and Photorhabdus spp. collected at various localities worldwide. Thirty distinctive 16S rDNA genotypes were identified, and cluster analysis was used to distinguish the genus Xenorhabdus from the genusPhotorhabdus. The genus Xenorhabdusappears more diverse than the genusPhotorhabdus, and for both genera the bacterial genotype diversity is in congruence with the host-nematode taxonomy. The occurrence of symbiotic bacterial genotypes was related to the ecological distribution of host nematodes.


2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 271-282
Author(s):  
Michele Sogren ◽  
Karene-Anne Nathaniel

This article presents the responses from frontline social work practitioners, administrators and educators in Trinidad to the recently published Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development. In acknowledging the significance of the Global Agenda, it became apparent that there was a need to solicit and channel the views of the local practitioners on this declaration. This article is based on a study carried out by the social work unit of the University of the West Indies. The study was intended to facilitate the articulation of the perceptions of key constituents about the Global Agenda and to critically analyse and respond to the Global Agenda within the context of a developing region. This article draws on the data that were collected from a focus group discussion among key constituents in the profession of social work in Trinidad. The findings support the Global Agenda as culturally relevant to the social realities facing Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean region at this time. The prevailing view was that notwithstanding the responsibility to institutionalise the currency of the profession to influence social policy development on critical human rights and social justice issues, country-specific mandates and jurisdictions must be maintained as the primary determinants of social work practice, education and policy development. The potential value, applicability and advancement of the four commitments put forward in the Global Agenda are also highlighted.


Author(s):  
Галина Тимофеевна Мельникова

Введение. Обращение к творчеству Николая Филипповича Павлова представляется актуальным. Он оставил значительный след в русской литературе первой половины XIX в., одним из первых поднял тему социальной несправедливости и антигуманности общественных порядков. Творчество автора высоко оценивалось читателями и критиками 30-х гг. XIX в. Однако имя автора сборников «Три повести» и «Новые повести» уже к концу века попало в число «забытых». В исследованиях, посвященных романтизму Н. Ф. Павлова, упоминали как писателя, творчество которого носило переходный характер, отмечалось его «движение» от романтизма к реализму. Цель – анализ идейно-тематического своеобразия повести Павлова «Ятаган» с точки зрения отражения общественных и культурных реалий России первой трети XIX в. Материал и методы. Исследуется повесть Павлова «Ятаган», вошедшая в первый сборник прозаических произведений автора «Три повести», который стал событием в общественной и литературной жизни России 1830-х годов. В работе использованы биографический, историко-культурный, сравнительно-сопоставительный методы исследования. Результаты и обсуждение. В повести «Ятаган» автор создал правдивую картину социальных отношений и нравов русского общества первой трети XIX в.: представил социальную иерархию, особое отношение к военным и военной службе, дуэльную традицию. Драматические обстоятельства, в которые попадает главный герой, отражают нравственную и социальную проблему несправедливости, армейской жестокости, которая обострилась в годы правления Николая I. В начале повести главный герой, делающий первые жизненные шаги, полон восторга перед будущим и романтических мечтаний, которые впоследствии разрушаются жестокой действительностью. С образом ятагана связан мотив рока. Пришедшая из народной мифологии «плохая» примета становится пророческой, а подарок матери – символической причиной гибели героя. Заключение. В романтической светской повести «Ятаган» автором художественно представлены общественные отношения и культурные традиции первой трети XIX в. Поднятые им злободневные для 1830-х годов темы телесных наказаний и социальной несправедливости в армии нашли отражение в реалистической литературе начала XX в. Introduction. The author seems it relevant to appeal to the works of Nikolai Filippovich Pavlov, who left a significant impact on the Russian literature of the first half of the XIX century. He, being one of the first, raised the topic of social injustice and inhumanity of public orders. Though, the readers and critics of the 30s of the XIX century highly appreciated Pavlov’s works, the name of the author of the collections “Three Stories” and “New Stories” had become already among the “forgotten” by the end of the century. The scientists of Romanticism still mention N. Pavlov as a writer whose works were of a transitional nature and note his “movement” from romanticism to realism. Aim and objectives. The aim of the article is to analyze the ideological and thematic originality of Pavlov’s story “Scimitar” from the point of view of reflecting the social and cultural realities of Russia of the first third of the XIX century. Material and methods. The author examines Pavlov’s novel “Scimitar” included in the first collection of prose “Three Stories”, which became a triumph in the social and literary life of Russia of the 1830s. The author uses biographical, historical, cultural and comparative methods of research. Results and discussion. In the story “Scimitar” the author creates a true picture of the social relations and mores of the Russian society of the first third of the XIX century: he presents the social hierarchy, a special attitude to the military men and service, and the dueling tradition. The dramatic circumstances in which the main character finds himself reflect the moral and social problem of injustice, army brutality, escalating during the reign of Nicholas I. At the beginning of the story, the main character, undertaking the first steps in life, is full of enthusiasm for the future romantic dreams, which the reality subsequently cruelly destroys. The motif of doom refers to the image of the scimitar. The “bad” omen coming from folk mythology becomes prophetic, while the mother’s gift symbolically results in the hero’s death. Conclusion. In the romantic novel “Scimitar”, Pavlov artistically describes social relations and cultural traditions of the Russia of the first half of the XIX century. The themes of corporal punishment and social injustice in the army, which were topical for the 1830s, are reflected in the realistic literature of the early twentieth century.


1998 ◽  
Vol 72 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 101-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul E. Brodwin

[First paragraph]Healing the Masses: Cuban Health Politics at Home and Abroad. JULIE M. FEINSILVER. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993. xx + 307 pp. (Cloth US$ 45.00, Paper US$ 17.00)The Blessings of Motherhood: Health, Pregnancy and Child Care in Dominica. ANJA KRUMEICH. Amsterdam: Het Spinhuis, 1994. iii + 278 pp. (Paper NLG 47.50)Disability and Rehabilitation in Rural Jamaica: An EthnographicStudy. RONNIE LINDA LEAVITT. Rutherford NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press; London: Associated University Presses, 1992. 249 pp. (Cloth US$ 39.50)Based on research in three Caribbean societies, these books explore the contours of biomedicine ("Western" or scientific medicine) as a cultural system and an instrument of state power. On a theoretical level, the authors take up the blurred boundaries between Western biomedicine and other forms of healing as well as the political meanings and contradictions hidden behind everyday clinical routines. Their particular research projects, however, ask what has happened to the dream of universally accessible medical care in the past twenty years in the Caribbean region. The books focus on a community-based pediatric disability program in Jamaica(Leavitt), maternal and child health care in Dominica (Krumeich), and Cuba's national project of medical modernization (Feinsilver). Specific diseases or clinical outcomes are less at issue than the cultural and political dimensions of planned health development and the social transformations it sets into motion on both local and national levels.


Zootaxa ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 332 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAVID E. BAUMGARDNER ◽  
STEVEN K. BURIAN ◽  
DAVID BASS

The larval stages of Tricorythodes fictus Traver, T. cobbi Alba-Tercedor and Flannagan, and T. mosegus Alba-Tercedor and Flannagan are described for the first time based upon reared specimens. The rarely reported Asioplax dolani (Allen) is newly documented from the Austroriparian ecological region of Texas. Leptohyphes zalope Traver, known from the southwestern United States and much of Central America, is newly documented from the Caribbean Islands of Grenada and Tobago. This represents only the second leptohyphid mayfly known from both Continental America and the Caribbean region. Additional Caribbean records of Allenhyphes flinti (Allen) are also given.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jed Bailey ◽  
Paola Carvajal ◽  
Javier García Fernández ◽  
Christiaan Gischler ◽  
Carlos Henriquez ◽  
...  

The Caribbean islands are among the 25 most-vulnerable nations in terms of disasters per-capita or land area, and climate change is only expected to intensify these vulnerabilities. The loss caused by climate events drags the ability of the Caribbean countries to invest in infrastructure and social programs, contributing to slower productivity growth, poorer health outcomes, and lower standards of living. Within this context, building resiliency should become a priority for the Caribbean countries. The series “Building a more resilient and low-carbon Caribbean”, focuses on improving the resiliency, sustainability and decarbonization of the construction industry in the Caribbean. The results show that increasing building resiliency is economically viable for the high-risk islands of the Caribbean, generating long term savings and increasing the infrastructure preparedness to the impacts of CC. Report 1 - Climate Resiliency and Building Materials in the Caribbean, presents a quantification of the economic losses caused by climate impact events in the Caribbean Region and correlate these figures with the most common construction materials, typically used in each of the countries building typologies. The losses caused by hurricanes concentrate mostly in the residential infrastructure and are mainly caused by weaknesses in roofs and their connection to the walls. The analysis suggests that improving the resiliency of outer walls and roofs in the Caribbean could significantly reduce the regions vulnerability to hurricanes and other climate impacts.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Svetlana Jevrejeva ◽  
Judith Wolf ◽  
Andy Matthews ◽  
Joanne Williams ◽  
David Byrne ◽  
...  

<p>The Caribbean islands encompass some of the most vulnerable coastlines in terms of sea level rise, exposure to tropical cyclones, changes in waves and storm surges. Climate in the Caribbean is already changing and sea level rise impacts are already being felt. Considerable local and regional variations in the rate, magnitude, and direction of sea-level change can be expected as a result of thermal expansion, tectonic movements, and changes in ocean circulation. Governments in the Caribbean recognise that climate change and sea level rise are serious threats to the sustainable development and economic growth of the Caribbean islands and urgent actions are required to increase the resilience and make decisions about how to adapt to future climate change (Caribbean Marine Climate Change Report Card 2017; IPCC 2014).</p><p>As part of the UK Commonwealth Marine Economies (CME) Programme and through collaboration with local stakeholders in St Vincent, we have identified particular areas at risk from changing water level and wave conditions. The Caribbean Sea, particularly the Lesser Antilles, suffers from limited observational data due to a lack of coastal monitoring, making numerical models even more important to fill this gap. The current projects brings together improved access to tide gauge observations, as well as global, regional and local water level and wave modelling to provide useful tools for coastal planners.</p><p>We present our initial design of a coastal data hub with sea level information for stakeholder access in St. Vincent and Grenadines, Grenada and St Lucia, with potential development of the hub for the Caribbean region. The work presented here is a contribution to the wide range of ongoing activities under the Commonwealth Marine Economies (CME) Programme in the Caribbean, falling within the work package “Development of a coastal data hub for stakeholder access in the Caribbean region”, under the NOC led projects “Climate Change Impact Assessment: Ocean Modelling and Monitoring for the Caribbean CME states”.</p>


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