A Central Voice in Caribbean Literature

This essay explores the complex ways in which narrative may signify in the contemporary Caribbean cultural context. Specifically, it is concerned with a trilogy written by award-winning Surinamese author Astrid Roemer, set in the years of independence of the Caribbean country after 300 years of Dutch occupation. The analysis focuses not on the usual postcolonial themes but on structures of signification: allegory, materiality and media of language, affect, and the function of objects. Roemer’s texts demonstrate the relation between discourse and physical violence, her language being tied to material media, bodies, and earth. Not just postmodern, but posthuman too, the Surinamese narrative is characterized by the attempt to connect objects to language, objects to emotions, or nature to memories. Language brings us in touch with Caribbean reality and memory, all the while questioning its capacity to do so through allegory and metaphor.

Commonwealth Caribbean Disability Access Policies: Access to Educational Institutions and Libraries

Disability Acts are aimed at providing disabled students with both physical and intellectual access to education. The research takes into account UNESCO’s mission and Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) that education as a fundamental human right lies at the heart of equal access. The document analysis approach was used to select six Caribbean countries’ disability Acts to examine the kind of access indicated for educational institutions and libraries. The roles of the stakeholders who are expected to implement the Acts were also examined. Additionally, document analysis was used to determine if what was seen in these Acts were actually being implemented. The disability Acts selected were those from a Commonwealth Caribbean country that developed national policies or acts on disability and that the Acts had specific articles on access to education for disabled persons. It was discovered that the clauses with regards to access and stakeholders’ role in implementing the Acts were very limited. There is also a significant gap between what is written in the Acts and what is actually taking place. One recommendation that was suggested was that each country treat their Act as a priority as equal access is a human right as emphasized by UNESCO.

Unmasking the Phenomenon of Inclusion: Parents’ Perspectives on Early Childhood Curriculum

This research sought to examine the curriculum planning/implementation processes involved in the public ECCE sector in a Caribbean country. One of the focal areas was the involvement and contributions by stakeholders with respect to ECCE curriculum at public ECCE centres. In order the capture data on this area, a qualitative approach was adopted. Two (2) focus group sessions with a total of twenty (20) parents were conducted at seven (7) public ECCE centres. The study yielded compelling evidence that there was limited parental involvement as it relates to curriculum and little to no awareness of the curriculum being implemented at their children’s ECCE centres. Recommendations were proffered in the form of an intensive stakeholder inclusion programme containing a myriad of strategies targeting the inclusion of parents.

Vengeful Animals, Involuntary Mourning, and the Ethics of Ndyuka Autonomy

This article reflects on mourning and interspecies responsibility. Considering what Ndyuka Maroons in the Caribbean country of Suriname—historic fugitives from plantation capitalism—call kunu (avenging ghosts) I explore how Ndyukas attempt to secure personal and collective autonomy in an expansively relational reality where mourning is the quintessence of relatedness. Because grief impinges on Ndyuka autonomy, daily life is understood as a flawed struggle to maintain freedom from mourning. This can only be done by paying appropriate respect to others so that they do not return as vengeful spirits dedicated to the destruction of those who have harmed them and their entire families in perpetuity. This essay examines the ethics of such deeply relational notions of autonomy and ponders its implications for understanding accountability for anthropogenic extinction. On sa a sikiifi ya wani taki A sikiifi ya taki fu a fasi di Ndyuka sama e tyai fuka anga sowtu faantiwowtu de fu den meti di e kon toon libisama kunu. A e taki tu fu sani di sa pasa te libisama kii wan libi libi sani di o toon kunu, anga fa libi sama mu dini kunu fu den sa libi makandii a wan fii fasi. Te wan sama dede, da ala sama fu a famii e tyai a fuka de makandii. Te wan kunu kon a wan famii, da a sa meke a famii fu a sama di be kii en tyai a fuka de soseefi tu. Libisama ná e wani fu tyai a fuka, ma a kunu sa meke den tyai en namo namo, bika a so wan fasi a o meke den fii a seefi tyali di en famii be fii, di den kii en. Fu di kunu a wani sani di de tuu tuu, da libisama mu libi a wan lesipeki fasi fu den no mu meke kunu gi den famii di o tan fika gi den baka pikin fu pikin, paansu fu paansu. A sikiifi ya e taki tu fu a fasi di Ndyuka sama denki fu libi anga den busi sani, anga fa den mu meke mofu a makandii fu libi anga den sani di sa toon kunu, fu a no mu poti den a fuka. A sikiifi ya taki en so, bika somen sama ná e lesipeki den sowtu a sowtu meti ya, ofuso den bon, anga soseefi den peesi pe den e tan fu libi moo. A toli ya e soi taki Ndyuka sama abi fuu koni di sa leli den bakaasama fu soi den fa den mu libi a wan lesipeki fasi di o meke den ná o poli a goontapu, ma den o tan libi bun bun anga taawan.

Mind the Gender Gap: A Picture of the Socioeconomic Trends Surrounding COVID-19 in the Caribbean with a Gender Lens

This paper provides an insight on the gender impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Caribbean. The analysis makes use of the April 2020 online COVID-19 survey that the Inter-American Development conducted in all six Caribbean Country Department member countries. We find that the pandemic is having different effects on men and women. For example, job losses have been more prevalent amongst single-females, whilst business closures have been more prevalent amongst single-males. Quality of life also seems to have worsened more for single-females than for single-males and partners (married or common law partnership) and domestic violence against women has been on the rise. Although the coverage of social assistance programs has increased substantially during the pandemic, we find that more targeting of households with single females could be beneficial, particularly as they show lower levels of financial resilience. Going forward, we recommend further gender targeting in social assistance programs and the collection of gender-disaggregated data that will allow for more thorough investigation of the gender effects of these types of shocks.