FOUN 1101: CARIBBEAN CIVILISATION

UNIT 7:

Dr. Debbie McCollin

The University of the West Indies
St. Augustine
 evaluate the relationship between religion and
education

 describe their role in the establishment and

preservation of a ‘euro-centred’ status quo in the
Caribbean.

 identify the religiously based historical linkages

that influenced the development of social
norms, attitudes and customs in the Caribbean
 Who would you consider to
be a “respectable” person?
SESSION 1:
 Spanish colonisers- Roman Catholicism
 Many different Catholic groups
 Minister to the needs of the population
 Convert the native people
 Salvation of souls = a better colonial society
 Missions set up- indigenous
invited to live on missions

 Churches built in each village

Education supported
conversion:
 Schools rooms built- children
taught reading writing and the
doctrines of the church
 What do you think planters
thought about their labourers
learning to read and write?
 Negative attitudes towards clergy

Believed that
 Spreading the faith
 Bible teachings
 Literacy
would encourage a spirit of rebellion in
enslaved
 Though some opposed
 Many seduced by the opportunities in the
Caribbean
Focus became
 procurement of wealth
 extraction of labour from the indigenous

Little tolerance for the established beliefs of

others
With The Interlopers came
Protestant Groups:
 Anglicans (Church of England)
 Presbyterians (Church of Scotland)

 trend of exploitation remained

 excluded the enslaved West Africans from their
congregations
 believed that they lacked intelligence,
civilisation and morals
 The Dutch Reformed and Lutheran Churches

 The Moravians and Methodists - c. 1732

 owned enslaved people and plantations
 But also provided enslaved with Christian
education
 anti-enslavement
 but not a large presence in the Caribbean
 founded by George Liele-
former enslaved man from
Virginia, US

 established a church in Jamaica

 popular with enslaved

 unpopular with planters and

administrations
 Religion was a tool of socialising the lower
classes to accept the inequalities of society
 ‘The benefits of the afterlife were important not the present
suffering’

 means of controlling people

 forcing them to conform to a European
concept of civilisation
 education became a part of the structure
Copying and accepting European cultural
norms

 Led to upward mobility

 Maintained the status quo

 Marriage: believed to provide validity and

respectability
 European dress- separated you from the
‘savages’
Religion reflected both conformity and resistance
Africans formed their own faiths
 African Methodist Church
 Native Baptist Church

 Shouter Baptist of Trinidad

 Shakers of St. Vincent
 Expelled from established churches
 Persecuted – 1912 Shakerism Ordinance
 1917 Shouter Baptist Ordinance
 Islam – emerged through African enslaved
and later Indian immigrants

 Hinduism- Indian immigrants

 Beliefs outlawed, groups regularly persecuted

 Eg. Rastafarian movement 1930s
 In opposition to colonial status quo
 Kingston, Jamaica
 Doctrines-freedom from oppression and
black pride

 Also severely persecuted

 Established churches- patriarchal
 Women relegated to supporting roles

 (West African) Caribbean Churches

 women had a defined leadership
roles
 females encouraged to lead
worship, in charge of healing and
many rituals Cuban Santeria
woman
SESSION 2
 Did you have religious education
as part of your schooling?
 Sunday School -earliest introduced level of
education in the Caribbean

Pre-emancipation education
 controlled by the established churches
 mainly children of planters and officials
 eventually opened to people of mixed heritage
 government not very interested

 Enslaved- labouring more important and demanded

most of their time
 Government run Primary schools established
 1840s British Caribbean
 1860s French Caribbean
 1870s Dutch Caribbean

 Teaching freed people

how to be ‘civilised’
Peter Rest School, Danish West Indies,
Churches supported these goals c. early 20th century
 Educational programmes (even those run by
churches) were focused on

 programming the minds of the colonized

 maintaining agricultural labourers,

domestics, and clerical assistants
 Generally more neglected

 Canadian Presbyterian Church in

Trinidad

 Focused on Hindu and Muslim

children and set up schools

 Focus on boys rather than girls-

engrained gender stereotypes
 1947- Indian independence from Britain = heightened
sense of pride in the Indian community.
 the organisation of schools by groups
Eg. Hindu- Sanatan Dharm Maha Sabha (SDMS)
Muslim- Anjuman Sunatul Jamaat Association (ASJA)
in British Guiana, Trinidad, Cayenne, Martinique and
Suriname.
 provided both secular and religious instruction
 a rallying point for the preservation and propagation of
their religion, languages and cultures in the Caribbean.
 education was a socialising tool
 until 1950s privileged males over
females
 privileged the wealthy (those who
could afford schooling in terms of
books and the time away from
work over those who could not)
 favoured Judeo Christianity over
all other indigenous and cultural
forms of worship.
Post emancipation goals:
 Freedmen sought to re-assert their
personhood status

 track down and re-unite family and friends

 Rebuild family life

 Women considered life bringers and tradition carriers
(should be protected)

 Post emancipation: a shift away from the plantation

and a refocus on the ‘private’ sphere

 Focus on child care and domestic activities

 Becoming housewife = upward mobility for the family

 Respectability- movement away from plantation life
(ruthless labour regime and sexual predation)
Education?
Religion?

Are they still used as a means of social control

and conformity?
Has there been a gender shift?
Are women more dominant ? In education? In
religion?
 Is being a housewife still a sign of
respectability for women?

 Has our means of upward mobility changed?

 Are we more tolerant/ accepting of different
religions and way of life?
 Has our definition of who is respectable and
who is not changed?

 Are we still guided by the established rules?

 Concept of ‘respectability’ tied to colonial
history

 Religion and Education have been used as

socializing agents in the colonizing process
and have significantly shaped Caribbean
family life

 They continue to impact our societal norms