Caribbean Thinkers Part 2

Further to the previous blog, another thinker we were introduced to on this course was Dr. Robert Love.

Born in the Bahamas, Love moved to Jamaica in the 1890s and founded a newspaper, the Jamaica Advocate, in 1894. In it, Love published many articles which Dr. Scholes sent him from Africa, in which he described the sophisitcation of African civilisations. These articles would have been seen as works of sedition, designed to agitate the masses.

Love argued that Black people in the Caribbean were capable of running their own affairs, and that they derived dignity and identity from identifying with their African roots.

Jamaican people probably more Akan-speaking (Ashanti and Fanti) people than any other island in the Caribbean, and a lot of their African traditions survived. This led to their having a rebellious spirit and a sense of superiority.

Traditionally, in some African societies, the griot, or storyteller, told stories that were meant both to instruct and to entertain. They used humour and a lightness of touch. The folk tradition was brought to bear in the Caribbean, where educated people in the villages would read the paper aloud to locals who could not read and write. In this way, the message was communicated to people in the rural areas.

However, the local education system in the Caribbean was based on what was dictated by the colonial authorities, and often on the education that was available in Britain. It did not reflect the culture and concerns of local people.

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See also: Caribbean Thinkers

Keywords: Black history, African history, Caribbean, identity, education, Dr. Love, Dr. Scholes