Other PRojects
The Book Project
Our mission is to produce a high quality, full colour
photographic book on Caribbean Craft, the history, the
contemporary culture, the people and their products,
to be accompanied by a half hour documentary recording
our research. The project is an unprecedented look at
Pre-Columbian, African and European craft traditions
and their inter-relationship, that will be available
to a popular audience.
The text will be analytical, informative and instructive
without being academic. The region will be covered state
by state, from Belize to Surinam (not including Central
and South American Spanish speaking states with Caribbean
coasts).
It is our aim to explore the subject from an intellectual
perspective, yet provide complete visual satisfaction
and useful step by step instructions in basic craft
processes, for those who cannot read. The book, with
it emphasis on visual presentation, will be both attractive
and affordable to the general interest reader worldwide,
but more specifically, for visitors to the Caribbean,
our residents, cultural institutions and schools.
The Documentary
Whilst compiling material for the book we are also gathering
digital video film .It is our intention to use this
footage to produce a short documentary film on Caribbean
Craft and the story of our search for it. This will
include histories of the major craft traditions, leading
to an overview of the contemporary situation. Scenes
of craft producers at work , interviews with people
within the craft community , craft production , its
trade and an exploration into the life styles of various
craft producers.
The film will be intended for general interest television
viewers worldwide, as well as targeting educational
and tourist institutions through out the region .It
will be available on video, DVD and CD-Rom.
Possible Titles:
“The Power of Craft”
“The Search for Caribbean Craft”
“Craft Culture in the Caribbean”
Project Philosophy:
Much of what has been written about the region and what
is taught within the region has been constructed to
facilitate the perpetuation of external cultural domination.
The Caribbean has historically suffered from the debilitating
effects of first colonial and then a corporately convenient
fabricated mythology.
The project will go in search of an aspect of Caribbean
culture that has not been explored by traditional researchers.
It is our goal to provide a “fresh look” at the subject
of Craft in the region by putting it into the context
of the Caribbean social history and popular culture.
Project Team:
Author / Project Director
Aragorn Dick-Read , Tortola, BVI ( Gli Gli Carib Canoe
Project, Aragorn’s Studio)
dreadeye@surfbvi.com
Photographer/Art Director
Clem Johnson, Dominica ( The Caribbean Culinaria, Koneman
Publication, Island Locations.) Johnson@cwdom.dm
Video photographer
Jeremy Wright, Tortola, BVI (Trellis Bay Cyber Café)
Project Assistant
John Francis, Dominica. (Gli Gli Carib Canoe Project,
Karifuna Cultural Group)
Project Consultant
Lowell Bergman (Professor of Journalism, University
of California, Berkley. New York Times Correspondent.
Producer for Frontline PBS.)
Funding:
So far the project has been funded from personal sources
because of our dedication to the subject, and the fact
that we work in the world of local art and culture daily.
It is our intention to seek out a private sponsor or
capital investor who will support the project and in
effect become a shareholder. The investment will be
paid back through books sales.
The reasons for this approach are:
a) All participants are engaged in full time self-employment,
two of us with family commitments. This will mean that
the production will take longer, but will be free from
the rigorous pressures of working directly with a publishing
company.
b) We feel that given the opportunity for a free hand
in the production process, our combined talents have
the ability to produce a spectacular and important book..
Our artistic skills, intimate knowledge of the subject,
the Caribbean, its languages, people and ways, will
all benefit from the adaptability of undertaking a privately
funded project.
Our target figure to complete the first phase of the
project is US $ 20,000.
The project would manage this money and use it for basic
production costs, such as office management, communications,
film and photographer fees, travel expenses and expenses
on location.
With careful budgeting and an all out attempt to get
Air travel sponsorship and Tourist Board assistance
from the targeted countries we are confident that this
sum will allow us to produce a high quality and original
book. We feel that within a year this project could
be completed enough to approach a publishing company
to take over the finished work and organize the printing
and distribution. Phase 2 will grow in a parallel relation
to the book project and it will emerge with the further
engagement of experienced personnel and additional funding
sources.
Contents Sketch:
The opening section of the book will be looking at the
concept and occupation of craft in broad terms that
will give the reader a basic understanding of its importance
as an ancient and universal human activity .By presenting
a range of definitions of the word craft and the subject
it encompasses, I propose that craft has more significance
as a social pursuit than might at first meet the eye.
The German translation of the word Kraft, meaning strength
or power, is the root word for the English word Craft,
meaning skill or hobby. With little analysis one can
deduce a diminished importance of the concept in Western
culture, from something fundamental in pre-industrial
society to the peripheral activity it is in the 21st
century. The path of this transition can be clearly
associated with the emergence of western industrialization,
colonialization and drive towards homogenisation through
globalisation.
The Caribbean, being one of the first major testing
grounds for the international culture, can tell us a
lot about the processes and consequences of this global
transformation.
The Pre-Columbian Caribbean cultures at the time of
the European invasion, whether, Taino, Ciboney , Lucayan
, Garifuna or Kalinago/Carib, all represented a relatively
intact and cohesive indigenous cultural system. Though
emerging from a hunter-gathering background, organised
agriculture did exist and there is evidence of extensive
trade and specialization of craft production through
out the region that directly corresponded to the location
of natural resources i.e. stone tools in Grenada and
baskets in Dominica etc.
Spiritual life was defined by an animistic religious
system, many spirits of which were represented on and
embodied in their craft products. The omnipresence of
this imagery kept a powerful grip on the population’s
psyche. The complex cosmology was to be rapidly unravelled
with the introduction of the monotheistic religion of
the Europeans and the dissemination of their apparently
superior mass-produced “craft” products.
What happened to the Caribbean inhabitants during the
early period of European control was the sketch of a
blue print that was soon to befall many of the indigenous
peoples of the conquered continents, from the Americas,
Africa, Australia, the Pacific anäÓt1:place w:st="on">South
Asia. The arrival of “god-like” beings, appearing in
vessels at first believed to have come from the sky,
carrying weapons and tools made of steel, had an immediate
and profound impact on the stone-age populations they
encountered. As European illusions of paradise faded
and their systems of domination emerged, Caribbean society
began its long battle against imported diseases, religion,
governance and the social and environmental upheavals
that accompanied them.
It is from this era of genocide and possession that
the themes of this book can be traced. The delight and
awe caused by the first exchange of “trifles”, (glass
beads and hawks bells), between the Europeans and the
indigenous inhabitants, set the foundations of the persistent
mythology that imported goods are superior to the local
product and some how imbued with unexplainable magical
qualities. The magic spread to affect all facets of
Caribbean life. The tribes were to be dissolved by new
diseases, war and slave labour in the mines, whilst
the forests were cleared for the plantations. Surviving
systems of indigenous production fell into the service
of the new masters and the people producing them drifted
to the fringes of the emerging colonial society. This
has become a recurrent process that has characterized
the divisions within Caribbean society. There are those
who are committed to an integral relationship with their
natural environment, that are deemed “wild” or “savage”
and those who rely on or aspire to the “civilizing “qualities
of external cultural forces. The material production
of both parties in effect acts as a means of defence
or attack of the divergent ways of life.
The predominance of the Pre-Columbian culture was soon
eclipsed by the introduction of African slavery by the
early European planters. Through out this painful period
extreme efforts were gone to deny the slaves any means
of cultural expression. Many indigenous African skills
came to the Caribbean with the slaves, though the free
practice of them was next to impossible within the acculturating
process. Some strong similarities can be traced, for
example the ceramic techniques of St Lucia , Antigua
and Nevis ,which show both West African and Pre-Columbian
influences .The West African religion of Voodoo or Obeah
,with its associated drumming traditions are integral
to the cultural base of many Caribbean states. During
the early period of the African arrival there was a
period of interaction between the Pre-Columbian inhabitants
and the enslaved as well as the escaped Africans. Knowledge
of indigenous food production, wild herbs, fishing techniques
and crafts, were all passed on over time to the Africans.
The cultural melange that occurred was again tempered
and stimulated by influences of the Europeans. The plantation
system required crafts workers to provide many articles
for the functioning of its daily operations. One primary
example being baskets, which were used extensively to
germinate, harvest and transport produce, like wise
the “rustic” pottery of the indigenous and African tradition,
was used through out the region by the lower strata
of society, for coal pots and cooking utensils.
By researching the historical traditions of the different
crafts and craft producers through out the region we
can start to get a better understanding of the variations
in quantity and quality that exist from island to island
at the present time. It is no accident that islands
such as Haiti, Jamaica and Dominica have very active
craft sectors and others such as Cuba, Puerto Rico and
the Virgin Islands have nearly extinct craft traditions.
Through this book I intend to present a general theory
of Caribbean craft production, by drawing to light a
recurrent pattern which shows that the most prolific
craft producers are amoungst the marginalized sectors
of the population. Whether they be the descendents of
the Taino, Caribs, African Maroons or members of other
social groups, such as Rastas, Hippies ,the Elderly
the Disabled or as in many islands ,the Prisoners .
We will look for the reasons that have caused this to
come about. Part of this search will look into Governments
policies towards the craft producing sectors of society.
It will be suggested that the establishment is faced
with a dichotomy with relation to crafters, whereby
a vibrant craft sector is both impressive and valuable
for the tourist industry, but in general the participants
are not always those who they would wish to promote
and encourage. The imagery and way of life of Rastas
or Caribs, for example, satisfy a lot of the “quaint“
and “picturesque” requirements of the tourists imagined
ideals of Caribbean society, yet on a day to day basis
governments are fully aware that these people are the
fringes of society and are historically furthest from
their control. Their craft defends them from having
to participate in the labour market and their relationship
to nature enables them live sustainable and independent
life styles.
Research in the field will inevitably allow us to present
an analysis of the current state of the Caribbean craft
trade. The subject reaches far into many of the primary
issues facing the Caribbean economy and its people.
The cruise ship industry, for example, has an interesting
significance for the crafts people of the region. In
many cases allowing direct access for genuine craft
producers to valuable foreign currency and in other
cases creating poignant scenes of desperate hucksters
selling the same mass-produced T-shirts and trinkets.
We will look at the islands that have brought Craft
to the point of mass production such as Jamaica and
Trinidad, and how these craft exporting states are now
finding markets in the craft-poor areas of the region.
The economic effects as well as the environmental impacts
of this type of production will also be discussed, for
example the depletion of Lignum Vitae trees in Jamaica.
The importation of craft items from other parts of the
world, specifically, Indonesia, Africa and India, will
also come under review. The reasons that stimulate this
trade and a study of both the positive and negative
impacts this has on the local craft scene. Through interviews
and discussions with those involved in the Craft business,
its manufacture, distribution and marketing, the book
will be able to give an island by island report of present
and future prospects for the craft movement.
The greater body of material in this book will be a
collection of high quality photographic imagery presenting
the contemporary and historical craft traditions of
every country in the region. As much historical imagery
relating to craft production, as possible is being sought
to show extinct practices and the development of surviving
techniques.
It is our intention to insert sections that provide
basic instructions in various typical craft techniques,
in much the same way as a book on Caribbean cuisine
would include recipes, we intend to show step by step
photographic instructions of how to process a Calabash,
for example, or how to make a basket etc. This will
serve multiple purposes, firstly to bring the book to
life for the reader by encouraging his or her physical
participation in the subject, it can also serve as a
basic manual for schools and institutions that are teaching
crafts. Secondly it helps to demystify the subject by
showing the reader the extensive effort that one must
go through to produce craft items, thus creating a better
understanding of the value of the end product.
Our goal is to contribute to the promotion of Craft
as an important and life giving activity that can offer
a rewarding and sustainable means of existence.
|
|