Caribbean Final Study Guide

Can you explain why the Panama Canal is important for our understanding of Caribbean migration?

45,000 contract laborers immigrated and were paid 2x caribbean workers wage; more money opportunities

Who was Che Guevara?

Argentine, who spread socialist movement in Caribbean, 26th of July movement

What kind of crop did United Fruit Company produce in Central America?

Bananas

Do you know which region of the world is most dependent on Tourism?

Caribbean

Special Period

Cuba had to be self-sufficient when USSR collapsed and could no longer provide for Cuba; Cuba had to look for a new oil supply

Can you list 4 destinations where people from the Caribbean went to work on sugar plantations?

Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, US South (Hawaii and Florida)

Who was Fulgencio Batista?

Cuban commander of army and later president, had mafia connections

Wet Foot Dry Foot

Cuban immigrants need one foot on land of US soil in order to not be deported, can not just wash up on shore as in past

In which Caribbean islands is prostitution legal?

Dominican Republic, Dutch, US military bases (Curacao, Antigua, Trinidad, Cuba)

Where did Che Guevara and Fidel Castro meet?

Mexico city while living in exile, trying to overthrow Batista

Can you list two major cities into which Caribbean people have migrated?

New York, Miami

How did Puerto Ricans differ from other Caribbean migrants to the US? How are Cubans also unique? Why? What is that policy called? How are Haitians also unique?

Puerto ricans: US citizens Cubans: Wet Foot Dry Foot Policy Haitians: refugees after earthquake

Invisibility

Someone who is not officially recognized with human rights in a country ex: Dominican girls living in the United States from the video, "My American Girls"

To which countries did people flee the Haitian Revolution?

To Cuba and the US (New Orleans)

Can you describe what the song Jean and Dinah (by the Mighty Sparrow) is about?

US naval base in Trinidad having men order women prostitutes but then had to move out and the women could go back to the local men

Can you name two countries from which Cuba received or receives oil?

USSR, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago

How have politics internal to Cuba and the United States affected the flow of migrants?

Wet Foot Dry Foot Policy

Structural Adjustment

World Bank and IMF demanded privatization from government in Caribbean; ex: tourism

What kinds of crops has the Caribbean historically imported?

bananas, salted cod, root crops (yucca)

Racialized Other

black/exotic prostitution worker in sex tourism industry

Who was Fidel Castro?

cuban politician and revolutionary, nationalized businesses and industries, jailed trying to overthrow Batista during Cuban revolutionary war

Diaspora

cultured, ethnic group (blacks) who were interested in spreading awareness of traditions of origin

How do gender, race, and class become salient features in distinguishing the boundaries between who gets counted as a jinetera and who does not when it comes to sexual relations with tourists?

darker/poorer = labelled jinetera, light/wealthy/easy access to tourism = not labelled; women are more easily labelled compared to men

What were some of the results of Structural Adjustment Measures? Can you give an example from the film?

decentralization, privatize, liberalize ex: Life and Debt - importing cow milk powder eliminating competition from small businesses

Can you give the reasons why people leave the Caribbean? Who are the Garifuna? Where were they from originally? How are they connected to the Caribbean?

demographics, poverty, weather, wage, work; people expelled from St. Vincent who moved to Honduras

What are the consequences of the structure of imports and exports (consider environmental, political, economic, or social outcomes)?

dependent on exports and trade, susceptible to embargoes, dependent on price of sugar

Libreta

food rationing during Cuban Special Period

Revolution

forcible overthrow of the government for a new system

Can you describe tourism in the Caribbean in environmental, political, social or economic terms?

foreign owned, money doesn't contribute to local economy, inflation, western amenities (water, fuel, road, electricity, waste)

Can you list 4 roles tourism plays in economic development in Cuba? How do media, government, or popular representations link tourism to the rise of crime in the Caribbean?

generate currency, technology transfer, stimulus to other sectors, attract foreign investment; tourism brings in prostitution and illegal drugs creating for a higher crime rate

Could you explain why we might refer to Cuba as having "self-government within limits during 1902-1959"

huge investment in Cuba from US and Europe due to sugar, government was corrupt which lead to no legitimate authority and no independence, many protests against the government occurred

Do you know what the word Jinetero /a means? And in which country is it used?

hustler/alternative means of making a living in Cuba; prostitution working zones

Can you list two problems that came with tourism to Cuba? Can you explain how this became a problem and who it affected?

large wage cap of workers in tourism industry compared to those not, people engaged in sex tourism/black market, affected dark skin because they could not work for jobs in hotels

Can you mention 3 effects (positive or negative) produced by tourism? Can you say why they change?

loss of beach front properties, loss of history/tradition, loss of marine environment, social transformation, state sponsorship; all had to accommodate to tourists needs

Cultures of Migration

most immigrant groups create communities within their new environment in order to make the transition easier

Can you discuss why Agriculture declined in the Caribbean in the 20th century? Who left the farms?

national investment, environmental, economic/political, farmers left the farms

Could you explain why most Caribbean immigrants to the US (?) encountered racism differently than from their home? What was their reaction?

no longer the majority; had to adjust to different ideas about race; radicalized race and created UNIA

Do you know what a Mutual Aid society is?

organizations to protect their communities in distant places and to preserve the culture as well as provide decent burial

List 3 existing alternatives to sugar for the Caribbean, and 3 alternatives to agriculture more broadly.

peasant subsistence agriculture on larger islands (Jamaica, Cuba, Hispaniola), export of bananas, coffee, fishing; broad: politics, tourism, natural resources

How do different colonial experiences and contemporary political and economic situations shape trends of migration to and from the Caribbean? Examples?

people tend to migrate to former colonial masters, can lead to increased migration from region, people want opportunity and if there is none they will leave

Neoliberalization

privatizing the government, lifting tariffs, decentralization and subsidies; tried to create free market yet really created unequal concentration

What is Jineterismo? Or what are some of the different ideas to which Jineterismo refers?

prostitution and hustling, activities mostly sexual relationships between male tourists and Cuban women

Sex Tourism

prostitution business in Caribbean related to tourism

Can you explain the relationship between slavery and prostitution in the Caribbean? Can you name some ways in which enslaved women used sex to their advantage? How is prostitution related to Abolition? What are three legacies of sexuality and race in post-slavery Caribbean?

prostitution: owners rented out female slaves as nannies, cooks, etc. with implied sexual benefits advantage: survival strategy, gain better treatment, obtain personal freedom abolition: property accumulation, domestic service, way to accumulate money legacies: region associated with land of sexual opportunity for European men, black woman defined as sexual property of white men

Can you describe a few factors that contributed to the rise in sex tourism in the Caribbean?

racial stereotypes, sexual fantasies, travel and communication, eroticization of Black/mixed race women

All inclusive

resorts providing everything for tourists so they don't have to leave the property- hurts small businesses and economy

SIDS

small island developing states: islands facing sustainable developmental challenges (resources, weather, trade)

Can you discuss why tourism was seen as a savior to Cuba? What was Cuba being saved from?

sugar industry was declining with no workers, plantation fields, or trading which lead to special period; being saved from economic instability and bankruptcy crisis

What kinds of crops has the Caribbean historically exported?

sugar, coffee, tobacco, cotton

What are the different factors that account for the rise of offshore finance centers in the Caribbean?

tax benefits, confidentiality, security, convenience, marine registry, ATM, multi-currency accounts

Cold War

tensions after WW2 because US did not agree with communism and Cuba and USSR did

Romance Tourism

tourists pay for someone to stay with them during their visit, relationship can form (more serious than prostitution)

Remittances

transfer money from immigrant work to family back home in native land

What role do "Rastafarian characteristics" play in the relationship between Barbadian hustlers and their white female tourist counterparts? How are different constructions of masculinity and sexuality reflected in the relationships between hustlers and white female tourists? Can you give an example from the films?

white females return for 'boyfriends' a couple times a year; masculinity is not defined; sexuality defines their relationship because it is basically an act of prostitution; ex: Ellen's relationship with Legba in 'Heading South'

Between 1914 and 1968 were there restrictions on Black immigration to the US?

yes, only literate Caribbean Blacks allowed to migrate, yet Booker T defended all immigrants

What was the name of the boat on which Fidel Castro returned to Cuba to start the Revolution?

'Granma'