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AUGUST 1, 2002, will mark 164 years of full African emancipation in the West Indies. In Hopetown, Ithaca, Bagotville and other places there will be soirees and libations.
Drums will beat in celebration in many villages and regions in Guyana, some places more loudly and more meaningfully than in others, depending upon the depth of African consciousness in each.
On August 1 many will don an African costume as part of the identification with the ancestral homeland. Yes it is a day of celebration and introspection. The celebration is easy and almost instinctive; the introspection complex and almost daunting.
Africa in the Caribbean has long been one of the complexities of modern Caribbean thought, giving rise to a variety of interpretations and formulations. The negritude movement, Garveyism, Rastafarianism, Pan-Africanism, Black Power in the Caribbean are all Africa-based movements and philosophies that have attempted to define or interpret the reality of Africa in the Caribbean. In present-day Guyanese society it is easy to discern a spectrum of attitudes and orientations that comprise what can be termed `Africanity’ in Guyana.
At one end of the spectrum there are those who, secure in and proud of their ancestry, actively seek to keep African cultural memories and practices alive. At the other end of the spectrum are those for whom Africa is not even a distant memory, and the process of erasure has been so strong that the sub-cultures of African-America, with its slang, dress, gestures and music, have become their cultural frame of reference. Between these two positions can be found a very diverse metagee of cross-identifications, accommodations and allegiances. So what should be the basis for introspection and what are the challenges?
In a society where negative stereotypes abound, our educational system must do more to instill in students respect for the historical achievements and cultural practices of the peoples making up Guyana. In fact Emancipation celebrations, like Indian or Amerindian heritage celebrations, should be seen as national award ceremonies that highlight and showcase to all Guyana the best and most precious in a particular cultural tradition.
Perhaps the most formidable challenges lies in reconciling one’s racial identity and destiny with one’s national identity and destiny. Just as Indian indenturship cannot be understood in isolation from African plantation slavery, similarly in today’s Guyana the logic of history has left Africans and Indians reciprocally indebted. So the drums that beat on August 1 should be heard by all Guyana not only as a celebration next door but as a summons to a new disclosure and interpretation of our collective future. Nothing less than the destiny of Guyana depends upon the outcome of that cultural discourse.