The Garifuna Experience Podcast

Episode 20 - Garifuna: A Living Cultural Afro-Indigenous Treasure

• Jose Francisco Avila • Episode 20

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Episode Description

Celebrate International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples with host José Francisco Ávila as we journey into the powerful and persistent world of the Garifuna people. Far more than a historical footnote, the Garifuna are a vibrant Afro-Indigenous treasure and a testament to resilience, born from the unique union of shipwrecked enslaved Africans, Arawaks, and Kalinago in St. Vincent (Yurumein).

This episode uncovers:

  • The Epic Saga: Learn about the tragic Carib Wars against the British, the forced exile of 2,248 Garifuna ancestors, and their eventual migration to Central America, forming communities in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
  • The Land Rights Battle: Explore the critical fight for Indigenous Status and collective ancestral land rights, and the role of international treaties like ILO Convention 169. We detail the ongoing challenges faced by organizations like OFRANEH in Honduras and the pursuit of rights in Belize.
  • A Culture of Survival: Discover how their deep roots—from the use of cassava (ereba) to their Amerindian Arawakan language—remain central to their identity and cultural survival in the face of modern-day threats.

Don't miss this essential look at how the Garifuna people continue to drive Power, Prosperity, and Progress while defending their heritage as a truly indigenous and African-descendant people.

 Resources:

Books by José Francisco Ávila

Host: José Francisco Ávila

Hello, and welcome back to the Garifuna Experience Podcast. I'm your host, José Francisco Ávila, and today in honor of International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, we're exploring the rich history and vibrant culture of the Garifuna people. We are a living Afro-Indigenous treasure, a testament to resilience, and a proud blend of African and Amerindian heritage.

The Garifuna are a unique mixture of African, Arawak and Kalinago origins resulting from a process that took place in the West Indian islands but ended up being transplanted to Central America.

Because it was on the West Indian Island of St. Vincent that the Garifuna came into existence as an identifiable group, the Garifuna people of Belize consider themselves, and are generally acknowledged, indigenous to the Circum-Caribbean region.

The Garifuna are a culturally distinct Afro-indigenous group, spread across Central America in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Our story begins with our ancestors, a mixture of shipwrecked enslaved Africans, Arawaks, and the Kalinago, the indigenous people of the island of St. Vincent. This unique blend led to the adoption of many indigenous practices, including the Amerindian Arawakan language, manioc or cassava cultivation techniques, and a collective ancestral land tenure system.

A History of Survival and Resistance

Our ancestors were in the Caribbean long before Columbus. By tracing our blood ties to the Arawaks and Kalinagos of the Lesser Antilles, we affirm our deep indigenous roots. We are a people who survived the brutal realities of European colonization and the trans-Atlantic slave trade. We escaped the slavery that both Amerindians and Africans were subjected to, not just by fleeing, but by living our culture. Our staple food, cassava bread or ereba, is a powerful symbol of this survival. It’s a food we’ve shared for generations, and we even have some with us today.

According to the French missionaries who first met them, Youroumayn, meaning “Spirit of the Rainbow”, was the name given by the Amerindians to St. Vincent.

Formation of a New People in the Caribbean—Black Kalinago

To truly understand the Garifuna, we must go back to the beginning. Our story starts with the Arawakpeople, one of the indigenous groups of the West Indies. They were the first people Christopher Columbus encountered when he arrived in the Americas in 1492. They were farmers, hunters, and fishermen. Later, the Kalinagos, a group of fishermen and skilled warriors, followed a similar path, moving into the Caribbean.

The European presence in the Caribbean, beginning with Columbus, ushered in a new era of colonization and the establishment of sugar plantations. This led to the importation of enslaved people from Africa to work the fields, creating the economic triangle between Africa, Europe, and the Caribbean.

The origins of the Africans who joined the Arawaks and Kalinagos on St. Vincent are debated, but research verified two sources of the arrival of Africans to St. Vincent—1. Enslaved peoples from nearby islands, primarily Barbados, came at different times and routes; 2. Captives from raids on the nearby islands by the Kalinago themselves, who absorbed them into their society. The island’s thickly wooded and mountainous environment was an escape route from enslavement, and the flow of runaway Enslaved Africans to St. Vincent was continuous.

They quickly adopted the Indigenous way of life and intermarried with Yellow Kalinago or Arawak  or Red Kalinago women. This union gave rise to a new group of people, known as the Black Caribs by the Europeans to distinguish them from the Red or Yellow Kalinago.

Struggle for Land and Identity

As the population of Black Caribs grew, they began to compete with the Yellow Caribs for land and power. This led to a division of the island, with the Black Caribs claiming the eastern half, which became known as the Carib Country. The British, however, viewed the Black Caribs as "African Colonists" or Maroons, not as indigenous people. In contrast, the Black Caribs saw themselves as an indigenous part of the overall Carib nation, an identity strengthened by the shipwreck story which rooted their history outside the context of the plantation.

Ironically, some enslaved people of British settlers even fought alongside their masters against the Black Caribs, having been influenced by their masters' views and fearing what they saw as a "dangerous, primitive" people.

The conflict culminated on March 11, 1797, when 2,248 of the darker-skinned Garifuna people were loaded onto 10 ships. The ensuing 33-day voyage across the Caribbean resulted in the deaths of 222 individuals. On April 12, 1797, 2,026 disembarked on the island of Roatán off the coast of Honduras. From there, they migrated to the Atlantic coasts of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, creating the communities you find today. The lighter-skinned Caribs were sent back to St. Vincent and subjected to British laws that prohibited them from speaking Garifuna or practicing their traditions.

National Recognition and Challenges

The struggle for recognition continued throughout the colonial period and remains a key issue today. Since the 1970s, the Garifuna have mobilized alongside indigenous movements, advocating for the adoption of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169). Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua have ratified it. Today, Garifuna people are recognized as an "ethnic group" in Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. It was in 1995 that Guatemala took a crucial step by granting the Garifuna indigenous status under the Agreement on Identity and Rights of Indigenous Peoples. 

Honduras's ratification of the International Labour Organization 's Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention (No. 169) in 1995 granted the Garifuna official indigenous status within the country, at least in a legal sense.

While international conventions recognize Garifuna as indigenous, the Honduran government has historically disputed their status. Garifuna organizations like OFRANEH (Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras)continue to fight for legal recognition and enforcement of their land rights.

In 1997, the Central American Black Organization presented the Language Policy Statement of the Garifuna Nation. According to the statement, As an indigenous people, the Garifuna Nation has basic rights to autonomy and self-determination, and the right to maintain and preserve Garifuna language and culture. 

Further, the Garifuna Nation recognizes the right of the Garifuna communities and member organizations in each country to establish and implement local level language policies and development initiatives and expects these rights to be guaranteed by local governments, as described by the United Nations Draft Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.  We, the Garifuna Nation, declare that our ancestral language is Garifuna, and that Garifuna is the language of the Garifuna Nation, regardless of the level of individual competence.

  •  Belize: The rights of the Garifuna people were recognized in Belize by the government in 1999. Recently, The National Garifuna Council of Belize took a major step in its ongoing work with the Government of Belize by submitting a revised memorandum of understanding to the Ministry of Indigenous Affairs. The proposed memorandum of understanding builds upon the previous document signed with the government in 1999. The council's aim is to see policy and legislation passed that will secure the rights of the Garinagu as one of the indigenous peoples of Belize.
  • Belize is not a signatory to the International Labor Organization Convention 169. While the government has not ratified the convention, the principles regarding the rights of indigenous peoples, such as the Maya and Garifuna, are addressed through domestic efforts and agreements. One example is the 10-Point Agreement with the Maya in the Toledo district, signed on October 12, 2000.
  • It was a non-binding "partnership agreement" intended to recognize Maya rights to traditional lands. The agreement became a significant legal landmark in the decades-long struggle for Maya land rights in Belize and laid the groundwork for future legal battles that resulted in definitive court rulings in favor of the Maya.
  •  Ultimately, the 10-Point Agreement was largely a promise that went unfulfilled. The government took few concrete steps to implement the commitments, prompting Maya leaders to continue their legal challenges. While not implemented, the agreement proved critical for the Maya's legal victories in subsequent years. 
  • The explicit government recognition of Maya rights in 2000 became a foundational element in a series of court cases, culminating in the historic 2015 Consent Order by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). This ruling affirmed that Maya customary land tenure constitutes a form of property protected by the Belize Constitution. The court ordered the government to take affirmative steps to identify, protect, and title the Maya's customary land. The Toledo Maya Land Rights Commission was established to help implement the CCJ ruling, which is still an ongoing process.

The Importance of Indigenous Status

For the Garifuna, their indigenous identity is crucial for protecting their ancestral land and unique culture. It provides a legal framework for:

  • Protecting Land Rights: Indigenous status strengthens their claims to traditional territories and resources, particularly coastal areas coveted by tourism and development interests.
  • Preserving Culture: As an Afro-Indigenous people with a unique language and traditions, indigenous status helps preserve their heritage, which has been threatened by assimilation and migration.
  • Combating Violence and Discrimination: Affirming their indigenous identity has helped the Garifuna draw international attention to the targeted violence, human rights abuses, and persecution they face for defending their land.

Ethno-Education: Preserving Our Culture for the Future

A vital part of this struggle is the preservation of our language and culture through education. The region has made important, if uneven, progress in this area.

  • Guatemala has passed several anti-discrimination laws for education and, in 2003, declared Garifuna an official language. The country has also worked to institutionalize intercultural bilingual education.
  • Nicaragua's General Law of Education (2006) established the Regional Autonomous Education System, which manages intercultural bilingual education programs and supports capacity-building for Afro-descendant teachers.
  • Honduras's Fundamental Law of Education (2011) allows for school curricula to incorporate the linguistic, cultural, and historical characteristics of each region.
  • Belize In 2024, Belize officially launched a collaborative Garifuna Language in Schools Program to revitalize the endangered language by integrating it into the primary school curriculum. Led by the National Garifuna Council and Battle of the Drums Secretariat, the program involves teaching the language in selected Garifuna communities in southern Belize, supported by a developed Garifuna Language Curriculum and a Professional Development Plan for teachers. The initiative aims to preserve the Garifuna people's cultural identity and traditions for future generations.

These are critical steps in ensuring the Garifuna language and traditions are passed down to future generations.

HOST: "And that wraps up another illuminating episode of The Garifuna Experience Podcast. Thank you for joining me on this journey in honor of International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, exploring the rich history and vibrant culture of the Garifuna people. We are a living Afro-Indigenous treasure, a testament to resilience, and a proud blend of African and Amerindian heritage.

Remember, the future of the Garifuna people is in our hands, and we are driving Power, Prosperity, and Progress. Until next time, stay united, stay proud. Sungubei Lidan Aban Ayo!

Host: Thank you for listening. Find new episodes of The Garifuna Experience Podcast every Tuesday. 

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José Francisco Ávila

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