The Government says that our culture is being eroded by the number of Expats on the Islands. Can someone please answer the question, What defines a Caymanian Culture ? I don't want to write my opinion right now because I don't want anyone to feel as if I am swaying their thought process.
I would like to hear from Caymanians first, we should know, shouldn't we ?
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Welllll lets see maybe its being seamen, cooking turtle meat down in its own oil, lobster, stew conch, whelk, coconut dinner (fish and bread kind cooked in coconut milk NOT with any saltbeef), bonfires on the beach. Baking beef with pork & turkey at Christmas, baking heavy cakes on wood fire, eating duff (dumplings cooked down in a sugary butter sauce) (Still make it sometime) & bullrush porrage for supper(have'nt seen bullrush around since I was a child & don't have a clue how to make it, my Mama-Grandma used to not Mummy.
Farming, looking basket full of mangoes at mango time, fishing, trolling (using a lantern & spear at night to catch lobster & fish that is sleep under rocks near the shore), crabing ( which I have'nt but saw others do). Some drink & drunk saturday night & go to church sunday morning, ahhhhhhhhmmmmmmm, pit toilets (saw people with some, when you pass WHEWWWWWW yuk) , eating plenty, eating at Mummys (when we were kids it was Mamas) on sundays & Christmas time, bbq's & picnics on public holidays, some camp out at easter , trick or treating at holloween, spinning gigs, making calavans, playing marbles, going in the sea every evening, have I missed anything?, because I don't know anything about wearing wompers or thatch rope & have no idea how to plaite (weave baskets with thatch) and I'm in my 40's. So as I see it the only difference for me is not having to walk too far to get to mango bush, not having to bake on wood fire (thank God), I eat fish only, but will still cook all of the dishes mentioned above, don't drink, don't go trolling or trick or treating, never went to sea, don't have time to go to beach every day.
Check me playing marbles, spinning gigs, & making calavan at my age (They would want to ship me off to the mad house), always thought that crabs was nasty, never tasted one never ever wanted to. From (as we would say I know myself) my first memories, Only needed lamp light when electricity went out, always had a regular bathroom like what we have today you know like toilet, basin, & tub (it was blue), a regular kitchen with cupboards & sink & so on with running water, house phone, washer ( I remember those old maytag with the ringer & 4 legs), white Westinghouse fridge, gas stove, even though my Mama (Grandma) had a caboose, she used to use in the day & the stove at night. I have NEVER seen my Mummy using it, So I have not lost any of my culture. I don't who else did, but I can safely say I HAVE NOT.
Forgive me if I missed anything because you're experience might have been different from mine.
I forgot one thing we used to cut short plump willow trees to decorate as Christmas trees.
Its much more than that! Caymanian Culture to me is knowing where I came from. Knowing that my history, which includes a great-grandmother that survived 32' hurricane, with a half dead baby in her arms, who later died and is buried in Rebecca's Cave. Knowing that my father, who was born in Little Cayman, as was his father before him, has worked from time he was 9 years old, just so that his future and his children's future could be better.
Caymanian culture is my 89 year old grandfather who still to this day goes fishing for his supper.
Caymanian culture to me is knowing that I can walk into my parent's home any given day and be welcomed with a cold drink and a meal.
Cayman culture to me is giving someone my word and keeping it.
Caymanian culture to me is waving at every car you pass and smiling at the driver.
Unfortunately, with the passing of time and modernisation things change but should we forget or not want our childen to know what came before. No.! I want my children to know about picking welks, crabbing (even if they don't eat crabs), backing sand and pit toilets. Maybe this will teach them to appreciate what they have now.
Yes, things are better now (depending on who you ask) but it doesn't mean that I want to forget where I came from.
CULTURE
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SOME DEFINITIONS
Culture refers to our cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts and our own interpretations of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people residing in this country in the course of generations through individual and group striving.
Culture is our systems of knowledge shared by de people and subsequent siblings before and after the time of the "Mosquito" era.
Our Culture is our communication, our communication is culture.
Our culture is our way of life of a group of people--our behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols that we grew up with and accept, generally without thinking about them, and which have passed along by communication and imitation from one generation to the next.
Our Culture is symbolic communication. Some of its symbols include our skills, knowledge, attitudes, values, and motives. The meanings of the symbols are learned and deliberately perpetuated in our society through our schools, churches. local busines, artistic endeavours etc.
The essential core of our culture consists of traditional ideas and attached values.
Caymanian Culture is a collective programming of the mind that distinguishes us from one group or category of people from another.
And how exactly are expats taking away Cayman's culture? How are Caymanians prevented from practising this culture?
No-one here has shown how expats are preventing Caymanians from practising their culture or are eroding the Cayman culture. This is the argument for the Rollover policy.
Question:
What do you call a system where only 20% of the population can vote?
I remember this being called Apartheid.
Maybe this is the Cayman Culture we are looking for.
I know its more than that but let me say its what you teach your children, its should not be left to legislation!!!
I agree that its knowing where you come from, but its what you pass down that keeps it alive.
It should be as natural as breathing, passing on what was handed down to you. For example even though I do only eat fish, I don't have a problem preparing all of dishes we grew up with, and every chance I get, I pass the know how on to any who are interested locals & expats alike.
I remember being told at least once per week by my mama - 97yr old grandmother, about her experiences in 1932, (I have made sure to document her telling her experiences for the future generations in my family) because of this, to this day hurricane season I'm always prepared.
I have documented her talking about our family's history, about our forefathers that I know nothing about, this againg is for the future generations in my family.
Greeting, feeding, being respectful, and embracing ALL humans, working hard, remembering where, & how you grew up, having pride in your history & sharing it no matter how bad it was, giving your word & meaning it, standing up for your beliefs and being fairminded, speaking the truth weather you are hated for it or not, being self sufficient, is just natural for any proud bracker. Thats just who we are and we are all proud of it. At least all the brackers that I know.
I am not ashamed of my heritage & will share it with the world. I know that my great grandfather was born in St. Catherine, Jamaica and came to Cayman Brac when he was 8, was the son of Scotish preacher& carpenter who moved to Jamaica when he was in his late teen's early 20's, married an Indian woman from St. Catherine, moved to Cayman Brac.
My great grand mother was a 2nd generation bracker.
My grand father was a seaman, and storekeeper, his father was direct decendant of one of the English soldiers who desserted, changed their name and moved to the Cayman Islands.
But It all comes down to what you pass down, NOT A HUMAN on this earth can take that from me, so I will never lose my heritage.
I came here to experinece the Caymanian culture and have done so. However, I understand what is being said because I do see some expats wanting to take over the island and have things done their way. The people of the Cayman are incredible, the culture is wonderful, and I am proud to have a Caymanian wife and two newborn twins. I want Cayman to be Cayman and not Canada, the States, England or anywhere else. Embrace the Cayman Culture and Caymanians please never change . You are the essence of the islands. Thank you for welcoming me in your home. Above all I hope all of us can become one and truly connect as the one and only race, the human race that is.
Richard Singer
Author, Your Daily Walk with the Great Minds
www.yourdailywalk.org
Culture is always evolving. It is a moving target. If it wasn't, everyone around the world would consider chipping stones to make arrowheads part of their culture.
TV, going to school abroad, emigrated Caymanians returning from abroad, sometimes after a generation or two, even expats, they are all contributing to the evolving of our culture. What is important, is to have authoritive cultural figures embracing the changes and making them part of the collective experience.
It should be made clear that to be civil is part of the Caymanian culture. We get in line in shops, greet each other, avoid confrontation in favor of resonable compromise, are conservative, religious, respect our elders, are hard working, clean, and respect the law.
It should be made clear that some foods are part of the Caymanian culture. We eat turtle, salt beef and bread cake because it reminds us of our childhood, but we also embrace chinese, italian and english food. (Pagoda, Borden Pizza and Cayman Arms are old enough to be history).
Seafaring, mixed marriages, japanese cars, gamestations, satellite dishes (old, giant variety and smaller present ones), stepping out for dinner and a couple of drinks, perhaps go the the movies, church on Sunday, watch the world cup and root for Brazil, jet skis, the Compass, gas stations patty, 8 dollars lunches (that used to be 5) served in styrofoam trays.... and on and on.
Who can deny these are part of our culture?
If some expats comes here and rejects all this, too bad for them, they are missing the point and making their stay here not very enjoyable. I for my part will continue to enjoy our ever changing culture, share it with whoever is willing and make it even better as we move forward.
Please see the Cayman editorial by Cherry Smith where she narrowly puts expats into two groups:
”1. There are expatriates in positions or white collar jobs that should be here only temporarily to give up–coming Caymanians an opportunity.
2. There are the indentured workers/expatriates in positions that Caymanians cannot afford to fill and will never fill because of the obvious economic reasons.”
She then goes on to say: “This second group is my main concern …” and seems to be arguing to keep this group as long as Caymanians want mostly because this group benefits her.
I would just like to ask her if she (or anyone else for that matter) has the statistics on :
1. % of Caymanian workforce with a “white-collar” degree?
2. % of Caymanian with a “white-collar” degree that is unemployed?
From my understanding, there is 100% employment amongst the Caymanian workforce with a “white-collar” degree. Please correct me if I am wrong.
And I know a lot of Caymanians are saying, a degree means nothing. Well, if it means nothing, why are you not willing to get one? Stop giving employers a reason for not promoting you/ giving you the job you feel you deserve.
I also want to ask Ms Smith – who do you think volunteers in the community, supports the majority of charity work on Cayman and do more to benefit Cayman’s economy? Your group 1 or group 2?
By her own letter “….many Caymanian women do not have the luxury of staying home…” and “….the person who lives intimately with our family…”. If we have read that Culture is behaviour, traditions. “the way we do things”, cooking food etc handed down from one generation to another, then which group do you think will have more effect on “changing Cayman culture”? Your group 1 or group 2?
Is there any country in the world that doesn't feel that their culture is being erroded by someone or something? Be it immigration or emigration or foreign tv. I'm English and I feel very strongly that my culture has been erroded, I feel root less and the cause is the dispersal of familys. For economic reasons, as a child we lived hundreds of miles away from our Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins etc and visits were infrequent. Family history and tradition was not something we could possibly have been brought up with when both our parents were too busy working to make ends meet and without the support network of the family near by. Caymainian culture will survive as long as familys stay together and Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles as well as parents all play their role in raising the next generation.
The writer who said that Caymanian culture will remain as long as parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles all play their part in the upbringing of children is so right. Oh how I remember sitting listening for hours to my grandmother telling the stories of the 1932 hurricane, of the Maycow, of how the men went to the Cays turtling and what a celebration it was when they returned! Please Caymanians, let us not continue on this trend where the TV is raising our kids; or the 'expat' helper is having a greater influence on our young ones because we're just too busy working to have bigger and better than our friends and neighbors. Let us get back to our traditions and perhaps consider doing with one car instead of 3 or 4. It's so sad, we're losing this battle and it is ever so convenient to blame others for it.
Quote from the: Permanent Residence and Employment Rights Certificate - Guide for applicants
"In addition, as part of the points system that will be used to assess your application you will also be required to undertake a short test to determine your knowledge of the history and culture of the Cayman Islands." end quote.
Fair enough.
So can we assume that all "indigenous" (Oxford dictionary: originating or occuring naturally in a particular place; native) and "born" Caymanians would be successful when taking the test?
Would it not be a good idea to check this out?
Perhaps people could be selected at random from the list of registered voters, and be invited to take the test.
And please, publish the results.
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