In the 1960s the Caribbean’s diaspora had a distinctive identity. It predominantly comprised migrants who had grown up or been born in the region, understood it well and maintained a close relationship with family and friends at home. Most planned to return one day, sent back remittances on a regular basis, were employed largely at lower levels of the public sector and resided in a few localities in Britain.
In 2009, this picture and the perceptions that derive from it have largely ceased to hold true. The Caribbean diaspora has spread to the US, Canada and to many other parts of the world so that a larger part of the Caribbean’s people now live beyond its shores. Today the third and fourth generations of those who came from the region are for the most part losing their Caribbean cultural identity as aspiration, success and other interests cause their familial homeland to become remote from everyday life.
So much so that one of the more challenging questions that the region faces, if it wishes to find ways to harness the political and economic power of its increasingly estranged populations, is how to develop policies and strategies that in the longer term maintain a common sense of identity and any interest in the nations and the region from which grandparents and great grandparents came.
A little over a week ago the Jamaica National Building Society hosted a diaspora dialogue in London to try to understand better what might drive thinking in the Caribbean community in Britain now; what are the issues of concern; and how on a two-way basis, the Caribbean might in future be better able to relate to its non-resident community.
Although the event was Jamaica specific, little transpired that was significantly different from any discussion that might take place with a similar generational mix of those who have ties with the rest of the region.
The structure of the event was such that it sought to pose various questions to the participants, most of whom had found success in the church, academia, medicine, the trades unions, politics or business. Interestingly those who said least in the meeting were from the most recent generation; the group aspiring to, or achieving success in the professional sphere. Their perception was significantly different from those in the first and second generations and is relatively remote from any ties that might bind the region’s future to theirs.
The issues covered ranged from how to address the problems of a huge underclass of undocumented Caribbean migrants living illegally in the UK, through to whether it was possible to be a Jamaican (or Caribbean citizen) in a globalising economy to what was required to underwrite Caribbean cultural identity.
There were significant exchanges on how in the region, it was Caribbean nationality and culture that created self-belief and identity. Caribbean citizens, it was noted, grow up surrounded by role models from business, academia, the church, entertainment and politics and have a sense of belonging, community and propriety. However, the absence of such broad-based influences in Britain and elsewhere was causing many less educated young men in the diaspora to be alienated from society.
One response was that the Caribbean’s own creative and cultural industries had a central role in providing an identity and relationship with the region.
At the meeting there were also interesting discussions on political representation in both Jamaica and the UK. There was clearly a role for greater political activism in those British constituencies in which the Caribbean diaspora resided, but voter registration needed to be improved. There was also a role for Jamaica and by extension all governments in the region to consider appointing one or more senators to reflect in their Parliaments the views their diaspora. Despite this there was some ambivalence as to whether national diasporas would attenuate and a regional identity emerge.
Today the UK is a much more heterogeneous society than the one migrants first entered. Education and success are changing the basis on which individuals relate to the nation of their ancestry posing challenges to Caribbean governments that wish to find ways to harness the latent power of the regions broader citizenship in the world.
Problematically many of the same social difficulties evident in the host society are manifest in almost all migrant communities. That is to say there is a clear and growing divide between those with higher education or achieving through entrepreneurial or creative activity and those who for whatever reason are excluded or have excluded themselves from mainstream society.
For the Caribbean this poses a not well recognised dilemma. The diaspora is hugely fragmented socially as well as aspirationally. While some regional governments are developing policies that are inclusive of the first and second generations who still see themselves as Caribbean, there is a new requirement for a very different approach to the economically active and aspiring.
In this context there seems so far to have been little thought given to what exactly the region wants from those who still show it loyalty or interest. Is it economic or philanthropic, is it the ability to mobilise in response to political differences between the region and the country in which the diaspora reside or is it something else much less definable; some kind of cultural loyalty?
Ireland, Israel, Palestine, India and other nations have understood with much greater clarity the value of programmes that find ways to embrace new generations with little or no direct connection to their ancestry. While in some obvious cases this is driven by strategic need there is no reason why Caribbean governments and companies should not jointly consider best practice and establish small, responsive, properly funded and staffed bodies in Europe and North America with a clear remit to develop programmes that foster long-term ties.
Time is passing: if there is value in having a diaspora, now is the time to act. Otherwise within two decades newer generations will come to see the region solely as a location for a nostalgic or puzzling vacation.
Previous columns can be found at www.caribbean-council.org
