We have previously made comments on different factors concerning Emancipation and the state of African culture in Guyana and the Caribbean. The attempt at this point is a more comprehensive summary of the crucial factors related to this subject from the point of view of cultural studies, and to pull together in one statement for clarity, emphasis and convenience, the relationship between Emancipation and the state of African culture, the way the anniversary of Emancipation is observed and the effect this has on a sense of its importance.
Most of these comments have been very critical, but one would wish to forestall any impression that they are negative. They arise from a lengthy period of research, observations and analysis, which have found first of all, that there are several positive and progressive cultural factors. But at the same time many things seem to be wrong with approaches and attitudes to the celebration of Emancipa-tion, the sense of its importance and its relations with African culture. An assessment of the state of African culture is that it is powerful, ever present and pervasive, but insufficiently researched, not very well known and in terms of survival – not in good health.
First, a summary of what is being said about the way the anniversary of Emancipation is observed. Limitations are put on it by both ‘outsiders’ and those directly involved. There is a certain amount of ‘othering.’ The tendency has been to regard Emancipation as an African thing – something that