The Garifuna Journey Celebrating the Resiliency of the Indigenous People of Belize
A celebratory documentary, with engaging scenes of fishing, cooking, dancing, cassava preparation, thatching a temple, spiritual ritual, music and dance all demonstrating the Garifuna link to the Carib-African past.
Descendants of African and Carib-Indian ancestors, the Garifuna fought to maintain their homeland and resisted slavery. For this love of freedom, they were exiled from St. Vincent in the Caribbean by the British in 1797. Despite exile and subsequent Diaspora, their traditional culture survives today. It is a little known story that deserves its place in the annals of the African Diaspora. In first person Garifuna voices, this documentary presents the history, the language, food, music, dance and spirituality of the Garifuna culture.
Running Time
46 mins
Year
1998
Kanopy ID
1144888
Filmmakers
Subjects
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I have been working collaboratively with the Garifuna community in Belize, the United States and on St. Vincent in the Caribbean since 1994. When traveling in the Caribbean in the 1980’s I had heard about the “Black Caribs” who had been exiled from St. Vincent to Central America for ...Read more
I have been working collaboratively with the Garifuna community in Belize, the United States and on St. Vincent in the Caribbean since 1994. When traveling in the Caribbean in the 1980’s I had heard about the “Black Caribs” who had been exiled from St. Vincent to Central America for resisting slavery. The British colonialists wrote about them as savages and cannibals, a sentiment that is still prevalent today in some parts of the Caribbean. After years of investigation in libraries and by word of mouth, I was directed to the Garifuna community in Belize and learned of their connection to St. Vincent. These were descendants of those Caribs who had been exiled and their culture was very much alive and thriving. I met with the National Garifuna Council to ask if I could make a documentary telling their story. After a few days of meetings, they agreed to collaborate and tell REAL story of the Garifuna people and their culture. The result was an “insider / outsider” collaboration, unique in visual anthropology. I have been honored to work with Garifuna tradition bearers in Central America, the United States and the Caribbean ever since.
After making THE GARIFUNA JOURNEY, I was invited to St. Vincent to present the films in villages across the island. Some of those in the audience were descendants of the Caribs who hid in the mountains and were not exiled. These men and women had a very emotional response to the film: they cried, they berated their own lives and lack of culture and longed to meet their long lost brethren. I picked up a camera and began to record their story, not the version given in the history books written by the British. During the filming, some members of the Diaspora travelled to St. Vincent for the first time. They physically and spiritually reconnected with their homeland, their ancestors and the Caribs / Garifuna still living on the island today. The two film, THE GARIFUNA JOURNEY and YURUMEIN (HOMELAND) are a testament to the resiliency of the Garifuna people.
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