YOUTH ARTS ARE KEY TO SAVING OUR GARIFUNA CULTURE AND LANGUAGE
An Indigenous Language Retrieval project is on a mission to save the Garifuna language and culture from extinction. International organization Garifuna Arts Medicine Agriculture and Education (GAMAE) has plans to pass Garifuna traditions, customs, and language onto the next generation by inviting 100 young people from St. Vincent and the Grenadines to take part in a Performing Arts Workshop that will result in a public presentation this August.
The young people, aged 6 to 17, will have the chance to learn traditional Garifuna music, songs, dance, drama, storytelling, and rituals, resulting in an inspiring performance for friends, family, and the wider public. The project hopes to safeguard the rich Garifuna heritage and language and share its joys and value with the descendants of those who created it.
St Vincent is the homeland of the Garifuna language and culture, which were born from an assimilation of West/Central Africans who escaped the slave trade and the island’s Indigenous Carib-Arawak population. In the 18th century, the Garifuna people were exiled and forced to leave the Antillean islands, the subject of persecution, genocide, and deportation by the British. They scattered across Central America – Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, and Nicaragua – and the United States.
Following centuries of economic migration, discrimination, and neglect by the school system, the Garifuna language is now at risk of dying. In 2001, UNESCO registered the language as endangered, and in the same year recognized Garifuna culture – including its music, dance, and language – as a ‘Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity’.
Through its Habinaha Garinagu Yurumein 2023 – Dance Garifuna SVG 2023 Garifuna Language Retrieval Performing Arts Workshop Program, GAMAE will help the young people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines connect with their cultural heritage. They will learn about their history while using artistic expression to raise their self-esteem, improve their academic and creative skills and cultivate their leadership and public speaking potential. Stories and songs will be translated into English, allowing the participants and audiences to connect with the history of the Garifuna people as well as the struggles of their ancestors.
Eleanor Castillo-Bullock, Director of the GAMAE Arts and Culture Department, said:
“In 1968, my siblings and I migrated from Dangriga, Belize to the United States of America. Before our migration, I clearly remember our friends speaking mostly Garifuna to each other. Five years later, I returned with my family and discovered that, in this short time, the children and youth had stopped speaking Garifuna. They were all speaking Creole, which was gradually replacing the Garifuna language in Southern Belize. I returned to the US, crying and feeling devastated. This is what propelled me to promote the Garifuna culture in the way that I do.
“I genuinely believe that through GAMAE, we can reverse the UNESCO proclamation that the Garifuna language is ‘endangered and facing extinction’. I have made a commitment to upholding, preserving, and safeguarding the Garifuna culture. At GAMAE Arts and Culture, we work to revive the Garifuna culture by sharing it with young people through the arts. Learning Garifuna music, songs, dance, drama, storytelling, and rituals binds the youth together as a community. Our projects are essential to safeguarding this cultural identity and preserving the precious Garifuna heritage and language.”
About GAMAE International
GAMAE International is a non-profit organization dedicated to tackling the challenges facing Garifuna communities. It works across North and Central America in four disciplines: Art & Culture, Medicine & Health, Agriculture & Education to ensure our communities’ goals are met. Since 2007, it has brought together non-governmental organizations, academic institutions, and volunteers to help grow the Garifuna nation.
