The Primer on the People Called Garifuna

This booklet replaces “The First Primer on the People Called Garifuna”, which was published and shared in 1993. As research increases, new and factual data are literally unearthed. So is the case with this study. It’s a People’s story, from enslavement and indigeneity to Kalinago and Garinagu.

The new and updated Primer is the outcome of secondary or library research through an extensive literature review and narrative analysis. For that, I have provided a list of references. Identifying as Garifuna and as a member of the community, I applied the Feminist Standpoint Theory and the Theory of Indigenous Anthropology, as both research techniques empower the researcher to investigate one’s own. I maintained an emic perspective throughout and remained sympathetic to the Garinagu, a viewpoint that may be a novel undertaking in the literature on ethnicity.

While this story is a scholarly product, it is written and presented in a popular brochure format and includes photographs for easy reading. The booklet holds a detailed account, a complete history of the Garinagu. The story places the Garinagu in the environment and climate in which they survived to live. As a result, it also brings out the story of Belize between 1799 and 1981.

Lastly, the brochure is dedicated to my grandchildren: Nyah, Dominic and Aniki. Also it is gifted to the youths of this beautiful Jewel of ours…that they may find themselves!