What are the biggest cultural differences between West Indians and African Americans (cons, population)
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I think this had much to do with which Europeans Africans were enslaved under and what the slave master's version of Christanity was and also to the size of the black population to that of the white population.
Basically Africans enslaved under Spanish,Portugues and French slave masters were able to keep many African customs intact because those Europeans were less hostile to their slave's African culture in comparison to the British slave masters of the U.S. Also by the Spanish,Portuguese and French slave masters being catholic the Africans had saints to use to disquise their African deities behind. Slaves in protestant countries couldn't do this as much.
What I'm saying can explain why New Orleans had a tradition of vodu because of the French,Spanish and catholic heritages there.
I also think population size plays a part. Even though english speaking caribbean blacks were enslaved under the protestant British they were larger in numbers than the whites so they weren't as dominated by a white population and culture like U.S blacks were. So this can explain why caribbean blacks in english speaking countries are more "African" compared to U.S blacks.
Additionally, many in the now english-speaking Caribbean nations were not only under the British but had time under the French and Spanish. (Thus why Kreyol has survived in more than just Haiti in nations that now have english as an official language)
I am assuming you mean Black West Indians, haha. Their are a lot more non-black West Indians than many people realize, we are a mixed up group, many people in the islands also have roots in other islands as well in addition to also having European, Indian and even Chinese ancestries as well.
We West Indians may all look a like and sound a like, but we are not a monolithic group as other posters have mentioned. We are separated by land and water. Our dialects differ and slang is not the same on every island, every island in a way has it's own flavor. Now their are several things common in across the Caribbean, but more differences than people realize. Some British West Indian islands were highly colonized by the French (Dominica, St Lucia) and they still have influences on these islands. I am from Belize(not an island) but it is part of the former British West Indies, and we have more Spanish influences than the rest of the English Caribbean. Each country has its own unique history.
I know some West Indians who consider Bahamians Black Americans with Caribbean accents(mainly the ones from Nassau and Freeport). I know people here talk about corruption in the Bahamas, but to me it does not look as corrupt as other places in the West Indies.
Trinidad and Guyana really stand out to me because it looks like people of Indian descent make the majority in those countries now a days. I also noticed the food was the most a like among two countries, more Indian influence. My birth country of Belize has a mestizo majority these days, and we also have two groups of blacks who have their own distinct culture(Creole and Garifuna).
I can really only go by things I have read and other West Indians I have met in the United States, I would love to go to other parts of the Caribbean as well.
Last edited by Beliciano; 05-11-2013 at 01:04 AM..
I am assuming you mean Black West Indians, haha. Their are a lot more non-black West Indians than many people realize, we are a mixed up group, many people in the islands also have roots in other islands as well in addition to also having European, Indian and even Chinese ancestries as well.
We West Indians may all look a like and sound a like, but we are not a monolithic group as other posters have mentioned. We are separated by land and water. Our dialects differ and slang is not the same on every island, every island in a way has it's own flavor. Now their are several things common in across the Caribbean, but more differences than people realize. Some British West Indian islands were highly colonized by the French (Dominica, St Lucia) and they still have influences on these islands. I am from Belize(not an island) but it is part of the former British West Indies, and we have more Spanish influences than the rest of the English Caribbean. Each country has its own unique history.
I know some West Indians who consider Bahamians Black Americans with Caribbean accents(mainly the ones from Nassau and Freeport). I know people here talk about corruption in the Bahamas, but to me it does not look as corrupt as other places in the West Indies.
Trinidad and Guyana really stand out to me because it looks like people of Indian descent make the majority in those countries now a days. I also noticed the food was the most a like among two countries, more Indian influence.
I can really only go by things I have read and other West Indians I have met in the United States, I would love to go to other parts of the Caribbean as well.
So thats how West Indian culture is in a sense heavily influenced by the motherland Africa. So that can give you a sense how different West Indians are to African Americans who are more American.
So thats how West Indian culture is in a sense heavily influenced by the motherland Africa. So that can give you a sense how different West Indians are to African Americans who are more American.
But nobody listens to tuk music. It would be like listening to old time Negro spirituals day in day out. You only hear that stuff around the holidays. Soca and calypso would be better examples of music that's pervasive in the Caribbean but not widely received in the U.S.
Not seeing the reason to make the comparison with African-Americans, who are one ethnic group within one nation.
Because most West Indians are black. That's why people often make the comparison. For many West Indians, you would not know they were West Indian unless you asked them or they had an accent that obviously gave it away.
Too broad a term, but food is very different nothing in the Caribbean resembles Gumbo. Bahamas is the closest culturally to African America. While Trinidad is way different.
There's nothing in America that much resembles gumbo either.
The cuisine of the West Indies is quite different. But you don't have to search hard to find the similarities with Black American cuisine. Collard greens, for example, are often served as part of Barbadian dishes. Macaroni pie is similar to macaroni and cheese in the States, but it's a spicier version, imo. And brown stewed chicken over rice, a Jamaican classic, is not that different from a lot of stewed beef dishes made by blacks here.
Bajans are also big on fried foods and pork.
So I think the similarities are not hard to identify. Obviously, there are foods down there that are not easily accessible here, but the parallels between some West Indian and African American dishes can be striking.
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