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Essay on genocide and revolution central themes in the caribbean

Decent Essays

“To what extent can it be argued that genocide and revolution are central themes in Caribbean History?”

There is no doubt that both genocide and revolution have been part of Caribbean History. They have indeed help to shape the Caribbean as we know it; a diversified and rich cultural hub. Genocide has to do with the wiping out of an entire race of people while revolution deals with a complete and drastic change. Upon studying history or more specifically Caribbean history we would note that both elements were present in its makeup. This is a fact. We must now then go on to examine how central a part both genocide and revolution played.
Caribbean history as we know it began with the migration of the aboriginals/ pre-ceramic …show more content…

This revolution as it is was a major element of change to the Caribbean economically and socially as well. With the introduction of sugar plantations there was chattel slavery and all its implications on Caribbean heritage and history. John F. Campbell (2010) in his study posited that Caribbean enslavement and its West African labour force was purely the result of economic necessity.

Chattel slavery brought with it a series of revolts and revolutions. This was not surprising considering the conditions under which the enslaved Africans had to live. Africans were view as property and as such had no rights and could be murdered or raped without redress. It was no wonder that, the Caribbean sugar estate was the destruction of the identity of the enslaved person both mentally and physically. (Campbell 2010). The denigration of the enslaved was so much that revolts and rebellions were a constant throughout the enslaved period.

Most significant to note however were those that brought about society as we know it today. They are as follows, the Haitian Revolution, the Cuban Revolution and the Morant Bay Rebellion. I will now seek to discuss these individually in a consecutive order.

The Haitian Revolution was described by C.L.R. James (2000) as the most successful slave revolt in history. He goes on to state that the revolution was one of the great epics of revolutionary struggle and

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