An Interview with Jonathan and Barbara Hill
Cultures of the Caribbean:
Barbados and St. Lucia
January 6-15, 2005
Program description Itinerary Resource list
What do you want people to gain from this Study Travel program?
Jonathan: My aim is to get beyond the stereotypical cruise image of the West Indies. It is a multi-lingual region, but we're going to the English-speaking islands of Barbados and St. Lucia. I hope to take participants more deeply into the uniqueness of these two distinctive cultures, which together tell a lot about the Caribbean and its extraordinarily rich history.
When you go to these islands, you begin to realize the enormous strengths, the cultural confidence, that Caribbean people have, and that they get from their own backgrounds. That's what we're going to look at in detail, as well as enjoy the beautiful weather and the lovely beaches. These 10 days will be a time of learning and, I hope, of relaxation and pleasurable recreation.
Barbados
Jonathan: Barbados, the most easterly of the Caribbean islands, is almost out in the Atlantic. Geographically, it is a limestone shelf, whereas the others are mainly volcanic. It has a very peaceful, tranquil landscape.
Barbados was a British colony for some 350 years. This continuity has stamped its culture in a way unlike any other Caribbean island. Barbados is very British in many ways, but its population is 98 per cent African. We shall look at the British cultural inheritance blended with African traditions and cultures. This blend is the essence of the island.
Barbara: Barbados is relatively flat in terms of geography and geology, and that has tempered its flora and fauna. There's virtually no indigenous fauna because it is so far out in the Atlantic. Its bird life is less than the other islands for the same reason. And the flora is somewhat limited because the island is limestone as opposed to volcanic. So the natural history is quite different from the other islands. We'll see many tropical flowers, though. Except in certain places, they don't thrive because they lack the hot humidity of the jungle islands. And their trees are generally lower. There are ancient stands of mahogany brought from Honduras. The great tree of Barbados is the bearded fig. It's thought that the Portuguese, the first people to land there, gave the island the name Los Barbados, the bearded ones, because the trees have hanging aerial threads that look like beards.
St. Lucia
Jonathan: St. Lucia is a dramatically beautiful island. It is fiercely rugged, with a great central spine of mountains. Its most famous peaks are the Pitons -- the Petit and the Gros.
We shall be close to a beach again, as we were in Barbados. Here again, we will hear from a local speaker about the culture. We shall travel around the island, look at the various sights, and I will talk about its history and literature. St. Lucia was fought over and occupied by the colonial powers of Britain and France throughout the 18th Century, so there is a striking Anglo-French fusion in its culture. We shall look at this and at the African heritage of dance, music, weaving and pottery.
Remarkably, St. Lucia, with a population of only 155,000, has produced two Nobel Prize winners. The first, Sir Arthur Lewis, was in economics. The second was in literature -- Derek Walcott, one of the greatest living poets writing in English.
Barbara: St. Lucia is voluptuously gorgeous. There are flowers year-round. We'll talk about the vegetables, the root crops, all the different things that are grown there, and how they're cooked. We'll probably try them, too. I'll take people to markets if they want to see all the different fruits and vegetables. In St. Lucia in particular, there are fine big markets, every day except Sunday.
In parts of the Caribbean, there are vast differences between wealthy and poor people. Is it the same in these two islands?
Jonathan: In Barbados, we will see what superficially seem like huge disparities between wealth and poverty. Barbados has always been a place for wealthy people from Europe and North America to have vacation homes. We will see mansions side-by-side with simple, wooden hut-like structures. One's immediate inference is, 'Oh my goodness, there's a great deal of poverty in this country.' But appearances are deceptive. There is strong primary, secondary and tertiary education. Literacy is pretty well 100 per cent. Barbados has an advanced social welfare system along the British lines. Its currency is one of the most stable in the Caribbean. There is no starvation or destitution. There are poor people, but that's not the same as saying there is poverty. I would say the same for St. Lucia. But neither island has anything like the conditions of Haiti, the Dominican Republic or some of the other Caribbean islands.
You've been to the Caribbean seven times. What draws you back?
Jonathan: Personal friendships, the unending fascination with its history and the extraordinary fact of its multi-racial society. Here in the Upper Midwest, we are very concerned about diversity. We spend enormous amounts of energy trying to create it and feeling guilty if we don't. You go down to the Caribbean and the complication stops because you instantly enter a multi-racial society. You see how people can and do get along very well. Not because they're looking for diversity. They live it. It is an organic, established reality. Caribbean people are living examples of how people from different races and ethnicities can get on in a vibrant, dynamic way.
Barbara: For me, going back to the Caribbean is a reminder of what a wonderfully diverse world we live in, and that these people are very much in tune with it. They are so globally aware. They have dignity. They have a way of life that they're trying hard to maintain despite the behemoth just to their north. Their ways of doing things are sometimes different, and it is both useful and delightful to be in an environment that challenges you and makes you think about your own life.
Jonathan: The group will also have an up-close and often disturbing exposure to the effect the United States has on the rest of the world and the way in which it projects itself through its own mass media. Americans sometimes ask, 'Why does the rest of the world think about us as they do?' All you need do is go to another country, see the image of the United States that is projected abroad -- through satellite TV, movies, videos and DVDs -- and the question is answered. We're not talking Masterpiece Theatre or C-Span. These 10 days are certainly not going to be some grim, purgatorial journey in self-recognition, but I'm sure the participants, many of whom will have traveled abroad before, will be familiar with what I'm talking about. Much of the world sees the United States positively, for good reasons. But sometimes it does not.
What is the difference between college students and post-college age people participating in Study Travel?
Jonathan: Much of the time when teaching undergraduates, I feel I'm giving them answers to questions they've never asked. When I take adults, I know they've asked the questions. I know we're on the same page. It's the difference between an energetic but innocent audience and a still energetic, but experienced audience.
