Speaker 1: 0:01

Welcome to Strictly Facts, a guide to Caribbean history and culture, hosted by me, Alexandria Miller. Strictly Facts teaches the history, politics and activism of the Caribbean and connects these themes to contemporary music and popular culture. Wagwan everyone, Thank you so much for joining me for another episode of Strictly Facts, a guide to Caribbean history and culture.

Speaker 1: 0:27

As a lover of Caribbean stories, I'm always enjoying learning from and alongside other Caribbean scholars and storytellers from around the region. Today's episode is no different, as we traverse the Caribbean histories of an island that I have not yet had the pleasure of traveling to, but certainly would love to, Aruba. And so joining this show for the first time is Dr Gregory Richardson, an educator and researcher at the Instituto Pedagogico Arubano, a part-time lecturer at the University of Aruba and a postdoc researcher at the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies. So, before we jump into our episode talking about Aruban history and culture today, Dr Richardson, why don't you kick us off with telling us a bit about where you call home and what inspired your passion for Latin American Caribbean stories and histories, especially in the Dutch Caribbean?

Speaker 2: 1:26

Hi, hi hi. Buen dia, buen tarde, buen noche. So good morning, good afternoon good evening, alexandria and your audience.

Speaker 2: 1:34

First and foremost, thank you for allowing me an opportunity to share some of the narratives of the Dutch Caribbean, specifically in this case, aruba. So for me, it's an honor to be able to share with you and your audience. So my passion actually started at a young age. Actually, I always found it very interesting to see how different cultures come together and seeing that Aruba is a very diverse society with folks from different parts of the world and this is exemplified as well in the languages that we speak and let's say what we would call the creolization aspects of the culture I was always fascinated by it and specifically in how it's exemplified in through music as well as through language, as well as the way people communicate and connect with each other. So, yeah, I continued my my studies in this area and, of course, I was found it interesting also to communicate with others. So I went down the the path of to become a teacher history teacher and then I followed up with Latin American and Caribbean studies and cultural anthropology in the Netherlands and elsewhere as well.

Speaker 1: 2:51

I'm really excited as well to have you, dr Richardson, so I appreciate your time and sharing with us. I hope our episode is a bit of an introduction about this rich history and diversity that you are privy to and sharing with us, and so, for those who are not familiar with the history of Aruba, I hope this is a great intro and hope for many more episodes to come on Strictly Facts. And so, before we get into some of the more recent diversity and languages and cultures that you mentioned, why don't we begin just touching briefly on Aruba's historical timeline, pointing to, you know, probably, a lot of the similarities of the other islands in some context? But I do think one thing that is important to note is the various colonial bodies who you know were responsible in helping sort of shape this diversity right.

Speaker 2: 3:47

Oh, yes, I think it's very important. So we have a lot of similarities in that sense. Geographically, aruba is situated in the southern part of the Caribbean, just above, let's say, venezuela, so probably next to Trinidad. Aruba is probably one of the closest islands physically to the mainland of Venezuela. It's close to the Lake of Maracaibo In a bit I'll talk more about that as it relates to the oil refineries and so forth.

Speaker 2: 4:16

We're part of what we call the ABC Islands, and that's part of, let's say, the southern part of the Dutch Caribbean in this case, and we also have the SSS islands. So the ABC would be then Aruba, bonaire and Curacao, and the SSS, st Martin, st Eustatius and Ceiba. So Aruba is actually, as mentioned before, just as the other Caribbean islands, in many instances a history of the indigenous communities, amerindians, and especially in this case, what we call the Kaikiteyo group Amerindians, and they were part of what we call the Arawakan language group, and this was a group, of course, throughout the Caribbean, but in this case very closely related to the groups that are in the northern part of Latin America, mainly in Venezuela and in Colombia. And, of course, after the period of colonization, when the Spanish came in, they considered these islands as what they called islas inutiles, so useless islands. That was very interesting to see how, from a colonial perspective, these islands are described, from their position.

Speaker 2: 5:34

Of course, throughout the different periods it has changed from, let's say, from Spanish rule to British rule and Dutch, and eventually the Dutch actually remained on the island, first via the, let's say, the West India Company and thereafter a more organized, let's say, governmental structure, and this, of course, is basically up until today, aruba is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Of course there are specific, unique organizational structures within the kingdom and maybe in a bit we can talk a bit more about that. But as of today, we're still part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. As of today, we're still part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, but we have a special status, which is called the status aparte, which we obtained in 1986.

Speaker 1: 6:38

Thank you for offering that history things that I've learned, whether it's, you know, episodes on Curacao and you know, of course, other episodes of the Caribbean, thinking about all of our sort of independence or decolonization movements right, I think you brought us very promptly to the 20th century, which is definitely at the heart of our discussion today. One thing that I really find tremendous in this framing and coming to understand a little bit more about Aruba is the decades of activism that really have helped to shape. You know I don't want to jump ahead because I know it's coming, but you know these longer histories which have led to its current status today, right, which have led to its current status today, right, and so paint for us what that early 20th century period of activism, but also, you know, wealth and growth and development was for Aruba, especially alongside, I think you know, coming from the British Caribbean perspective, sort of similar to what we saw with the West Indian Federation.

Speaker 1: 7:42

Yeah, so if you go into the 20th century with the West Indian Federation.

Speaker 2: 7:43

Yeah, so if you go into the 20th century, I think it's important to describe also what happened prior to that period. Just in short, yeah, so it has switched from different colonial, quote-unquote rulers throughout the different periods and eventually after, let's say, in 1863, on the 1st of July, the emancipation. There were different developments that are taking place and what you saw within the Caribbean itself, there were different hubs or different islands in which actually an industry was taking off, which is, of course, a very common part of Caribbean history as well. So which you also had migration processes taking place throughout the region. So, even prior to the 20th century, we can think of, actually, in Central America, on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, panama, panama Canal Canal and Costa Rica and Limon, as well as in the Dominican Republic, in places such as San Pedro de Macuris and La Romana and other areas as well in Cuba. So there was always a move, migration, especially with the influence of the multinationals, primarily North American multinationals, for the next big industry. Now, what happened in the 20th century? The discovery of oil in the Lake of Maracaibo in Venezuela, prompted the next development as well. So, of course, because the multinationals, in this case the Lago Oil Refinery which established in 1924, which is part of the Esso family, did not want to, of course, establish themselves on the Venezuelan mainland, so they looked for more, let's say, friendlier territories to establish these industries. So in which you had Aruba and Curacao establishing these large oil refineries and with the discovery of oil as well in Trinidad, you also had Trinidad as well. So these areas, these islands, became known as the oil countries. So let's say that was the new frontier black gold, so to speak.

Speaker 2: 10:03

And for the case of Aruba, aruba was very interesting in the sense that, of course, being part of the wider structure of the, let's say, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, you had Curaçao as primarily the main island, the island of government, in which actually you had all the five other islands actually connected to Curaçao. Of course you had Suriname as well. Prior to 1975, it was also part of the constellation, or at least of the Dutch kingdom, and Suriname, which is in the Latin American continent, got their independence in 1975. So we continued with the six islands, but Curaçao was the island of, let's say, the main administration island. Aruba was mostly seen as a sort of an island where they herded cattle and different type of production to serve the main island.

Speaker 2: 11:00

But with the establishment of the oil refinery in 1924 on the island of Aruba, that created an enormous shift, and to be able to support this new industry it was very important to bring in labor from the other islands as well, and so you saw sort of a shift in where these migrants would normally go they would come then in this case they were recruited to come to work in the refineries on both Aruba and Curacao.

Speaker 2: 11:33

And in the case of Aruba, the oil refinery was located in the, let's say, the southeastern part of the island, which is one of the cities called San Nicolas, and in San Nicolas it became a sort of a melting pot of different cultures.

Speaker 2: 11:47

So you have, let's say, the North American managers as well as many folks from the Anglophone Caribbean primarily, who established themselves there, and of course that had a major impact on the local population in many ways, let's say culturally, socially, in a religious aspect, in so many different ways. And I think that's also very interesting because the impact of that migration, it can still be felt today. And just to add, the reason why they recruited primarily these laborers from the Anglophone Caribbean is because it was an American oil refinery and they prefer to have skilled and English-speaking laborers, and that was, of course, to be able to help them with the industry as well. So you can imagine that, let's say, prior to 1924, you're looking at a population that had, let's say, approximately you're looking at less than 10,000 persons. Within the space of less than 25 years, this went up to 50,000, 60,000. And at this moment the population is approximately, let's say, around 100,000, 110,000. So, depending on the statistics you look at, but that is actually to highlight the impact of this industry on the local population.

Speaker 1: 13:55

I'm glad you brought up the Panama Canal earlier because a lot of these things can sort of be paralleled in terms of the US or American influence, in sort of marking how the movement and migrations of Caribbean people within the region, sort of changing demographics of Aruba because of this migration, what was also the political state like, amidst you know, centuries of calls for whether that's decolonization or just, you know, folks potentially wanting to separate from the Netherlands and become independent, etc.

Speaker 2: 14:37

Okay, what is very interesting is a very good point, that that you brought forward is just like any other um, let's say all the other movements in the, in the region, let's say not only in the caribbean, but also in the, let's say, on the african continent, um, as well. You saw that there was a push for, um, yeah, more autonomy, um, and, in sense, to a certain degree, also more independence as well, and what you notice is that with this influx of the migrants, you also had the establishment and development of trade unions as well.

Speaker 2: 15:14

So that was kind of the influence of the Anglophone Caribbean played an enormous, enormous part actually in the development of, let's say, the trade union culture and so the establishment of trade unions you had. For example, one of the trade unionists was a former prime minister of Grenada, which is Eric Gehry, actually used to work in the Lagual Refinery and also had a function there, and also a trade unionist work in the Lagwall Refinery and also had a function there, and also a trade unionist as well, as a former leader of Grenada as well. The New Jewel Movement is a Morris Bishop was actually born on the island of Aruba. So from this period you had the influence of different islands as well and in that process Now locally, you can imagine that that had also sort of a big impact because prior to this migration you had a local population that spoke primarily Papiamento within the Dutch context. So perhaps, maybe we'll discuss that a bit later, but Dutch is the language of instruction in schools, but the lingua franca has always been Papiamento on Aruba for a very long time and of course, spanish as well, the influence of Spanish being so close in the proximity of Latin America and so forth. So you see that taking place Now in the 70s, there were increasing calls, calls for more independence, more autonomy within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Speaker 2: 16:47

It was juxtaposed to Curacao being the bigger island. In many cases, if you want to make a comparison within the Anglophone Caribbean context and if you want to go over to the Federation and so forth, curacao was seen as, for example, jamaica or Trinidad, within the larger constellation and with the smaller islands actually feeling that their voices are not being heard within the larger debates, and so they were sort of, let's say, infighting on a political level but also, um, on the cultural level. And and then you saw this movement in the 70s. Prior to that, there were different political movements on the island, with different political parties, but eventually led by Gilberto Francois Cruz, which is more popularly known as Betico Cruz. He was actually the face, the person that actually galvanized and was able to take the sentiment higher up and eventually leading to the status of party movement, which actually meant that within the Dutch Caribbean, that Aruba would actually step out of the constellation of the Netherlands Antilles.

Speaker 2: 18:07

The Netherlands Antilles was similar to, for example, the construction of the Federation and in the sense that you had a Dutch Caribbean, let's say, the Dutch Antilles, of six islands, where you would have a, let's say, prime minister and parliament primarily, at least, the focal point was in Curaçao and, of course, the different islands also had seats and representatives as well, from the different islands, who would represent their constituencies within the Dutch and Delhi's government, and you would have smaller governments on the islands, but, of course, very similar to what you see on the other islands as well. There was quickly it became infighting, or many of the politicians or the community on the island of Aruba itself felt that their voices were not heard, or the smaller islands felt that their voices were not heard. This led to the start of the Separatist movement and in 1986, aruba became a separate status within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. So then the Kingdom of the Netherlands consisted of the Netherlands, so then the Kingdom of the Netherlands consisted then of the Netherlands as mainland, the Netherlands, until these are five islands, which were then Curacao, bonaire, ceiba, st Eustatius and St Martin and Aruba. And in 2010, the construction of the Dutch Caribbean, the Kingdom of the Lands, also went through another, I would say, change, where you had then Skurasao, the larger island and St Martin also obtaining their separate state as a status apart, and Bonaire, ceiba and Sint Eustatius became special municipalities, so in Dutch you would say bijzondere gemeentes within the Netherlands. That would be a sort of a connection directly with the Netherlands.

Speaker 2: 20:16

Of course, this discussion is very complex in the sense that, if we're talking about the call for independence independence as in the case of Jamaica, trinidad, the other islands as well there are small groups perhaps, and mainly on some of the islands, that are actively calling for complete independence. But the discussion among the locals they would prefer still to have the constellation that they're in, at least in some way or form, even though it's very contentious, it's always a debate, a push and pull, a sort of a tension between the Netherlands, the government of the Netherlands and the governments of the islands. But the overall consensus, though, is that that idea of complete independence is still a sort of almost, in many cases even a non-discussion. But I mentioned, for example, the rest, let's say the Anglophone Caribbean, but in many ways, aruba and the Dutch Caribbean is also very similar to Puerto Rico in that sense, but the difference would be that, for example, in our case, the islands that have their status apart. They have their own prime minister, they have their own parliament, courts, and yet we all have the dutch european passports, but international affairs are in the hands of the, the dutch.

Speaker 2: 21:50

So it's a kind of a, let's say, a complex construction and often very difficult to explain someone who's not in that particular situation.

Speaker 2: 22:01

So, if you ask me, it's not always rosy, as they say, there's always these discussions, there's always this tension and it's somewhat very, I would say, creole, in the sense that it's sort of a relative identity, contextual identity, depending on time and place in which people highlight certain aspects of, let's say, quote unquote, their constructed identities, whether in some moments they are very proud to be an Aruban Aruban as in we have our own flag, we have our own anthem and so forth.

Speaker 2: 22:37

But yet, within perhaps a larger context, you, you claim this um dutch identity, you claim this dutch european identity as so sort of uh um dubois talks about double consciousness and uh, I think, in the case of the caribbean, I think we're talking about multiple consciousness in that sense, because I liken it to Anansiism, so Kompanansi, what we call Kompansi on our islands, sort of shape-shifting, depends on the situation in many cases, how we can maximize whatever situation we're in based on sort of what we would call in Dutch onderhandeling. So we're always in conversation, depending on on. So it's a sort of a what we would call in dutch on the handling. So we're always in, in conversation, we're depending on.

Speaker 1: 23:23

So it's a, it's a negotiation that makes perfect sense to me, though, I think to be a caribbean person is to understand how we negotiate, um, and even you know and it varies by generation, right, we may have, you know, grandparents who are like, oh, we were better when we were under british rule, or you know whatever, um, whereas you know somebody from today, might you know, really champion independence. But to your point, right, the complexities and the multiple consciousnesses, if that's the word of, of negotiating, yeah, and I think and I think and many, there may have been many studies done on this as well.

Speaker 2: 24:00

So if you look at even the work of uh um creolization, and not only through language but also on multiple identifications so the work of edward lisan you can think of, but also from jamaica, um rex nelford, and specifically related to the arts and so forth, you really see this idea of and bradway as well.

Speaker 2: 24:18

So grappling with this multiple consciousness, so how we navigate this space, and I think it's very interesting. That is also one of the reasons why I'm so fascinated by the region we're in, because it's not only to do with these multiple ways of experiencing and making sense of the world. But you cannot just put it in specific boxes. And when you see, let's say, often the North American rhetoric or let's say, european rhetoric when it comes to discussions on race, on identity, this idea of just putting someone in a box, it's a very specific way of looking at things and I think when you're in the region, you're going to realize that this is it's very complex and people have found ways to navigate it. And this is not to say that it's a sort of a utopia and this that it's perfect. It's not. There definitely are racial tensions, tensions in language, tensions in race, at least the way we construct this, at least. But yeah, that's always an equation and how we position ourselves and how we give form to this.

Speaker 1: 25:30

I'm glad you brought us to that point of tensions in culture, right? We started our discussion talking a little bit about some of the different migrations to Aruba, so could you explain to us the aftermaths of these migrations and how you know, generations later, these complexities have impacted not only Aruba's demographics but the culture, whether that's in music or in education.

Speaker 2: 25:55

Oh, yes, I think yeah, migration has impacted Aruba in many ways and, in that sense, the rest of the Caribbean as well. So Dr Luke Alofs and Dr Farah Green, and others as well, describe actually different migration waves of the 20th century. Example they would call their migration in the early half of the 20th century. That would be the first migration wave, even though there are discussions regarding more migration waves as well, because even in prior industries as well, you also had the influx of other migrants from different parts of the world, etc. But let's say, on a wider scale, we're talking about two, primarily in the 20th century. So this is with the advent, I'd say, of the Lago oil refinery. This is where would be the influence of the Anglophone Caribbean. And when we switch from, let's say, black gold to what Dr Frans de Guadeloupe calls visa gold societies in which we actually focus on tourism, especially taking off in the 80s and the 90s, in which Aruba became one of the leaders in the tourist industry, especially given our size, let's say always in the top, let's say, seven, eight tourist destinations in the Caribbean, we had an influx primarily of Latin American immigrants, mainly from Colombia, from Venezuela, from the Dominican Republic, but it's not only that, but also from islands such as Jamaica, and even as far as, not only in the Caribbean, but from the Philippines and different areas. So that would be considered. Then the second migration wave Now, of course, these migration waves have impacted society in so many different ways.

Speaker 2: 27:47

So I would say, politically, socially, culturally and linguistically, especially so in the case of language. You notice that okay, so Papiamento, just as Curacao and Bonier speak a language called Papiamento, just as Curacao and Bonaire speak a language called Papiamento. And I heard you discuss this also with other scholars as well. A few that I can mention, of course, are on our islands, are Joyce Pereira, dr Joyce Pereira, ramon Todd-Andre, of course, dr Frank Martinez-Arion from Curacao, dr Frank Martinez-Arión from Curaçao, and recently I heard the conversation also with Dr Keisha Wheel, who's done interesting work as well on Papi Mendo. So there are many others, but Papi Mendo is actually what we call an Iberian lexifier, creole, and I don't need to go into too much discussion, but it's a Creole based on Spanish and Portuguese, but its origins, actually, its genesis actually is from West Africa, and through that process of contact, through that process of creolization, eventually these languages develop, and in this case, the ABC Islands Language, of course.

Speaker 2: 29:01

Course is very unique. It has a special status in the sense that, even though it's part of schools now, especially now, it's also the language of popular music, language of communication in a general sense. Because of the influx of the migrants of the Anglophone Caribbean. This, of course, had a major impact as well, because English became then the language of communication, primarily in the area of San Nicolas, and also the language of industry Creole. Actually, if you look at the descriptions by linguists such as Professor Hubert Devenish and others of the Jamaica Language Unit and much of the works that have been done, you notice that the four languages that were spoken on the island, so let's say, the Pap grasses, the Dutch, the Spanish and English, the English-based Creole, also became part of the language repertoire of some of the population as well, and this has been primarily exemplified you see this through the carnival celebrations.

Speaker 2: 30:07

So when you study migratory practices, primarily from the folks from the Anglophone Caribbean, whether it be in Central America and Costa Rica and Panama, in the Dominican Republic or elsewhere, the impact of these groups were actually such that they brought, let's say, their religion with them, the introduction of primarily, let's say, protestant religions, as in the case of Aruba, which was primarily Roman Catholic, but you also had the cultural traditions. So musical traditions, such as carnival the pre-Lenten carnival that is celebrated on the island of Aruba is, in many cases, in many ways modeled after the carnival that are celebrated in the rest of the Anglophone Caribbean, in many ways modeled after Trinidad as well. But the main musical genre that is played during Aruba Carnival which is Aruba is a Papi Mendoza-speaking country primarily is calypso and soca music, and this has been embraced by literally, in many ways, the entire community. So, even though some of the songs are sung in both English based Creole as well as Papi Minto or, they would add, maybe Dutch or Spanish, but the main, the core, is actually still, let's say, english. So you see this influence.

Speaker 2: 31:35

Not only that, but when you look, look at the ethnic makeup of the island as well. So, let's say, quote unquote Afro-Caribbeans have also made a mark. English is the second most spoken language on the island of Aruba. So what you see is then sort of a mixture between all these different islands, and the way you identify, similar to what I was discussing earlier, linguistically, also has to do with depending on the situation, depending on context, and sort of negotiating as well.

Speaker 2: 32:13

So I think migration has impacted Aruba in many ways and still continues to impact Aruba in many ways. It's always interesting to see how, for example, discussions with, for example, in Western Europe with the influx of different migrant groups, or the discussions in the United States. It always surprises me when it comes to the way people deal with the idea of others, even using terms of words, others even using terms of words. I think the rubric can be seen as an example of how I think, perhaps maybe because of a history of forced migration through transatlantic slavery, but as well as small spaces, had to find a way to move forward, had to find a way to move forward, had to find a way to survive and create a dignified life. And I think not only Aruba, but I think part of the rest of the islands as well, are good examples here.

Speaker 1: 33:23

And again I say it's not a perfect society, it's not a utopian society, I would say, because there are tensions, but yet I think there's much we can learn from definitely I agree with that, and just us understanding that the different scope of you know our general makeup as as islands, as a region, and even understanding our futures and evolutions. I'd be remiss if I didn't bring up music, as I always do in these episodes. But you talked about Calypso and so I, you know, would love to know what are some of your favorite. You know specific examples of songs or artists or albums that this sort of multilingual history and you know specific examples of songs or artists or albums that this sort of multilingual history and you know demographic of Aruba shows up in Calypso music on the island.

Speaker 2: 34:17

That's a very interesting question. I would say, just to help answer this question, one of the ways, interestingly, that rubens identify, perhaps, maybe, maybe, ethnic background and so forth is through, um, one's surnames, and so, um, in this case, if you have, for example, an english last name in my case, then richardson, you would say, ah, okay, either your grandparents are from whatever island or your parents are from one of the, let's say, the island in eastern caribbean, and this is in my case. I'm from saint martin and as well as the island of montserrat. But you would hear someone with a spanish last name. They would, okay, that person is such and such, or has that background or other names as well. Okay, they can even identify, for example, from what region you're from, and so forth. So I think that is something that is also very interesting. So they would say, for example, up to today, still, the different languages are spoken.

Speaker 2: 35:16

So the english-based creoles is spoken still in certain areas and they would say, once you hear a last name, like, okay, they would say who you for and you would know as well that, um, who do you belong to? What is your? What is your uh, your family tree.

Speaker 2: 35:34

So I think that is very interesting but to make the switch over to um, to music. Um, I was thinking about it. I think one of the, the, the songs, and which is not from a local artist but one, one of the, let's say, the Soka pioneers, or at least the one who popularized Soka all around the world, the Mighty Arrow.

Speaker 2: 35:56

So from his song Feeling Hot, hot, hot, I think, if I'm not mistaken, in the late 80s he came up with an album, a song called Soka Roomba, and in Soka Roomba he of course he's from Montserrat that's also the island of one of my grandmothers and he said he came to perform in Aruba. And when he came to perform in Aruba he met this lady called Carmen Sita. She came up to him and she asked him um, put some Roomba in the Soca. And that is basically the idea of mixing the, the, the soul of Calypso, the Soca music, together with the local culture, maybe the more Latin-oriented culture, and creating a blend, creating a stew of these different ingredients, and that's what he called the song so Carumba. I think that exemplifies what Aruba is.

Speaker 1: 37:02

I will definitely add it to our syllabus for those. I know the song, but I didn't know that sort of context in terms of you know the performance in Aruba, etc. So I am definitely excited to check it out again for myself, but also add it to our Strictly Facts syllabus for our listeners to check out as well. And so our final question that I will bring us to is really thinking about this context of movement and migration and even autonomy. Right, I think there are a lot of ways that you know we oftentimes think of autonomy and independence in these very big ways, like you know, full independence from the Netherlands or from Britain, etc. But there are a lot of other you know forms of autonomy or resistance that you know we don't always put in that same category. And so what are the ways you see Arubans today proclaiming their autonomy outside of? You know that official political freedom from the Netherlands?

Speaker 2: 38:05

I think it's a very, very good point that you bring forward. So, like you said, there are different ways in which we could actually show the way we are, at least the idea of looking for spaces of autonomy. So autonomy can be seen from a sort of a structural way, political way, but it's also very personal in many ways, and I think one of the ways that Rubens did with this, I think it's, I would say, language. Language in the sense that the idea of plurilingualism and Professor Faraklas Nicholas Faraklas has done lots of work on this as well on the island, on our islands, in which you actually through our language repertoire and being able to what we call then code switching or code mixing, depending on your perspective, I think one of the ways that Arubans actually exert their identity and some level of autonomy is actually through the usage of language. So their vast linguistic repertoire can be seen as perhaps to be one of the ways to resist authority in some way or the other, in some way or the other. So the fact that, let's say, you're primarily dealing with, perhaps, maybe, monolingual cultures or perhaps people in authority speaking a particular language, the fact that you are able to speak multiple languages, is seen as a source of pride, but also as a way to be able to navigate a space and to create a space of your own, your own autonomy. So I think that is extremely interesting and I think, yeah, there are several scholars that have done work on this area, and professor Nicholas Falaclas is one of them, and so, you see, autonomy is not only taking from a, let's say, an official position, position, a structural position on a larger scale, but also, um, yeah, it's something very personal and the way that you navigate your own space, that you navigate in the own space that you create. So you would see, for example, even when there's gossip involved, that if you want to say something that you don't want the person who is in authority or that you are resisting against to understand, you can actually, you would do this in, perhaps, maybe, your own language, and then switch back and so forth. There's a lot of language play taking place within this setting, which is extremely interesting, I would say.

Speaker 2: 40:44

Another way of, I would say, displaying or exerting some level of autonomy, or claiming some level of autonomy, is, as a scholar, that is focused primarily on the Caribbean region and also on music. So, studying Calypso and Soka music, you see that the concept of the breakaway or the sweet breakaway, which is a sort of a mambo, is that fleeting moment in the song in which actually people they let loose and they free up. Now, within that space, through music, you see this not only in soccer music, in clips and soccer music, but you also see it in salsa and merengue and b bachata, in the compa, in souk, all of the different musical genres that are very popular on the island. You see this actually through the way the musicians play but also the way that people actually dance. So if you see, for example, a party in Aruba, you go to a party, you would hear music that is let, that's a typical Aruban music, a repertoire that's perhaps if it starts with typical music, and that would go.

Speaker 2: 41:56

That would switch to bachata, merengue, to French music, or French Caribbean music, souk and compas, or French Caribbean music, souk and compas, and then you would go over to calypso, soca, reggae, reggaeton, you name it. Even in that space you see them going through these different musical genres, but in the case of the Aruban they see it as one and I think that is also one of the ways they claim their form of autonomy and I think it's also very, very interesting when you, when you look at that autonomy through through language or through plurilingualism, autonomy through body, autonomy through through waste movement, so from the dance hall and the roots, reggae, you name it. So all of this coming together, I think it's something that we could even actually do more work on. We should do more work on. I think there's a lot of insight that we can get from this.

Speaker 1: 42:56

Thank you so much for sharing that, dr Richardson. I think for myself and hopefully for our listeners as well, that puts a lot of greater context into this understanding of Aruba, its history and its culture, beyond just being a tourist destination, and I certainly hope to have several more conversations about different aspects of Caribbean history and the multiple histories that bring and make Aruba what it is today. So I certainly appreciate you sharing so much of your own history and of Aruba with us today for this episode of Strictly Facts. As always, I will link all of the some of the readings and the music and things that we discussed today on our website and till our next episode on Aruba and other parts of the Caribbean, I wish you all a great day, great afternoon, great night, as Dr Richardson started us off with, and until next time, little more. Thanks for tuning in to Strictly Facts. Visit strictlyfactspodcastcom for more information from each episode. Follow us at Strictly Facts Pod on Instagram and Facebook and at Strictly Facts PD on Twitter.