By Shelene Gomes and Nirmal Maraj           

Within our current global health crisis, migration, mobility and immobility remain salient concerns. ‘Voices from the Field’ showcases student blogs on migration from an undergraduate anthropology course at The University of the West Indies.

Amid a global pandemic, international borders –fictitious yet real– have closed or are rapidly closing. Issues of mobility, immobility, and wellbeing, as well as their encumbered inequalities, remain central issues in how Covid-19 has spread. Regimes of mobility operate differently for the wealthy and poor, an ever-widening gap that is especially pernicious in the midst of the uncertainties ahead. 

In a course I teach entitled Anthropology of the Peoples of the Caribbean, we trace how the history of the Caribbean is a story of movement. Prior to the defining period of European conquest in the 15th century, multicultural indigenous peoples migrated throughout the archipelago and the continent. Later, colonization, agricultural production, and forced labor importation inclusive of slavery and indentureship programs shaped these islands, giving rise to new cultural forms. Historically, the region existed, not on the periphery, but at the center of industrialization. From various types of mobility to cultural expressions, religious practices, family systems and wider belief systems; these have all been historically situated within global entanglements of power, albeit never in a unidirectional manner.

In the course, students engage in semester-long mini-ethnographies to see the world from other perspectives and, to enlist Horace Miner’s now oft-cited quote regarding anthropology, “to make the strange familiar and the familiar strange.” This is especially significant for students who come from the multicultural as well as racially segmented and integrated society of Trinidad and Tobago, and the wider, mostly English-speaking Caribbean. Here, I share excerpts from their mini-ethnographies, which cover broad themes that affect students’ and everyday Trinbagonians’ lives such as economic austerity, ethnic antagonisms, interethnic cooperation, youth activism, kinship, and labor migration.

One student’s mini-ethnography, ‘No Place,’ detailed queer Trinidadians’ dreams to migrate to a country where they could potentially feel ‘normal’ rather than constantly feeling ‘abnormal.’

In a simple yet noteworthy excerpt, ‘Childhood Days,’ another student recognized the privilege of growing up with her own bedroom in her family home, rather than a shared one.

Another project, ‘A Caribbean microcosm in Trinidad,’ highlighted the cultural exchange of students belonging to the same religion from several Anglo-Caribbean countries.

Two additional student projects ‘Transnational Family Life in Indian Walk, Princes Town’ and ‘From Place to Place, Building Identity’ focused on the cross-border networks of kin who support each other morally and materially to improve their families’ lives.

Through these mini-ethnographies, students were developing empathy while making the analytical connections that allow them to articulate these experiences within wider social fields situated within local, global and historical contexts. We invite you to learn more about our process and our findings at ‘Doing Ethnography @ sta.’

About the authors

Shelene Gomes is a socio-cultural anthropologist in Trinidad and Tobago. Her research interests include migration, cosmopolitanism and ethnography.

Nirmal Maraj is a Teaching Assistant in Sociology at The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine campus. He has conducted research examining media discourse on violent crime and the ways various marginalized communities are represented within the media of Trinidad and Tobago.