The Belizean Garifuna Identity: Migratory and Transnational Space and Its Effects on the Home Community

The indigenous people of color, the Garifunas of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, have since the mid-19th century intermittently abandoned kith and kin to labor in the more affluent communities abroad to garner incomes sufficient to sustain their families and maintain their culture. This amazing population have withstood the Middle Passage from Africa, shipwrecks on the West Indies coasts, amalgamation with the Arawaks and Caribs, defensive warfare against domination by French and British colonials, exile from their island home of St. Vincent, and subjugation to society's periphery in their new Central American homelands. In the crucible of hardships, they have become a global people, joining the ranks of transmigrants and transnationals who live comfortably in two countries; one called home and the other termed the workplace. This text explores the Social Anthropological dynamics and the history which formed the cultural consciousness and cohesion of the Garifuna people, at home and abroad.