Exposing the culture of silence: Inhibiting factors in the prevention,treatment, and mitigation of sexual abuse in the Eastern Caribbean

This article features a study that explored the presence of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), including childhood sexual abuse and neglect, among women associated with Partnership for Peace (PfP), the first and only culturally adapted domestic violence diversion program for men in the Eastern Caribbean. Within a multiyear evaluative study that assessed the impact of the PfP intervention in reducing domestic violence in Grenada in the West Indies, life-history interviews were collected from a subsample of women (N = 9) associated with men enrolled in the PfP program between 2009 and 2011. We found that the exposure to sexual abuse and neglect during childhood was evident in the histories of the women. Most perpetrators were trusted family or community members who suffered from a common set of behavioral patterns, most prominently alcohol use. Our findings reflect an evidence-based connection, as one causative factor, of a culture of silence that is related to child sexual abuse and its management. The apparent lasting effects of these traumatic childhood exposures reflect cycles of abuse in the life histories collected during the domestic violence evaluation study. Our study identified three key structural deficiencies (insufficient research, ineffective policy, and lack of public-health interventions) and one embedded cultural norm (the culture of silence) that together “inhibit current attempts to address ACEs as a means of curbing domestic violence in the Caribbean.”     

The political economy of ‘open regionalism’ and education in small (and micro) states: the construction of the Caribbean Educational Policy Space in CARICOM

In this era of amplified regionalisation, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean's (ECLAC) conceptualisation of ‘open regionalism’ is pertinent to examine the role of regional governance mechanisms in constructing what I call the Caribbean Educational Policy Space. With the aid of a latent content analysis of policy documents that focuses on the current wave of regionalism within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries, I argue that open regionalism is the instrument that facilitates the expansion of education into a regional tradable commodity that is embedded and linked to the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME). I suggest that open regionalism can be further finessed to consider the modalities that make the operationalising of the integrative project possible. In essence, open regionalism is used as a governance framework by CARICOM's states to enact national educational reform. I conclude by arguing that open regionalism is an approach that is driven by the knowledge-based economy, premised upon innovation and inventiveness, which facilitates regional entry into hemispheric relations, and focused on the deepening global relations.     

A Counselling Framework for Caribbean Children and Families Who Have Experienced Migratory Separation and Reunion

This paper presents research findings on childrens’ responses to migratory separation and later reunion in Caribbean families and the needs of these families when parents migrate and leave their children behind. Implications of this type of separation on children, parents and surrogate caregivers are discussed. The challenges that counsellors in both the ‘sending’ and host countries face working with this population are also examined and suggestions made for psychosocial intervention and guidelines for counselling in both societies. The need for culturally competent counsellors to work with the growing population of immigrants in North America and Europe is indicated.     

Using multiple methods to investigate eleven-year-olds’ experiences of preparing for a high-stakes public examination in Trinidad and Tobago

This study was designed to uncover and evaluate unintended and indirect consequences of using the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) in Trinidad and Tobago for high-stakes selection and placement. A major argument is that the test-taker is central to consequences, both intended and unintended. Data were obtained from eleven-year-olds preparing and taking the examination using multiple qualitative methods, which privilege agency and personal and social consciousness. Methods capturing the test-takers’ experience included diaries, focus groups, drawings, photovoice, and photo-elicitation. The findings were summarised by a theory of action and reported in integrated themes. Test preparation was mostly drill and practice. Both test preparation and test-taking were emotion-eliciting events requiring significant investment in positive social relationships to buffer negative impact. The costs and impact of early high-stakes examinations in Trinidad and Tobago might be higher than anticipated.     

Selected List of Periodicals on Hawaii,the American Virgin Islands,and Their Culture

An annotated list is presented describing eight periodicals that cover significant aspects of Hawaii and U.S. Caribbean Islands and their culture in whole or in part. The titles included are a selective and representative sampling. The entry for each periodical includes the following information: periodical title, publisher/editor and address, basic information, publication data, content, Internet information, and an abstract/annotation.     

Learning to know,be, do,and live together with in the cross-cultural experiences of immigrant teacher educators

This study examined three Afro-Caribbean immigrant teacher educators whose learning based on reflections about their experiences with teachers in the United States revealed how they developed knowledge beyond practice in their learning to know, do, be and live together with others. The educators' learning reflected the processes of observation, reflection, awareness, requesting student feedback in the moment, and the passing of time that resulted in adjustment to their body language, changes in their expectations of students, a modification in their communication, code-switching and sensitivity. Implications based on the study for the new kind of teacher educator are subsequently addressed.     

Sharing best practices in Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago: patterns of policy implementation and resistance

This article outlines policies from multilateral organisations that advocate sharing best practices between developing nations. The article discusses the degree to which these best practices are implemented by small states as indicated by teachers, academics and policymakers in Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago. For the purpose of this article, a best practice refers to pedagogy, curriculum or programme that contributes to student achievement. Currently, a number of influential multilateral organisations advocate that developing nations should share their best practices in education with each other. Despite encouragement by multilaterals however, best practices are not shared. At best, foreign ideas are used to legitimise local policies. While these policies are intended to help countries reach their Education for All (EFA) goals, they do not account for the differences between islands and their vulnerability towards larger countries. Attempts to innovate the curriculum by implementing foreign ideas failed due to the forces of tradition. It can thus be concluded that resistance – non‐compliance or opposition – to sharing educational best practices, as well as to the implementation of new curricula, stems from echoes of colonialism and globalisation. Although this study focuses on two islands, there are implications for other developing countries and small states as they fall under the same policy auspices of UNESCO and the Commonwealth Secretariat.     

From Boston to Brixton: An Autoethnographic Account of Schooling from Jamaica to the UK

The purpose of this paper is to explore some experiences of early Caribbean migrants, while offering comparisons between two similar school systems, namely England and Jamaica. The paper employs the autoethnographical method (auto/ethno/graphy), which is a study of self in context. Using the tool of memory, the autobiographical investigation of one set of migrant experiences confirms the commonality of educational systems and underscores the efficiency of colonial administration in managing the same lack of opportunities in two settings. The individual account of schooling in England revealed the impact and influence of family and the beginning of the racist practices that eventually became entrenched. However, the account also revealed the unplanned and casual opportunities that did arise for a child to navigate her way through the system. As the discriminatory practices hardened with time and legislation, there was increased alienation and the search by younger migrants for a better way of belonging through ‘home’ and community. The paper obliquely searches for the common grounds and routes shared by later migrants and descendants of migrants. The final aim of the paper has been to remind teachers of the wider possibilities for narratives in classroom encounters.     

Editorial

ABSTRACT

Before the 1820s, enslaved people in many of Britain's Caribbean colonies were regularly sentenced to the punishment of ‘transportation’, which meant being sold into the slave trade within the Americas. For a short period ending in 1837 people sentenced to transportation in the Caribbean were sent to Australia via Britain. This article examines these successive systems of transportation and addresses the Colonial Office decision of 1837 to end transportation from the West Indies to Australia. It highlights the significance of an emerging racial and spatial politics of empire that coded Australia white and the Caribbean black, and tried to ensure that the two did not mix.     

Towards a Global Citizenship Education for Caribbean Canadian Youth

The number of people living in Canada of Caribbean heritage has increased substantially over the past forty years. This paper examines aspects of Caribbean culture and Caribbean education culture to explore if Caribbean Canadians can claim a Caribbean education philosophy. The research claims there is one. The article suggests that this philosophy should be recognized and considered in the education of Caribbean Canadian youth to prepare them for national and global citizenship. In all its analyses and observations, the paper consistently sees relevant education, especially one that takes people’s socio-cultural background into account, as important for human well-being.