Editorial: Culture is Not Performed, it is Lived
Editorial: Culture is Not Performed, it is Lived
Culture is learning to dance and walk on stilts. Culture is learning to play one of the many steel drums.
Written by: Marie Jackson, who was born and raised on the island of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Jackson works full-time as an administrative assistant at a capital management company and part-time at Tap and Still Havensite. An earlier version of this editorial appeared on social media, and Jackson allowed State of the Territory News re-publish it with portions written in her Virgin Islands accent.
I’ve been seeing a lot of conversation surrounding VI culture. This has come up from Americans and also local people recently, so obviously, this is a conversation that is much needed. Now I understand that the expectation for visitors is a very performative display of what they want to believe is Caribbean Culture. They want huts and straw hats and butt rubs by large attractive black men aside rivers and waterfalls. Social media creates this one size fits all image of a Caribbean island. Lofty displays of culture for the benefit of outsiders can be equated to being a monkey in a circus troupe at times. Culture is not performed, it is lived. The idea that we have no culture because one took an ill-planned vacation to our islands and did not witness their idea of culture is maddening. Culture is determined by The People. Culture is your grandmother teaching you how to make bush tea in the morning before she send you school.
Culture is learning to dance and walk on stilts. Culture is learning to play one of the many steel drums. Culture is going to the Fisherman on a Saturday morning to get a big lobster for dinner. Culture is taking care of the elders in your family at home (vs sending them to an old people’s home). Culture is buying your child their first Gucci chain (as silly as that may be to people). Culture is hearing “ all the best for the season” around the New Year. Culture is learning quadrille in elementary school. Culture is getting rubdown with alcolado by your Granny cause you got two drops of rain on your head. Culture is keeping Carnival alive (even though it may not look like the Carnival you remember). Culture is saying good morning and good night when you walk into a room (cause you didn’t sleep with none of them people last night).
Culture is, in fact, the whine in that girl’s waist because that is the physical embodiment of her African ancestors (even through it is only seen as an overt display of sexuality). Culture is blowing into a conch shell and remembering that sound once signaled the end of slavery, issuing a variable call to freedom; it is not just a shell instrument but a representation of our ancestor’s rise out of slavery. Culture is drinking your Uncle guava berry rum every Christmas season. There are endless examples of what our culture is, just wanted to offer a reminder that Culture is determined by The People. Just because you come here and don’t get the performative display of culture you were sold on social media doesn’t mean it does not exist. We live and breathe it every day in our own ways.