REVIEW: BRITISH GUIANA*
Despite all this the process of creolization continues. Evidence for this abounds. Indians enter the ranks of the middle classes by way of professional training, large numbers lose their original native languages, others form self-assertive groups, altogether they give testimony to the spread of a Guianese culture by way of creolization.
Dr. Smith argues that the Indians are in all respects seeking genuine integration with the rest of the community and aspire to the sharing of a common Guianese culture. (This is one of the five possibilities I suggested exist. See above). It is my view that for the most part integration relied on relatively unnoticed events. Unconsciously, it is no doubt clear to the Indians that integration is the only valid approach. However the real problem is that another alternative may be advanced by leaders and this can only lead to conflict and possibly disintegration. This analysis however so far ignores the vital responsibilities of the Negroes in this context. They are faced with the obverse of the possibilities open to the Indians.
It is quite evident that the Negroes have opted for maintaining (in a modified form!) the predominantly Creole system. Their ability to do this is considerable despite all likely challenges given the present structure of authority and power in Guiana. In this the overriding position of metropolitan power cannot be ignored. The Negro position must however be conceived by both the Negroes and the Indians as essentially a short-term solution. It permits limited integration thus avoiding the total collapse of society. It should however pave the way for the finale to emancipation, i.e. the revolutionizing of Creole society. The view advanced here is that a truly Guianese society can only be established after two events, creolization and revolution. The only question that remains is, can the two be simultaneously attained. Or must the system collapse in an attempt?
Dr. Smith has done considerable work on the problems of family structure in Guiana. His analysis of the Negro family* prepared after extensive field work in Guiana made major advances in the study of the family in the field of sociology and social anthropology. It is not surprising therefore that the section on family and marriage reflects this high quality of scholarship.
The traditional way of viewing the negro family with its notions of legitimacy and illegitimacy are derived from a legalistic approach and is inadequate as a tool of analysis for the family in Guiana. As Dr. Smith advances the functional unit is the matrifocal household. This has to be viewed from the angle of child rearing and economic functions. Family groups begin when men and women enter into a conjugal union and establish a household. In many instances either the man or the woman (or both) may have children prior to the union. In the early stages when the women are bearing children the father tends to exercise control and authority. As the children grow and provide for the mother she tends to become more independent. The de facto relationship becomes more evident.
Taking such an approach it becomes obvious that illegitimacy is no index to promiscuous sexual relationships. As all observers in this field have discovered the unions are very stable. This to my mind has significant possibilities as a pointer to the serious problem of providing a framework for rearing children which is the essential purpose of a ‘marriage’, These cannot however be explored here.
Two points are to be noted in connection with this analysis. One is that the dominant creole value system considers this type family organisation as a deviant system. That it is primarily entered into by the lower classes is proof of this. The stated ideal of the creole system is a ‘normal’ European-type union. The second point is that fundamentally the East Indian family, marriage and kinship patterns are the same. The brief analysis that Dr. Smith gives in support of these conclusions are clear and lucid. The emphasis on the extended family presumed to be a major ideal of Indian family life is found in practice to be more apparent than real. The smallness of the society imposes some extension of the family concept to all racial groups, “in a community of this size the ties of friendship, kinship, neighbourhood, and clique membership cross and re-cross each other many times binding everyone into an elaborate system of reciprocal obligation.”
