Interrupted Histories, Continuous Feeling: Indigenous Identity Formation and Notions of Heritage in the Southern Caribbean

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This PhD will study the connection between heritage and collective-identity formation among indigenous groups in the Caribbean. The five case studies selected are the Guaiqueri (Venezuela), Caquetio (Bonaire), Guna (Panama), Kalinago(Dominica), and Santa Rosa (Trinidad and Tobago). This project will be structured according to one main question and two derivative questions: (1) How does indigenous collective identity relate to heritage in the southern Caribbean? (A)How does the concept of heritage apply to non-western colonial indigenous groups in the Caribbean? (B) How has colonialism impacted indigenous identities and heritage formations in the Southern Caribbean? These questions are answered via three methods: archival work, field site visits, and unstructured interviews. Field visits will be conducted in two phases. The first is a 2-week period establishing contacts and surveying museums, heritage sites, and heritage events. The second is a month of fieldwork during which unstructured interviews will be conducted to gather in-depth data on individual approaches to heritage and identity. Outside of the field, I will be engaged in archival and library work, building a historical narrative centered on the indigenous group being studied. The outcomes of this project are five highresolution data sets on the historical formation, current realities, and challenges of various indigenous collective identityprocesses in the Caribbean and a theoretical framework to explain it.