The Bahamas: Week 4

Week 4: Endangered Cultures –Greta Saeger

Endangered Culture- a culture that is dying, whether through non-practice, or the death of those who are part of that culture.

In terms of Endangered Cultures in the Bahamas there is the native Lucayan Taino People.

The name Lucayan Taino comes from the Arawakan words Lukkunu Kairi meaning island people.  They share ancestry with the Taino societies in places such as Haiti, Cuba, and Jamaica.

in the past the Lucayan people inhabited the Lucayan islands (today’s Bahamas and Turks and Caicos). And were in contacted and traded with the other groups of Taino people in the Caribbean.

Most of the writing on the Lucayan people was done by the Spanish. Who had very little experience with non-western cultures and as such had very biased views, and little understanding of the Lucayan cultures.

As mentioned in the last post the Lucayan people were practically wiped out by the Spanish in a very short period of time. This goes to show how quickly a culture can die out.

As the Lucayan culture has already died, the culture that existed in the Bahamas today is different than the one that the native people lived. Most Bahamians are decedents of slaves that were brought over from America. They brought with them there own culture and practices.

Google. (n.d.). Talking taino. Google Books. Retrieved October 23, 2022, from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Qy8LESKyJS0C&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=endangered%2Bcultures%2Btaino&ots=RurZb0BJ3m&sig=7DQHP6ojjvISvaopggWjAECckw4#v=onepage&q&f=false

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