Intercultural Negotiation

            For my first block class at Duke’s Marine Biology Lab I traveled to St. John US V.I.  Here a very different culture operates from what is generally seen in the western world.  Corporations have neither rooted themselves into the local political fabric nor altered the physical environment with their introduction of their chain stores and franchises.  Instead St. John is a small island with a true community feel to it.  The island’s culture is retained and passed down through the generations by its long-term residents.  Ital, a West Indian man born and raised on the island, is a prime example of this.  In an interactive presentation to my class, he explained the many uses the native plants have for medicines, foods, and crafting products.  For instance, not only can certain fauna be used as a fan or plate, but it can also be used in tea and as an anti-inflammatory.

                       Ital during his interactive presentation.  This was one of the dolls he made from local products.

 In the typical western country, we purchase these products from the pharmacy, grocery store, or simply go to Walmart and shop for everything at once.  Large corporations make it so convenient for western shoppers to rely on big business to provide them with their daily products at extremely cheap prices.  While smaller sellers exist on St. John, the knowledge of how to use native plants to make many of these products is an integral part of the West Indian culture.  Furthermore, the lack of large corporations means that employees routines are less bureaucratic and formalized and more face-to-face and informal.

                      For Ital the thick forest had so many uses.

Ital shared the history of the island with us through song and dance.  These two mediums are the traditional ways to pass down the island heritage.  The lyrics and dance movements of these songs were reminders of the slave plantations that operated in the 1700s and the revolt that followed. 

Today St. John’s economy has started to rely heavily on tourism of predominantly white people.  This has made it hard for the traditional culture to survive, but people like Ital continue to teach songs and dances, as well as the traditional uses of plants to all those who show an interest.  These efforts help the culture of the island to survive and the history of the island to continue to live, in spite of the growing intrusion of western world practices and customs.