Colonial Foundations
The main agricultural system in Trinidad and Tobago, which relied on enslaved African labor.
What is the plantation system?
This theory suggests a rigid, racialized social structure, where social mobility was almost impossible for T&T laborers.
What is caste theory?
Plantation owners in T&T influenced post-colonial governance by maintaining centralized, top-down power. This kind of government is known as:
What is authoritarian governance?
Modern tensions in T&T often arise as groups compete over these scarce resources.
What are economic and political resources?
In this year, slavery was abolished in British colonies, paving the way for indentured labor in T&T.
What is 1834?
This group of laborers was brought from India to T&T after the abolition of slavery to work on plantations.
Who are the indentured laborers?
This theory helps explain why groups in T&T feel disadvantaged when they believe other groups have better resources or privileges.
What is relative deprivation theory?
The plantation system’s focus on this kind of crop led to T&T’s dependency on global markets for its economic survival.
What are cash crops?
This term describes the persistent ethnic and cultural differences that have endured since the plantation era.
What is cultural pluralism?
This social movement in the 1970s aimed to unify Trinidadians under “Black Power.”
What is the Black Power Movement?
Colonial rulers used this strategy to prevent unity among racial groups in T&T, maintaining control through division.
What is divide-and-rule?
This economic theory suggests that T&T’s reliance on exporting plantation crops made it dependent on colonial powers.
What is dependency theory?
The plantation economy left T&T with a society where Afro- and Indo-Trinidadians are linked to specific economic roles. This is known as:
What is economic segmentation?
Both Afro- and Indo-Trinidadians tend to view themselves as “more oppressed” than the other, a concept known as:
What is competitive victimhood?
Celebrated in T&T, this holiday recognizes the arrival of Indian laborers and affirms Indo-Trinidadian identity.
What is Indian Arrival Day?
The introduction of different racial groups in T&T for labor created this type of labor market, characterized by separated racial roles.
What is a segmented labor market?
This theory explains how the colonial system in T&T fostered racial separation that maintained social stability by limiting interaction.
What is structural functionalism?
This small, elite group controlled the T&T plantation economy, leading to racialized social hierarchies.
Who are the white Europeans?
Despite independence, T&T’s racial divisions challenge the creation of this unified national concept.
What is a cohesive national identity?
Emancipation Day in T&T commemorates the abolition of slavery and is celebrated on this date.
What is August 1st?
This term describes how plantations fundamentally structured T&T society, with decisions centralized among a white elite.
What is authoritarian social organization?
The plantation system’s legacy of creating cultural groups without integrating them aligns with this pluralism theory.
What is cultural pluralism?
Indo-Trinidadians’ association with agriculture and Afro-Trinidadians with urban jobs reflects this long-term economic outcome of the plantation legacy.
What is occupational stratification?
This ongoing division in T&T society reflects the historical plantation system’s influence on modern governance and social order.
What is racialized political stratification?
After the end of indentureship in 1917, this law prevented future indentured laborers from coming to T&T.
What is the 1917 Immigration Ordinance?