African Influences in Grenada? History Uncovered w/ Dr Shantel George

In the story of Grenada's history, the arrival of indentured Africans on the Spice Isle’s shores is a chapter of which many are unaware.

In this video British-Grenadian academic, Dr Shantel George and the Exodus Collective's Zoe Smith discuss the impact of indentured Africans on Grenada’ culture.

We explore the ways in which indentured Africans stood out from the wider population in Grenada thanks to their direct links to their African cultures.

Although relatively small in number, these Africans left a remarkable cultural legacy in Grenada, rejuvenating existing practices as well as bringing new traditions to the island, such as Shango.

The impact of indentured Africans in Grenada reverberates far beyond the island’s shores as the mother of Malcolm X, Louise Little (nee Louise Langdon) who was born in La Digue, St Andrew, Grenada was the grandchild of an indentured African laborer.

Shantel George also discusses her forthcoming book on the social impact of the atlantic slave trade with a focus on the role of kola nut.

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ABOUT DR SHANTEL GEORGE
Shantel is a historian of enslavement, orisha & kola nuts at the University of Glasgow. Her latest book, “Yoruba are on a Rock: Liberated Africans in Grenada,'' is under contract with Cambridge University Press.

Her book focuses on the 2,700 recaptives who were sent to Grenada between 1836 and 1863. One of their key cultural legacies was Orisha worship—a combination of dance, music, healing, divination, animal sacrifice, spirit possession, and feasts—which originated among the Yoruba people of western Africa. Over time, this practice became known as “African work” in Grenada.

The book provides a new way of interpreting African work in Grenada, arguing that rather than being a survival of a homogenous group of liberated Yoruba, it has been recreated through exchanges within the island, the wider Eastern Caribbean, as well as across the Atlantic world.


NB: THE IMAGE USED IN THIS VIDEO THUMBNAIL IS FOR ILLUSTRATIVE PURPOSES.
PHOTO CREDIT: GIOVANNI MAROZZINI, CAMEROON, 2010.