Yurumein

Yurumein recounts the painful past of the Caribs on St. Vincent in the Caribbean– their fierce resistance for hundreds of years against European colonial powers, the extermination of many of their ancestors at the hands of the British, the decimation of the culture that remained on St. Vincent, and their exile to Central America where much of that culture survived, even thrived.

Yurumein (your-o-main) also explores what few cultural remnants of Carib culture, also known as Garifuna, which still exist on St. Vincent and the beginnings of a movement to teach and revitalize Garifuna language, music and dance, and ritual to younger generations of Caribs.

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In 2001, UNESCO (United National Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization) awarded the Garifuna community the title: “Proclamation of Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.” In doing so, they pressed mainstream scholars, journalists and community activists around the world to probe more forcefully: Who are Garifuna people? Where do they come from and how has their culture survived despite a painful and fractured history? How can the Garifuna language and culture be preserved and taught to future generations?

While post-colonial stories of re-identification and cultural retrieval among indigenous people, particularly in North America, have captured broader public interest in recent decades, the story of Garifuna, or “Black Carib” people, and their homeland of St. Vincent, has largely been untold.

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