ABSTRACT
In Barbados and Jamaica, African-Caribbeans are in the overwhelming majority of the population. This chapter focuses on African-Caribbean families, it is appropriate to sketch out some characteristics of Indo-Caribbean families, not least as a point of comparison. The ways in which Indian families have reconstituted themselves during, and since, Indian indentureship could be illuminating also. Indians were brought to the Caribbean as indentured laborers to supplement what was perceived as a shortage of estate labor after the emancipation of the slaves and the ending of apprenticeship in 1838. A shortage of Indian women in the Caribbean resulted in a substantial increase in the bride price and in some cases replacement of the dowry system. Many of the structural conditions present for African-Caribbeans were also present for Indo-Caribbeans. The wider family of uncles, aunts and cousins is similarly dispersed around North America and the Caribbean, where they are all "doing well."
