ABSTRACT
During the more than 300 years of colonial rule, institutions and traditions connected with the old imperial power have come to constitute central frameworks of life in Nevisian society. For the Afro-Caribbean population, cultural forms connected with the notions of sociability and respectability have been seen to provide different possibilities for cultural display and the establishment of a social presence in the local society. They also have presented rather restrictive and mutually exclusive possibilities for social and economic development within the Afro Caribbean community. For this reason, the AfroCaribbean people have increasingly looked for opportunities outside the island through emigration. This section discusses the almost complete reorientation of the Nevisian population to a global community which today has become the primary context of life. Within this global community it has become possible to institutionalize an AfroCaribbean cultural identity, grounded in Nevis.
