ABSTRACT
A central theme which has emerged in this historical anthropological analysis of the Afro-Caribbean community of Nevis has been the global nature of its culture. This was seen to involve the appropriation of external, or foreign, institutions or traditions as frameworks for the display of locally developed contexts of life. As the Afro-Caribbean community has become removed from localized, rural life on Nevis, many aspects of Nevisian village culture have receded into the past and become cultural forms which can be employed to display cultural identity focused on Nevis. During the last few decades Nevisians at home and abroad have celebrated “folk” or “ethnic” culture which formerly was an integral part of Afro-Caribbean life on the island. As examples of this institutionalization of culture this chapter discusses two annual cultural festivals in which Nevisians are active participants, the Leeds carnival in England and Culturama on Nevis, and the fairly recent cultural tradition of family reunions which began among second generation Nevisians in the United States. The reification of a culture of the past, which these cultural celebrations represent, is not a unique phenomenon. It can be seen to be part of a more general interest in cultural identity, ethnicity and roots which has emerged as people look for local identities in a world which is increasingly experienced as a global ecumene.
