ENPages
page_0005
Forward The information for this booklet comes from several telephone calls I received about the Garifuna--their history, culture, current social conditions etc. It happens every year especially around the nineteenth ofNovember Garifuna settlement Day. Questions come from students, teachers, media personnel,members of the public, etc.While there is an increasing thirst for information there is hardly any easily available and quickly read material that could serve as reference. I truly hope that it could be this booklet. with a clear conscience I can direct inquiring minds to thís booklet.
I have tried to strike a balance between a scholarly product and a popular brochure format. I have left out references with the exception of some main bibliographic leads in the back. Whereas I have tried to impart information that I have collected from several sources over the years, I have also implanted my own perspective, which remains sympathetic to the Garifuna while being aware that there is so much more work that has to be done. Research information about the Garifuna increases as scholars strive to find the key to these truly enigmatic people. As a result, what is fact today may change from new research tomorrow.
Be that as it ay, I have put together bits of information that have remained part of conventional wisdom and would probably remain so for years. Who knows?
Myrtle P.