DoingEthnography@sta

What’s it like to be a taxi driver in Arima today?  I often felt scared when I had to commute alone at night. After 6:30 p.m., most ‘H’ cars (registered taxis) stop working and are replaced by ‘P’ cars (personal and unregistered cars), which makes it more difficult to find a trustworthy ride. My friends or relatives would usually call and stay on the phone with me until I got a car. I felt safer having someone on the other end of the line. I had to keep a serious face and often adjusted my gestures and body language to appear less vulnerable. Sometimes I even carried sharp objects with me in case there were threats to my safety. There have been visible increases in crime - petty and violent - in Trinidad over the past few years. Combined with the limited public transportation, drivers and passengers alike face more and more unsafe conditions while traveling around daily. For my mini-ethnography in Caribbean Anthropology, I wanted to focus on taxi drivers’ everyday experiences of dr...

Have you ever seen those scenes in a movie set on a gorgeous beach, with lots of people enjoying the sunshine, kids building sand castles and bathers losing track of time as they enjoy the water? We all know what happens next…queue high pitched scream, the camera pans to someone drowning, then exciting, suspenseful background music ensues as a lifeguard appears next to the victim who inadvertently tries to pull the lifeguard underwater as they frantically kick and thrash about. Cut! That basically describes my life as a 20-year female water polo player in Trinidad. Every tournament is plagued by violent tugs, pulls, and kicks underwater, as if treading water for long periods isn’t enough. The worst part is, referees barely ever see these things happen underwater. We the players, are well aware of these things happening below the surface. While some see this extra aggression as part of the sport, others admit to the emotional and physical toll it takes. And, women players are expected t...

For my virtual peer activity in Introduction to Anthropology, I learned about Emily’s experiences of living in the Philippines and Canada, and I reflected on what ‘home’ means to me. Emily (a pseudonym) was born and raised in a small rural village in the Philippines. It was a close-knit community. Growing up, Emily lived with her older siblings, aunt, and great-grandmother since her parents had moved to Canada to work and provide for their family. Many residents were also unemployed and there was limited education in the village. When Emily was aged 13, she and her siblings reunited with their parents in Canada. The family has been together for the past eight years, living in an affluent suburban neighborhood. ‘Home’ for Emily has more of an intangible, abstract association although the meaning is attached to a physical place. It’s where she feels most comfortable. Similarly, although I’ve only lived in one country of Trinidad and Tobago and in the island of Trinidad, I too feel like h...

Family and kinship are fundamental aspects of human life, shaping who we are and how we perceive the world. Through this reflective journey, I explored the thoughts and experiences of a university student in Canada whose family dynamic provides insight into the complexity of relationships and identities. Dianne (a pseudonym) grew up in the city of Ottawa, living at home with her mother and grandparents. Her father was present intermittently, creating a household dynamic centered on her mother’s family. This foundation left an impression on her, particularly on Dianne’s idea of ‘home.’  Home and family for Dianne meant h er mother. As she shared with me, 'my mother would be the main person I consider for how consistent of a person she was in my life [sic].' Home is also Dianne's current apartment. This sentiment highlights the growing sense of independence and self-reliance she has cultivated over the years.  Dianne shared how reflecting on family made her realize more about...

Despite the numerous issues in Trinidad, I am proud to have grown up here. The culture of Trinidad and Tobago has been shaped by many ethnic groups. This is something that I feel is underappreciated by our population. Though the Caribbean is viewed as ‘melting pot’ of cultures, I notice how similar my life is to my Bridgewater State University (BSU) contemporary. It was fascinating to hear that despite living in what seems like a world apart; I am from San Juan, Trinidad and they from Raynham, Massachusetts, we feel similarly about our family, childhood, and experiences. We both call our parents ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad,’ for example. Though my parents were heavily involved in my upbringing they worked throughout my childhood, and my grandparents cared for me most of the time. My BSU peer, however, had a stay-at-home mother who was the primary caregiver for the children while their father worked. My BSU peer described their family and hometown as conservative while my parents encouraged me to ...

For my last assignment for Anthropology class, I interviewed an external source, who I will call Kora. My interview was based on our class discussions of family and kin to “make the familiar strange and the strange familiar.” Kora comes from a family of four, which includes her mother, father, and older brother, with whom she lived in Massachusetts, USA for most of her life. Like Kora, I am the youngest in my family. Kora now has a family of her own which also resembles this nuclear family structure. We shared similar ideas of family. For Kora, family is more of a feeling than a physical place—she had moved to many places before, but these were short-lived because they not make her feel happy or ‘homey.’ I can relate to this perspective as it was a major determinant in deciding where I wanted to pursue tertiary education. I opted to stay in Trinidad because I feared being too homesick. Outside of her immediate family, Kora expressed that she considers her fiancé’s parents and childhoo...