The East Indian Culture in a Caribbean Context: Crisis and Creativity

Abstract

I suggest a broad distinction between societies with a civilization and settlement-societies. Examples of the former are India, China and several centres in the continents of Africa and Europe. A striking example of the latter is the Caribbean. In India, there has been an interaction between the literate, urban-based, specialist-oriented 'great' tradition, and the regional-folk 'little' traditions over many centuries. In the Caribbean—initially—there were only 'little' traditions of cultures juxtaposed to one another. The facts