One with the Land and the Sea: Threats to Caribbean Identities During Times of Change

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "The Intersection Between Natural and Cultural Heritage and the Pressing Threats to Both", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The idea of Natural vs Cultural heritage as separate concepts is incompatible with native identities. The archaeological record of historic and pre-Columbian Indigenous and Afro-Indigenous communities in the Caribbean shows a deep intertwining of culture with the islands’ geology and biodiversity. The word “Caribbean” itself identifies both the Sea and the people who are native to and grow on the islands. Consistent assemblages of mollusks, fish, corals, and plants are often undifferentiable across the historic/prehistoric divide or through times of climate change. Introduced species are also redefined and incorporated into the construction of what it means “to be Caribbean”. In the present, climate change, gentrification, disaster capitalism, and climate mitigation development pose severe threats to the continuity of these practices. In this presentation, we look at the Northeastern Caribbean (Puerto Rico and Barbuda) and consider pressing threats to the continuity of autochthonous identities living off the land and the sea.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Intersection Between Natural and Cultural Heritage and the Pressing Threats to Both   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2025

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow