This new book by Sharon Milagro Marshall adds to the lexicon of descriptive terms to identify Barbadians with dual nationalities. To monikers ‘Bajan Yankees’ and ‘Bajan Brits’, the appellation ‘CuBajans’ can now be added to describe Cubans of Barbadian descent who have migrated to and settled in Barbados. A Return to Roots: “CuBajans” in Barbados examines this intra-Caribbean movement of a people and the impact of their integration into the host society.
In Tell My Mother I Gone to Cuba: Stories of Early Twentieth-Century Migration from Barbados (UWI Press, 2016), Dr. Marshall chronicled the movement of Barbadians and other British West Indians to Cuba to work mainly in the sugar industry up to the 1930s.
A Return to Roots looks at a reverse Caribbean migration (Cuba to Barbados), as well as factors which prompted Barbadian descendants to migrate to their ancestors’ homeland. While considering the contributions which these immigrants have made to Barbados, Marshall also interrogates the extent to which the CuBajans have been accepted by other members of the Barbadian society. Themes of identity and belonging are evident in the personal testimonies of the sixteen CuBajans interviewed for the book.
One reviewer stated, “Although each individual case was understandably different, this work manifestly demonstrates that, overall, migrants tend to be exceptional individuals driven by a high degree of perseverance, self-motivation, creativity, and determination. It also shows that all migrants tend to exhibit a greater or lesser degree of ambivalence about their originating and host societies.”
The virtual launch of A Return to Roots: “CuBajans” in Barbados is scheduled for Wednesday, April 13, 2022, 1:00 p.m. (Jamaica) / 2:00 p.m. (EST) via / UWI TV.
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