The Garifuna Journey

The Garifuna Journey is a curiously hybrid work--a mix of ethnographic filmmaking and subjective, deeply-felt cultural celebration, produced as a sponsored project of the international human rights group, Cultural Survival--which charts the remarkably complex and fascinating diasporic history of the Garifuna community of present-day Belize, and discusses the roots of Garifuna culture in Africa, South America, and the Caribbean. A centerpiece of the film is the celebration of Garifuna Settlement Day--a feast held on November 19th to commemorate the arrival in Honduras of Garifuna rebels exiled from St. Vincent by conquering British colonists in 1795. The video uses this celebration as a sort of implicit metaphor for Garifuna cultural survival, for perhaps the most amazing aspects of this community are the tenacity with which it has held onto its unique cultural, religious, and linguistic traditions, and its fierce sense of historical pride and self-sufficiency. The video paints a picture of Garifuna life and history (although a somewhat unfocused one) through interviews with Garifuna community members, and particularly through scenes of celebrations and rites. The discussion of the potential loss of these rich traditions to assimilation and modernization is equally intriguing. The Garifuna Journey would be a valuable and unique addition for libraries with interests in Caribbean and Latin American studies or African diaspora studies in general. H, C, P. (G. Handman)