FAMILY AND COMMUNITY NETWORKS IN THE (RE)MAKING OF ETHNIC IDENTITY OF CARIBBEAN YOUNG PEOPLE IN BRITAIN

Abstract

This paper examines how Caribbean young people utilize community and family networks to re-affirm notions of cultural, ethnic and family belonging. At a community level, this occurs through Caribbean young people's participation in black-led institutions and agencies within their local communities and neighbourhoods. At a family level, the young people are involved in kinship activities and practices that develop and maintain social networks at localized and transnational levels. Bonding social capital operates as a valuable social resource, which embeds the young people within their family and community networks. It also provides a platform from which they can bridge, and access relationships and resources, across diverse ethnic groups. The analysis shows that these young people's desire for kinship and cultural belonging must be understood within the wider context of social exclusion and disadvantage in British society. However, there are some negative consequences associated with bonding social capital for the individual, family and society. The discussion is based on qualitative interviews with 30 second and third generation Caribbean young people (age between 16 and 30 years old), and their views concerning family and community in ethnic identity formation.

Cet article examine la manière dont les jeunes d'origine caribéenne utilisent les réseaux de famille et de communauté pour ré affirmer des concepts d'appartenance culturelle, ethnique et familiale. Au niveau de la communauté ceci se fait à travers la participation des jeunes aux institutions et organismes dirigés par des Noirs à l'intérieur de leur communauté locale et son voisinage. Au niveau de la famille, les jeunes sont impliqués dans des activités et des pratiques de parenté qui développent et maintiennent en vie des réseaux sociaux au niveau local et transnational. La formation de liens affectifs en tant que capital social constitue une ressource sociale appréciable qui incorpore les jeunes dans les réseaux de famille et de communauté. Ceci fournit également une plateforme d'où ils accèdent à des relations et des ressources à travers divers groupes ethniques. L'analyse démontre que le désir d'appartenance culturelle et familiale pour ces jeunes doit être compris dans le contexte plus large de l'exclusion sociale et la discrimination dans la société britannique. Cependant il existe quelques conséquences négatives associées à la formation de liens affectifs en tant que capital social pour l'individu, la famille et la société. Cette discussion est fondée sur des entretiens de qualité avec une trentaine de jeunes du deuxième et troisième génération d'origine caribéenne (âgés entre 16–30 ans), qui expriment leurs idées en ce qui concernent la famille et la communauté dans la formation d'identité ethnique.

Caribéen, famille, communauté, formation de liens affectifs en tant que capital social, identité, ethnique, jeunes

Keywords:

• Caribbean, family, community, bonding social capital, ethnic identity, young people

Introduction

This paper investigates the experiences of Caribbean1 young people in Britain in order to understand some of the key ways that these young people utilize, what Putnam (2000) termed, ‘bonding social capital’ within their family relationships and community networks in ethnic identity formation. This occurs through their efforts in creating and maintaining strong ethnic ties and solidarity within Caribbean Diasporic and transnational family networks. Caribbean young people's participation in black-led institutions and agencies within their local communities and neighbourhoods also facilitates this process. Therefore, the analysis provides two functions.

Firstly, the analysis draws on examples of key arenas to illustrate how bonding social capital operates within a community context. Discussions focus on the young people's involvement in the local community, particularly in ethnic specific events. It also addresses the value and limitations of bonding capital as a mechanism for individual success and upward social mobility. Secondly, the analysis examines how Caribbean young people utilize important family and cultural ritualized events — for example, the Christmas season — as a way to develop, create and maintain strong ethnic ties and solidarity across transnational family networks.

Research context

This paper is based on research findings from the project entitled, ‘Caribbean Families, Social Capital and Young People's Diasporic Identities’. This is one of a number of projects within the Families & Social Capital ESRC Research Group at London South Bank University (see www.lsbu.ac.uk/families). The project involves in-depth interviews with 30 second and third generation Caribbean young people (aged between 16 and 30 years old), primarily living in London but also in other large urban areas of Birmingham, Manchester and Nottingham and 50 kinship/family members in Britain and the Caribbean (Barbados, Guyana and Jamaica) across all age groups. A central concern of the project is to critically investigate how these young people engage in processes of constructing ethnic identity, and the ways in which they utilize family and kinship networks and relationships, as important social and material resources of social capital, to do so. The project relates to the other research themes in the ethnicity strand of the research group: family and household rituals; and family care and provision in a transnational context (see Mand and Zontini in this issue). The analysis of Caribbean young people's lives in Britain suggests that there is much intrinsic value to be gained by bonding social capital with respect to ties and linkages with family and community networks. Caribbean young people's membership to particular ethnic groups is not constrained by national borders, and instead operates within a transnational context. Developing kinship bonds and relationships of trust and reciprocity across continents is particularly important to minority ethnic youth who are typically characterized as a problematical group in policy debates and as a result they continue to express feelings of alienation, exclusion and marginality.

Traditionally the family and community are thought to be sites that are rich in social capital (see Goulbourne, this issue). With bonding social capital the sense of self and ethnic identity are expressed through family relationships, kin membership and civic participation. The formal and informal resources and connections that flow through family and community are apparent in Caribbean young people's participation in ethnic and racial defined neighbourhood and community associations, such as the black supplementary school and black church, and also transnational family/kinship events such as family gatherings and reunions. This discussion particularly focuses on the young people's experiences of Christmas as a site for strong family bonding social capital. My rationale for this focus is that among Caribbean communities, Christmas represents an important season for family ritualized events and it marks an intense period of transnational kin-based connections (primarily between family members living in Britain, Caribbean and USA/Canada).2 The analysis explores the particular ways in which Caribbean young people in the study utilize transnational family and kinship relationships during the Christmas season to celebrate what they perceive to be Caribbean cultural practices and ethnic traditions and re-affirm their cultural and ethnic ties to the Caribbean. In doing so, they reinforce their sense of belonging and collective membership to this ethnic group.

A critique of bonding social capital: Negative versus positive consequences

Bonding social capital is inward looking and focuses on relationships and networks of trust and reciprocity that reinforce bonds and connections within groups (Putnam, 2000). There is strong support for the positive value gained from bonding social capital in relation to ethnic identity formation (Goulbourne & Solomos, 2003a; Shaw, 2000). The Caribbean young people's accounts of family and community relationships reinforce this view (Reynolds, 2004). However, such a positive endorsement of bonding social capital cannot diminish its detrimental impact for the individual, community and wider society at large.

Bonding social capital raises concerns for racial/ethnic integration in multicultural Britain. It is argued that the inward looking and ‘clannishness’ nature of bonding social capital may inhibit the formation of looser bridging ties, which can resolve wider societal and cross-ethnic issues (Putnam, 2000). In large British cities, such as London, despite the relatively high levels of inter-racial mixing across a range of social relationships and activities, multiculturalism is expressed in terms of diverse ethnic groups living side by side in small enclaves or pockets of racial/ethnic defined geographical settlement patterns. Tolerance of ethnic diversity rather than a genuine desire to integrate defines much of the social relationships between ethnic groups. A number of studies (for example, Ousley, 2001; Parekh, 2000; Zhou, 1997) have implicitly and explicitly suggested that different racial/ethnic groups’ comparative failure to bridge and work across ethnic and religious groups to resolve common concerns has contributed to existing racial tensions and feelings of social exclusion in Britain today. As a result, bonding social capital or ‘closed’ social ties may also be strongly associated with racism, extremism and religious intolerance because individuals are encouraged to internalize the shared values of the group and to mistrust ‘outsiders’ (Field, 2003). The London terror attacks (7 and 21 July 2005) allegedly carried out by young Asian, African and Caribbean British born Muslims can be viewed as an example of the negative consequences of strong bonding social capital when it is married together with ideology, marginality and social/economic exclusion.

From a family perspective, individuals belonging to families with strong bonding ties may experience them as highly restrictive, oppressive and controlling. For example, Zontini's work (2004), concerning Italian communities, demonstrates that some of the young people in her study chose to deliberately migrate from Italy to another country, or marry someone outside of their communities or ethnic group, to break down these strong ties of association (see also Zontini, this issue). Gap Min's study (2002, p. 6) of second generation Asian Americans in the USA also identifies similar patterns of conflicts and tensions experienced by these young people as a result of ‘intense social bonds’ and ‘collectivist familial ideology’, which form the core elements of their ethnic cultural traditions and family relationships. There is little evidence to indicate that the Caribbean young people in my study experience bonding social capital within the family as restrictive and controlling. This could partly be explained by the fact that ethnically Caribbean people are primarily individualistic in nature (Goulbourne, 2002). The diverse types of household arrangements and family patterns (including high rates of female-headed households) (Goulbourne & Chamberlain, 2001; Reynolds, 2005), and the relatively high numbers of Caribbean people residing in inter-ethnic/racial marriages and unions (see Owen, this issue) are an indication that they regard their ethnic bonds as more ‘open’ and less rigid compared to other ethnic groups, such as the Italian and Asian communities previously discussed. Furthermore, for Caribbean communities in Britain the process of constructing a Caribbean ethnic identity and collective ethnic bonds is shaped by migration, settlement and experiences of racial and social exclusion (Goulbourne & Solomos, 2003b; James & Harris, 2003; Peach, 1991).

Despite the fact that Caribbean young people do not experience bonding social capital as restrictive in their ethnic and group bonds, and family relationships, bonding social capital can hinder them in other areas of life. For example, the analysis shows that there is great potential for bonding social capital to entrench these young people into their particular groups or neighbourhoods, which in turn may restrict them from accessing resources that are outside of their community. An earlier study by Marion Orr — conducted in the USA — looked at this issue in relation to educational progression and achievement of black children living in working-class communities. Orr's findings show that whilst black community organizations have been successful in collectivizing and campaigning to counter charges of racism and racial inequalities in schools attended by black children, they have been largely ineffective in working with and enlisting the cooperation of mainstream institutions for school reform, who ultimately possess a greater number of resources that could benefit the black community. His findings chime with my study which provides numerous examples of local based Caribbean community organizations that work consistently to raise the educational standards of black children in British schools, often with limited resources. There is no doubt that the work undertaken in these organizations plays an important role within Caribbean communities and their work with children is highly commendable. However, and as previous studies show, Caribbean people's participation is severely under-represented in mainstream educational arenas — such as participation and representation on school committees and the Board of School Governors — where they could have direct input and control over greater educational resources and where they can contribute to raising overall standards of education (Gann, 1998; Goring, 2004). In questioning parents and community representatives about this issue it was highlighted that they did not believe these institutions and agencies had their best interests at heart and therefore they were reluctant to working with ‘outsiders’. However, their limited participation in these formal educational networks and cross-ethnic bonds of solidarity resulted in them experiencing fewer opportunities to access improved educational resources for their children.

A second argument posed by Orr (1999) is that inter-generation poverty is sustained within working-class black neighbourhoods by young people themselves because of their willingness to remain in the ‘comfort zone’ of their black neighbourhoods, with poorly resourced schools, instead of choosing to go to well-resourced schools in white geographical areas, where they have a greater chance of educational success and social mobility. There are similar parallels with my own research findings. In speaking to the young people about the factors that influenced their choice of higher education institutions, many of them stated that their choice of university was dictated by their desire to stay close to home. They generally chose local universities in black and urban areas where other black students also attended en masse, instead of institutions that may be better resourced (and may provide them with better opportunities) but would take them out of their ‘comfort zones’. The following quotation gives us some indication of this:

I was offered two university places at East London University and Lancaster to study mechanical engineering. At first I was wanted to go to Lancaster, it has one of the best reputations for the course. What put me off was the place itself. I didn't see a black face. At the Open Day I'm the only black person. I kept thinking ‘where are all the black people’. I saw a few Chinese students but they were overseas students. They didn't mix and they kept to themselves. It was a really white place and I didn't feel I belonged. The lecturers I met in the department were all white. I think the tutors were a bit intimidated by this 6ft 3ins black guy. I thought to myself ‘I can't live here for 4 years. It's too white.’ I wouldn't be able to settle down and that would affect my work. I'd always be running back to London or Leeds, just to see some black faces and feel comfortable. So I decided London was the place for me.

TR: Do you have any regrets about your choice?

DW: No, not at all. No regrets. I'm happy and comfortable at college. We have all races and nationality on my course, lots of black and Asians, lots of students from all over the world and we all get along. I don't stand out.

(David, age 21, interview London, January 2004)

David graduated from university with a first class honours degree award. Importantly, he attributed his educational success to the fact that he was able to study in a comfortable and supportive environment where being black was not an issue for concern. The sense of belonging David felt at university meant that he could focus his energies on his studies. David also had a strong peer and friendship network of black and minority ethnic students that supported him in his learning, which he feels would not have been available to him if he accepted the other university place offered to him in a predominately white area with few black and minority ethnic students. As David's account illustrates, Caribbean young people's desire to be embedded within their community (even if it is sometimes detrimental to their own personal success) must be understood within the wider context of social exclusion, which in turn encourages a desire for cultural belonging. Britain's black community has a long established and well-documented history of racial discrimination. Emerging out of, and in response to, these experiences black communities have developed strong bonds and internal institutions to actively combat racism and exclusion. The popular mantra of ‘you have to get out to get on’ does not appear to reflect these young people's experiences. Instead the security of belonging is viewed as a platform from which social progress and social mobility can be built. As Halpern (2005, p. 262) suggests ‘bonds between different ethnic groups may grow more strongly when those groups also maintain a strong internal sense of identity and bonding social capital’. Based on the young people's accounts it is apparent that they understand strong bonding social capital as a precursor to bridging social capital across ethnic groups as the following quotations suggest:

I have no time for black people who don't want to know about their history or try to cut themselves off from the black community because they think they're somehow better. As far as I'm concerned they're lost and don't know who they are. How can you move forward if you don't know where you're coming from and you don't know your culture? I'm determined to have a successful career but it doesn't mean I'll cut myself off [from the black community] like some people do. I need to stay and help and bring others up behind me so they can see it's possible to be black and successful in life. My mentor is a top black barrister, why I really admire her is [because] she went to a local comprehensive school like me. My close friends are black but I also have very good friends who are Malaysian, white, English and Suisse-German. And when they tell me about their cultures, I tell them about my Jamaican culture and history. It always surprises them because they assume we have no culture.

(Carleen, age 23, interview London, December 2003)

My parents always showed me my culture and we live in an area where there are lots of black people that have lived here for over 50 years. So, I have a strong sense of who I am as a black woman. Sometimes I go to work events where I'm the only black person. At work the people I socialize with are all white, mainly South African. I get on with them. On Fridays after work we always go out for drinks. I never feel intimidated by them because I know my history. I live in a black neighbourhood. People who don't come from here think it's an area with crime, drugs and poverty but living here I see lots of good things that go on. I make a point to share that with people who don't know any better.

(Sam, age 21, interview Birmingham, December 2003)

These quotations by Carleen and Sam give further credence to Halpern's (2005) claims that ethnic groups’ ‘strong bonding internal social capital’ provides a ‘safe base from which to reach out across any cultural divides’ (2005, p. 281). The bonding ties that contribute to the young people's emotional and psychological well-being are facilitated by their involvement and participation in ethnic specific community associations and transnational family/kinship events.

Bonding social capital within Caribbean community associations

It is widely believed that civic engagement and participation in community organizations promote social engagement and trust between their members (Field, 2003; Halpern, 2005). Carl Mclean's study (2002) exploring the relationship between race, ethnicity and social capital identifies that as an ethnic group Caribbean people have strong bonding social capital in ethnic/racial specific community associations and they demonstrate high rates of ‘civic engagement’ in these areas. Harry Goulbourne's (forthcoming) analysis suggests that there is disjuncture in Caribbean people's civic participation. On the one hand, Caribbeans are one of the most politically aware ethnic groups and they are some of the highest profile political leaders in national and local government. On the other hand, however, their mass participation within national and organized political parties does not occur. For example, Caribbean people are the least likely to vote across all racial ethnic groups (Anwar, 1994). Goulbourne supports Mclean's view that civic participation for Caribbean people is more likely to occur ‘through memberships of discreet (and therefore partly inconspicuous) social and political networks’ (p. 10). In my study, only 13 of the 30 respondents stated that they have voted at national and local government elections. However, at a community level 22 respondents have actively participated in ethnic social events and community associations. For example, black-led church groups, youth groups and Saturday/supplementary schools. Twenty-four of the respondents also lived in communities — in London (e.g. Brixton, Lewisham); Birmingham (e.g. Handsworth); Manchester (e.g. Hulme) and Nottingham (St Ann) — where historically there has been a high rate of Caribbean settlement patterns (see Owen, this issue).

The young people's experiences in these community associations and local neighbourhoods appear to be a result of bonding social capital through friendships/peer groups and their family relationships. I have focused on three areas, the black supplementary school, black church and ‘black neighbourhoods’ to illustrate this viewpoint.

Black supplementary schools

The Caribbean community first established black supplementary schools or Saturday schools in Britain during the late 1960s. These schools were largely set up in response to parental dissatisfaction with the education system where a disproportionate number of black children were concentrated in, what were termed, educational sub-normal (ESN) schools. The black supplementary school existed outside of mainstream educational institutions and represented a form of self-help within the Caribbean community to counter the negative effects of mainstream schooling and raise the educational standards of their children (Goring, 2004). Nearly 50 years on the black supplementary school continues to represent an important aspect of Caribbean community life (Callender, 1997; Reay & Mirza, 1997). In addition to academic learning — principally focused around reading, writing, arithmetic, black history and cultural studies — black supplementary schooling promoted Caribbean cultural traditions and values that further bind the young people to a Caribbean ethnic identity. A number of young people in the study attended black supplementary schools as children and some of them now teach in these schools. In their role of tutor at the schools, the young people described ways that a shared Caribbean cultural and ethnic background encourages mutual trust between teachers and parents. They also highlighted the sense of obligation and responsibility they have in being role models for Caribbean children, the desire to give back to the community and the importance of using a range of teaching styles and practices with which black children could culturally connect. The following quotation gives us some indication of the bonding social capital that is reproduced within supplementary schools by the young people who taught in these schools:

I wanted teaching experience. I wanted to work with black children to help educate them and make a difference. The Reverend Gregory, he said the spirits told him I'd make a good teacher. The parents would like me also because I could relate to them. There were all different black teachers here, and I'm like, ‘Oh, this is really nice, I belong here.’ And it was so warming to see so many little black faces, you know. And being at the school is about putting back into the community because I'm doing something for my own people. So this is why I would always give up my Saturdays just to be here, and I don't even look at it as giving a Saturday, because I like being here.

(Karen, age 26, interviewed in London, October 2003)

Black church

Similar to the black supplementary school, black-led churches as places of worship are a long established institution within the Caribbean community and represent a rich site of bonding social capital. During the early migration years, the period from the late 1940s through to the late 1960s, Caribbean migrants feeling increasingly excluded and marginalized within mainstream churches turned to the black-led churches that were emerging in major cities throughout Britain. Black-led churches also acted as primary sites of resistance for the Caribbean community against institutionally racist practices (Reynolds, 2005). Goulbourne (1989, p. 98) attributes the growth of black-led churches during this period to three key factors: (1) the rejection of white society and the congregation of black people, (2) class differences between practising white Christians (largely middle class) and the majority of practising Caribbean migrants (working class), and (3) ‘the evangelicism’ of Caribbean Christians. Church congregations were overwhelmingly comprised of adult women usually accompanied by their children (Alexander, 1996). However, as these children got older and reached adolescence their church attendance declined (Reynolds, 2005). Yet, the last 20 years have witnessed a form of ‘religious revivalism’ among Caribbean young people because at a life stage when young people are traditionally moving away from regular church attendance, they are now choosing to remain within and participate in black-led churches that are principally practise Pentecostal and/or Evangelical form of Christianity. These churches have a strong youth fellowship. In talking with the young people in the study it is clear that black-led churches are a key focal point for civic participation and structured youth activity within the Caribbean community.

TR: Do you belong to any organizations or societies?

AB: Black ones. Yeah. Mainly ‘BYG’ [black church youth group] is where most of my efforts go. The Church is black-led. I also do a couple of things with the ‘Seymour Fellowship’ [training and mentoring programme].

TR: And why are you involved in these organizations?

AB: I've grown up with black, white or Indian or whatever but it is important for me to see black role models. I mean, even work-wise, I've worked black for companies, I mean, I do treasure the fact that I see people who look like me, doing the things that I might want to do. So that is definitely important. My dad has always been very into his black issues and black self-help. He feels it's important to support your own community, his ways has definitely rubbed off on me.

(Anthony, age 26, interview London, April 2004)

Now that I think about it I don't really have much to do with white people outside of work. I spend most of my time with black people. But it's not deliberate; it's just that all our church members are black, so I guess you could call it a black church. I got ‘saved’ nearly seven years now. All my friends are in the church and I choose not to have friends that are not ‘saved’. I spend my free time doing things that revolve around the church, so I attend service on Sunday and the mid-week service, bible class on Friday. I play in the church football team, so Saturday it's football and Tuesday after work we have football practise. Also Monday evenings I'll go out for a meal with my church brothers and sisters.

(Adam, age 19, interview London, January 2004)

‘Black neighbourhoods’

Shortly after migration much of the Caribbean population settled in small geographical pockets of Greater London, Midlands, Lancashire and Yorkshire. These black neighbourhoods were closely knit and well networked. Newcomers relied upon friends and relatives from the neighbourhood to inform them about housing and job opportunities. Black institutions such as those I identify above, that is, black supplementary schools and black-led churches, as well as other community organizations and Caribbean publications (e.g. the Voice newspaper) also emerged out of these communities. In Britain today the Caribbean population is much more dispersed and fragmented as a result of economic and social mobility. Yet, recent census figures suggest that there are still geographical areas with strong Caribbean settlement patterns (see Owen, this issue) and they are typically regarded as ‘black neighbourhoods’. The young people in the study recognized these neighbourhoods as important sources of racial–ethnic group identity, helping them to form a distinctly urban and Caribbean consciousness. In addition they used these neighbourhoods to draw ethnic and racial boundaries characterized by ‘us’ (black/Caribbean) and ‘them’ (white/English) and to help build bonds and trust among the Caribbean community.

In this area, it's Brixton. Yeah it's got its problems with shootings and muggings but that mostly drug related. I like living here because I feel safe, my bredrins [friends] live round the corner. I feel safer in here in Brixton than in some leafy suburb where you don't see no black faces around for miles. Why would I want to live like that? Brixton is renowned to be black and a bunch of skinheads could never walk through Brixton. Do you see what I'm saying? Brixton is a black area, it's our [black] place.

(Tony, age 29, interview April 2004)

Bonding social capital within a family context

Family and kinship relationships that establish transnational networks are highly valued and represent a key aspect of a Caribbean identity (Chamberlain, 1998a b; Fog-Olwig, 2002; Thomas-Hope, 1992). With family members living far apart from each other and becoming increasingly dispersed geographically it is easy for family ties to fragment and weaken. Therefore, bonding social capital is employed to develop and maintain close family ties, strong solidarity and mutual support between family members living in different parts of the world. Ethnic identification is expressed through these transnational family/kinship networks, recreating and re-affirming Caribbean Diasporic ethnic identity. Particular religious and secular events and holidays in the calendar year precipitate bonding social capital within kinship networks (for example, Christmas, Easter, Mother's Day, Christenings and baptisms, weddings, funerals) (Pleck, 2000). The next part of the discussion focuses on Christmas as an important family occasion in the young people's lives and through which family events and activities occur: ‘the family get together’, family and cultural rituals and customs, family reunions in the Caribbean and the celebration of Kwanzaa.

The Christmas season — the period traditionally commencing from 24 December up to 1 January — is an important family ritualized event among Caribbean families and the season marks an intense period of kin-based connections. Caribbean young people in Britain utilize transnational family and kinship relationships during the Christmas season in very particular ways in order to celebrate what they perceive to be Caribbean cultural practices and ethnic traditions. Their participation in family and kinship celebrations during Christmas also enables them to be part of globally dispersed family networks (Chamberlain, 1998a b; Fog-Olwig, 2002). In doing so, this reinforces their sense of belonging and collective membership to their ethnic group.

The ‘family get together’

Several young people in the study commented on the importance of Christmas in terms of representing a particular family occasion where family and kinship members, who are usually geographically globally dispersed, come together to re-affirm kinship ties. Two respondents, Andrew and Michael reflect on the transnational family ties and connections that are maintained and developed through their Christmas family ‘get togethers’:

We have Christmas at our house, and it's my wife, her parents, my brothers and sisters and my parents and whichever uncle or aunt that happens to be visiting that year from America or the Caribbean. You've got all the phone calls, and you've got everybody ringing round to say ‘Happy Christmas’ to everybody in England and overseas. The phone calls are mainly to the Caribbean and definitely family in America. We buy those calling cards, you know the ones that cost £3.00, and we take it in turn to call around. The phone calls take up most of the day because some family we haven't spoken to for the whole year and we spend the time catching up on news and then passing it on to other family, so by the end of the day we all know what everyone else is up too. We also use email and last year we used Instant Messenger and we attached to the PC so we could speak to my cousins in Toronto in ‘real time’ and we could see them as we were talking. So that was something different, [it is] another way to get that closeness. And then Boxing Day, we'd have close family over to our house again because some family are Jehovah Witness and then that following weekend we would go over to our granddad's house, and it more family again. Then New Year's it's my cousin's house in Maidenhead, and another round of phone calls to say ‘Happy New Year’, so we do family things like that at Christmas.

(Andrew, age 28, interview London, January 2004)

Our family is very close because we make the effort stay in touch. No matter what's going on I always make sure I go home [to Jamaica] for Christmas. Usually about five or six of my ten uncles and aunts go home. It's a family tradition that we meet up at my parents’ house in Kingston and then travel down to my uncle in MoBay [Montego Bay] on Christmas Eve. Usually my uncle from Germany is there as well. Last Christmas, my aunt from New Zealand came. Some of my dad's aunties from the States were there, and three of his cousins and their kids, they all live in Canada. What we do when there is pretty much sit down and eat, drink and catch up with each other. Our family ‘get togethers’ are important. It keeps us emotionally close. I'm going to continue that with my children.

(Michael, age 22, interview London, January 2004)

These comments by Andrew and Michael highlight how Christmas is utilized as an important social resource by the young people in maintaining inter/intra-generational and cross-cultural family connections and relationships. In Andrew's case, advancements in modern communications systems — such as email and the Instant Messenger service — mean that physical and geographical separation no longer pose a problem in terms of the immediacy of direct or face-to-face contact between family members. Similarly, in Michael's case, the relative ease and affordability of air travel mean that it is not too difficult for geographically dispersed family members to come together in the Caribbean; thus reinforcing Michael's ethnic, family and cultural ties to the region. In their discussions, both Andrew and Michael identify a desire for ‘emotional closeness’ with family members who they are physically separated from. The emotional bonds and connections that emerge through Caribbean family and kin-based networks are not constrained by geographical or physical distance and national boundaries (Goulbourne, 2002). In this sense the role of Christmas in maintaining these transnational emotional bonds means that the festival becomes a signifying practice, invested with emotional meaning and defined by emotional ties and relationships of trust and reciprocity.

Family gatherings at Christmas are not static events. They are continually evolving to take account of family changes as people move into and out of existing family relationships and the changing frequency or regularity of contact between family members. For example, Stacy reflects on the implications of her grandparents’ return migration to the Caribbean in terms of the changes it brought to the Christmas family gatherings:

They [grandparents] were probably the nucleus really. It was tradition that everyone went home to them. They would have blood family and friends-family there and I wasn't sure who I was really related too because everyone I just saw as being my uncle, my aunt and my cousins. But when they went back home [to Jamaica], everyone moved on and got their own family, so the nucleus changed. My mum's house is now the nucleus and her friends are now the friends-family; they become people you see as your family. So something else forms so really you don't really lose anything.

(Stacy, age 26, interview Nottingham, November 2003)

Family customs and ethnic traditions

During Christmas and within these family gatherings, family ethnic customs and traditions are celebrated. For example, the young people highlighted ethnic customs and traditions around food as an important ritualizing aspect of Caribbean identity. Food is an important part of cultural identity but the obviousness and taken for granted nature of food means that, as a subject of investigation in its own right, it has received limited attention outside of the fields of anthropology and health and nutrition research. Yet, food is a cultural artefact imbued with meanings and values (Counihan & Esterik, 1997). The type of food goods chosen, and the preparation and presentation of certain foods, all re-affirm cultural belonging. The young people identified specific food types specially prepared for Christmas breakfast, brunch or the main meal of the day — such as breakfast meals of ackee and saltfish, breadfruit, pepperpot, garlic pork, macaroni cheese and fried plantain — as strongly associated with, and influenced by, a Caribbean ethnic identity. Consequently, they understood the cultural significance of ethnic specific food in terms of sustaining inter-ethnic identity inter-generationally.

Customs and traditions are constructed through intersections of family, ethnic and national identity. A number of young people highlighted customs and traditions that they followed on Christmas Day, but they were uncertain whether these customs and traditions were particular to their own family or represented wider aspects of their ethnic, cultural and/or national identity. Customs and family practices such as late Christmas brunch, an evening dinner, saying grace and blessing the table at mealtimes, visiting family and kinship members on Christmas night and Boxing Day, watching television programmes such as Eastenders and Only Fools and Horses, were typical family rituals commonly described by the young people in their accounts of Christmas. The following comments by Sam and Marsha give us some indication of this:

We will have brunch and everyone just gets up and helps themselves when they are ready. My mum tries to cater for everyone so she'll cook the Jamaican food like ackee and saltfish and breadfruit with English food like sausages, bacon and omelettes. Then around 6 or 7 o'clock we all sit down to eat in one sitting. We always get, like, the grandmother or someone older, to bless the table. My grandma, she blesses the table and then she sings a hymn.

(Sam, age 21, interview Birmingham, December 2003)

I usually help mum do the breakfast or lunch, ‘brunch’ as she calls it! We have traditionally Guyanese food, pepperpot, garlic pork, salad and ‘hard-dough’ bread; well that's Jamaican but we've appropriated it as Guyanese! Lots of bucks fizz and sparkling wine. So we'll eat and whatever, and then we'll have to clear the table, stack the dishwasher, then the presents. After all the presents are opened, we clear up again. We'll lay the table for dinner. The kids'll be going on about when they can open their presents — this is every year — and they always ask, even though they know they can't open it until we've finished eating. Mum goes in the kitchen, puts on her gospel music and starts cooking. And me and my dad help out wherever we're needed. And then my Godmother comes with my cousins and she'll help to cook the dinner; it's a strictly unspoken thing, it just happens every year. My Godmother comes with her presents for the kids, and they're like, ‘Oh, more presents!’ kind of thing! After the presents are opened we sit down to our main meal.

TR: What do you eat here?

Nothing special. The usual things like everyone else eat on Christmas Day. Macaroni cheese, turkey, fish and lamb, rice and peas, and plain rice, vegetables, and plantain, gotta have plantain! And then we sit down to watch, whether it's Only Fools and Horses, or waiting to watch Eastenders, eating our dessert while Eastenders is on, and then after Eastenders, I watch a movie and then we're going out to visit my cousins.

(Marsha, age 21, interview London, April 2004)

The young people identified a number of other customs and traditions practiced at Christmas as ethnic specific. For example, the practice of going to church on Christmas morning was considered by many young people to be representative of Caribbean cultural identity. Their understanding is framed by a cultural and historical context wherein Christmas is regarded as an important religious festival in the Caribbean and the practice of church-going and collective worship represents an important characteristic of Caribbean life. Natalie expressed this sentiment:

On Christmas morning we all go to church; I'm not sure why but it's just family tradition. I think there's more of a cultural element in there as well, because essentially, West Indians are a lot more religious and church-orientated than white people. Even if we're not practising it all the time, I think, when it comes down to it, we're a little bit more spiritual, or church-orientated than the average British family, and we take that kind of Christmas aspect well a lot more seriously.

(Natalie, age 24, interview Nottingham, November 2003)

Without meaning to undermine these young people's claims concerning the cultural specificity they attach to religious worship, it could be argued that religious worship on Christmas morning is not unique to the Caribbean context. In reality this custom and practice is equally relevant to many diverse social and ethnic groups.

Family reunions in the Caribbean

The family reunion in the Caribbean during the Christmas season has become an increasingly important family ritual in recent years. The dispersed family members come from different places reflecting different migrant trajectories (i.e. primarily Britain, USA, Canada, Europe and other Caribbean territories). The principal aim of the reunion is to strengthen family ties and connections that are sometimes weakened and lost as a result of continuous migration, despite family members’ best efforts to maintain these transnational family connections (Sutton, 2004).

Several young people in the study have been involved in these reunions. They were able to use these family reunions in the Caribbean to observe cross-cultural similarities and differences in the way they experienced Christmas. They identified Christmas in Britain as very home-centred with a focus on family related activities in the domestic sphere (Pleck, 2000). In contrast, in the Caribbean, Christmas encompasses a celebration of both family and community. Many activities occur outside of the home and the emphasis is on celebrating wider social and community relationships. The following account by Stacy provides us with some indication of this:

I thought in Jamaica the whole place would shut down like England, but it doesn't. It's still quite busy. People actually walk up and down and visit each other Christmas Morning, and I was shocked, because you wouldn't see that here. It's dead, you know, in England, on Christmas Day, where in Jamaica, it's not. People are out and about, they're going to church, because of course it's expected, then you're visiting, wishing each other a ‘Happy Christmas’ and so forth, and I liked that. I really did like that aspect of it. And Christmas Afternoon, after the dinner and so forth, people would go out. If you're near the beach, you go out to the beach and you're not looked down as much as you are here, but then that's got to do with the weather as well! So a big, massive difference.

(Stacy, age 26, interview Nottingham, November 2003)

Kwanzaa

Increasingly, more Caribbean families in Britain are choosing to focus on Kwanzaa as a time for family celebration. Kwanzaa is celebrated from 26 December to 1 January. It is rooted in an African tradition and re-affirms the importance of family, community and culture among black people within the Disapora. African-Americans in the USA propelled the emergence of Kwanzaa as a popular spiritual and kin-based celebration in a Western industrialized context. However, it is now widely celebrated by black people across the Caribbean, Britain and the rest of Europe, usually in conjunction with Christmas, or as a reaction against it. The young people who identified Kwanzaa as a time for family celebration expressed a cynicism about the increased materialism and consumer culture of Christmas; the Eurocentric nature of the values and beliefs underpinning the construction of Christmas in Western societies, and also a desire to adhere to a spiritual and religious festival that expresses black unity and fellowship. The following account by Malik summarizes the key principles of Kwanzaa:

I'm going to spell out the principles of Kwanzaa for you because it's important and not many people know about it [shows me a leaflet]. During each day of Kwaanaa, our celebrations focus on one or more principles: umoja — which stresses the importance of family togetherness; kujichagulia — that is self-determination; ujima — co-operative economics. That about sharing what you have and also pulling together. Nia — I think that more about looking within to set goals for the community that benefit the community; then there's kuumba — using creative energies to build and maintain a vibrant community; and imani — commemorating the past and paying homage to the ancestors.

(Malik, age 22, interview London, November 2003)

Another young person, Makeba, identifies how her parents and other family members have influenced her decision to celebrate Kwanzaa:

I don't celebrate Christmas mainly because my mum and dad are very cultural and very into black consciousness. My mum says to me ‘It's not Christmas, it's Kwanzaa.’ So now I know, I say, ‘Happy Kwanzaa’, and my Uncle Audley, he's my dad's brother, he's very cultural as well, he always turns up, and says ‘Ah, it's not Christmas, it's Kwanzaa.’ We still give presents but only small gifts, and we have a Kwanzaa feast instead of Christmas dinner. Last year I sent out ‘Happy Kwanzaa’ cards to my friends.

TR: What does Kwanzaa mean to you?

I suppose it's more spiritual and less commercial than Christmas. It's about being more connected. You're not thinking about yourself and what presents you got which Christmas has become. You think about how you connect to other black people and about giving thanks to our ancestors. It's a time for sharing and showing people that you care about them.

(Makeba, age 17, interview London, October 2003)

Conclusion

In conclusion what is evident in the analysis of Caribbean young people's perspectives is that bonding social capital within community networks and family relationships are valuable social resource utilized by the young people to re-affirm notions of cultural, ethnic and family belonging. The analysis shows how, at a community level, bonding social capital develops through Caribbean young people's participation in black-led institutions and agencies within their local communities and neighbourhoods. With regards to family and kinship ties, the discussion of Christmas, for example, highlights how key activities and practices undertaken during the Christmas season — such as family get togethers, family customs and rituals, the family reunion, and Kwanzaa — develop and maintain bonding social capital at the localized and transnational level. Indeed, Kwanzaa broadens out this understanding of bonding social capital beyond family ties and connections to encompass black diasporic and community-based networks.

There is strong support for the positive value gained from bonding social capital in relation to ethnic identity formation. Potentially this could lead to the creation of new and dynamic models of ethnic identity. For example, bonding social capital within their ethnic group provides a platform from which the young people bridge, and access resources and networks, across ethnic groups. However, and as the analysis shows us, bonding networks are not without costs to the individual (in terms of social mobility) and society at large (in terms of issues relating to racial integration and multiculturalism). Yet, Caribbean young people's desire to be embedded within their community (even if sometimes it is at the cost of their own personal success) must be understood within the wider context of social exclusion, racism and marginality; all of which encourages a desire for cultural belonging and strong bonding ethnic ties that they can draw upon as cultural resources to negotiate their everyday lives.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tracey Reynolds

Tracey Reynolds is a Senior Research Fellow in the Families & Social Capital ESRC Research Group at London South Bank University. She has a particular research interest in parenting and family relationships, especially in relation to racial and ethnic identities and black families. She has several publications in these fields

Notes

1. For the purposes of this paper I have collapsed the term ‘Caribbean’ into a singular cultural and ethnic group in order to represent: (1) the young people's ‘homogenizing’ discourse on what it means to be ‘Caribbean’ and (2) official classification systems in Britain — such as Britain Census 2001 — which uses this term (alongside ‘African’ and ‘Black British’) in relation to the question of black people's ethnic origin. Of course in the Caribbean there are profound variations with regards to island and regional differences, as well as racial/ethnic, class and gender divisions.

2. On a practical note, my specific focus on Christmas, as a way of thinking through ideas concerning the relationship between ethnic identity and social capital is a result of a briefing paper I recently prepared on ‘Caribbean Families at Christmas’ as part of the ‘Modern Families at Christmas’ ESRC series.