Dreaming of Barbuda

Last night I googled “how to go help rebuild Barbuda” and got not much besides the Prime Minister asking people to be tourists in Antigua, Robert DeNiro pouring money in so that he can build a resort, and an appalling opinion piece out of Jamaica (with lots of healthy comments) stating that Barbuda should take this opportunity to capitalize (literally) on its history as the site of “the fabled slave-breeding centre of the immediate post-emancipation period.”

I can’t stop thinking about Barbuda.

One of my favorite theory books is The Practice of Everyday Life, by Michel de Certeau. de Certeau argues that it is the “arts of doing” – walking, talking, reading, dwelling, cooking, *everyday* arts – that create meaning in people’s lives, and that these acts wear grooves in, and sometimes transform, the otherwise unwieldy or imposed structures in which we live. I keep thinking about the cornerstores and walking paths and histories of small conversations and courageous resistances to slavery and capitalism that were worn into Barbuda’s landscape over 300 years. Are these gone, wiped away?

I want to find out who, besides Robert DeNiro, is helping Barbuda. I want to know what people and organizations are going to work democratically, on the ground, to listen, and beautifully rebuild these lives.

Does anyone know? If you find out, will you please tell me?

 

UPDATE: A Facebook friend directed me to this locally-engaged fund for Barbuda. Please give if you can:

https://www.gofundme.com/barbuda-cousins-fund

One thought on “Dreaming of Barbuda

  1. You bring history to life Amy. And life to history… But no, I haven’t heard of on the ground people who are helping in a way that watches out for the people and their culture. I heard someone on KPFA whole I was driving several weeks ago, but they don’t seem to have a searchable website.

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