In Search of Suburbia
Historical events can serve as triggers for cultural traditions. Therefore, forms of expression in reaction to a historical event may be carried forward in time even when the original stimulus that created it has long since passed or been forgotten. Junkanoo for example, began as a reaction to the injustices of slavery and continues today, even though the black majority has governed the Bahamas since 1967 . It has become a tradition of a shared history that presumably will continue on into the future.
Culture and by extension national identity, can thus be described as dynamically evolving creatures. Traditions are modified to meet modern realities, and forms of coping with the realities of the past may have little bearing on the present and be discarded. But discarding an outmoded tradition need not be considered as a loss of identity. Take for example ‘Bush medicine,’ an art that belongs to an era when Bahamian people did not have easy access to doctors or corner drug stores and therefore studied the local flora to cure their ills. Nowadays western technology and comprehensive health-care have made this art virtually irrelevant. Does this mean then that a Bahamian who does not practice Bush Medicine has lost touch with their Bahamian identity? Of course not, in fact I doubt that there are many people in New Providence, and especially fewer in suburbia who practice it, for the simple fact that it is no longer needed. Bush Medicine is an outdated tradition. Unfortunately though, to be ‘true-true Bahamian’ and pass the Bahamian detector test, you have to be able to make some ‘bush tea.’
Personally I have a problem with is this entire idea of the ‘True-true Bahamian.’ What does that mean anyway? The entire concept is patently ludicrous. Take for example that it does exist, that there is such a thing as a ‘true Bahamian’, then that means that there must be a ‘Fake-Fake Bahamian’ as well, and maybe an ‘almost-true Bahamian’ and a ‘one-third true Bahamian’. Either something is Bahamian or it isn’t. Bottom line. And that includes anyone born and raised anywhere within the country’s borders. That someone could be born here, be raised here and live here and not imagine himself or herself as Bahamian and not be seen by others as such is completely beyond me. I think this clearly illustrates how the idea of national identity has been bastardized in this country. It has become a definition of Bahamian-ness that seems to get more and more narrow with each passing year, a definition that clings doggedly to the past while refusing to recognize the reality of the new.