“You can never know where you are going, if you forget where you came from…” This quote by my deceased dad, speaks volumes, and exemplifies the cornerstone of our understanding the concept of our history, to chart our destiny.
The concept of history plays a fundamental role in human thought. It invokes notions of human agency, change, the role of material circumstances in human affairs, and the putative meaning of historical events. It raises the possibility of “learning from history.” And it suggests the possibility of better understanding ourselves in the present, by understanding the forces, choices, and circumstances that brought us to our current situation.
It is therefore unsurprising that philosophers have sometimes turned their attention to efforts to examine history itself and the nature of historical knowledge. These reflections can be grouped together into a body of work called “philosophy of history.” This work is heterogeneous, comprising analyses and arguments of idealists, positivists, logicians, theologians, and others, and moving back and forth over the divides between European and Caribbean philosophy, and between hermeneutics and positivism.
I’ve given this lengthy prelude and amplified it with this account of an analysis of Dr Eric Williams’s writings in From Columbus To Castro”—Dr Eric Williams gives the reader a truly pan-Caribbean perspective. And, perhaps even more originally, his point of reference or starting-point is always the Caribbean itself. For, unlike previous accounts of the region, Dr. Eric Williams’s book emphasizes the centrality of Caribbean people in the creation of their own history.”
We have been looking on, engaging in lengthy discussions, engaging international counterparts and drawing on our own perceptions of the mass migration issue out of Venezuela. What we haven’t been doing is realising how this new phenomenon is impacting our nation and region’s history. It is re writing a new chapter, and similarly international declarations, treaties and agreements not withstanding sovereign state decisions are being made.
The face and identity, in tandem with the language and culture of our nation is slowly changing. As our students of Caribbean History, research and delve into the annals of the past, there would be discoveries of a new dimension, in most if not all sectors, primarily’ Economic, Social, Energy, Agriculture, Tourism and National Security.
My challenge to the intellects, the experts, the historians, the scholars and the Universities in our Caribbean corridor, is…Who is recording the history? Who is making tabulation and recording the chronological developments regarding the changing times and the impact of the Venezuelan Migration on Caribbean History.
More sooner than later, we will most likely being seeing this interest surfacing in the Caribbean Examinations Council and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Exams Syllabus. Therefore it is imperative that we begin now, to create and establish an authenticated source and reference of the history.
Commander Garvin Heerah
Senior Researcher and Module Leader
Anglia Ruskin University UK.