We analyze the role of international law as related to the land, to its legal status, and to the cultural heritage of Indigenous communities in the Eastern Caribbean. Moreover, our research illustrates not only how the law has impacted negatively (as a tool of Empire) upon Indigenous peoples in the past, but also how the law can be instrumental (as a vehicle for change) in re-appropriating Indigenous space today. This is especially so in the islands of Dominica, St. Vincent and Trinidad, where descendant communities have actively contested negative stereotypes, reasserted their presence, and have successfully agitated for their human rights in the post-independence era.
Photo left: Irvince Auguiste (Kalinago Territor, Dominica) and Corinne Hofman (Leiden University, The Netherlands) interpreting postholes of the Indigenous houses at the archaeological site of El Flaco, northern Dominican Republic (photo: NEXUS1492).
Photo top: Symposium Caribbean Connections (2016) with speakers and participants from Indigenous communities in Dominica, St. Vincent and Suriname (photo: NEXUS1492).