The Professionalization of Indigeneity in the Carib Territory of Dominica

Abstract

The origin of enduring stereotypes of Native peoples conjured by Christopher Columbus in the late-fifteenth century, the Kalinago people of today live in Dominica, an island with a unique, complicated history of settlement and resistance. Kalinagos dedicated to raising "cultural consciousness" participate in Dominican museum and heritage projects as well as in international indigenous meetings abroad. This article suggests the concept of "the professionalization of indigeneity" to consider how some Native people are experts at representation itself: producers of representations of their communities both on their communities' behalf and for the public abroad, yet always with attention to state relations at home.