The World Has Become More Selfish: Remembering a New Past in the West Indies

Abstract

Anthropologists view the concept of 'tradition' with suspicion, but it is a useful tool for ordering one's understanding of the present. As rapid cultural change brings greater disparities in wealth, the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines remember a past in which sharing was more widespread. While not a motive for personal action, this remembered past provides a way to understand the contrast between one's own accomplishments and the success of others: others' relative prosperity is a violation of a traditional way of life rather than a demonstration of one's own personal failing; 'the world has become more selfish'.