Life at Bethlehem: Interview 6

Data analysis of student interview from a trip to St. Croix

Cultural Anthropolgy - Spring 2019

Life at St. Croix was shaped often by the work of outside forces, namely those that colonialized the island and managed the plantation(s) or estates on the Caribbean islands. The people from these islands were thus forced to work at these plantations in order to survive: first as slaves and later as the estates and factories were the only [major] employment opportunities with which a wage could be earned and thus there were no other options available locally that could support a family. These external or global economic factors were critical in shaping the living conditions and lifeways of the Caribbean laborers.

The informant for Interview 6 was born in New York, however his father was Crucian and his mother was from Nevis. In 1948, the informant worked at Estate Bethlehem during the time period when the estate was an American Central Factory and before the estate closed in 1966. The informant worked in the storeroom, the factory, and the sugar cane field as a field timekeeper; he also worked out of Bethlehem due to the fact that it was a sub-office to the general office for the Virginia Islands Company (VICO).

Overview

Figure 1

From the interview, the informant focused primarily on social relations, cemeteries, housing, and sugar manufacturing (Figure 1). The topic of the interview was what life was like at Bethlehem, discussing housing of the laborers at the estate as well as how the change from sugar manufacturing to oil affected employment and living situations. The informant also mentioned how slavery should be commemorated and what the burial practices of the people on the estate were.

Social Relations

Figure 2

Social relations was the largest category of data from the interview, making up 33.3% of the codes, the majority of which were in regards to the commemoration of slavery and enslaved laborers. This demonstrates the lasting impact and effect of slavery on the lives of the laborers at Bethlehem while it was a working Estate/factory and even into the present, a further 50 years after the factory closed.

Social relations was a major focus of the informant's interview, making up 33.3% of the referenced codes. The most referenced category was slavery, further elaborated upon in the subcategories of enslaved laborers and the commemoration of slaves. While slavery has not been present in Bethlehem for many years, the lasting impact of the practice is present in the socioeconomic lifestyle of those who live there. The former emphasis on Estate work and the importance of the factory jobs to the community is evident in how the informant discussed present-day life.

Leisure and labor (which are further divided into subcategories) were also important to the informant. Leisure is an important factor in society; how people spend time with one another outside of work can be demonstrative of cultural practices such as games, music, art, dance, sports, and clothing (embroidery, beading, etc.).

Cemeteries

Figure 2

Following social relations, the most discussed topic from the interview would be cemeteries, specifically the mortuary practices of the people of St. Croix. The informant spoke of how people were buried most often in the churches in town rather than at Bethlehem or any of the other plantations. The informant also discussed how wakes were held and if people lived in the more rural areas, bodies were kept on ice until they could be prepared for burial. This demonstrates that the people of St. Croix did not have immediate or easy access to people that deal with the bodies of those whom had passed (i.e. a funeral home). It was also mentioned how the receptions following the funeral could be held at either the church, where people would drink, or go home to eat.

Housing

Figure 3

After cemeteries, housing was the third most relevant topic during the interview. The informant discussed how where people lived and how those people lived could be determined by the position they held at the factory (or in the field) and how most of the people that the informant knew lived in town. The informant himself lived in a more rural area and where he lived was effected by what job he had. This is demonstrative of the different wages and separation of classes that were prevalent at Bethlehem.

Sugar Manufacturing

Figure 4

The final topic covered in the interview was that of sugar manufacturing. The informant talked about what jobs he held while employed at the factory. He worked in the storeroom, the factory itself, and in the sugarcane fields as a timekeeper. The informant mentions that he worked with all the different types of laborers at the factory (the factory workers themselves and the field workers). He discusses how the workers were separated and how that division was emphasized by the presence of labor unions (or lack thereof in the case of the field workers). The presence of labor unions is indicative of external economic factors, as unions are found predominantly in Western industrial economies. Finally, the informant talks about how the factory closing impacted life on St. Croix: “there was a change of culture in that with the shutting down of Bethlehem most of the villages were destroyed by the new people taking over” (3). The change to the oil refinery (HOVENSA) led to the people being unemployed due to the skill gap (or skill mismatch, whereas before unemployment was mostly seasonal) and people losing their land and homes (and thus their livelihoods in independent sugarcane farming).

EthnoGraphy

In an ethnography, the interview could possibly be incorporated into a chapter on the mortuary practices of the people of St. Croix, other parts could be included in a discussion on how Crucians choose to remember slavery, and life at Bethlehem post-sugarcane was also mentioned.

From the mortuary practices part of the interview, the informant discusses how people were buried and where they were buried. The informant discusses how he attended a wake held the night before a funeral (which was the first wake he had ever attended), and since the location in which they lived was rural, ice was used to preserve the body. This could be combined with the experiences of others on the island, those who lived in the villages and on the estate, to compare to see if there were any differences in wake experiences or how ceremonies after the funeral were held. It would also be interesting to see if there was any influence on the funeral practices due to religion on the island.

The commemoration of slavery could be included in a chapter discussing how people on the island remember slaves and other past laborers on the plantations/estates. There could be a comparison between what was learned about slavery in school by the younger generations (or the lack thereof) or passed on orally from the older generations.

Since the sugarcane factory closed in 1966, it is possible that life immediately and years after the closing of the sugarcane factory may be examined. The informant remarks about how when the factory closed, people lost their jobs and the culture on the island was significantly changed because of that as in addition to losing their jobs, people also lost their land due to it being bought up by another company.

Life on St. Croix was largely shaped by the sugarcane factory at Bethlehem. The people on the island worked (and some lived) at the estate and depended on the jobs their for their livelihood and to support their families. The long history of the estate, with its origins as a colonial plantation, was of great importance to the Crucians, whom made sure to pass down the stories of those that came before them and how they lived as slaves and thus need to be remembered. It is made all the easier to notice the importance the factory had on the lives of the people of St. Croix following its close, leaving the island economically unstable due to the sudden lack of jobs and homes for the people.

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