Views of the modern Caribbean have been constructed by a fiction of the absent aboriginal. Yet, all across the Caribbean Basin, individuals and communities are reasserting their identities as indigenous peoples, from Carib communities in the Lesser Antilles, the Garifuna of Central America, and the Taíno of the Greater Antilles, to members of the Caribbean diaspora. Far from extinction, or permanent marginality, the region is witnessing a resurgence of native identification and organization. This is the only volume to date that focuses concerted attention on a phenomenon that can no longer be ignored. Territories covered include Belize, Cuba, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, French Guiana, Guyana, St. Vincent, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Puerto Rican diaspora. Writing from a range of contemporary perspectives on indigenous presence, identities, the struggle for rights, relations with the nation-state, and globalization, fourteen scholars, including four indigenous representatives, contribute to this unique testament to cultural survival. This book will be indispensable to students of Caribbean history and anthropology, indigenous studies, ethnicity, and globalization. Views of the modern Caribbean have been constructed by a fiction of the absent aboriginal. Yet, all across the Caribbean Basin, individuals and communities are reasserting their identities as indigenous peoples, from Carib communities in the Lesser Antilles, the Garifuna of Central America, and the Taíno of the Greater Antilles, to members of the Caribbean diaspora. Far from extinction, or permanent marginality, the region is witnessing a resurgence of native identification and organization. This is the only volume to date that focuses concerted attention on a phenomenon that can no longer be ignored. Territories covered include Belize, Cuba, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, French Guiana, Guyana, St. Vincent, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Puerto Rican diaspora. Writing from a range of contemporary perspectives on indigenous presence, identities, the struggle for rights, relations with the nation-state, and globalization, fourteen scholars, including four indigenous representatives, contribute to this unique testament to cultural survival. This book will be indispensable to students of Caribbean history and anthropology, indigenous studies, ethnicity, and globalization. List of Figures ix Introduction: The Dual Absences of Extinction and Marginality---What Difference Does an Indigenous Presence Make? 1(20) Maximilian C. Forte Presence: Contemporary Paths of Survival after the Myth of Extinction 19(2) Taino Survivals: Cacique Panchito, Caridad de los Indios, Cuba 21(20) Jose Barreiro Ocama-Daca Taino (Hear Me, I Am Taino): Taino Survival on Hispaniola, Focusing on the Dominican Republic 41(30) Lynne Guitar Pedro Ferbel-Azcarate Jorge Estevez Identities: Articulating Indigenous Identities and Spaces in the Contemporary Caribbean 69(2) Placing the Carib Model Village: The Carib Territory and Dominican Tourism 71(18) Kelvin Smith Land Ownership and the Construction of Carib Identity in St. Vincent 89(18) Paul Twinn ``In This Place Where I Was Chief'': History and Ritual in the Maintenance and Retrieval of Traditions in the Carib Community of Arima, Trinidad 107(28) Ricardo Bharath Hernandez Maximilian C. Forte Rights: Indigenous Rights, International Conventions, and Current Legal Frameworks within the Circum-Caribbean 133(2) ``These Forests Have Always Been Ours'': Official and Amerindian Discourses on Guyana's Forest Estate 135(20) Janette Bulkan Arif Bulkan Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Suriname: A Human Rights Perspective 155(22) Fergus Mackay Nation-State: Modern Incorporations and Challenges to Articulating and Organizing Aboriginality 175(2) Cultural Identity among Rural Garifuna Migrants in Belize City, Belize 177(20) Joseph O. Palacio Disputing Aboriginality: French Amerindians in European Guiana 197(18) Gerard Collomb Region: The Transnationalization of Caribbean Indigenous Resurgence 213(2) Looking at Ourselves in the Mirror: The Caribbean Organization of Indigenous Peoples (COIP) 215(20) Joseph O. Palacio A Bridge for the Journey: Trajectory of the Indigenous Legacies of the Caribbean Encounters, 1997--2003 235(18) Jose Barreiro Searching for a Center in the Digital Ether: Notes on the Indigenous Caribbean Resurgence on the Internet 253(18) Maximilian C. Forte Conclusion. ``Before, We Were Asleep: Now We Must Awake from Our Sleep and Move Forward'' 271(16) Arthur Einhorn Contributors 287(6) Index 293