Garifuna’s Pt 2

Danielle Dye

Garifuna LanguageGarifuna is an Arawakan language spoken in Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize The Arawakan Languages are indigenous to South America & the CaribbeanThe vocabulary is split to words only men use and words only women use The vocabulary used by men is usually derived from the Carib& the vocabulary used by woman is usually used from Arawaka The vocabulary contains: 45% Arawak25% Carib15% French10% English5% spanish & very few African words

Garifuna Women Garifuna women rely on the men to take care of themThe women are not allowed to work & the only job they could get are not enough to support them; housework & selling homemade goodsThe women believe in in the power of “obeah” (magic) To control the man in their life & keep the men in love with themBecause the men tend to have multiple relationships even when married

Garifuna MenMen used to rely on farming to get by until commercial companies began to take over & left them with no work of landNow they have to travel to find work Usually in export business, collecting timber or as fishermenThough the men are gone for long periods of time they believe that father & son have the strongest connection& that they are attached spiritually & that it is important for the father to take care of the boy so the father gives up responsibilities to spend time with his son