Uncovering Meaning from Myth: Examining Anglo-Kalinago Traumatic Relations Through Oral Tradition

Abstract

Abstract:During the seventeenth century, early English colonial identity was shaped through frequent and often violent encounters with the native Kalinago peoples of the Lesser Antilles. This tumultuous relationship, reflected in both documented and undocumented tales such as those of Thomas “Indian” Warner and Zulmiera, reveal tensions surrounding mixed-race individuals and the cultural anxieties of English settlers of the Leeward Islands. Using Oral Tradition methodology, these narratives show how later colonial storytellers preserved the traumas of early settlement while reinforcing an Anglo-dominant perspective. Such accounts portrayed the English as righteous victors over a “savage” and untrustworthy foe, and served as cautionary tales about the perceived dangers of mixed-race relationships to the fragile social order of island communities.