Social Hierarchies and the Provision and Use of Recreational Space in Barbados
By Donnisha Watson, Student, HIST 3030 The Evolution of Social Policy in Barbados, Department of History and Philosophy, The UWI, Cave Hill Campus
Working
citizens such as educators, clergymen, clerks and colonial officials identified
a need for access to public space for recreational purposes as they were ‘pent
up in a close and dusty atmosphere all day, day after day with nothing to
relieve the monotony of their occupations’. There were no public parks or gardens where adults could go to socialize or
no areas where the younger population could go to snatch an hour's enjoyment in
the open air.
As such, recreational spaces were provided. However, 85
percent of the spaces in Barbados were created and controlled by the planter class
, while the Government and other freeholders jostled for the remaining 15
percent. As such, the middle and upper class concept of recreational space did
not answer the needs of many working people.
As
previously mentioned, opposition to access to public recreational space
surfaced from the white male elite planter class. They segregated themselves,
especially in urban areas, as they perceived the assembly of working class
people within public space as socially threatening. Without any further choice,
the spatially deprived working class citizens took their leisure activity to
the street. However, this was deemed as illegal and citizens had to refrain
from congregating on the streets.
The
middle and upper classes secured playing fields and dominated the majority of
the land resources across the country for cricket and other games while working
class citizens had no playing field in both the town or country, to call their
own. Water sports also belonged to the elite classes and working class citizens
could not participate in any of these activities. As the planter class
dominated such spaces, they started to build large hotels on these beach spaces.
Consequently, they increased the value of these beach fronts as beach spaces
were low value properties prior to their popularity among visitors and local
elites. Also, the Turf Club, Polo
Club, Football Club along with other elite clubs effectively colonized the Garrison
Savannah, a place still known for its hosting of an elite sport, horseracing,
which although popular among all classes of Barbadians as spectators, the space
has traditionally been dominated by male, elite horseowners. Working citizens
briefly indulged in kite-flying, fireworks and cow racing but these too were
also considered as circumscribed activities and as such they have been
controlled by various measures -- again, stripping the lower class from recreational
activity.
In
an aim to segregate themselves, both socially and spatially, the elites
assembled in residential neighbourhoods. For instance, expatriate and elite
whites resided in St. Michael’s exclusive neighbourhoods such as Strathclyde
and Belleville, while the middle-class and expatriate citizens resided in some
of Christ Church’s coastal residential developments such as Navy Gardens and
Rockley. The black working classes were relegated to urban and rural tenantries,
thus reinforcing social barriers. This raised concerns because the lower middle
and working classes were battling for the right to accessible recreational
space in the city while the the elite had already established committees and
won exclusive supervision spaces such as Hastings Rocks, located on the
southern part of the Island.
According
to Aviston Downes in his chapter entitled, “The Contestation of Recreational
Space in Barbados, 1880-1910”, these Committees constructed gates, posts and
fences to prevent the middle and lower class from occupying such spaces or ‘to keep out the hooligans’.
They then implemented an admission fee which was an obvious deterrent for lower
class citizens. This is a clear indication that social hierarchies gratified
the favoured few and left the bulk of the population at a disadvantage as they
weren’t permitted to use the recreational spaces that were provided.
According
to Downes, a visitor by the name of Harry Franck observed and wrote the
following words: “Thus in negro-teeming Barbados there is scarcely a suggestion
of African parentage to be seen at this stately entertainment on Hastings
Rocks. It is partly the sixpence admission that keeps the negroes outside, but
not entirely ... The English sense of dignified orderliness and the negro's
natural gaiety, his tendency to "giggle" at inopportune moments, do
not mix well, and the Hasting Rocks concert is one of those places where
African hilarity must be ruthlessly suppressed. In addition to this, they
further observed that southern coast from the Garrison Savannah to the base
of British military and Hastings
Rocks was deemed as ‘white man's area.”
Gender inequality was also one of the major
factors which abetted the limitation of recreational spaces in Barbados.
Although one of the most significant recreational spaces, today known as Queen’s
Park, was designed by a woman, Lady Gilbert Carter, women were still faced with
significant challenges to equal access for leisure activities in Barbados. Downes
describes the challenges that women faced in their pursuit to access to
recreational spaces in Women Civilising
the City. He further describes the social geography of such spaces as
dangerous or contaminated masculine spaces. However, they had to deal with
urban hovels, the absence of public amenities and many other uncomfortable
circumstances which prevented them from using such spaces, thus exemplifying
the role that gender played in the limitation of recreational spaces in
Barbados.
Racism, classism and gender were
remarkable factors which deprived many citizens from the use of the recreational
spaces in Barbados. As such the ruling classes had to give in to the pressure
as many campaigns were launched in a result to breakdown such social
hierarchies. However they maintained an “aesthetic distance” from spaces used
by the lower classes and continued to segregated themselves. Although there is
no complete restriction to any recreational spaces today, this notion is still
very evident as sports such as golf and polo are almost exclusively played by
the elite class while the middle and working classes are merely by bystanders
and spectators.
Work
Cited
Boxill,
Ian. Social Stratification in Barbados. Views
on Stratification :an Analysis of the State of the Black Middle Class, 2001.
Christine
Toppin-Allahar. “De Beach Belong to We!’
Socio-Economic Disparity and Islanders’ Rights of Access to the Coast in a
Tourist Paradise.” Oñati Socio-Legal Series, vol. 5, no. 1, 2015, pp.
298–317.
Downes, Aviston. “The Contestation for
Recreational Space in Barbados, 1880-1910.” 2002
Downes,
Aviston. “Women Civilising the City: The Civic Circle and Public Urban Spaces in
Barbados,” Barbados Museum and Historical Society. Dec. 2009
Fancis,
Stephan. “The politics of recreational
space in Barbados.” The evolution of social policy in Barbados.
Karch, Celia. “Changes in Barbados social structure 1860-1937,” 1977.
Quashie,
Nekehia. “Who Supports Whom? Gender and Intergenerational Transfers in
Post-Industrial Barbados.” Journal of
Cross-Cultural Gerontology, vol. 30, no. 2, 2015.
Smith,
Raymond. “Social stratification, cultural
pluralism and integration in the West Indiean Societies.” Caribbean
scholars conference 1966, St Augustine, UWI.
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“The Barbados Museum and Historical
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“The Barbados Museum and Historical
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“The Barbados Museum and Historical
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