Carmelita's In-Possible Dance: Another style of Christianity in the Capitalist Ridden Caribbean

Abstract

Two characteristics mark the Caribbean: capitalism and the hegemony of North Atlantic versions of Christianity. The colonization and exploitation of the Caribbean was justified in the name of profit and the dominant North Atlantic renderings of Christ's message. Having been conceived by the joint forces of these worldly and otherworldly regimes of subjugation, both equally brutal, both making unreasonable demands,
both contested yet internalized, the Caribbean gave rise to a schizophrenic culture that played the two forces up against each other. By focusing on a Dominican newcomer on the bi-national island Saint Martin & Sint Maarten (SXM), a devout Pentecostal who works as a prostitute, called Carmelita, this paper demonstrates how working class West Indian2
women and men on this island adapt their Christian performance to the realities of everyday life in a capitalist economy. Vice versa, by appealing to the notions of equity and justice inherent in the Christian tradition which are put forth in popular Caribbean songs, West Indians demand not to be reduced to mere human commodities put to work in
the capitalist machinery. Nevertheless, adaptation is not the same as transcending the dichotomy between capitalism and North Atlantic Christianity, for though in a continuous process of change and interaction, both remain separate hegemonic forces in the Caribbean.

Journal for the Study of Religion Vol. 19 (1) 2006: pp. 5-22