1university of california

CHAPTER V

REMITTANCE SYSTEM INTERRELATIONSHIPS: SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

In the Introduction to this study, the point was made that while migration and sojourning, which are intimately involved in a remittance economy, have been considered from certain economic and social perspectives, relatively little work has been done on the interface between the economic and social dynamics involved in a locale such as Utila. In Chapter IV several key findings--brought out by contrasting agricultural and remittance phases in Utilian history--were, however, made. Among these was the fact that social stratification has been important in motivating individuals to strive, singly or in family groups, to gain or preserve social position. In the "Stratification" section below this point is elaborated while at the same time further detail of Utila's inner functioning is shown.

Also established in Chapter IV was the point that Utilians were amply preadapted to a remittance style economy and all that it implied. Numerous aspects of Utilian preadaptation had to do with social organization generally, and certain elements particularly. Specific preadaptations were implied in the areas of family structure, and male and female status-roles. These preadaptations, in their modified forms, and other sociological phenomena, account for Utila's success with a remittance economy. It is therefore essential that we look more closely at the various segments that comprise Utilian society. To facilitate discussion the segments referred to will be examined in terms of five social groupings, which have significance in the following ways. First, "Religious Groups" shows some of the internal divisions that exist in Utila. The different

denominations provide ideologies that help to extend, in a minor way, Utilian non-cooperation by drawing attention to differences within the population. It will also be pointed out that religious groups have been a mechanism for social mobility within the system of stratification.

Second, "Educational Groups" reaffirms a contention made in Chapter II: Utilians have been isolated from mainland Honduras through emphasis on their Anglo-American heritage. Islanders reinforce their isolation by operating private English-language schools, whose curricula and teaching methods are distinct from government operated counterparts. Private schools teach values that promote individualism and other orientations crucial to Utilian pursuit of the good life--and to working in a remittance system. Equally important, the English language literacy provided by the private schools increases prospects of getting into the merchant marine.

Third, "Economic Groups" gives data on the extent of the remittance economy and its pervasiveness throughout the sociocultural system. It also illustrates how the Credit Union is especially important to the overall remittance system. Selective disbursement of loan funds enables credit purchasing (relating to consumerism), and, perhaps, differential access to merchant shipping lines (relating to social stratification and pursuit of the good life).

Fourth, "Residential Groups" illustrates crucial patterns in Utilian family and household structure that accommodate absenteeism necessitated by the remittance economy. Individual family striving initially oriented Utilians to test the viability of a merchant marine based economy. Subsequently, individual family striving sustains a sociocultural system where complementary husband and wife status-roles allow males to be absent for prolonged periods of time.

Fifth, "Informal Groups" demonstrates the "rest and recreation" mentality espoused by all Utilians on the occasion of males returning from the merchant marine on annual leave. Informal male drinking groups provide a context wherein the rigors of seafaring may be forgotten during three months of relative abandon. These groups are not only recreative per se in their function, but serve to support a male image of "manliness" that is important to the socialization of young males,

to maintenance of the nuclear family unit, and to the mariner himself as an interim reward for his service.

Finally in this chapter I turn to discussion of male and female status-roles. The behavior of adult males and adult females appears to be consistent and congruent with virtually all the demands of a remittance system enmeshed in traditional island ways. This section, therefore, demonstrates preadaptability on the part of Utilians for the remittance system that has evolved using an image of limited good as partial explanation. It also shows the strength of the nuclear family unit (related to individualism), the viability of complementary male and female status roles in which females apparently take an inferior position to men, and the fact that male absenteeism does not necessarily lead to the matrifocal family so commonly found throughout the Caribbean culture area.

Stratification

The key to understanding social organization in Utila lies in the facts that (1) there are three locally recognized strata based on ethnicity, and (2) there are prestige gradations within these strata based on income and life style. Since the subject of social organization generally is not too clear from the standpoint of the concepts and theories used to discuss it, in order to avoid misunderstanding here it would be helpful to define the terms employed in this section.

According to Broom and Selznick (1973:162), "those individuals, or families, or groups, who have similar ranks on any of the dimensions of stratification constitute a social stratum or social level." They also say, following Marx and Weber, that social class refers to " . . . a grouping of people--for example, all wage earners--who share a common situation in the organization of economic production" (1973:163).

The concepts stratum and class are both used extensively below, but with the modification of the class definition to contain also the notion of degrees of variation (gradation) within strata that are based in economic and life-style factors alone.

The word group, also according to Broom and Selznick (1973:47) has a general meaning that ". . . refers to any collection of persons who are bound together by a distinctive set of social relations." Throughout the discussion I will be using "group" in this sense.

Finally, "caste" will be understood to signify "an endogamous social group whose members are ascribed to it at birth for life" (Richards 1972:304). As it appears in Utila, stratum is identical with caste, but is better understood, perhaps, as ethnic grouping.

Social distinctions in Utila, by local standards, are not simply a matter of socioeconomic differences between various sectors of the society. As one life-long resident put it, "This is Little Rock, Arkansas," by which he was referring to the fact that ethnic prejudice and stereotyping are basic to the ordering of social existence in Utila with resultant ranking of the island's population into several distinguishable strata.

Although Negro and Spanish surname Utilians were relatively later arrivals to the island than whites, and therefore could not, in most cases, obtain choice properties that would give economic and social advantages, skin pigmentation--not arrival time--is the important consideration when looking at social stratification in Utila.

At the top of the social order in terms of social prestige, occupancy of the most important positions in local leadership, wealth, and so on are the so-called white population of Utila (nearly three-fifths of all islanders). Most of this segment of the society came from other parts of the Caribbean and conceivably have mixed ethnic backgrounds, but contemporary white Utilians would strongly disclaim this possibility. Doran (1952:264) would, in fact, support such a disclaimer from his research in the Cayman Islands--the original home of most Utilians--where he points out that "the maintenance since 1800 of an unmixed white population, comprising some 30 percent of the total, is certainly one significant difference from other West Indian islands." Doran aside, in Utila "white" people actually include two analytically distinguishable groupings who derive from the founding families--Cooper, Diamond, Howell, et al.--and their descendants both affinal and consanguineal.

One sector of the white population bears surnames of the founding families, but the other sector is white by having married into one of the white, founding families. (When working with Mr. Eddie Rose on genealogical relationships in the island, he invariably traced out family lines in terms of descent from the Cooper family alone; to him the white Utilians were categorized as such through their demonstrated relationship to the Cooper family specifically.)

The second subdivision within the white population contains people who bear Spanish surnames (not pseudonymized), e.g., Funez, Valle, Ponce, Zelaya, Zuniga, Perreira, Inestroza, members of which families have married into founding families and are now "white," a point that becomes extremely important in discussion below.
Second on the ladder of social prestige, etc., are Utilians with Negro ancestry, collectively called "colored." Somewhat like the white population, there are two analytically distinguishable sectors in the colored population. The first sector is made of Utilians who have what are locally considered the Negro physical features (elaborated below), and who are descended from the original colored settlers. The second sector consists in those individuals who bear Spanish surnames but who have married colored Utilians.

Colored people are not, in general, considered to be mentally or morally inferior to whites, but it was implied by white informants that there was a qualitative difference between themselves and coloreds that would forever separate the two groups even though they lived side by side. At no time, despite being introduced to this subject of stratification with the Little Rock, Arkansas metaphor, did I find the same stereotypes of colored people as I have encountered in the United States (e.g., that they are inherently lazy, immoral and decadent, and the like).

Third, and at the bottom of the hierarchy, are "Spaniards," identified as an ethnicpopulation by a term that doubles as an epithet in Utila. "Spaniards" are individuals of Spanish heritage (usually from mainland Honduras) who bear Spanish surnames, speak little or no English, and are common laborers recently arrived in Utila. They are typically poor in comparison to Utilians, have to live in the worst housing in the island (due to cost factors and the absolute shortage of rental property), usually have shabby clothing (and little of this), are immoral in the extreme according to Utilians (women have questionable reputations, men and women live in common law union rather than marry according to civil statutes) and epitomize uncouth and uncivilized behavior (e.g., spitting on the floor on one hand, and being satisfied with meals of only beans and rice on the other). Occasionally the term "Indian" is used--interchangeably, also disparagingly--for Spaniard; the reference in this case is not to physical characteristics but to the uncouth customs associated with "Indian" culture. It also carries with it the idea of "uncivilized person." "Spaniards" typically have little to do with other Utilians, although there is some (limited) interaction between them and lower class white and colored islanders.

There is no distinct "native" population in Utila's local hierarchy, although Utilians acknowledge their presence elsewhere in the country. "Native" is a term applied by Utilians to people who elsewhere in Central America might be classified "mestizo," but who are definitely higher class than "Spaniards," and who are not derived from any of the Negro-descended populations (such as the Caribs or Sambos) found extensively on the mainland. In Utila, a person of higher class Spanish background--a "native"--becomes assimilated into the white sector of the society apparently within a generation after arrival via the mechanism of marrying members of white families. Lower class Spanish, "Spaniards," either stay to themselves, or marry into the colored stratum's lower class.

Boundaries between these several sectors of society are a conscious part of interaction between islanders, and expressions of them are many. The boundaries are breached only to the extent that the Spanish surname population can penetrate either white or colored strata as a function of their own individual or family socioeconomic class. Probably the most convincing of the data to support the preceding taxonomy of social strata comes from the vital records in Utila's Cabildo. Some 700 marriage records, dating back to 1881, demonstrate the caste-like, system that exists in Utila, and at the same time shows the importance of class--intra-stratum--variations.

Each of the records referred to above was coded to indicate whether the marriage took place between white, colored, or Spanish couples, or crosses between any of these. In order to properly code the marriages I made extensive use of the genealogical records assembled in Utila, and defined each of the categories as follows:

white -- anyone of, or marrying into, a founding family: anyone who could ultimately trace ancestry to the Cooper family

colored -- anyone identified in the genealogical material as colored and/or bearing one of the surnames belonging to recognized colored families (not pseudonymized): Hinds, Buckley, Coban, McKenzie, McCoy, Ebanks, White, James, Angus, Forbes, Bennett, Bernard, Sanders, and Crimmins

Spanish -- anyone having a Spanish surname
The results clearly support the taxonomy. Excluding 48 unions that could not be coded, 56 marriages took place between white and Spanish, 35 marriages between colored and Spanish, and seven between colored and white. All other marriages (80.1% of the total) were between people marrying within their own category. The Spanish-white marriages, significantly, all involved Spanish surname individuals that would initially be considered "natives" to white Utilians. The Spanish in colored-Spanish unions were all "Spaniards." Unquestionably, class determines where Spanish surname individuals are placed in the social hierarchy with the result that at least 70% of Spanish surname Utilians are categorically "white."

Finally, the incidence of colored-white marriages (at least two of which I know took place with white sailors not even from Utila) would underscore the almost caste-like nature of Utilian society since for white and colored Utilians class standing does not matter in marital considerations: white does not marry colored.

Another major way in which social stratification is manifested is in the demography of the settled part of the island. Counting the Aldea de los Cayitos, i.e., the two populated cays, there are seven "barrios" in Utila. Roughly equivalent in meaning to "ward" in a U.S. town or city, barrio is used mainly for identification purposes in official documents (e.g., recording of births or deaths), but is also used by islanders as a frame of reference to identify what kind of Utilian one is by stratum and class. In order of population size, the barrios run from Puente Caliente ("The Point") and Aldea de los Cayitos ("The Cays") as the largest, to Cola de Mico ("Monkey's Tail"), La Loma ("The Hill"), and Main Street of intermediary size, to Sandy Bay and Holland as the smallest. Ethnic composition is more important than the physical size of the barrios: Sandy Bay is almost exclusively colored, as is a sector of Cola de Mico, but Main Street is totally white with the exception of one indigent Spaniard household. The Point, especially its eastern portion, is made up of many transplanted "Cayans" (from the Aldea) and has only a few scattered households of colored or Spaniard types. The Cays are restricted to "whites only"; La Loma is also white, with one or two exceptions, and was one of the first areas settled when Utilians removed from the cays to the main island. To say that someone lives at Sandy Bay, for example, is virtually to say that the person is colored. Conversely, to say someone is from Main Street is to say he or she is white. In mixed areas, such as Cola de Mico, there are additional reference points. A reference point for Cola de Mico is the "Bucket of Blood" bar; anyone living below "The Bucket" is either white or upper class colored.
There are at least three dialects of English found in Utila that have a rough correspondence with the ethnicity-barrio residence-socioeconomic class phenomenon. The dialect found in use by residents of Main Street and La Loma--many of whom are "old heads" or from Utila's long-established white families--is distinct from the dialect employed by whites from the Point and Cola de Mico, and is in turn different from the colored dialect found in Sandy Bay, Holland, parts of Cola de Mico, and among scattered colored on the Point. On more than one occasion an interview with Mr. Eddie Rose, an old head and Main Street (white) resident, was interrupted by his ridicule of the English used by passing children from the Point.

In non-technical terms, the Main Street and colored dialects are similar to counterparts used by whites and blacks in the southern United States, though the Main Street dialect is not as drawn out as the stereotypic southern dialect. Pointian, in contrast, is much more rapid than Main Street dialect, and speakers of Pointian have a tendency to place the accent on the last syllable of a word, and also to use a rise in inflection at the end of a phrase or sentence.

Dialects are themselves indicative of the gradations that stem from socioeconomic class and ethnic background: Pointians, as more recently transplanted Cayans, have less prestige than those whites who moved to the main island at a much earlier date. (The impression given by main island people in general toward Cayans is that Cayans are a little provincial and rather out-of-touch with what goes on in the larger world. What Cayans think of people on the main island is unknown to me.)

Aside from the marriage, residential, and linguistic evidences of social stratification in Utila, are countless anecdotal examples from field notes. To cite just a few support data, several conversations between Utilians were overheard in which reference was made to "good hair" or other physical traits associated with whites as opposed to non-white residents. The context of the conversations, and tone of voice involved, unmistakably identified "good hair" as a desirable (superior?) thing; conversely, "bad hair" (short, kinky hair as seen on colored Utilians) was undesirable, and not from a purely esthetics standpoint.

Perhaps more convincing than the foregoing is the operation of Utila's three bars. Utila boasts three establishments where beer and hard liquor are served, but also where occasional dances are held. In all cases, colored, white, and Spaniard are served drinks, stand or sit together to drink, and treat one another to beer or whatever (all are equally denied credit drinking). On occasions when a dance is held at Spekeman's or the 06 (both pseudonyms), colored and white dancers are forbidden (even if so inclined) from cross ethnic dancing. At least two dances in my own knowledge were nearly ended when interethnic dance was attempted, and during August 1972, one of the bar owners even advertised dances as: "Colored folks dance, Friday night, 7:30 p.m." and directly above that on the advertising slate: "White folks dance, Saturday night, 7:30 p.m." The Bucket of Blood is frequented primarily by colored Utilians, young U.S. type tourists, and those whites who (one must conclude) do not worry about gossip. The latter point must be so since interethnic dancing does occur there regularly. Despite its slightly unsavory reputation, "The Bucket" is often the last of the bars in town to close up since the serious party goers and heaviest drinkers can almost invariably find activity there (due, perhaps, to the less restrictive rules).

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