Introduction

This chapter explores the historical, cultural and gender-related contexts in which Black Caribbean women are associated with alcohol and alcohol use. Alcohol plays a distinctive social role in the family and community life of Black Caribbean women. For Caribbean communities in particular, it is often central in the great sociocultural rites of passage such as births, marriages and deaths. It graces their religious ceremonies, encases ‘mother-love’ through the eponymous Christmas cake and lubricates their parties. Moreover, alcohol also embodies some of their regional, geographical and economic identities through longstanding associations in the Caribbean with rum trading, plantation and slavery. For Black Caribbean women, however, the associations with strong liquor and the reflective visions of sexuality, risk and strength provide a subversive text to their relationships with ‘strong’ (a term used in the Caribbean for alcoholic spirits).

After identifying some of the important terms that will be used throughout this chapter, there follows a discussion of some of the background: the social, historical and cultural factors influencing this discussion, in order to understand the relationships and contexts in which Black Caribbean women engage with alcohol. Without clarification of some of the parameters within which Black Caribbean women are identified, it is difficult to gain an understanding of their drinking patterns or behaviours and how the complex interplay of culture, belief and social expectation has influenced Black Caribbean women's identities.

The Caribbean region and importance of migration

The Caribbean consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands and the surrounding coasts. It lies southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and the North American mainland, east of Central America and north of South America. The region comprises more than 700 islands, islets, reefs and bays.

The word ‘Caribbean’ has multiple uses. For the purpose of this chapter, it is used to reflect its identity as both a geographical and political reference point. In this context, the Caribbean is recognised as including territories with strong cultural and historical connections to slavery, European colonisation and the plantation system. The majority of these islands has a long history of colonisation by European countries, which has left imprints of varying degrees on the language, culture and gender roles of Caribbean people and their communities (Chamberlain, 2002).