White awareness

―European-descended Trinidadian identity discourse―

Abstract

     This study explores the issue of white identity defined as European-descended white, in the Caribbeanisland of Trinidad, and examination of what makes people consider themselves “white” and different fromno-white “others”, and what constitutes their whiteness in relation to non-whites. In August 2017 and February 2018, oral history interviews were conducted in Trinidad with adult participants who consider themselves white and who are considered white by other whites. The stories shared by the participants suggest 1. Awareness of the differences in physical features and social class from non-white “others”, 2. enforced-awareness of responsibility and accountability for slave trades and slavery in the colonial days, and 3. harassment and bullying by non-white “others” based on the difference in physical features and the colonial “sin” as slave owners, are the elements that contribute to the construction of white identity as European-descended white in Trinidad.