Guest Editorial

The theme of this issue of CAFRA News, "Caribbean Feminism in the 21st Century: Where Are We Going?", provides us with an opportunity for self-reflection. For members of the CAFRA News committee, our self-reflection began when the issue, and original suggestions for the issue, were conceptualised. For the benefit of our readers who are not familiar with the initial list of suggestions, we reproduce the list here:

• We know that feminism has developed, and is developing, differently in the different language areas of the Caribbean i.e. Dutch, Spanish, French and English-speaking regions. How have these feminisms developed and are developing?

• There is a view that we are on the cusp of a change in Caribbean feminist approaches. What are these changes? How do they manifest? Why are feminist approaches changing? What are they changing into?

• What does feminism mean to young people?

• Feminist focus on masculinity

• Caribbean feminism appears to be competing with other ideologies that feminism itself has helped to prioritise, such as the environment and masculinity. In this context, is feminism losing currency and if so how and why?

• A recurrent issue in Caribbean feminism is the extent to which feminism does not have a grassroots orientation. Is this true? Is this still true? Is this a necessary preoccupation?

For members and friends who responded in various ways, the suggested themes evidently stimulated interest. Among the submissions is Gabrielle Hosein’s perspective on "young" feminism presented at the Caribbean Studies Association (CSA) gender panel in May 2001. Carla Bakboord and Maribel Caro, feminists from Suriname and Puerto Rico respectively, also presented papers on the CSA gender panel and they too are preoccupied with the same issue. The first part of this CAFRA News provides a space for their various perspectives on ’young’ feminism to dialogue with one another.

The articles in the latter part of the newsletter contain more diverse perspectives on another emergent preoccupation- masculinity and feminism’s relationship with it. Keith Nurse’s article on "Masculinities in Transition" provides an interesting analysis of the ’men as victims’ and the ’men as underachievers’ arguments. His perspective on how the decline of patriarchy influences domestic violence is taken up in Meryl James-Sebro’s submission on the increase in incidents of domestic abuse in Trinidad and Tobago. Peggy Antrobus links both analyses to the World Trade Centre (WTC) bombing in September 2001 and argues that the rise in religious fundamentalism is another key contributor to domestic violence.

Reflections on these two issues- young/old feminism and masculinity- are represented in the first and second parts of the newsletter respectively. They flank Sonia Cuales’s thoughts and an interview-styled submission from the Centre for Gender and Development Studies (CGDS), Mona, Jamaica. In these two pieces, both themes emerge prominently. Because these two submissions speak to both of the major issues raised in the newsletter, they are used here to bridge the two sections- conceptually as well as aesthetically.

In an effort to include as many ideas as possible, this issue sacrificed its regional news round-up. However, the CAFRA programme update and the list of new and interesting publications have been retained. Indeed, the original vision for CAFRA News is that the newsletter serves as a vehicle for information exchange among a membership separated by sea, language and culture. The updates are critical in bridging information gaps and therefore they were considered indispensable in this issue.

CAFRA News is a communication instrument of the Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action (CAFRA). As CAFRA is the only organisation of its kind in the region, so too CAFRA News is the only publication of its kind int he Caribbean. The newsletter is concerned with feminist issues, is published in two languages, and is specifically focussed on the Caribbean.

As we acknowledge the fundamental contributions of past CAFRA News committee members and celebrate the success of the magazine, we would also like to remind our readers that if this newsletter is to continue fulfilling its potential as a forum for dialogue, debate and information exchange, then the membership would have to meet its responsibility and respond to the committee’s requests for ideas and copy.

We offer this issue of CAFRA News as a small contribution to the ongoing discussion about where Caribbean feminism finds itself at this historical moment and how, perhaps even if, we see the continuing relevance of this significant social movement. We encourage your feedback on the issues raised here and look forward to further considerations on these and other questions.