Akari Devonish
Caribbean Studies

Culture is the beliefs or customs of a society. There can be two distinctive types of culture, material culture which consists of all tangible things created by the members of society like architecture, cuisine etc. and non material culture which comprises society’s belief and norms like music and religion. In recent times however, due to the increase of development and modernization, many traditional practices can be erased, retained or even renewed. We can see these changes in the Caribbean, especially in Barbados.
Culture erasure refers to the process of gradually removing various traditions from society. This usually comes from newer generations having little or no interest in certain traditions. In the Caribbean the majority of young adults prefer foreign music, clothes and even sports. For example, there is a severe decline in people who would prefer to listen to calypso over foreign music. In terms of sports, there has also been a reduction of cricket fans. In the past there were masses of people who flocked to the cricket grounds to watch the West Indies. Those who didn’t were usually at home watching from their television or listening to it on the radio. In modern times, other sports like football, has gained a massive increase in popularity over cricket.
In addition, the advances of technology can have an effect on the rate of culture erasure as well. Although they might save much needed time and energy, the introduction of various household appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines, dishwashers and microwaves, has contributed to the loss of various cultural practices eliminating the use of washing boards etc. Even things such as medicine are affected. The use of over the counter imported medicine has diminished the use of herbal “bush medicine”. Today, only the more traditional Caribbean families that