The nature of ethnic identity among the people of Curaçao

Abstract

This qualitative research explores the nature of ethnic identity among the people of Curaçao. The questions that are of fundamental interest to this study are: how do the people of Curaçao perceive themselves ethnically, how do they experience their sense of belonging to an ethnic group and what factors influence that intrinsic part of their being due to ethnic group membership? The sample for this study consists of 182 adults; age groups 19 to 36 (young adulthood), 37 to 60 (adulthood) and 61 and up (late adulthood), of both gender and who were born in Curacao or elsewhere, but have come to Cura?ao at an early age in order to have received the socialization patterns of the island. The sample is selected from fifteen major ‘ethnic’ groups in accordance with the subjects’ predominant ethnic descent. The groups are of: Dutch, African, Mulatto (Mixed race), Hispanic, Jewish, Surinamese, Arab, Chinese, Portuguese, Indian (India), British Caribbean, Aruban, Dutch Windward Island and Bonairean descent. The fifteenth group ‘Others’ consists of subjects of German, Haitian, Italian and Indonesian descent. The study adopts a social psychological model that embraces the cognitive, affective, behavioral and social components of ethnic identity. These components are explored by the semi open-ended interviews. Results show that the nature of ethnic identity among the people of Cura?ao is mainly characterized by a mono-ethnic identity, ‘Curacaoan, with a multicultural disposition’.