CARIBPOLITAN
1. Term constructed from ‘Caribbean’ and the Greek root ‘polis’ which means city, citizenship or body of people.
2. 21st century person with West Indian origin/descent living in diasporic metropolitan communities such as Brooklyn’s Flatbush, South Florida’s Little Haiti/Little Havana, Toronto’s Brampton, Paris’ ____, and London’s Brixton.
3. Urban person with parentage from one or more Caribbean islands.
Some iconic Caribpolitan luminaries are Frantz Fanon, Arturo Schomburg, Harry Belafonte, Aime Cesaire, Shirley Chisholm, Malcolm X and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Discover more of our Caribbean legacy on our partner exhibition with Google Arts & Culture: Caribbean Spirit
No longer separated by sea, Caribpolitans bridge the waters by forming new “villages” in Diasporic enclaves like Flatbush, Brixton, and Brampton. For most Caribbean immigrants, New York City is their first encounter with neighboring islanders.
From food and fashion, to parades and political representation Caribpolitans successfully transform and navigate communities in metropoles, infusing unique Caribbean culture and ethos into those spaces.
The term evolved from a conversation between Caribbeing’s founders Shelley + Janluk. It stemmed from the word Negropolitan and the Negritude movement in Paris, France.
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Shop the Caribpolitan collection.
Illustration by Andrea Pippins for caribBEING.