Money order economy remittances in the island of Utila

1、university of california riversidemoney order economy: remittances in the island of utilaa dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree ofdoctor of philosophyinanthropologybydavid george lorddecember, 1975dissertation committee:professor eugene n. anderson, jr.,

2、chairmanprofessor alan r. bealsprofessor michael kearneycopyright bydavid george lord1975the dissertation of david george lord is approved: committee chairmanuniversity of california, riversidedecember, 1975acknowledgementsi first became acquainted with the bay islands of honduras while doing field

3、research in a british honduran fishing village in the summer of 1966. sacasa gough, a good friend and informant in ambergris caye, interested me in his home island of roatan. subsequently, i spent four months in 1972 surveying various sites throughout the bay islands as future research areas. utila

4、seemed especially suited to investigating a number of economic phenomena, and research was conducted there during september and october, 1973; and january through may, 1974, while i was on academic leave of absence from california state polytechnic university.information employed in this study inclu

5、des both quantitative and qualitative data obtained from a wide variety of sources through a variety of collection techniques. a major portion of the qualitative data were gathered via participant observation in the island where i lived first as a single male in a boarding house, and subsequently as

6、 a householder and family head in my own dwelling. i spent nearly five months of the research period as a secondary school teacher at the methodist parochial college, thus giving both my wife and myself a definite position within the community.data for chapter ii on historical background have been d

7、erived from literary sources and from many old heads-the elder generation of utilians, aged 70 and up-who provided information on the islands past. among those to whom i am indebted for their assistance in my study are rev. f. gideon cooper, mr. edward senhouse rose, mrs. sarah ann bodden (all octog

8、enarians), mr. l. dempsey thompson, and approximately twenty other sometime informants who gave valuable information through life histories and open-ended interviews. in order to preserve their privacy, pseudonyms have been used except where such disguise would clearly be useless (e.g., miss hester,

9、 chief of police in utila). to all of these people i tender a sincere thanks not only for the necessary temporal perspective of chapter ii, but also for the substance of chapters iv, v, and vi.thanks are also extended to my colleagues dr. joan greenway and dr. thomas blackburn at california state po

10、lytechnic university for their encouragement and criticisms in bringing this study to completion. dr. robert thorne of rancho santa ana botanical gardens, claremont, gave the invaluable identification of plant materials referenced in chapter iii.to the members of my committee i am deeply indebted fo

11、r the guidance and nurturance they provided throughout the preparation of this study. i am especially grateful to dr. eugene anderson, jr., who was involved in every facet of the study and unselfishly gave an inordinate amount of time and energy to the project.finally, to my wife and helpmate judith

12、 bogdanoff-lord, my daughter christina, and to my parents, i gratefully acknowledge the tremendous support they have given me throughout the vxxxresearch and writing of this study. to them and to the people of utila this is lovingly dedicated.abstract of the dissertationmoney order economy: remittan

13、ces in theisland of utilabydavid george lorddoctor of philosophy, graduate program in anthropologyuniversity of california, riverside, december 1975professor eugene n. anderson, jr., chairmanutila, one of the bay islands off the north coast of honduras, is representative of many societies throughout

14、 the world; it is an economically dependent society supported largely or entirely by remittance monies. remittances, funds sent home by people who have emigrated or are sojourning out of country, have given rise to a sociocultural system resting heavily on traditional aspects of utilian society and

15、culture.the contemporary interface between economy, society and polity shows that utila was preadapted to requirements of a remittance style economy. such things as the traditional importance of the nuclear family as the production and consumption unit, and a heritage of maritime activity in shippin

16、g and fishing are just two preadaptive features. underlying these and other preadaptations were the extremely important orientations of individualism, commercialism, consumerism, and community atomism or non-cooperation.utilas remittance economy depends on males serving in united states or scandinav

17、ian merchant marines, and therefore being absent for nine or ten months of every year. on the one viiixhand, therefore, individualism fosters the independent action needed in shipping out and selling ones skills and labor. on the other hand, individualism allows continued nuclear family functioning

18、even in the absence of males. commercialism and community atomism have allowed loose social and political organization that easily accommodate male absenteeism. finally, consumerism provides the impetus to continue in the remittance economy in order to acquire the various symbols of the good life su

19、ch as land, a private dwelling, nice clothes and furniture, and so on.beyond consumerism men on leave are indulged in their heavy drinking and partying behavior; laws and social norms are not strictly enforced if they are breached by the men, and women generally tend to pamper male whims in order to

20、 make their stay at home enjoyable. this rest and recreation atmosphere in the island provides encouragement for men to participate in the remittance economy throughout their productive years (generally from age 18 to 55). such an atmosphere serves as an intermediary reward for men until they can re

21、tire and reap the full benefits of the remittance system. women and other stay-at-home islanders benefit from providing a relaxed environment through the continued flow of money into the island.social organization itself helps to perpetuate the remittance economy by providing motivation either to ma

22、intain the status quo by white utilians, to try to move within the various social strata by spaniards, or to change social organization by utilas colored population. in each case it is money, and what can be accomplished with money, that islanders believe would affect social organization; only throu

23、gh the remittance system could funds be obtained.the underlying orientations noted above originally combined with an image of limited good (i.e., of diminishing opportunities for the good life) that arose during times of economic recession and depression. assessing their social and economic conditio

24、n from the resulting perspective, utilians opted for a remittance economy when that opportunity arose at the start of the second world war.the option for a remittance economy was, and continues to be, the most logical and viable economic alternative open to islanders. support for the remittance econ

25、omy has subsequently derived both from the traditional society and culture, and from the new benefits accruing to those who participate in the overall remittance system. ultimately, a system such as utilas may prove to answer the needs of many underdeveloped countries throughout the world.table of c

26、ontentspageacknowledgements ivabstractvii.introduction 1economic studies in the caribbean 3remittances and economic studies in the caribbean 5 migration and characteristics of a remittance economy 7specific aims of the study16ii.preadaptations for a remittance economy: historical factors19presettlem

27、ent20the agricultural phase28the remittance phase36analysis39iii.preadaptations for a remittance economy: thephysical setting and its limitations42department of the bay islands42utilas maritime setting and shoreline43geology47topography48hydrography49climate51flora and fauna54conclusions57iv.remitta

28、nce system interrelationships: economics59the agricultural phase: 1836-194161 production and consumption bases61trade66land ownership and utilization69the distribution of wealth74migration76the remittance phase: 1941 to date78production and consumption patterns78land ownership and utilization86pagem

29、igration92analysis97v.remittance system interrelationships: socialxxxxiorganization103stratification105social groupings119religious groups120educational groups126economic groups129residential groups131informal groups139status and role141analysis154vi.remittance system interrelationships: politicalor

30、ganization159local level politics160utilas larger political involvements169analysis177vii.summary and conclusions180economic studies in the caribbean181the interface between economy, society, and polity187contributions of the study199references201appendices207list of tables1. chronology of events im

31、portant in utila s history212. summary of meteorological data, the bay islands523. utilian-owned ships during the fruit boom674. per capita income figures from central america and the caribbean835. visas issued by the united states embassy, tegucigalpa95chapter iintroductionin the following pages a

32、remittance economy-that of utila-will be described in detail and hypotheses will be developed concerning the remittance economy as a type. hypotheses will also be developed concerning the impact of utilas remittance economy on the nature and structure of the local community.unlike many remittance ec

33、onomies, utilas does not arise primarily from islander emigration to another geographical area, whether elsewhere in honduras or to a foreign country. i am not, therefore, as one example, concerned with problems of assimilation or acculturation as are other students of remittance systems. utilian ma

34、les, upon whom the greatest burden of the remittance system falls, emigrate only in the sense of going away from the island. as merchant mariners, they are not subjected to a foreign culture (as urban migrants could be) that lures them permanently from their home. their absence could be characterize

35、d as migratory labor-in the strictest sense-and yet utila is much more than just a home base from which workers operate. utila represents, in fact, an accommodation to limited local opportunities, and the forging of a viable economy and lifestyle xxxfrom the merchants marine and remittances.a primar

36、y focus of my investigation is, of course, the remittance aspect of utilas economy, but this is not just an economic study per se. rather, it is a close examination of the interface between economy, society, and polity in order to see how utila continues to persist with such apparent facility. just

37、as importantly, that interface should have both predictive and postdictive value showing where similar systems might appear in the future and why they were likely to have developed in the first place.in addition to investigating the phenomenon of remittance economics, and all that it entails, this s

38、tudy is also offered as a work that contributes insights into small community structure and functioning, island dwellers with their maritime background, and english-speaking peoples in a part of the caribbean culture area that is politically attached to central america.i will let descriptive materia

39、l in the succeeding pages carry the weight of how this study sheds light on small, island communities of english-speaking peoples in the caribbean. the relevance to economic studies in general, and to remittance systems specifically, merits particular attention.in the overview of economic studies in

40、 the caribbean, immediately following, several general areas of investigation are enumerated which relate directly to findings in utila but do not adequately explain systems such as utilas. in the generalizations no reference is made to the actual mechanisms used by people like the utilians to eithe

41、r develop or cope with their dependent economic status. the general areas are therefore refined in this study by emphasizing the importance of remittances and migration-dual aspects of a single phenomenon-to a dependent condition wherever it appears. subsequently, the remittance economy is shown to

42、be a strong, positive factor in the continuance not only of utilian society but of other sociocultural systems in asia, africa, europe and throughout the world.economic studies in the caribbeanxiiixxviiadlith brown and havelock brewster have recently surveyed the study of economics in the english-sp

43、eaking caribbean (1974). the result of their investigation is the observation that economic discussion has generally revolved around considerations of size and dependency, with the result that a number of hypotheses deriving from these two factors-hypotheses remaining largely untested-stand out in e

44、conomic investigations. according to them (1974:52-53), the hypotheses deriving from various studies are:first, that the level of economic activity is externally determined, and is outside the control of national decision-centres, public or private. production, consumption and investment depend dire

45、ctly or indirectly on exogenous factors.they then go on to say in the article that consumption patterns, diverging widely and increasingly from production patterns as they do, provide the basis for continuing technological, and therefore economic dependency. fifth, that the level of domestic saving

46、is determined more by institutional characteristics, such as the value system, the distribution of income and the ownership pattern of the surplus than by the average size of disposable incomes. in concluding their survey and inventory of the hypotheses coming from economic studies in the caribbean,

47、 brown and brewster also observe (1974:53) that the domestic price-level is determined from outside the system, principally by import prices and the effect of export propelled income generation on domestic supply. eighth, that wage rates are, in effect, fixed throughout the economy above their equil

48、ibrium level by the export sector and as a result the path to full employment is obstructed. ninth, that since industrial cohesiveness can be developed only to a limited extent on a national basis, the prospects for the creation of an internal economic and technological dynamic hinge on regional int

49、egration. the analysis of utilas economy is clearly relevant to the discussion of several of the preceding points (particularly the first, fourth, fifth, and seventh) and thus in some measure helps to test these hypotheses. for example, information in chapter iv indicates that utilas contemporary ec

50、onomy functions, or does not function, as the result of external demand for its single marketable commodity: the labor power of trained merchant mariners who work world-wide shipping lines. should this demand diminish or disappear, utilas economy would be sorely affected. consumption patterns in uti

51、la, established with the first settlers of the island, have enmeshed the local economy in consumerism-i.e., the tendency to spend or invest income in non-capital goods so that wealth does not in turn produce more income.subsequently, consumerism has irrevocably bound islanders to a life style that u

52、ndermines any local self-sufficiency. by the same token, saving of income has held a low priority in utila due to the well-ingrained pattern of consumerism, a seeming unconcern for the future, and-at the same time-an assurance that there will always be income available to meet future needs. finally,

53、 because it depends totally on outside sources for cash income as well as goods and many important services, utilas domestic price-levels are determined from outside the system.at first glance the data from utila might seem limited in the degree to which they could test the foregoing hypotheses; uti

54、la is, after all, merely one island in a small department (state) that constitutes a minute fraction of a national polity and economy. the smallness in size and the economic dependency, however, are the very things that create linkages to the larger economy of the united states and through these lin

55、kages confirm the applicability of these hypotheses to utila. the specific factors-or factor-that might be involved in establishing dependency relationships are not, of course, dealt with by brown and brewster since these could, hypothetically, differ from one situation to another. in an earlier art

56、icle, however, robert manners (1965) stresses the importance of the precise mechanism whereby utila and many other caribbean islands have developed dependent economic relationships; this mechanism is the remittance.remittances and economic studies in the caribbeananticipating the total lack of reference to remittances in the bro