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                                                                                                           local Friday 14 June 2024
            Aruba’s cultural and literary development: Then and now




            (Oranjestad)—The  Aruban
            culture has seen many sub-
            stantial developments over
            the  course  of  a  century.
            With the introduction of the
            Lago Refinery at the turn of
            the  20th  century,  followed
            by the breakout of the Sec-
            ond  World  War  and  the
            general incentive for politi-
            cal  independence  during
            the mid-century, a cultural
            identity  on  the  island  be-
            gan to take form and have
            since  developed  through
            international  and  local  in-  only one way to generate  trace of a cultural climate  Ramón Vicioso y Rings Wil-   but  who  also  produced
            fluences.                    profit at the time for the sub  for the cultural-literary sec-  liam  Rufus,  who  have  also  works  in  Spanish,  English
                                         existence  of  Aruban  fami-  tor  on  the  island.  Primary  contributed  to  the  literary  and  Dutch.  This  new  phe-
            In  the  pre-industrial  era  of   lies.”                 education  was  introduced  development on the island.  nomenon  was  in  response
            the  19th  century,  much                                 on  the  island  in  the  mid-  The literary movement was  to the interaction between
            could not be said about a    It  wasn’t  until  the  intro-  19th  century,  followed  by  further  promoted  by  local  economic  growth,  individ-
            cultural  identity  on  the  is-  duction  of  the  Lago  Refin-  secondary and higher edu-  broadcasters Voz di Aruba  ual  prosperity,  cultural  life
            land. Still being a part of a   ery  in  San  Nicolas  in  1928,  cation around the late 30’s  and Radio Kelkboom, with  and literary expression.
            Dutch  colonial  territory  at   that the island saw a small  and 40’s. It wasn’t until the  their  regular  broadcast  of
            the time, as well as not hav-  boom  in  cultural  manifes-  1950s, with the introduction  literary works.               The 21st century
            ing  political  or  economic   tations and entertainment,  of  the  E.R.N.A  agreement                              Nowadays, international in-
            autonomy  (Curacao  was      as farmers left the ‘cunucu’  in  1951  and  the  signing  of  The  50s  and  60s  also  saw  fluence on our culture is still
            the  center  of  commerce,   (country) life to work in the  the  Statute  in  1954,  which  the  influence  of  interna-  prevalent, especially those
            cultural  life,  and  politi-  refinery,  which  resulted  in  allowed  more  space  for  tional  cultures,  especially  from  Latin  America,  the
            cal  management  of  the     Aruba acquiring a different  and  control  over  the  eco-  that  of  the  United  States.  United States and The Neth-
            Netherland  Antilles  at  the   economic pilar. Before this,  nomic  and  cultural  devel-  During  this  time,  because  erlands. Nevertheless, there
            time), the small population   entertainment and cultural  opment of Aruba, that the  of  international  influences  also exists a strong cultural
            of  Aruba  consisted  mostly   manifestations were mostly  literary life on the island be-  as  well  as  the  continued  identity  and  traditions  that
            of  farmers  and  fishermen,   experienced  by  local  par-  gan  to  grow  substantially  prosperity of the oil refinery,  are exclusive to the Aruban
            tending to their crops and   ishes and the island’s elite,  compared to decades be-    cultural  traditions  in  Aruba  culture,  often  manifesting
            their  cattle,  or  going  out   who  often  partook  in  cul-  fore.  This  was  in  response  began  to  really  take  form  during  traditional  celebra-
            to  fish  to  provide  for  their   tural  and  entertaining  ac-  to  local  institutions  estab-  and  become  widespread,  tions, like Dia di San Juan/
            family.  As  Quito  Nicolaas   tivities  around  the  island,  lished  in  the  1940s  for  cul-  as different worldly and lo-  Dera  Gai  (St.  John’s  Day),
            states  in  his  article  Historia   like going to the movie the-  tural  and  literary  growth  cal  concepts  were  intro-  Dia  di  Himno  y  Bandera
            di  Literatura  Arubiano:  E   ater or coming together to  on  the  island,  but  that  did  duced in the Aruban soci-  (National  Hymn  and  Flag
            Bida  Cultural  (Literary  His-  share  poetry  on  Sundays  not yet capture the atten-  ety. With the establishment  Day), Camping during Eas-
            tory of Aruba: Cultural Life),   after church.            tion  of  the  general  public.  of  local  television  broad-  ter  and  much  more.  With
            “during  the  pre-industrial                              The  1950  brought  with  it  a  cast  station  Tele-Aruba  in  the  surge  of  social  media
            period,  there  were  no  sig-       Literary life        boom  of  literary  produc-  1963,  and  with  time  and  in  the  last  decade,  artistic
            nificant  economic  activity   Throughout  the  19th  cen-  tion on the island, like those  possibilities, local programs  voices,  especially  those  of
            that  could  have  created   tury and up until the 1940s,  of  V.S.  Piternella,  as  well  such  as  “Nos  Tera”’  (“Our  the  younger  generation,
            a  cultural  ambience,  with   there  were  also  not  much  as  migrant  authors  José  Land”) started to pay more  has  become  even  more
                                                                                                   attention  to  the  Aruban  prevalent and easily acces-
                                                                                                   culture and worked to form  sible  to  the  community  of
                                                                                                   a  cultural  consciousness  Aruba through online plat-
                                                                                                   within  the  community.  The  forms  such  as  Facebook,
                                                                                                   1960s also saw the rise of lo-  Instagram and TikTok.q
                                                                                                   cal authors and artists, who
                                                                                                   were  more  comfortable  in    Source: Historia di Literatura
                                                                                                   producing works in our na-     Arubiano: E Bida Cultural by
                                                                                                   tive  tongue,  Papiamento,           J.R. “Quito” Nicolaas
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