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Thursday 9 OcTOber 2025 locAl
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Aruba’s cultural and literary development: Then and now

(Oranjestad)—The Aruban culture
has seen many substantial devel-
opments over the course of a cen-
tury. With the introduction of the
Lago Refinery at the turn of the 20th
century, followed by the breakout
of the Second World War and the
general incentive for political inde-
pendence during the mid-century,
a cultural identity on the island be-
gan to take form and have since
developed through international
and local influences.

In the pre-industrial era of the 19th
century, much could not be said
about a cultural identity on the is-
land. Still being a part of a Dutch
colonial territory at the same, as
well as not having political or eco-
nomic autonomy (Curacao was
the center of commerce, cultural
life, and political management ment and cultural manifestations compared to decades before. This become widespread, as different
of the Netherland Antilles at the were mostly experiences by local was in response to local institutions worldly and local concepts were
time), the small population of Aru- parishes and the island’s elite, who established in the 1940s for cultural introduced in the Aruban society.
ba consisted mostly of farmers and often partook in cultural and enter- and literary growth on the island, With the establishment of local
fishermen, tending to their crops taining activities around the island, but that did not yet capture the television broadcast station Tele-
and their cattle, or going out to fish like going to the movie theater or attention of the general public. Aruba in 1963, and with time and
to provide for their family. As Quito coming together to share poetry The 1950 brought with it a boom possibilities, local programs such as
Nicolaas states in his article Historia on Sundays after church. of literary production on the island, “Nos Tera”’ (“Our Land”) started
di Literatura Arubiano: E Bida Cul- like those of V.S. Piternella, as well to pay more attention to the Aru-
tural (Literary History of Aruba: Cul- Literary life as migrant authors José Ramón ban culture and worked to form a
tural Life), “during the pre-industrial Throughout the 19th century and Vicioso y Rings William Rufus, who cultural consciousness in the com-
period, there were no significant up until the 1940s, there were also have also contributed to the liter- munity. The 1960s also saw the rise
economic activity that could have not much trace of a cultural cli- ary development on the island. of local authors and artists, who
created a cultural ambience, with mate for the cultural-literary sector The literary movement was further were more comfortable in produc-
only one way to generate profit at on the island. Primary education promoted by local broadcasters ing works in our native tongue, Pa-
the time for the sub existence of was introduced on the island mid- Voz di Aruba and Radio Kelkboom, piamento, but who also produced
Aruban families.” 19th century, followed by second- with their regular broadcast of liter- works in Spanish, English and Dutch
ary and higher education around ary works. This new phenomenon was in re-
It wasn’t until the introduction of the late 30’s and 40’s. It wasn’t un- sponse to the interaction between
the Lago Refinery in San Nicolas til the 1950s, with the introduction The 50s and 60s also saw the influ- economic growth, individual pros-
in 1928, that the island saw a small of the E.R.N.A agreement in 1951 ence of international cultures, es- perity, cultural life and literary ex-
boom in cultural manifestations and the signing of the Statute in pecially that of the United States. pression.
and entertainment, as farmers left 1954, which allowed more space During this time, because of inter-
the ‘cunucu’ (country) life to work for and control over the econom- national influences as well as the The 21st century
in the refinery, which resulted in ic and cultural development of continued prosperity of the oil re- Nowadays, international influence
Aruba acquiring a different eco- Aruba, that the literary life on the finery, cultural traditions in Aruba on our culture is still prevalent, es-
nomic pilar. Before this, entertain- island began to grow substantially began to really take form and pecially those from Latin America,
the United States and The Nether-
lands. Nevertheless, there also ex-
ists a strong cultural identity and
traditions that are exclusive to the
Aruban culture, often manifest-
ing during traditional celebrations,
like Dia di San Juan/Dera Gai (St.
John’s Day), Dia di Himno y Ban-
dera (National Hymn and Flag
Day), Camping during Easter and
much more. With the surge of so-
cial media in the last decade, ar-
tistic voices, especially those of the
younger generation, has become
even more prevalent and eas-
ily accessible to the community
of Aruba through online platforms
such as Facebook, Instagram and
TikTok.

Source: Historia di Literatura Arubiano:
E Bida Cultural by J.R. “Quito” Nico-
laas