Page 12 - AHATA

Saturday 14 december 2024 locAl
A10

Aruba’s cultural and literary development: Then and now

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