Cocoa Woman: A Narrative About Cocoa Estate Culture in the British West Indies

Johnny Coomansingh

oct 2016 · Xlibris Corporation

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Cocoa Woman: A Narrative About Cocoa Estate Culture in the British West Indies speaks of the discomfort, the pain, the suffering, and what a young man now speculates to be the abuse he endured while spending weekends and school vacations on his godmothers cocoa plantation. In retrospect, it was nothing short of child slave labor. He feels that he stomached slave labor just because he received a morsel to eat. The abuse was more than just physical. Unknowingly, he suffered psychological abuse. Against the background of colonial domination and exploitation in Trinidad and Tobago, this book is poignant, direct, and to the point. It unleashes the spirit of the cocoa field and fully exposes the daily menial rounds of production, the never-ending chores, language idioms, village bacchanal, beliefs, cuisine, artifacts, folkways, and foibles that intertwined to constitute cocoa estate culture. All the characters in the story were given different monikers. Most of them are now dead.

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About the Author Born and raised in the town of Sangre Grande, Trinidad and Tobago, Johnny Coomansingh received his education from Kansas State University (KSU), Fort Hays State University (FHSU) (Kansas), Andrews University (Michigan), the College of Teachers (London), the Eastern Caribbean Institute of Agriculture, Forestry (ECIAF), and Northeastern College, Sangre Grande, Trinidad. He read for his doctoral and master’s degrees in geography at KSU with emphases on cultural geography, tourism, and rural economic development. At FHSU, he graduated with a master of science in communication with emphasis on public relations. During the course of his development, he served as a high school teacher in mathematics, regional geography, and human and social biology, as an agricultural extension/communication agent, as a corporate communications practitioner, and as a university professor. His research interests include sustainable development, rural development through tourism, human impact on the environment, and Caribbean indigenous music and festivals.