The Power of the Caribbean Diaspora
Every Caribbean person is an ambassador, forward home.
Gus Franklyn-Bute
Updated October 2022
Caribbean Diaspora on the move
The Caribbean Diaspora is truly on the move. The impact of the Caribbean people on communities around the world is reshaping and redefining how other people and other communities live and how the world sees the Caribbean and its diverse people. Each migrating national is an ambassador for their country and the wider Caribbean. Collectively, the places we depart from, the destinations where we land, and the neighbourhoods we make our second homes resemble a global route map of which any major airline would be proud.
The Caribbean diaspora and Caribbean people are circumnavigating the globe with increasing frequency and adventure than at any other time in history. Caribbean people are venturing into new territories in search of new opportunities to study, work, live, and build families beyond the traditional metropolitan cities like London, New York, and Toronto. The Caribbean diaspora is melting into and sprouting up in newer host countries like Taiwan, Japan, China, and Germany.
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“Foward Home” should be the cultural cry of the Caribbean Diaspora
For this newer generation of the Caribbean diaspora, which includes second and third generations of earlier migrants from the region, burning questions remain: what impact are they measurably making in business, culture, academia, and politics? What influence or “power” do they hold as a Caribbean diaspora that enriches the lives and livelihoods of their host communities and country? What contribution are they making to their Caribbean heritage, the Caribbean region, and the country they and their families identify with?
“Forward Home: The Power of the Caribbean Diaspora” is a short documentary film that beautifully unearths the reality of the economic power of the people of the Caribbean diaspora living in global cities. Shot on location in 9 countries (London, Toronto, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Suriname, New York, Jamaica, Guyana, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago), the 10-minute film reveals the significance of the Caribbean diaspora contribution to their homeland, as travelers and entrepreneurs. Its power continues to resonate today, challenging each generation of the Caribbean diaspora to reflect on their individual and collective contribution to where we now call home and where we and our families consider our original homeland. After all, we are a plural people.
Forward Home (2011) from Imagine Media International Ltd
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