Family reunion rituals

The article covers the topic of family reunion rituals of African Caribbean families and how they are specifically designed to reunite kinfolk. These rituals represent a way that members of transnational families sought to re-engage in a face to face interaction that keeps the family ties and memories of the family alive. The article was written from experiences that Sutton learned by interviewing people who participated in family reunions. The dispersed transmigrants who attended the reunion rituals came from places reflecting differing migration trajectories: the USA, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Ghana, Guyana, and various places in the Caribbean. The size of the reunions varied from a total of 46 participants to an estimated 250 participants. In all but one of the reunions, participants who came from overseas outnumbered the participants who lived on the island where the event was held. The reunions of the three descent groups differed not only in scale but also in the scope of activities undertaken, and in the degree of formality in the arrangements and in what was regarded as the main intent of the reunion. The significance of the rituals was captured in frequent iterations of ‘we are a very tight-knit family, a very close one’, ‘family is everything’, or ‘knowing your family is
knowing yourself’. These statements were made to explain why family reunions were important. ‘Knowing your family’ referred not only to learning who you are but whom  you can count on for support – a support that materializes in exchanges of goods, advice, services, ‘favors’, monetary assistance and the welcoming of kin who may wish to stay with you for shorter or longer periods