Upon hearing the direction to research an indigenous group, my mind automatically goes to people indigenous of the country I come from (Cuba), and I’ve always known that the indigenous people from there are the Taino people. I’ve always thought this civilization was sort of extinct with the sickness, marriage with Spanish and Africans, disease, and so forth that plagued their population. Upon doing my research, I found the question of ‘purity’ and being of pure-blood any ethnicity interesting. There have been studies conducted in Puerto Rico of the genetic make up of the country with 61.1 percent coming back as indigenous origin, meaning Taino. However, when people of small villages or communities speak up in Puerto Rico of this descendance, they are treated as if they were crazy with comments like “Are you crazy?! There aren’t any left!”. There is also a small village in Cuba that identify as Taino/Indian and keep all of the old traditions alive. Ultimately, the Taino people face the sociological problem of identity and trying their best to keep the traditions going and passed on even though people label them as they wish. This is a tough issue to solve when it comes to identity and the way you’re raised with certain customs and beliefs. I would say more research needs to be done into the history of all the Taino people of the Caribbean and the possibility of any “pure-blood” still today. But more pressingly, I believe the customs and traditions of these people that identify as indigenous need to continue to be passed on to carry on the culture of that population.
