People in between: the Matawai Maroons of Suriname

[p. 439]

IV Recent Developments

[p. 441]

15
Recent Developments

Due to the recent character of migration, the particular migration flow in one direction, the enduring importance of traditional principles of social organization and the high mobility of the Matawai, this society which consists of an urban and a rural segment has maintained some features of a ‘closed’ system. The tribal segment tends to be more ‘closed’ while the urban segment is more ‘open’. We use the terms ‘open’ and ‘closed’ here to refer to principles of recruitment and boundary maintenance.

In the first chapter we will deal with the emergence of a Matawai community in the coastal area and with their adaptation to the multi-ethnic Surinamese society. Despite the complexity of migration, a process involving psychological, socio-economic, ecological and political factors at different levels of analysis, the causes of urban migration are often phrased in general terms of modernization, development or acculturation. For instance, Bennett (1976), following Zelinsky, has stressed the modernization factor in both the demographic and mobility transition. Both authors emphasize the close relation between the demographic and mobility transition^(1.). In the case of the Matawai there is an easily discernable factor of modernization involved in the demographic changes: the introduction of medical care has been a major factor in the decline of mortality causing rapid population growth. It is likely that this growth has stimulated migration. Although agricultural land is not yet scarce, other resources indeed are. We have already pointed out that labour shortances outside the tribal area for certain kinds of work attracted many Bush Negroes to the coast

(1.) These transitions are seen as part of the more general concept of the ecological transition.

[p. 442]

(see p. 424). Once a small migrant community of Matawai was initially formed, this community itself became a factor in the continuity of migration. On the one hand new migrants came to join their relatives to the coast, on the other the migrants contributed to a change in the world-view of the people who remained in the tribal villages.

The rapid urban growth which was partly due to migration of members of tribal groups, led to a reaction on the part of the Surinamese government, which wished to counter the migration stream. In the second chapter we discuss changes in the tribal villages and present a case study of a proposal for a development project initiated by the government. Although it has become unlikely that the project will be executed according to the original plan, the discussion of its remains to have relevance because the basic ideas behind the plan such as large-scale agricultural production, still dominate thinking about the development of the Bush Negro areas.

In the conclusion we focus on the interrelationship between migrant and tribal communities and its significance for development planning.