Presentation by Harry Jonathan Domíngues Barbosa, M.A. at the 2nd Belize National Research Conference, 2019.

Abstract 

After 36 years of gaining independence from England, Belize has undergone various political, economic and social changes, characteristic of a young and ethnically polarized nation. Afterward the construction of Belmopan, socio-cultural phenomena such as violence and marginalization appeared in the old capital; context that, fueled by the external cultural influences of American television, emigration and regional drug trafficking contributed to the formation of conflict groups (gangs). Nowadays, the criminalization of the Afro-descendant Creole population is frequent, mainly that which lives in marginalized communities. How have these phenomena affected Belize City? and What disadvantages face the population that lives in the poorest spaces of the city? In this paper I answer the questions posed, showing the findings of an anthropological research conducted in different volatile communities of Belize City and showing the actions undertaken by organized Creole citizenship to solve the aforementioned problems.

Key words: Belize creole, socio-cultural research, social changes, marginalization