Aruba: Song for Mother Earth (Nydia Ecury)
Nadia Ecury (1926-2012) was an Afro-Dutch writer, translator, and actress. In addition to publishing five volumes of poetry, she also worked to translate plays into the Papiamentu language. She attended school in Canada, studying literature and journalism before moving to Curaçao to teach English. After World War II, she became increasingly interested in Papiamentu, and worked to produce and act in plays in the language to promote the language and cultural identity associated. She was awarded the Gold Medal of the Order of Orange-Nassau in 1972 for her cultural contributions.
Background: Like Antigua, Aruba is thought to have been inhabited by Amerindian Arawaks. In the summer of 1499, the Spaniards learned about Aruba, calling it an "island of giants" due to the tallness of the native people. Spain soon colonized the island, although the slave trade/plantations did not flourish there due to the climate. In 1636, the Dutch took power from Spain during the Thirty Years' War. Since then, the island has been under Dutch administration. The British briefly took control between 1799-1802 and 1804-1816 before handing back control to the Dutch. In August 1947, Aruba applied for status as an autonomous state within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, although this took decades to complete. In 1977, 82% of the inhabitants voted for independence, and in 1983 an official agreement was reached with the Dutch. 1986 saw the first elections for its own parliament. In 1990, however, the government indefinitely postponed the transition to full independence and it remains a country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
This book is a fairly short collection of poetry and illustration (done by José M. Capricorne), bilingual in English and Papiamentu. Many of the poems advocate for female power and forefront the experience of womanhood. I enjoyed the poems, and the ability to see the Papiamentu language alongside, but to be honest, the collection is so short, it was hard to get more than a very tiny glimpse into her or the Aruban culture. It was and is almost impossible to get ahold of anything by her and I have yet to find another author from Aruba.
