ROUTES FOR ROOTS: ENTERING THE 21ST CENTURY IN SAN ANDRÉS ISLAND, COLOMBIA.

The article traces the historical development of the 'Raizal' ethnic community on the island of San Andrés in the Colombian Caribbean. It explains how this Anglophone, Protestant community has survived the attempts, by first Spain and then Colombia, to incorporate them into the Hispanic and Catholic world. It investigates the bases for Raizal culture and identity, explaining the strategies adopted at different times, and evaluating their success, or failure. It focuses particularly on the opportunities afforded by the Colombian Constitution of 1991 to the Raizal community, but how these have not been developed to the extent, or speed, that was hoped. It concludes by placing the Raizal struggle in the wider context of developments in the Southwest Caribbean, arguing for a regional rather than national approach to the general crisis faced by the ethnic communities of the region, and to the opportunities that are opening up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]