Talk:Lokono

Confusing contradictions

The article states: „the term 'Arawak' does not exist as a word anywhere in the Lokono language, and instead was given to them by the Warrau tribe“. However, the German Wikipedia, which only has an Arawak, not a Lokono site, says, that Arawak comes from the Lokono word „aru“, meaning cassava flower (https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arawak#:~:text=Die%20Arawak%2C%20Aruak%20oder%20Arawaken,Teilen%20Südamerikas%20finden%20oder%20fanden. )

Furthermore, another article states that Awarak is a tribal name for the cassava plant. It doesnt specify which tribe named the plant/ the Awarak people (Arawak language). It comes off like the Awarak gave themselves the name, even though there shoulndt exist a Lokono word like Awarak and the name shouldve been given to them by an unrelated language, which would be the Warrau‘s language Warao. Enter your Username Your username is public and cannot be made private later (talk) 15:43, 26 November 2024 (UTC)

Significant parts of this article are unsourced and poorly written, and their accuracy is suspect.

Under Name everything following "...and strictly as 'Lokono' by tribal members who are still fluent in the language" and before "About 10% or 1,000 of the 10,000 Lokono alive are fluent in their language..." seems to have been added by someone who is a Lokono speaker, but the information is unsourced.

Under History everything in the section titled Barbados seems to have been added by Damon Corrie and the information is not relevant to the topic, but appears to recite Corrie's family history.

Much of Religion is unsourced, and a number of suspicious claims are made that are wholly unsupported (e.g., "women are considered spiritually superior" and so forth).

This article needs some serious editing and cleanup. 74.215.126.115 (talk) 10:49, 20 May 2025 (UTC)

I agree. I've added section warnings as well as various <Citation Needed> for problematic parts of the article - though I'm honestly not super familiar with how Wikipedia prefers handling stuff like this. KiwiNova (talk) 12:47, 20 May 2025 (UTC)

Damon Gerard Corrie is a 4th generation descendant of the last traditional Hereditary Shaman Chief Amorothe Haubariria (Flying Harpy Eagle) of the Bariria Korobahado Lokono (Eagle Clan Arawaks) of Guyana, South America. He is a practitioner of the traditional Lokono religion. He is the author of the following sources in the article:

• “ARAWAK PRINCESS BURIED IN WESTBURY CEMETERY UNKNOWN TO MOST BARBADIANS by Damon Gerard Corrie"
• The Amazon is Burning - The Flames of 21st Century Resistance Inspired by Indigenous Women (https://books2read.com/u/3RaD8p)
• Amazonia's Mythical and Legendary Creatures in the Eagle Clan Lokono-Arawak Oral Tradition of Guyana (https://books2read.com/u/bpE9gX)
• Lokono Arawaks (https://books2read.com/u/bzjGkz)

I have corresponded with Damon Corrie through email about this and he then confirmed that he had indeed written the sentences that lacked the citation numbers. The problem is, at least some of this information comes from oral knowledge among members of the Lokono that has not been published in academic citations. Indigenous oral traditions and firsthand testimony are an important source of history and culture, but they have often been excluded from scholarship and written records, which creates a systemic bias on Wikipedia (see WP:SYSTEMICBIAS). Removing this information entirely would risk repeating the historical erasure of indigenous voices.

For the reasons described above, I believe the information that currently lacks citation numbers should remain in the article. However, I am not sure how to add citation(s) to some of those sentences while abiding by Wikipedia’s rules, as they originate from oral knowledge not published elsewhere.

Maybe this following source (which is already included in the bottom of the Wikipedia article) can be cited for this information: (Lokono Animist Traditionalists group, Pakuri Village, Lokono-Arawak Territory, Guyana, South America contacted via Instagram @eagleclanarawaks). However, I’m not sure if that would abide by Wikipedia’s rules.

Or maybe this solution?: WP:SPS: self-published material can be cited if the author is "a recognized authority" speaking about themselves, their life, or their own community. If the editor is a recognized elder, cultural leader, or official tribal member with public standing, this may apply. Although this is pertaining to oral knowledge, not self-published material.

Or maybe this solution?: keep the information with attribution (e.g. “According to oral tradition among the [Tribe]…”), as it is oral history / community knowledge.

Damon Corrie has given me permission to share with you the information we have discussed in our emails. Please email Damon Corrie ( e a g l e c l a n a r a w a k s @ g m a i l . c o m) to confirm that I ( r o d l e o r @ g m a i l . c o m ) corresponded with him through email, and to confirm that he indeed shared all of this information in my post here (including all of the excerpts below).

The below is an excerpt from one of his emails. It provides additional context to the sentences written by him that currently lack citation numbers.

The email excerpt:

The other 3 persons who assisted me were elder Lokono language fluent speaker and tangible & intangible culture expert Joseph Simon - my father-in-law (deceased on 14 October 2020 Pakuri Territory), and famous Lokono Artist, Historian & Archaeologist George Simon - my wife's cousin - from Pakuri (now deceased July 15 2020 also) - who informed me of the parts of our history of the 3 sons of the last Medecine man from my great-great Grandfathers Chiefdom who were baptized and given the surname Simon - and who joined 2 other Christrianised Lokono families to start the village of Pakuri etc, and lastly Mr Michael Gilkes famous Guyana University Lecturer, Playwright and Author (deceased April 14th 2020) who provided the information about the meeting in the Assembly Rooms with HRH the Prince of Wales with my Great grandmother etc - as Michael's family owned the venue and were in attendance at the Ball.

Joseph Simon

https://guyanachronicle.com/2020/10/25/cultural-icon-simon-remembered-as-pro-traditionalist-by-indigenous-community/?fbclid=IwY2xjawMigkBleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETExbU5qRXdqREpsMTF0ZFFRAR5Di8iq0-luhqzFjvnZZ9hdtOJa0PY5xlIpGjShERd2b8WzM7re4DwwbokYog_aem_-HUOMhUg8bPeTyejoZHdhg

George Simon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Simon_(artist)

Michael Gilkes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Gilkes_(writer)''

The below is another email of his, and it contains a blog article he had published. NOTE: The links below are dead, so also ask Damon Corrie ( e a g l e c l a n a r a w a k s @ g m a i l . c o m ) by email to email you the copy of the article (that he emailed to me) for confirmation.

The email:

In this published article I qoute famous Guyanese playwright Micharl Gilkes correspondence to me confirming aspects of our oral history:

THAT TIME IN GUYANAS HISTORY WHEN THE THEN VISITING HRH THE PRINCE OF WALES – DANCING WITH MY LOKONO-ARAWAK GREAT-GRANDMOTHER, CAUSED A MINOR SCANDAL IN COLONIAL SOCIETY IN GEORGETOWN

by shamanchief

MORE FAMILY HISTORY TRIVIA MEMORIES - OF WHEN GUYANAS MOST FAMOUS PLAYWRIGHT INDEPENDENTLY CONFIRMED A KEY INCIDENT IN OUR FAMOUS AMERINDIAN ANCESTRY

I once received this important bit of info and HAD to share it with the family (this is the gentleman making the movie MAIRA & THE JAGUAR PEOPLE - that I mentioned years ago - that he first interviewed my son Tecumseh and daughter Sabantho to play the leading roles in) - he has CONFIRMED the oral knowledge we had and given a specific address AND added a romantic sounding fairy-tale aspect of our Matriarch's story we did NOT know, namely that the Prince of Wales considered her the prettiest girl in the room and insisted on dancing with her - and indeed it was from this night on - that she was referred to as 'Princess' (because there is no word for 'Princess' or 'Prince' in the Arawak Language), her non-Amerindian husband was Vivian Arnold DeWever who had inherited a fortune from his father who owned the Argosy Newspaper in Guyana, a fortune which Vivian basically squandered away over time, but not before he made his Amerindian wife the wealthiest indigenous woman in Guyana up until 1925 when the couple emigrated to Barbados with their 6 children (with a collection of diamond, ruby, emerald, saphire, pearl and gold jewellery that was legendary), hence the couple were prominent socialites in Colonial Georgetown in 1921 when HRH The Prince of Wales visited Guyana, and our great grandmother Marian (daughter of our last Hereditary Lokono-Arawak Clan Chief) anfd her well known husband Vivian - were invited to the Ball in his honour, and this is where she was introfduced to HRH The Prince of Wales as a tribal Princess of the Arawak tribe - due to her father being a Hereditary Chief, and where he danced with her - not any other local Guyanese female that night.

She died in Barbados in 1928 and is buried in Westbury cemetery (near to Rihanna drive), where her grave has become a minor tourist attraction for history enthusiasts, as her gravestone is the ONLY one in the world - written in both English and the Lokono-Arawak language, and hers is the only known burial place of a member of traditional Lokono-Arawak nobility in the entire Caribbean.

"Hi Damon,

I had looked at the website before and was amazed at the lineage of the great Arawak clan leaders you represent. Your daughter Sabantho is indeed a princess. I looked again tonight more carefully at the website and realized something you might find interesting:

A grand ball was held in Georgetown in 1921 for the then Prince of Wales, and it was held at My aunt Dorothy Taitt's great house in Murray Street. The Prince insisted on dancing with the prettiest girl there among all the socialites and important English as well as creole audience. It was almost a scandal. Older Guyanese still remember that occasion and the news it created. The Prince of Wales dancing with a brown girl! It was the talk of the town. Now I think that beautiful girl was your great grandmother Arawak Princess Marian. No one remembers her real name, but she was always called 'Princess' after that night. I think the address was at 294 Murray Street. Dr. Jabez and Mrs. Dorothy Taitt were at the top of Colonial society at that time. 'Woodbine House' had been the residence of a previous governor of Guiana. I lived there as a boy, growing up with my cousins, the Taitts. The Prince planted a Sapodilla tree which grew to giant size. I loved that tree. It crashed down in a rainstorm one night a few years ago. My cousin Helen lies buried beneath it. Life brings strange surprises."

Michael Gilkes

(Caribbean critic, dramatist, filmmaker, and University lecturer)

Visit our website at eagleclanarawaks.com – you may find a lot more that interests you.

On YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXZ3PIPXKu2xuMJUusZqAPg

On Instagram – @eagleclanarawaks and also @firstnationsproductions

The late & Great Mr. Michael Gilkes

My Lokono-Arawak great-great-grandmother Marian Her grave in Barbados, it has the ONLY tombstone in the world written in both the Lokono-Arawak & English languages

shamanchief | 23rd Feb 2022 at 5:16 pm | Categories: Uncategorized | Rodleor (talk) 23:24, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

Yes, that article was whack. I replaced the long, very question sections full of trivia with shorter information based on the published cites. The stories you've listed above would be great to publish on a blog, Substack, Medium, or another platform. As an encyclopedia, Wikipedia is limited to content available from secondary published sources. Any unpublished material, including oral history, is considered original research, which is not allowed here. You can click on any of the linked terms to learn more about Wikipedia's policies. Yuchitown (talk) 00:38, 6 September 2025 (UTC)