Cultural Conversations: Using Liming as a Tool to Engage Men and Boys in Conversations on Gender-Based Violence in the Caribbean

Abstract

Imagine a group of people gathered under the Caribbean sun, laughing, drinking, sharing stories and engaging in lively conversation and debates. This scene, a quintessential ‘lime’, is more than a relaxing pastime, it is a deeply rooted cultural practice of bonding and dialogue. Liming, as both a practice and a concept, holds significant potential for encouraging meaningful conversations on critical social issues (Fernández Santana et al, 2019). However, as Kerrigan (2016) demonstrates through his work on grassroots football in Trinidad, liming spaces are complex sites where both solidarity and exclusion coexist. In this article, I argue that understanding this duality is crucial to effectively using liming as a platform to promote positive change in attitudes toward violence against women and girls, an issue pervasive throughout the Caribbean and beyond.