Creolisation in the Caribbean
Question #5: Why is the Creolisation theory considered a more useful means of theorizing the Caribbean? How has Douglarisation contributed to the identity debate?
Even though there is a separation created by geographic distances and different independent states, it is still possible to talk in general terms of the Caribbean, and of Caribbean literature. The common experience of colonialism, displacement, slavery, indenture, emancipation and nationalism has shaped most West Indian environments, creating a unity of experience that can be identified as particularly Caribbean. These general experiences, more importantly have been the breading ground of a whole new society and culture, than can be defined most effectively by employing the theory of creolisation. For the purposes of this paper, Creolisation is intenderd to mean intercultural mixing. Because of the intense mixing that characterizes the Caribbean, one can only truly understand the Caribbean by using the Creolisation theory.
The concept of creolization first came into prominence after the European discovery of the Americas to describe the process by which Old World life forms became indigenous in the New World. Today creolization appears in writings on globalization and post modernity as a synonym of hybridity and syncretism to portray the mixtures occurring amongst societies in an age of migration and telecommunications. The historical record reminds us that creolization did not refer centrally to mixture, but just to the adaptive effects of living in a new environment.
The Caribbean is known internationally for its rich display of culture. This unique Caribbean culture has been brought about through creolisation, which accounted for the cultural interchanging. Language, dress, food, literature and social relations are all affected by the interplay of cultures. Only recently though, has creolisation become understood as a mutual exchange rather than the acculturation of colonized people to a dominant
Even though there is a separation created by geographic distances and different independent states, it is still possible to talk in general terms of the Caribbean, and of Caribbean literature. The common experience of colonialism, displacement, slavery, indenture, emancipation and nationalism has shaped most West Indian environments, creating a unity of experience that can be identified as particularly Caribbean. These general experiences, more importantly have been the breading ground of a whole new society and culture, than can be defined most effectively by employing the theory of creolisation. For the purposes of this paper, Creolisation is intenderd to mean intercultural mixing. Because of the intense mixing that characterizes the Caribbean, one can only truly understand the Caribbean by using the Creolisation theory.
The concept of creolization first came into prominence after the European discovery of the Americas to describe the process by which Old World life forms became indigenous in the New World. Today creolization appears in writings on globalization and post modernity as a synonym of hybridity and syncretism to portray the mixtures occurring amongst societies in an age of migration and telecommunications. The historical record reminds us that creolization did not refer centrally to mixture, but just to the adaptive effects of living in a new environment.
The Caribbean is known internationally for its rich display of culture. This unique Caribbean culture has been brought about through creolisation, which accounted for the cultural interchanging. Language, dress, food, literature and social relations are all affected by the interplay of cultures. Only recently though, has creolisation become understood as a mutual exchange rather than the acculturation of colonized people to a dominant
Cited: "http://science.jrank.org/pages/7603/Creolization-Caribbean.html">Caribbean Creolization - Caribbean Context, From Experience To Theory, Hernandez-Ramdwar, C. Multiracial Identities in Trinidad and Guyana: Exaltation and Ambiguity. Latin American Issues [On-line], 13(4). Available: [url] http://webpub.allegheny.edu/group/LAS/LatinAmIssues/Articles/LAI_vol_13_section_IV.html Ralph Premdass, Identity, Ethnicity and Culture in the Caribbean: School of Continuing Studies, St Augustine, Trinidad, 1999 Ahye, Molly (1996) “Brother Marvin knows Africa and India linked.” Daily Express, 24 February. Glissant, E(1995) “Creolisation in the Making of the Americas”, Hyatt and Nettleford, London. Brathwaite, E. The Development of Creole Society in Jamaica, 1971, Oxford: Clarendon Press.