Creolization of Caribbean Identity: Diversity and Displacement

Creolization of Caribbean Identity:

Diversity and Displacement

Outline

Definitions & History of colonization Creolization:

English language & of people Race Relations Conflicts and Displacement;

Resistance and Formation of Distinct Culture

• Caribbean poetry; Derek Walcott & dub poetry • Popular culture: Different ways; Calypso, Reggae &

Hip-Hop

Image of the Caribbean

Jan van de Straet’s engraving “America”--the new world as a woman

Definition (1): the Caribbean

names: West Indies (Anglophone) the Antilles (Francophone) the Caribbean as a term encompassing both

Composed of immigrants only: the aboriginal communities [Amerindians-- Arawaks, Caribs, etc.] exterminated; Immigrants from Africa, Asia and Europe.

The Caribbean area and the Caribbean diaspora

Canada The U.S.

““Children of the Sea”Children of the Sea”; Fugees; Fugees

Annie John M. Cliff, B. Marley

Wide Sargasso Sea Sugar Cane Alley

Derek Walcott

England France India

History of Colonization in the Caribbean Area

1492-96 -- Columbus’s “discovery” of the West Indies16th-18th centuries --Colonial period: 

also a period of wars among colonial nations and pirates, and conflicts between the white masters, black slaves and mulatto.

Rebellion (1) –the Maroons e.g. Abeng – (from a West Africa); used primarily as a signalling device; served as a vital means of communication when the Maroons were at war with the British (e.g.)

Ways of rebellion (2):

petit marronage ( 小走私 ) in francophone islands

pretend sickness, steal, or even poison their masters.

with music, dance, religion (voodon), or simply their different ways of living; open rebellion

History of Colonization in the Caribbean Area

1808 --1838 Britain and USA abolished slave trade; complete abolition of slavery in British colonies

1845 East Indian indentured laborers in Trinidad; Chinese indenture in French colonies (e.g. Wide Sargasso Sea)

History of Colonization in the Caribbean Area

1919-1939  seen as Slums of the Empire.

• Negritude; Back to Africa movement

(e.g. MARCUS GARVEY) riots & strikes in 1935-

1938 and afterwards

History of Colonization in the Caribbean Area

Since the 50’sColonization in reverse: West Indian migration to England restrictions imposed

Independence movements: 1958-62 -- The Federation of the West Indies

independence 1962 -- Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago;1966 Barbados and Guyana;

American Imperialism in the Caribbean Area (Cf. Bob Marley site http://www.bobmarley.com/)

Economic the area becomes the tourists’ heaven and a cheap labor factory (capital, technology and management shipped to the area to use the labor power without leaving the profits there.)

Cultural domination – music styles – the emergence of raggae (e.g.)

History of Colonization in the Caribbean Area

Neo-Colonialism of the U.S.A. military intervention (e.g. "Caribbean Basin Initative"– bribing Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean to support the armed confrontation in Grenada and the war in El Salvador. 

Definition (1): Creolization

1). Orignal meaning: Native, local,”pure”;

2). Native-born whites;

3). Hybrid

Definition (2): CreolizationPeople --

Europeans born in the Caribbean, mulatto

Language – the mixture of English and African tribal languages into some special kinds of native languages (Patois, such as French Patois, Jamaican Patois).   E

• e.g. Beijan: The English used in Barbados-- closest to standard English (e.g. 1); Jamaican creole,

• "postcreole continuum“-- parallels the social hierarchy to some degrees (--those speaking in creole are looked down upon). 

• Postcolonial usage of creole dub poetry

Color System in the Caribbean Society

“Dying to raise their color all of them” (199) (e.g. “Bright Thursday”)

The color triangle: white

brown

dark

Race Relations: multiple division

Post-emancipation period – conflicts between different races (e.g. the English vs. the French), between plantation owners and small farmers,between the newly rich and the declining aristocrats.Discriminated: mulatto and creole.

In the contemporary Caribbean area and diaspora: the Bajan vs. the Jamaican, all against Haitian, etc.

Consequences of creolization

racial conflicts;

split sense of identity – in between Europe and Africa

diverse and dynamic culture (Walcott)

The people’s resistance to colonialism: some examples of Caribbean Poetry

Caribbean poetry (introd.)

Derek Walcott (e.g.)

“ I who am poisoned with the blood of both,

Where shall I turn, divided to the vein?” "A Far Cry From Africa“ Derek Walcott, 1957

The people’s resistance to colonialism: some examples of Caribbean Poetry

Dub poetry: forerunner of hip-hop an extension of reggae culture

a form of performance poetry having its roots in popular Jamaican culture, and more particularly in reggae and Rastafarianism. 

The movement has served to bring poetry back to the people

Dub poetry

openness to pop culture and esp. to music (reggae and calypso); appeal of public performance; acceptance of social responsibility --poetry has a “function” (poetry vs fiction as a middle-class genre)amateur poetic practice in the WI (e.g. Jamaican creole )

e.g. Edward Braithwaite, Michael Smith;

Mutabaruka“dis poem”

http://www.mutabaruka.com/lyrics.htm

“Colonization in Reverse”What a joyful news, Miss Mattie;

Ah feel like me heart gwine burs--

Jamaica people colonizin

Englan in reverse

By de hundred, by de tousan

From country an from town,

By de ship-load, by the plane-load,

Jamaica is Englan boun.

Dem a pout out a Jamaica;

Everybody future plan

Is fi get a big-time job

An settle in de motherlan

What a islan! What a people!

Man an woman, ole and young

Jussa pack dem bag an baggage

An tun history upside dung!

--Louis Bennett (e.g.)

The people’s resistance to colonialism: some examples of

Popular Culture (1) Trickster Tradition

Anancy stories (spider)—from West Africa—the experience of the Middle Passage in animal forms (42)

The “Monkey Business”—the monkey as a gentleman-like animal—a symbol of the (pseudo-)colonizer—undressing unmasking the (pseudo-)colonizer

Functions of a trickster—for survival and revenge

The people’s resistance to colonialism: some examples of Popular Culture

Calypso: originated in the songs of African slaves who worked in the plantation fields of Trinidad. Forbidden to talk to each other, they used calypso to communicate feelings and information.

e.g. Work songs in Sugar Cane Alley.

e.g. "Dan is the Man".

Bob Marley(1944-1981) & Jamaica: his efforts in promoting peace

A ghetto kid; his father, a white plantation owner. (e.g.)

Formed the Wailing Wailers in 1963.

Attempted assassination: before the PNP-sponsored "Smile Jamaica" concert in 1976.

the One Love Peace Concert in 1978.

Received the Third World Peace Medal by all the African delegations at the United Nations.

Rastafarianism

Origin in Africa: the Nile Valley (including both Egypt and Ethiopia) ; Ethiopian Orthodox Church, a pure form of Christianity that kept its connection with its Judaic and Egyptian pasts, all elements within Rastafarianism. Major Belief: the blending of the purest forms of both Judaism and Christianity; rejects the Babylonian hypocrisy of the modern church. (Babylon can also refer to the Western colonial culture in general.)

Rastafarianism (2)

practice: the herb "ganja" (marijuana) was regarded as "wisdomweed for a religious rite; a life of asceticism and artistry; the difference between rastas and hippies.Jah: Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia, arrived in Jamaica in 1966the 1930s in Jamaica: were years of social upheaval and labor strikes --perfect timing for the rise of Rastafarianism, a religion of the dispossessed. (Different from hippie culture) (e.g.)

Bob Marley’s major messages:

Peace, love & Anti-colonialism & self-liberation e.g. Redemption Song (first part, about slavery)

“ Old pirates yes they rob I Sold I to the merchant ships

Minutes after they took I From the bottomless pit

But my hand was made strong

By the hand of the almighty

We forward in this generation

Triumphantly

All I ever had, is songs of freedom

Won't you help to sing, these songs of freedom

Cause all I ever had, redemption songs

Redemption songs

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery

None but ourselves can free our minds ...

Bob Marley’s song: another example

“Buffalo Soldier” from Legend-A gritty ballad that tells the cruelly ironic story of black men being conscripted into the ranks of the Union Army to kill indians.

Fugees: The Score “No Woman, No Cry”

I remember when we used to sit in the government yard in Brooklyn.

Observing the crookedness as it mingled with the good people we meet.

Good friends we had,Good friends we've lost along the way.In this great future you can't forget your past, So dry

your tearsI say And to my peers who passed away,No woman, no cry, no woman no cry, say say say.

Fugees: a “Hopeful” Image about the refugee

A Hip-Hop band from Haiti Hip-Hop style: re-assemble a lot of music and styles by the Black singers in the past; the themes: refugees; colonialism/sexism; their escape and tendencies to commit crimes in the host citythese themes are treated with sympathy for the refugees and/or uplifting messages.

Killing Me Softly

Strumming dub plates with our fingers,

Eliminate sounds with our song,

Killing a sound boy with this sound,

Killing a sound boy with this sound,

Taking sound boys' lives with this dub,

Killing him softly with this sound.

Strumming my pain with his fingers,

Singing my life with his words,

Killing me softly with his song,

killing me softly with his song,

Telling my whole life with his words,

Killing me softly with his song.

Carnival by Wyclef Jean

Carnival: the setting is a court trial, in which Wyclef tries hard to excuse himself. e.g. Guantanamera: disclose the beauty myth about the Ca

ribbean woman,

who is actually a prostitute.

Carnival by Wyclef JeanClosing Arguments

In closing, ladies and gentlemen of the jury

I'm not gonna sit here and bore you with a long, drawn out story or excuse, of why I think Wyclef is guilty I'm gonna stand by the exhibits as well as the tapes And songs such as Jeopardy, Til Novemeber, All the Girls, and Bubblegoose, which stand side by side with my allegations I rest my case

Carnival by Wyclef Jean. . . Your honor see, this, this is exactly w

hat I'm talkin about

I mean I've been meaning to ask this the whole time Who the hell is Bishop?

Eh?

And and why the hell hasn't he been brought on the stand?

Bishop, bishop, not true, false, bishop

Ohh, bullshit!