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Cahier ICF-2006

THE AFRICAN DIASPORA &

CREOLIZATION

LITERARY FORUM

May 2006

Presented by

A.C.T.I.O.N. Foundation

Funding for this organization is provided in part by the Broward County Boardof County Commissioners as recommended by the Broward Cultural Council

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Publication: A.C.T.I.O.N. Foundation, Inc.

Cover illustration: The Shadow Within (1995), painting by Levoy Exil. Private collection.

ISBN 978-0-9790440-0-7

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Remarks & Acknowledgements 7 KARLERICBOUCICAUT A.C.T.I.O.N. Foundation

• Culture on the Edges: Creolization in the Plantation Context 9-21 MICHEL-ROLPHTROUILLOTPH.D. University of Chicago

• The Origins and Evolution of French and Creole in Louisiana 23-28 PETERA.MACHONISPH.D. Department of Modern Languages and The Honors College Florida International University

• Creole Seasoning: Roasting of Identities and the Making of the African Diaspora 29-35 JESSICAM.ALARCÓN African New World Studies – M.A. Candidate Florida International University • Creolization, Créolité and the Intellectual Struggles of the African Diaspora 37-46 BABAKARM’BOW International Program & Exhibit Coordinator Broward County Libraries

• Afro-Fusion Dance: A Perspective from the African Diaspora 47-51 AUGUSTOSOLEDADE,M.F.A. Department of Theater and Dance Florida International University

• Evolution of Kreyòl in the Era of Globalization 53-57 ROGERE.SAVAIN Bilingual Education Consultant Translator-InterpreteraffiliatedtotheAmericanTranslatorsAssociation

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REMARKS & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSKarl-Eric Boucicaut

A.C.T.I.O.N. Foundation

A.C.T.I.O.N.Foundation Inc. isanon-profitorganization founded inHaiti in1987andregisteredinFloridain2001,withthegoalofpromotingtheCreoleculturebythemeansofeducationandinformation.Theeducationprogramtargetsourat-promiseyouthat theelementaryschoollevelwhereartisusedtoeducate,promoteself-esteemandempower.Ourinformationprogramaimedatalargerpublicandencompassedamonthlongculturalseriesentitled:“FromaLegacyofFreedomtoanExplosionofCulture”.Afterfouryearsofpresentingthisevent,A.C.T.I.O.N.Foundationintroducedin2005theyearlyInternationalCreoleFest(ICF).Thismulti-disciplinarythree-dayculturalevent,organizedbyA.C.T.I.O.N.FoundationInc.,promotesandcelebratestherichnessoftheCreoleculture.Inthecontextofthisfestival,theCreolecultureisdefinedas:anyEasternorWesternculturesinfluencedbythecultureoftheAfricanDiasporawhetherornottheencounterhappenedduringtheplantationera.

CahierICFistheliteraryvoiceoftheInternationalCreoleFest.Justlikethefestivalitself,the literary forumembracesall facetsof theCreoleexpressionsandarticulates itsarts,music,cuisine,dance,literature,architectureandcinematography.

Thetopic:“TheAfricanDiasporaandCreolization”presentedinCahierICF-2006chosenforA.C.T.I.O.N. Foundation’s 2006 cultural series wasmotivated by the organization’s workthrough art education with our diverse community, especially our youth. Migrants’ childrenadaptingculturalexpressionsthroughlanguage,clothing,eatinghabits,significantlyinformsthenotionofidentity.Reciprocally,themainstream’sintegrationofnewculturaltraits,suchassomefoodormusic–deemedexoticatatimeandnowpartofthemainstreamculture-,tellsalotabouttheinfluenceoftheDiasporaonitsnewenvironment.

Theterm“AfricanDiaspora”generallycoversdiverseethnicitiesscatteredallaroundtheworld,sharingAfricanancestryandculturalheritage.Inoureffort toeducateabout theCreoleculture(s),wefoundit important to takethe timetodefinethis termasfarasourcontext–theAmericas-isconcerned,andtoanalyzetheprocessthroughwhichidentitieswereforgedwithinthiscontext,itselfdiversebyessence.

Cahier ICF isA.C.T.I.O.N. Foundation’s contribution to help shed some light on thismultifacetedprocessidentifiedbyresearchersascreolization.

We are pleased to acknowledge theBrowardCulturalDivision’s support in advancingourmission and to extendour thanks to its dedicated staff.Weexpressourgratitude to all ofthosewhoalwayssupportandattendourprograms.Finally,wewanttoexpressourwarmthankstothecontributorstothisproject.Dr.Michel-RolphTrouillot(Haiti)inhisarticle“Culture on the Edges: Creolization in the Plantation Context” givesanin-depthaccountofthehistoricalcontextofthecolonizationintheAmericasanditsroleinthecreolizationprocess.BabacarM’Bow(Senegal), in his presentation “Creolization, Créolité and the intellectual struggles of the African Diaspora” concentratesspecificallyoncreolizationandCréolitéintheAfricanDiasporainSouthFlorida.DrPeterMachonis(USA)analyses“The Origins and Evolution of French and Creole in Louisiana”. ProfessorMachoniswalksusthroughalivelylaboratoryoflanguageandculturalexpressionsinthemaking.AugustoSoledade(Brazil),with“Afro-Fusion Dance: a Perspective from the African Diaspora”,plungesus in thecreativeprocesswhile residinginaforeigncountry.JessicaAlarcóninher“Creole Seasoning: Roasting of Identities and the Making of the African Diaspora” nailstheDiaspora’sambiguousre-interpretationsofitsownidentity,whenredefiningsomephysicaltraitstofitWesternstandards.Finally,the“Evolution of Kreyòl in the Era of Globalization” isexaminedfromRogerSavain’sperspectiveasaCreoleinterpreter/translator.

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CULTURE ON THE EDGES:CREOLIZATION IN THE PLANTATION CONTEXT

MichEl-rolph trouillotUniversity of Chicago

Le lieu est incontournable.Edouard Glissant

The author is professor of anthropology at the University of Chicago, 5836 S. Greenwood Ave., Chicago, IL 60637 trouillot@anthro.spc.uchicago.edu. He has conducted historical and anthropological research on the Caribbean, notably Dominica and Haiti. His books include Les racines historiques de l’état duvaliérien (revised English edition: Haiti: State against Nation); Peasants and Capital: Dominica in the World Economy; and Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History. He is a co-author of Open the Social Sciences (with I. Wallerstein et al.).

∞

Creolizationisamiraclebeggingforanalysis.Becauseitfirstoccurredagainstallodds,betweenthejawsofbruteandabsolutepower,noexplanationseemstodojusticetotheverywonderthatithappenedatall.Understandably,thestudyofCreoleculturesandlanguageshasalwaysleftroomfortheanalyst’sastonishment.Theoriesofcreolization

orofCreolesocieties,assessmentsofwhatitmeanstobe“creole”inturn,arestillverymuchaffectedbytheideologicalandpoliticalsensibilitiesoftheobservers1.Itmaynotbepossibleorevenmeritorioustogetridofthesesensibilities,buttheknowledgeofcreolizationcanbenefitfromamoreethnographicapproachthattakesintoaccounttheconcretecontextswithinwhichcultures developed in theAmericas.The plantation-society system, the plural-society and thecreole societymodels –and evenBolland’s “dialectical” approach2 – all seize creolization as atotality, thusone level too removed from the concrete circumstances facedby the individualsengaged in the process. All thesemodels invoke history; some even use it at times.Yet thehistoricalconditionsofculturalproductionrarelybecomeafundamentalandnecessarypartofthedescriptionsoranalysesthatthesemodelsgenerate.Callsforamorerefinedlookathistorical

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particulars3remainunheeded.Worse,currentapologiesofcréolité4payevenlessattentiontothehistoricalrecordthantheirpredecessorsinculturalnationalism,perhapsbecausethehistoriographyofslaveryismuchweakerinFrenchthaninDutch,orespecially,English.

Thearticle,whichdrawsprimarilyfromtheexperienceofAfro-Caribbeanpeople,triestogiveduecredittothecreativitythatAfricansandtheirdescendantsdemonstratedrightfromthebeginningoftheplantationslavery.However,praiseforthecreativityoftheAfro-Caribbeansmaymaskthestrugglesthatarealsoinherentinthecreolizationunlesswetaketheanalysisonestepcloser tochanginghistoricalcontexts.FromawiderangeofchanginghistoricalcircumstancesIabstractthreecontextsaskeyheuristicdevices:aplantationcontext;anenclavecontextandamodernistcontext.Ithenreturntotheplantationcontexttoillustratethemanywaysinwhichsuchaframeworkmayimproveourknowledgeofcreolization.

The Afro-American Miracle

FromthefamilyplotsoftheJamaicanhinterland,theAfro-religionsofBrazilandCuba,orthejazzmusicofLouisianatothevitalityofHaitianpaintingandmusic,orhistoricalawarenessofSuriname’smaroons,manifestationsofAfro-Americanculturesappeartousastheproductofarepeatedmiracle.Forthoseofuswhokeepinmindtheirconditionsofemergenceandgrowth,theveryexistenceofculturalpracticesassociatedwithAfricanslavesandtheirdescendantsintheAmericasisacontinuingpuzzle.Afro-Americancultureswerebornagainstallodds.Evenifwedefinecultureintherestrictedsenseofartisticandintellectualproductionultimatelysanctionedbypower(whatsomeanthropologistscall“highculture”),theAntillesalonesufficeasexemplarsof the repeatedwonder: in relation to their size, theCaribbean islands have given birth to animpressivearrayofindividualswholefttheirintellectualmarkontheinternationalscene.Buttherealachievementis,ofcourse,thatoftheanonymousmenandwomenwhohavewoven,alongthecenturies,inspiteofslaveryandotherformsofdomination,theculturalpatternsuponwhichrestthehighlyindividualizedperformancesoftheintellectuals.

Afro-Caribbeanculturescametolifeunexpectedly,unforeseendevelopmentsofanagendasetinEurope,byEuropeforEurope.CaribbeanterritorieshaveexperiencedWesternEuropeaninfluence longer than any other area outside of Europe itself.They are territories that Europeclaimedtoshapetofititsparticulargoals,territoriesthroughwhichEuropeansmovedasiftheywereemptylands.Andindeed,theywereemptied,insofarasthenativepopulationhadbeenwipedoutwithout even thedubiousprivilegeof slowdeathona reservation.Almost everything thatwenowassociatewiththeCaribbean–fromsugarcane,coffee,mangoes,donkeysandcoconuts,to thepeople themselves,whetherAfricanorAsian inorigin-wasbrought thereaspartof theEuropeanconquest.CulturalconcernsdidnotfigureamongEuropeanprioritiesduringmostoftheconquest.Formorethanacentury,thesearchforgoldandtherivalriesitprovokedobliteratedmostotherissues.Then,fromtheseventeenthcenturyon,EuropeanattentionslowlyturnedtotheproductionofagriculturalcommoditiesinthetropicalareasofthemainlandandintheAntilles.Culturalconsiderationsentered into thedesignofplantationAmerica,butonlyasprerequisitesofpoliticalandeconomicdomination,ascorollariesoftheplantationsystem.Thus,althoughtheAfro-Caribbeanworldcametolifeontheplantationand,inpart,becauseoftheplantation,Afro-CaribbeanculturalpracticesemergesagainsttheexpectationsandwishesofplantationownersandtheirEuropeanpatrons.Theywerenotmeanttoexist.

BecauseAfro-Caribbeancultureswerenotmeanttoexist,manyobserverscametobelievethattheydidnotexist,inspiteofallevidencetothecontrary.Uptothesecondpartofthiscentury,mostobserversandmanyspeakersviewed thecreole languagesof theCaribbeanasburlesqueversionsofEuropean tongues, “français petit nègre,”“patois,” “brokenEnglish,”unworthyofseriousattentionfromlinguistsandwriters.

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Interestingly, however, Caribbean cultural practices never became exactly what Europeanplannersandownersmighthaveexpected.Fromtheverybeginningsofslavery,itwasclearthattheAfricansandtheirdescendantswereshapingmodesofbehavior,patternsofthoughtandtheirexpression.Caribbeanlanguagesprovidegoodexamplesof thiscreativity.AfricansbroughttotheCaribbeanduring theslave tradespokeawidevarietyofAfrican languages.Yet, inmanycircumstances,whichwehaveyettospecify,theywerealsoforcedtodrawfromthevernacularoftheirrespectivemasters.Thatitselfisnotsurprising.Moreinterestingisthefactthat,oncetakenoverby the slaves and their descendants,European languagesdidnot remain the same.Theyacquiredsounds,morphologicalandsyntacticpatternsunknowninEurope.Moreimportant,theywereshapedtoexpressthejoys,painsandreflectionsofhundredsofthousandsofhumans.Inoneword,theywerecreolized5

From Creole Linguistics to Créolité

Foranumberofreasons,thesecreolelanguagesbecamethefirstproductsofthecreolizationprocesstoattracttheattentionofscholars.6First,creolelanguageswereobvious.ThefeaturesthatdemarcatedthemfromEuropeanvernacularscouldnotbedenied.7Onthecontrary,thesefeatureshad to be acknowledged if only for the purpose of communication.Evenwhen the linguisticstatusofcreolewasdenigrated,suchdenigrationalsoreinforcedtheacknowledgmentthattheyweredifferent.Second,avibranttraditionintheobservationofnon-WesternlanguagesexistedinEuropesinceatleasttheseventeenthcentury.Lastly,languagewaspoliticallysafe–orthoughttobeso.Itwasthoughttobeamenabletostudywithoutlongencounterswithamassofnatives.Itwasoneof the fewproductsofcreolization least likely toengage thescholar in immediatepoliticalcontroversiesaboutthepeoplewhohadbeencreolized.

Controversies there were, however, especially on the matter of origins. Here also,wondermentplayeditsrole.Sincetheearlynineteenthcenturyanalystsfelttheneedtoexplainthepuzzleoftheemergencyofcreolelanguages,toponderthesignificanceoftheirexistence.8 Thisobsessionwithorigins,stillcentral tocreole linguistics9gaverise to twomethodologicaltendencies.

First,sinceactualslavespeechwas–forallpracticalpurposes-inaccessible,creolistshadtoinferthepastfromthepresent.CurrentCaribbeanspeechorchangingpatternsinmorerecentnon-Caribbeancreolessupposedlydocumentedwhatmusthavehappenedinsomeundeterminedpan-Caribbeanpast.Second,sincetheultimatepurposeoftheexercisewas,moreoftenthannot,toexplainordissipatethewonderofthecreoleemergence,creoliststendedtouseoneexclusiveall-encompassing theory after another. Either all creoles had evolved from a singular source,mostprobablyaPortuguesepidgin(monogenesistheory);orallfollowedthesamegeneticallyprogrammedelementarystructures(bioprogramtheory).

Fromanepistemologicalandmethodologicalviewpoint,thestrikingsimilaritybetweenthesetheoriesistheirexclusiveness.Theiradherents,pastandpresent,rightorwrong,tendtobevirulentlymonocausal.

IntheworksofClaireLefebvre,creolists“[try]toexplaineverythingthesamewayatthesametime.”10Fidelity toauniqueexplanation in turn tendedtoprecludedetailedexaminationof changing historical contexts in spite of Sidney Mintz’s crucial demonstration at the firstinternationalconferenceoncreolelanguages–inMonain1968-thatthestudyoflinguisticchangehadtotakeintoaccount“thesocio-historicalbackground”ofcreolization.11Availabledocumentswerenotusedtotheirfullpotential.Knownhistoricalfacts,periodization,empiricalquestionsofspaceandtime,demographyandsocialnorms, tooksecondarypositionswithinpre-developedschemes.Evenwhencreolelinguisticfocusedonthepast,eventhoughitemphasizedtheprocessoflinguisticchange,itgenerallyignoredthesocio-historicalprocess.Historywasalwaysevoked,oftenused,yetrarelytreatedinitscomplexities.

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Since themid1980s, inpart in response toBickerton’sbioprogramhypothesis, inpartbecause of the influence of non-Caribbean creolists,12 linguists are increasingly aware of thehistorical complexities involved in Afro-Caribbean creolization. The distance between twohallmarkconferences13revealsatremendousgrowthinhistoricalsophisticationbetweenthelate1960s and themid-1980s.However, such sophistication14 has yet to inform fully the study ofspecificlinguisticchanges.

The linguistic stalemate is reinforced by the lack of exchange between linguists andnon-linguists andby theweaknessof cultural theoriesof creolization.First, studentsof socio-culturalhistoryhaveyettoprovideasdetailedanswersasthemoresophisticatedlinguistshavequestions.Moreover,inrecentyears,grandpronouncementsbysomeculturalandliterarycriticshaveincreasedthegapbetweenmanylinguists’empirically-orientedinquiriesandsocio-culturaltheoriesof creolization.For instance, the repeatedannouncement that theworld isnow in–ormovingtoward-astateofhybridityorcreolication15istoosweepingtoreinforceadialoguebetweentheculturaltheoristswhomakesuchstatementsandhistoricallinguistsinterestedintoknowingwhoactuallytaughtwhattowhomandwheninparticularCaribbeanterritories.16Onthecontrary,suchsweepingstatementsreinforce,perhapsinadvertently,theproclivitytotreatcreolizationasatotality,therebyreinforcingtheworsttendenciesofthesocio-culturaltheorists.

Indeed,boththetendenciestoinferthepastfromthepresentandthepredilectionforall-encompassing explanations, which together characterize creole linguistics, reappear in socio-culturalstudiesofcreolizationwithsomenoteworthydifferences.First, thetechnicalapparatusofCreolelinguisticscouldnotbetransferredtostudiesofcreolizationoutsideofthelanguage.Whereaslinguisticsgenerallyagreeonmicro-methodologiesanddefinitions(e.g.,whatarenounphrases andhow tobreak themdown), social scientists andcultural theoristsdonothave thisfundamentalagreementonatechnicalapparatus.Thus,second,non-linguiststudentsofcreolizationfindthemselvesintheawkwardsituationofhavingfewertools(atleastapparently)todoyetalargerjob.Socio-culturallifeisanobjectofstudyadmittedlymorefluidandhardertodelimitthanlanguage,whichitencompasses.Withoutacommontechnicalapparatus, the theoreticalclaimsmadebystudentsofsocio-culturalcreolizationareevenlesscontrollablethanthoseofthelinguists.Or,toputitdifferently,thedistancebetweentheseclaimsandtheorganizationofthefactsintoacoherentobjectofstudyisgreaterthaninlinguistics.Facedwiththewonderofcreolization,theneedtoexplainaculturalemergencethatseemstodefytheirimplicitassumptionsaboutculture,socialscientistusedstrokesasbroadasthoseofthelinguistsbutonagreaterrangeoftopics.Therangeoftopicshasactuallyincreasedwithtime.Withmethodologicalissuesfurtherrelegatedtothebackburner,currentstudiesofcrelizationreturn,inacycle,tothewonderoforiginswiththeaddedvalueoftheideologiesoftheday.

Theincreasedrelevanceofideologyisunderstandable.First,socialscientistsareincreasinglyawarethatcreolizationstillgoeson.Eventhoughanalystsarenotmuchclosertoanagreementindefiningcreolizationasanobjectofstudythantheywere,say,inthe1950s,theyhaveboththeincreasedfeelingofbeingwitnessoftheongoingwonderandtheconvictionthatitmattershowtheyexplainit.Secondindeed,theongoingdenigrationofmanyAfro-Americanpopulationcontinuesto incitepraise for the“creoleness” that theyaresaid to typify.17Third,nowthatglobalizationand hybridist have become suspiciously fashionable –some would say too fashionable18- thecreolizationprocessintheAfro-Americasappears,inretrospect,asanearlystateofgraceonlynowaccessibletotherestofhumanity.19Theculturalidealismthatnowsohappilymasksincreasedinequalitiesworldwidefurtherfuelsthehistoricaltendenciesofcreolizationstudies.20Indeed,ifthereisadifferencebetweenthecréolitémovementofthe1990sandpredecessorssuchasHaitianindigénismeofthe1930s21andtheJamaicancreole-societyschoolofthe1950andthe60s,22itistheincreasedpersistencetofurtherdivorcethewonderofcreolizationfromtheveryhistorythatmadeitpossible.Associaltheorybecomesmorediscourse-oriented,thedistancebetweendataandclaimindebatesaboutcreolizationandcréolitéincreases.Historicalcircumstancesfallfurtherintoahazybackgroundofideologicalpreferences.

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The Context of Creolization

HistoricalcircumstancesarewhatIwouldliketoemphasizehere:creolizationcannotbeunderstoodoutsideofthevariouscontextswithinitoccurred.Manyfeaturesshapedsuchcontexts.Firstamongthesewastheregimentationofthepopulationsinvolved,includingtheirregimentationaslaborforce.Thenatureanddegreeofsuchregimentationnecessarilyskewedthedailyexpressionsofculturalcreativity.Inthesecondhalfoftheeighteenthcentury,thekindofmaterialsneeded,available,andusedto“produceculture”werequitedifferentforthememberofacanefieldganginBarbadosthanforanenslavedcoffeegrowerinDominicaorinSaint-Domingue.Regimentation,includinglaborregimentation,crystallizedsuchdifferences.Differencesinlaborregimesinturn,proceededfromthecropsinvolved,butalsofromthenumberofyearsaparticularcrophadbeencultivatedinaterritory.23Regimentation,soconstrued,thuscentersaroundlaborbutincludesallthefactorsthatlimiteddailyactivitiesofthelaboringpopulationsbothbeforeandafterslavery.

Second,thefrequencyandnatureofoutsidecontact–inandoutmigrations,communications,theeaseordifficultyofindividualmovement-alsohelpedtodefinethecontextofcreolization.Clearly,creolizationmusthaveproceededdifferently incontextsmarkedbyconstant influxofenslavedAfricansthaninsituationswheresuchinfluxwasnegligible.Third,creolizationcannotbeunderstoodwithoutsomeattentiontoitsparticipantsassubjectsofhistory.EdouardGlissantsuggests that creolization implies some awareness of heterogeneity, the impossibility to denymixed origins.24 But surely, that awareness includes both an implicit sense of cultural ideals–whatMintzcallstargetcultures,25andanimplicitattentivenesstofactsofpowerontheground,whichGlissant himself tends to neglect.Cultural ideals andpower relations, including actors’understandingsand interpretationsof thestakesandforcesavailable toreach theirself-definedgoalsfundamentallyshapethecontextofcreolization.Ashortexamplemaymakethepoint.WecanassumethattopracticewhatisnowknownasHaitianvodounistoengageknowinglyornotincreolization.Yetevenifweassumeanunchangingcontentofvodoun–adubiousassumptionindeed-wemustconcedethatwhatitmeanttoservethegodschangesinspaceandtime.Imaginefirst, thenegotiations, trialsand tacticsnecessary forAfrican-born slaves just to set a ritual incolonialSaint-Domingue:howtodoitawayfromthemasters’ears;whomtoincludeandonwhatgrounds;whichgodstoevokeorinvoke.Imagine,then,therelativefreedomofassociationandtherelatedfreedomofchoiceintheisolatedmountainsofindependentHaiti,awayfrommemoriesofbothEuropeandAfricabeforethegrowthoftheCatholicclergyattheendofthenineteenthcentury.Imagine,inturnthefearsunleashedbytheUSoccupationof1915-34andrenewedbytherepressivecampaignofthe1930sand1940s.Today,thechangeismonumental:theholdersofstatepowerinHaitiofficiallyrecognizevodounasreligion.Evenbeforethatrecognition,vodounhadbecometrulytransnational;someofitscanonicalritualsareroutinelyheldinCuba’sOrienteorinBrooklyn,NewYork.NotallitspractitionersareHaitian.SomearewhiteNorth-Americans.YetthepovertyoftheHaitiancountrysidehasalsounderminedvodounatthebase,limitingitsritualpossibilitiesamongthepeasantry.26Throughoutall this,nevertheless,vodounhasfiguredandcontinues tofigureas akeymanifestationofHaitianculture, anemblemof its successfulcreolization.Thereisnowaytofollowthatthreadofcontinuitiesandbreakswithoutevaluatingtheseschangingcontexts.

Inshort,weneedaframeworktoapproachthechangingcontextsofcreolization.Usingtime,spaceandpowerrelationsasmymainmarkers,Isuggestthreesuchcontextsforthestudyofcreolization:(a)aplantationcontext;(b)anenclavecontext;(c)amodernistcontext.

Each of these contexts emphasizes, in turn, one of the factors highlighted earlier.Theregimentationofpopulationsisthedefiningmomentoftheplantationcontext.Thefrequencyandnatureofoutsidecontacthelptodistinguishtheenclavecontext.Theawarenessofheterogeneityandpowerareinherentinthecontextofmodernity.Sinceallthreefactorsarealwaysrelevant,itfollowsthatthesecontextsareheuristicdevices.Further,inthecaseoftheSpanishCaribbean,itmaybeusefultodeviseapre-plantationcontextthatwouldhelptoaccountforthemarkedly

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differentbaseandoutcomeofthecreolizationprocessthere.

Atmyrate,thecontextdescribeherearenotmeanttoduplicatereallifesituation,buttheymayhelpusunderstandsuchsituationsbyfocusingattentionon“thespecificsortsofcommunitysettingswithinwhichgroupsbecamefurtherdifferentiatedorintermixed.”27Theydonotdelineatefixedperiods:oftentheyoverlappedinhistoricaltimewithinthesameterritory.WhatIhopetheydobestistosketchwithbroadstrokesthenotablydifferenthistoricaldynamicsofcreolizationasaculturalprocesssoastobringforwardtheparticularsofthepopulationsinvolved.

Byplantationcontext, Ihave inmindsituationsdefinedprimarilybyplantationslaverybothduringandimmediatelyafterthecenturiesoflegalenslavement.MostenslavedAfricansandtheirimmediatedescendantthroughouttheAmericasengagedincreolizationwithinaplantationcontextuntil–andattimeswayinto-thesecondhalfofthenineteenthcentury.

Byenclavecontext,Imeansituationsmarkedbytherelativeautonomyandisolationofthepopulationunderstudy.EarlymaroonsocietiesfromSt.VincenttoSuriname,theHaitianpeasantryfrom1804tothe1880s,highlandvillagersintheWindwardIslandsuptothefirstdecadesofthiscenturycreolizedmainlywithinsuchenclaves.

Themodernistcontextbecamedominantonlywiththedeclineoftheplantation.IdonotmeanbythisthatmodernityitselfcamelatetotheCaribbeanorisapost-plantationphenomenon.Onthecontrary,theCaribbeanwasinmanywaysasmodernasEuropebythefirstquarteroftheseventeenthcentury,especiallybecauseoftheplantation.Indeed,creolizationitselfisamodernphenomenon if only because it implied the awareness and event the expectation of culturaldifferences.28 Further, frequency and ease of contact with the outsideworldmarked the dailyroutineofmanyurbanslaves,especiallyintheportcitieswherenewsofotherterritoriescirculatedtoanextentwehaveyettoappreciate.29

Mymodernistcontextcombineselementsofbothmodernityandmodernization.Itimpliesadifferentkindof technicaland institutionalsupport tocreolization. It impliesalosasenseofglobalhistoryandtheawarenessofprogress–orbakwarkness,whicharepartofmodernity,andwhichspreadquiteunevenlyamongCaribbeanpopulationsfromearlyconquestuntilthesecondthirdofthiscentury.Thedegreetowhichtheawarenessofbothtargetculturesandfactsofpowerbecomeexplicit andvoiced, thedegree towhichorganic intellectualsharness institutional andtechnicalsupportforculturalpracticeshelpdefineamodernistcontext.30

Thesethreecontextsbringusclosertoactualsituations,yetweneedtospecifythemfurtherbyway of number of changing parameters. The relative proportion of populations of diverseorigins,includingindividualsofmixeddescent(seeMintz’s“TheSocio-HistoricalBackgroundtoPidginizationandCreolization”);theimpactofpriormomentsofcreolization;andtheextentofsocialdifferentiationareamongsuchparameters.Theirrelevancewillvarywiththecaseunderstudy,butthepointispreciselytousethesethreecontextsasstartingpointsandtorefinethemwiththerelevantparticularssoatogetclosertoactualsituations.

Thustheschemeoutlinedhereputsonholdmosttheoriesofcreolizationandcreolesocietiesfortryingtodotoomuch,toofast.Inthatsense,Iamnotproposinganalternativemode.Rather,Iamsuggestingthatwehavenotthoughtenoughaboutwhatwentoninspecificplacesandtimestoproduceaframeworksensitiveenoughtotime,place,andpower.Inowturntotheplantationcontexttoillustratethecomplexitiesthatweneedtoaddress.

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The Plantation as Cultural Matrix

Duringthelongcenturiesoftheslavetrade,AfricawasnomorestaticorculturalunifiedthanEuropewasatthetime.WesimplydonotknowenoughofAfricanvariationsandchange.IgnoranceandethnocentrismmayexplainthegeneraltendencytoacknowledgedifferencesamongEuropeansandignorethemwhenreferringtoAfricans.Second,whereasEuropeanresidentsofparticular territoriesusuallycamefromsimilar–whennot thesame-milieu,enslavedAfricansdidnotnecessarilyendupamongtribalfellows.Further,theMiddlePassagehadcuttheAfrican-born slaves from their roots,without the possibility, open tomanyEuropeans, ofmaintainingregularcontactwiththeiroriginalmilieu.Thus,althoughtheykepttheirmemories,theycouldnotreproducethesocietieswhencetheycame.

Only since the 1980s have we begun to acknowledge the restrictions imposed by thetradeandplantationslaveryonAfricanculturaltransfers,buttheachievementsseemsevenmorespectacular against this limiting background.AsSidneyMintz andRichardPrice argue in thepathbreakingessaythatlaunchedthisnewawarenessgiventheconditionsoftheirpassage,theenslaved“werenotabletotransferthehumancomplementoftheirtraditionalinstitutionstotheNewWorld.Member of tribal groups of different status, yet; but different status systems, no.Priestsandpriestesses,yes;butpriesthoodandtemples,no.Princesandprincesses,yes;butcourtsandmonarchies,no.”31

Limitationsappliedasmuchtothecollectiveastoindividuals.Surely,noAfricanslavecametotheCaribbeancarryingadrumfromthemotherland.ButthememoryofAfricanmusiclingeredlongenoughtocatchupwiththememoryofdrummaking;andAfro-CaribbeanusedtheirnewenvironmenttocreatedrumsandmusicthatwereclosetothoseofAfricayetdistinctivelyCaribbean. Likewise their dancesmay have been influenced by theminuets andwaltzes theylearnedtoplaysometimesfortheirEuropeanmasters,buttheirownSundayperformanceswerenotlikelytobeminuetsandwaltzes–thoughsomemusicologistsmayrightfullyarguethatthesewere also influenced byminuets andwaltzes. In short,Africans and their descendants had tocreate,sotospeak,anewculturalworld,withelementsgatheredfromthemanyAfricanculturestheycamefromandtheEuropeanculturesofthosewhodominatedthem.

Howwassuchaprocessofselectivecreationanculturalstruggle–inoneword,creolization-possibleamongtheenslaved:HowcouldAfricansandAfro-AmericansforgeentirelynewculturesoutoftheremnantsofOldWorldvaluesandpatterns,bothAfricanandEuropean?HowdidtheycometodominatetheprocessofculturalformationinsocietiessuchasthoseoftheCaribbeanwheretheywerekeptbydailyterrorismatthebottomofthesocio-politicalladder?

SidneyMintzandRichardPricesuggest that theWestAfricanculturalheritageis tobefound mainly in unconscious, underlying “grammatical” principles: cognitive orientations,attitudes,expectationscommontothediversecommunitieswhencemostoftheenslavedcame.Theyarguethattheseunderlyingprinciplesorderedtheprocessofcreolizationbymakingcertainchoicesmoreappealingormoresignificantthanotherpossibleones.32

ThisargumentneedstoberefinedinlightofmoresustainedresearchontheinstitutionalimpactofAfricanethnicityonslavepracticesinspecificterritories.Inotherwords,theunderlyingprinciplesthatMintzandPricehighlightshadtoworkthroughtensionsamongAfricansinordertoproducemeaningfulpracticesandweneedtoknowhowandwhentheydidso.Moreimportant,however amodusVivendi on cultural grammarwas obtained among slaves, shared principles–oldandnew-hadtosurvivetheEuropeanexerciseofpower.Howdidtheydoso?Whenandhowweretheygivenspaceandtimetobreatheandtobreed?Howdidtheysurviveandreproducethemselvesenoughtogeneratenewinstitutions?

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Answerstothesequestions,tentativeastheymaybe,requirethatweturntotheplantation.Afro-Americanslaverywasplantationslavery.Theplantationwastheinstitutionaroundwhichthesystemwasbuilt;itprovidedthemodelafterwhichwereshapedtheactualunitsonwhichslaveslabored.Buttophraseitthiswayisalreadytosuggestthattheword“plantation”coversinfactdifferenttypesofrealitiesthatwemaywanttokeepseparateevenifforheuristicpurposes:theinstitutionitself,intherestrictedsenseofatypeofagriculturalenterprise;thesocio-economicandpoliticalsystembuiltuponit(inthisparticularcase,plantationslavery);andtheactualunitsofproductionmodeledafterthisidealtype.

Asaformoflabororganization,theplantationisanagriculturalenterprise,distinguishedby its massive use of coerced or semi-coerced labor, producing agricultural commodities formarket situatedoutsideof theeconomywithinwhich theplantation itselfoperates.Oneof thebetter treatments of the type comes from sociologistEdgarT.Thompson.33 suggests that, as aunitofproduction,theplantationisaneconomicinstitution,anagriculturalunitoperatingwithanindustrialdynamic.Itisalso,inhisview,asettlementinstitution,inthesensethatitarrangespeoplesina“new”territory,apoliticalinstitution,inasmuchasitoperatesasasmallstate,withanauthorizationstructure.Plantationownersclaimamonopolyofviolence,controloverthelifeofthepeoplewhoinhabittheplantation.Theplantationis,finally,aculturalinstitution.Ittendstogenerateadistinguishablewayoflifeforownersandworkersalike,butitalsodividesthemalongracialandethniclines.Itisarace-makinginstitution.34

Needless to say that few if any actual plantations ever exactlymatched the prototype.Whetherinferredorplanned,socialmodelsarepeculiarkindsofabstraction,thedualproductsofthetypologicalexercisethatprojectsthemandthehistoricalunitsthroughwhichtheyareactualized.Inotherwords, theplantation, as such,never existedhistorically,not even in theAmericasofslavery.Rather,thousandsofplantationsdid,thattriedtoconformtotheidealtype,butalwayswithin the limitations imposedbyspecificcircumstances.This isanobviousenoughassertion,butitimpliesthatinalmosteveryinstancetherewerevaryinglimitstoeconomicefficiency,totheorganizationofsettlement,toplanters’politicalpower,ortotheculturalapartheidpremisedintheorganizationoflabor.Theveryactualizationoftheinstitution,whetherornotpremisedontheplanter’spursuitoftheidealtheidealtype,allowedtheslavesmuchmoreroomtomaneuverthanimpliedbythetypeitself.

Latitude came also from elsewhere and perhaps in more important ways. Units ofproductionneveroperatealone.Asunitsofproductionservingdistantmarketswithinthestrictorderofslavery,theplantationoftheAmericasfeltevenmorethepressuresofthesystem.Indeed,wecanconceptualizeaninherenttensionbetweenplantationslaveryasasystemandthesystembelongtothesameorderofthings;butthefactthatthesystemisaconstructdoesnotmakeitanylessrealthanactualestates.Ithaditsrequirements,itslogic;buttheveryfactthatthislogicandtheserequirementswerenotofthesamekindasthedailyexigenciesthatmastersandoverseershadtofacewithinindividualunitsofproductioncreatedaninherenttension.

Reactionstomarronnageprovideuswithagoodentrypointinthisworldoftensionsandbrokenlines.Inprinciple,throughouttheAmericas,slaveswereforbiddentoleavetheplantationswithoutauthorization,andinfractionstothiscodewerepunished.Ontheground,however,planters’attitudesvaried,accordingtotheparticularsofthecaseathand:thetimeoftheinfraction,themodeofdiscovery,theclimateofthecolony,theindividualslaveinvolved,orindeedthepersonalityofthe owner or overseer.More important, beyond these variations, planters often acknowledgedadifferencebetweendesertions intended tobefinaland temporaryabsences.TheFrenchevendistinguishedthembyname,coiningtheformer“grand marronnage.”ThroughouttheAmericas,whereassystemandpracticestendedtooverlapincasesofthefirstfind,planterssometimesclosedtheireyesoninstancesofpetit marronnage,whenslavesranawaytovisitrelatives,totakeparttocertainrituals,orsometimeseventomakeasymbolicgestureofprotest.

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Thisindulgencedidnotnecessarilycomefromkindness.Itsdeepestrootsweresystemic:plantersknewthat thecodewasnotalwaysenforceable, thatnotall instancesofunauthorizedabsence could be punished without encroaching on the working routine of their particularplantation. One suspects that slaves came to the same realization and took repeated risks atmanipulatingthissystemicfissure,oftentotheirdetriment,butasoftenperhapswiththeexpectedresults.Communicationacrossplantations, for instance,musthavedependedonsuch“illegal”absencesasmuchasonthe“free”timeofficiallyallottedbytheplanters.Andasslavesrepeatedsuchmanipulations,on theonehandacknowledgingthesystem,on theothercircumventingisactualizationincarefullychoseninstances,theysolidifiedthedetour,thesocialtimeandspacethattheycontrolledontheedgesoftheplantations.

Thus,eventhoughgrand marronnagestandsasaprivilegedexampleofAfro-Americanresistanceunderslavery,maroonsocietiesarebetterseizedwithinwhatIcalltheenclavecontext.35 Petit marronnage, in turn, stands as amore accuratemodel for the kind of behavior throughwhichmostslavesestablishedtheinstitutionalcontinuityofCreolepatternswithintheplantationcontext. For amajority of enslavedAfricans andAfro-Americans, prior to themid-nineteenthcentury,creolizationdidnothappenawayfromtheplantationsystem,butwithinit.36

I suggest that this creationwaspossible because slaves found amost fertile ground intheintersticesofthesystem,inthelatitudeprovidedbytheinherentcontradictionsbetweenthatsystemandspecificplantations,historicallysituated.Afro-Caribbeanculturalpracticesdevelopedwithintheplantationsystem,butonthemarginsoftheunits throughwhichtheideal typewasactualized.Theywerebornwithintheplantationbutontheedgesofparticularplantations.Thetensionsbetweenthelogicof thesystemandthedailylifeofactualestatesprovidedacontextfullofminuteopportunities for initiativesamong theenslaved.Weneed to lookcloselyat themechanisms by which slaves seized upon these contradictions and repeatedly turned latentopportunities totheiradvantage,furtherstretchingthetimeandspacethat theycontrolled.Butevenbeforefurtherempiricalresearchontheso-calledslavesectorilluminatesthesemechanisms,wecanassesstheopportunities.Iwillgiveonemoreexampleofanopportunityseizedupontheslaves,onquitedifferentfromplanters’attitudestopetit marronnage,butwhichultimatelymakesthesamepoint.

InmanyCaribbeansocieties,slaveswereallowedbytheirmasterstogrowtheirownfood,andattimes,tosellportionsofwhattheyharvested.Thiswasafundamentalcontradictionwithintheplantationsystem.Thepracticeofallowingslavestocultivatetheirowngardenswhenevertheywerenotworkingonplantationcropsemergedbecauseparticularplanterswantedtosavemoney,giventhehighcostofimportedfood.37Planterswerenotinthebusinessoffeedingslaves.Thenameofthegamewasprofit;anditistoenhancetheirprofitsthatmanyplanterspassedonto theslaves the responsibilityof feeding themselves. Indeed, theextentandviabilityof slaveprovisiongroundsdependedona seriesof factorsoperatingwithin theunitofproductionandon the impact of these factors on theplanter’s cost accounting.Steep andbroken terrain, lessfertilelandsnotusedfortheproductionofplantationstaples,theflexibilityofworkregimes,allworkedtoreinforcetheuseofprovisiongroundswithinaunit.Withinagiventerritorysodidtheunavailabilityofcash,theavailabilityandacclimationofimportedplantsandanimals.

Eventuallyhowever,thesepractices,whichfirstemergedbecausetheyprovidedconcreteadvantagestoparticularowners,wentagainstthelogicoftheplantationsystemitself.Provisiongroundsprovidedbothtimeandspacethatwerebothwithintheorderdictatedbytheplantationandyetdetachedfromit.Theyprovidedaspacequitedistinctfromtheplantationfieldscongestedwith sugarcane, coffee, and cotton. Spacewhere one learned to cherish root crops, plantains,bananas;spacetoraiseandroastapig,torunafteragoat,ortobarbecueachicken;spacetoburythelovedoneswhopassedaway,toworshiptheancestorsandtoinventthenewgodswhentheoldoneswereforgotten.

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Timeusedontheprovisiongroundswasalsoslave-controlledtimetoalargeextent.Itwastimetodevelopnewpracticesoflaborcooperation,reminiscentof–yetdifferentfrom-Africanmodelsofwork.Timetotalkacrossthefencestoapassingneighbor.Timetocrossthefencesthemselvesandfishintheadjacentrivers.Itwastimetocreatecultureknowinglyorunknowingly.Timetomarktheworktempowitholdsongs.Timetolearnrhythmwhileworkingandtoenjoyboththerhythmandthework.Timetocreatenewsongswhentheoldonesfadedway.Timetotakecareoftheneedsofthefamily.Timetomeetamate.Timetoteachchildrenhowtoclimbatree.Timeindeedtodevelopmodesofthoughtandcodesofbehaviorthatweretosurviveplantationslaveryitself.38

Suchsurvival,inturn,dependedontheconsolidationofinstitutions.Forinstance,weknowthatinsomecolonies–Saint-Domingue,forinstance-slavessoldproduceaturbanmarkets.Wecanassumethatthepracticeofproducingandespeciallyproducingforsaleinvolvedanumberofindividualandeconomicdecisions.Slavesnotonlyhadtoengageinacost-benefitanalysis–asanypettyproducerwould-butinacost-benefitanalysisthattookintoaccounttheirideals(whatandwhentocultivate,howtoprofit;whattobuywiththeprofit,forwhomandwhy).Suchaculturally-informedcost-benefitanalysis,inturn,necessarilyimpliedthedistributionandconsolidationofroleswithinthehouseholds.Inshort,practicesofthatkind–andthereweremanymoreweneedtothinkabout-influencedalsotheinstitutionsthatwouldsurviveslavery.

Howtheydidsoremains,ofcourse,opentoseriousconcreteinvestigation.Suchinvestigationcanonlybenefitfromanalysesthattrytointegratethethreecontextssuggestedhere.Asenclavesandplantationsslowlygavewaytopopulationsthatexperiencedcreolizationmainlyinamodernistcontext, how did cultural context and, especially, patterns of accommodation, resistance andstruggle change?For instance, howdid the transformationof target cultures accommodate theperceptionofpastpractices:Wecanalreadyassumethathereagainhistoricalparticularsplayedtheirrole.Contactbetweendifferentpopulationswithinandacrosspoliticalboundaries,influxofnewcomers,impactofpriorcreolization,politicalcontrolandsocialdifferentiationenterintotheprocess.Butmymainpointisthatweneedtorehistoricizecreolization.

Creolizationisaprocessratherthanatotality.Toenableustoseizeitinitsmovement,Ihavesuggestedtheuseofthreecontextsasheuristicdevicesbutbearinginmindthatthesecontextsoftenoverlappedinparticularplacesandtimes.Mylongerexplorationoftheplantationscontextismeantasanillustrationofthecomplexitiesweneedtoacknowledgeattheverybeginning.Ideally,theanlysiswouldneedtointegratetheoverlapofthethreecontextsinhistoricallyspecificcases.39 Thepointremainsthatweneedtolookatcreolizationasaprocess,constantlyinfluencednotonlybypriorhistorybutbythenumerousfactorsthatcharacterize(d)thetimes,theterritoriesandthepeoplestowhichitbearswitness.

Conclusion: Plantation Coda

Theprovisiongroundofslavery,thereluctanttolerancetowardpetitmarronnage,theunequalrankingandtreatmentofslavesconstituteonlyconspicuousexamplesoftensionamongmanytobefoundintheplantationcontext.Thegenerallessonremainsthesame.CulturalpracticesmarkedlyAfro-Americanemerged,atleastinpart,becauseoftheslaves’abilitytousethecontradictionsinherentinthefundamentalsofthesystemandthedailyworkingsofspecificplantations.Timeandspacematterenormouslyhere–thatis,socialtimeandsocialspaceseizedwithinthesystemandturnedagainstit.

ThisabilitytostretchmarginsandcircumventborderlinesremainsthemostamazingaspectofAfro-American cultural practices. It encapsulates their inherent resistance.Afro-Americanculturesareculturesofcombatinthestrongestpossiblesensetheywerebornresisting.Otherwisetheywould not have existed at all. For theywere notmeant to exist. But the resistance they

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encapsulateisnotbestseizedbytheepicsthattypifyculturalnationalisttreatmentsofcreolization.Theheroismof the creolizationprocess isfirst and foremost the heroismof anonymousmen,womenand–toooftenforgotten-childrengoingaboutthebusinessofdailylife.Andformorethanthreecenturies,suchdailylifewasconditionedprimarilybytheplantation.

Afro-Americanculturalpracticesemergedontheedgesoftheplantations,gnawingatthelogicofanimprovedorderanditsdailymanifestationsofdominance.Filteringintheintersticesofthesystem,theyconqueredeachandeveryinchofculturalterritorytheynowoccupy.Inthatsense,theplantationwastheprimaryculturalmatrixofAfro-Americanpopulations.Butitwassoagainsttheexpectationsofthemasters.Itwasanimposedcontext,andquitearigidoneatthat,aninstitutionforcedupontheslavesbutonewithinwhichtheymanagedtheirmostformidableaccomplishments,thatofcreatingwhathasindeedbecomeaNewWorld.

∞______________1NigelBolland,“CreolisationandCreoleSocieties,”inAlistairHennessy,ed.Intellectuals in the Twentieth-Century Caribbean(Basingstoke:MacmillanCaribbean,1992),50-79;AnnieLeBrun.Statue cou coupé(Paris:Jean-MichelPlac,1996).2“CreolisationandCreoleSocieties.”3E.g.,SidneyW.Mintz,“TheSocio-HistoricalBackgroundtoPidgnization and Creolization,”inDellHynes,ed.,PidginizationandCreolizationofLanguages(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,1971),481-96;SidneyW.MintzandRichardPrice.The Birth of an African-American Culture: An Anthropological Perspective(Boston:BeaconPress,1992[1976]).4E.g.,JeanBernabé,PatrickChamoiseau,andRaphaëlConfiant,Éloge de la Créolité(Paris:GallimardandPressesUniversitairesCréoles,1989).5Theextentof linguisticcreolizationvaried. Insomecases,creolization let to the riseofentirelynew languagesspokenby the entire population, likeHaitianCreole, common toMartinique,Guadeloupe, and to a lesser extentDominicaandSt.Lucia).Sranan(Tongo)emergedinSuriname.PapiamentoinCuracao.InmanyoftheformerBritishterritories,wewitnessadifferentphenomenon.ThelinguisticspectrumpresentsitselfmorelikeacontinuumwiththemoreCreolizedformsatoneendandtheformsclosertotheEuropeanstandardattheother.6Ofcourse,sociohistoricalstudiesoftheCaribbeanhavedealtwithcreolizationsincecolonialtimes(GordonLewis,Main Currents in Caribbean Thought (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1983), but the delineation ofcreolizationandofitsproductsasaspecificobjectofscholarlyresearch,andthesubsequentlabelingofcreolistsasspecialistsofthefieldsodefinedfirsthappenedinlinguistics.7JoachimM.Magens,GrammaticaoverdetCreolskesprog,sombrugespaadetrendedanskeeilande,St.CroixSt.ThomasogSt.JansIAmerica.SammenskrevetogopsatofenpaaSt.Thomasindfödmand(Kopenhagen:TryktudidetKongeligeWayenshusetsBogtrykkerie,afGerhardGieseSalikath,1770).8 GlennGilbert, “The LanguageBioprogramHypothesis: Déjà vu?” in PieterMuysken andNorval Smith, eds.,Substrata versus Universals in Creole Genesis: Papers from the Amsterdam Creole Workshop, April 1985(AmsterdamandPhiladelphia:JohnBenjamins,1986),15-24.9MervynC.Alleyne,Comparative Afro-American (AnnArbro:Karoma,1980);MuyskenandSmith,Substrata versus Universals in Creole Genesis.10ClaireLefebvre,“RelexificationinCreoleGenesisRevisited:TheCaseofHaitianCreole,”inMuyskenandSmith,Substrata versus Universals in Creole Genesis,282.11Mintz,“TheSocio-HistoricalBackgroundtoPidginizationandCreolization.”12E.g.SuzanneRomaine,Pidgin and Creole Languages(LondonandNewYork:Longman,1988);GillianSankoff,The Social Life of Language (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1980); and Jeff Siegel,Language Contact in a Plantation Environment: A Sociolinguistic History of Fiji (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,1987).

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13Hynes,ed.,Pidginization and Creolization of Languages,andMuyskenandSmith,eds.,Substrata versus Universal in Creole Genesis.14E.g.Marie-JoséeCérol,“WhatHitoryTellsUsabouttheDevelopmentofCreoleinGuadeloupe,”New West Indian Guide,vol.66,nos.1and2(1992),61-76;Gilbert,“TheLanguageBioprogramHypothesis”;Lefebvre,“RelexificationinCreoleGenesisRevisited”;JohnR.Rickford,“ShortNote,”Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages1(1986),159-63;andJohnR.Rickford,Dimensions of a Creole Continuum: History, Texts, and Linguistic Analysis of Guyanese Creole(PaloAltoStanfordUniversityPress,1987).15E.g.,Bernarbé,Chamoiseau,andConfiant,Éloge de la Créolité;UlfHanerz,“TheWorldinCreolization,”Africa 57(1987),546-59;andUlfHannez,“TheGlobalEcumeneasaNetworkofNetworks”inConceputalizing Society (London:Rouledge,1992),34-56.16E.g.,Rickford,“ShortNote”;Rickford,Dimension of Creole Continuum;andCérol,“WhatHistoryTellsUsabouttheDevelopmentofCreoleinGuadeloupe.”17Bernabé,Chamoiseau,andConfiant,Éloge de la Créolité.18 DavidHarvey,“GlobalizationinQuestion,”Rethinking Marxism,vol.8,no.4(1995),I-17;BracketteF.Williams,“ReviewofThe Black Atlantic,”Social Identities,vol.I,no.I(1995),175-92.19 PaulGilroy,The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness (Cambridge:HarvardUniversityPress,1993);Hannez,“TheGlobalEcumeneasaNetworkofNetworks.”20MicaeladiLeonardo,“It’stheDiscourse,Stupid,”reviewofMichaelTaussign,The Magic of the State, The Nation,17 Mar. 1997.21Michel-RolphTrouillot,“Jeuxdemots,jeuxdeclasse:Lesmouvancesdel’indigénisme,”Conjonction 197 (Jan.-Mar.1993),29-44.22 Bolland,“CreolisationandCreoleSocieties.”23IraBerlinandPhilpD.Morganz,eds.,Cultivation and Culture: Labor and the Shaping of Slave Life in the Americas (CharlottesvilleandLondon:TheUniversityPressofVirginia,1993);B.W.Higman,Slave Populations of the British Caribbean 1807-1834(BaltimoreandLondon:TheJohnsHopkinsUniversityPress,1984).24EdouardGlissant,Introduction à une poétique du divers(Paris:Gallimard,1996).25Mintz,“TheSocio-HistoricalBackgroundtoPidgnizationandCreolization.”26GeraldF.Murray,“TheEvolutionofHaitianPeasantLandTenure:ACaseStudyinAgrarianAdaptationtoPopulationGrowth,”Ph.D.dissertaton(Anthropology),ColumbiaUniversity,1977.27 Mintz,“TheSocio-HistoricalBackgroundtoPidgnizationandCreolization,”481.28EdgarT.Thompson,Plantation Societies, Race Relations and the South: The Regimentation of Populations(Durham:DukeUniversityPress,1975);Glissant,Introduction à une politique du divers.29JuliusSherardScott,III,“ACommonWind:CurrentsofAfro-AmericanCommunicationintheEraoftheHaitianRevolution,”Ph.D.dissertation(History),DukeUniversity,198.30Latetwentieth-centurydevelopmentsinlinguisticideologyandspeechpracticeinHaitiandthegeographicalandsocialexpansionofbothreggaemusicandRastafarianismwithinandbeyondJamaicaaretwocasesthatmayillustratethepointeventbriefly.TheincreasedtechnicalandinstitutionalsupporttoHaitianasalanguage–fromitsuseinprintandaudiovisualmediainHaitiandabroadtoitsofficialrecognitionasoneofthetwonationallanguages-ispartofaprocess of modernization. (This modernization is now obvious, but keep in mind that Napoleon’s army issuedproclamationinCreoletotherevolutionaryslaves.)Buttheserecenttechnicalandinstitutionalchangesintertwinewithmodernity,withtherecognitionofindifferenceandtherecognitionofanidentitythatclaimstobespecificallyHaitian.Similarly,reggaemusicand,byextension,Rastafarianismhavebenefitedfromtheprofoundchangesinbothelectronicsandcommunicationthathaveaffectedthemusicindustryworldwide.Buttheopportunitythatthesechangesofferedhadtobeseizedbyartists,culturalnationalists,andlocalentrepreneursquiteawareofJamaicanmodernity.InJamaicaas inHaiti,organic intellectualshave integrated theknowledge that theworld isnowtheircontext ifnotalwaystheirinterlocutor.31MintzandPrice,The Birth of an African-American Culture,10.32Ibid,9-10.

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33 EdgarT.Thompson,The Plantation (Chicago, 1935);ThompsonPlantation Societies, Race Relations and the South.34 Ibid,31-38;115-17.35 Richard Price, ed., Maroon Societies: Rebel Slave Communities in the Americas (Baltimore: Johns HopkinsUniversityPress,1979[1973]).36EventheHaitianRevolution,whichstandsasthemostsignificantactofresistanceagainstslavery,doesnotactuallyfitthegrand marronnagemodel.Tostartwith,thereisnoevidenceofacontinuousmarooncommunityinthenorthernpartofSaint-Domingue,where the revolution started.Rather, inpartbecause the local topographyprevented theestablishmentofpermanentcampswherefugitivescouldregroup,theslavesfromtheatregioncouldnotescapethecontradictionsofthesystemthroughorganizedfromsofgrand marronnage(Michel-RolphTrouillot,Ti difé boulé sou istwa Ayiti [NewYork:KoléksionLakansièl,1977]).Indeed,ourknowledgesofarsuggeststhattheoriginalrebellioninvolved primarily slaves located on the plantation thatwere burned, even though some historians infermaroonparticipation.Further, thereare indications thatslavedriversandprivilegedslavesestablished the inter-plantationnetworkofcommunicationwithoutwhichthewidespreadrevoltthatdestroyedthenorthernplainsandlaunchedtherevolutionwouldhavebeenimpossible.37Formoredetailed treatmentof theprovisiongrounds in theCaribbean, seeSidneyW.Mintz’s article “Wa thePlantationSlaveaProletarian?”(Reviewvol.2,no.I(1978),81-98andMichelRolph-Trouillot,Peasants and Capital: Dominica in the World Economy(BaltimoreandLondon:TheJohnsHopkinsUniversityPress,1988).38 It is not at all surprising thatwhen slavery ended,Caribbean slaves did themost tomaintaion access to theirprovisiongrounds.Andalmost everywhere after the endof slavery,plantersunanimously condemned the formerslaves’attachmenttotheseprovisiongrounds.39Forinstance,althoughasocietysuchaseighteenth-century.Sain-Domingue(between1763and1789)wasprimarilya plantation society, onewould need to examine both the impact of port cities,where creolization had a strongmodernistcomponent,andtheimpactofLeManiel’senclaveandofcoffeefrontierareas,whichoperatedasculturalenclaves,onthecreolizationprocess.Giventhelocationoftheseportcitiesandenclavesandthehistoryofsettlement(YvasDebbasch,“LeManiel:FurtherNots,”inRichardPriceed.,Maroon Societies: Rebel Slave Communities in the Americas[BaltimoreJohnHopkinsUniversityPress,1979],143-48;Michel-RolphTrouillot,“MotionintheSystem:Coffee, Color and Slavery in Eighteenth-Century Saint-Domingue,” Review, vol. 5 no. 3 [1982], 331-88), thisimmediatelysuggeststhattheresearchshouldeventuallylookatspecificregionswithintheterritory.Inthe1770s,creolizationaroundJacmel–closetoLeManielandclosetonewcoffeeareas-couldnothaveworkedthesamewayonthegroundasinthenorthernplains.

______________

This article started as a contribution to the colloquium The Plantation System in the Americas, Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, 27-29 April 1989. It was revised in 1996-97, mainly at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, CA, and at Johns Hopkins. I thank Edouard Glissant, who invited me to the Baton Rouge colloquium, and all the participants who commented on the original version. Thanks also to the National Science Foundation, which supported my fellowship at the CASBS, to Marie Espelencia Baptiste, and Niloofar Haeri for sharing their views on creolization. Haeri and A. James Arnold also commented on later version.

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THE ORIGINS AND EvOLUTION OF FRENCH AND CREOLE IN LOUISIANA

PETER A. MAchOnIs

Department of Modern Languages and The Honors College Florida International University

Abstract: Historically, there were three different Francophone populations in Louisiana: French colonists, who spoke colonial French; African slaves, who spoke Louisiana Creole, a variety of French Creole; and Acadians, speaking Acadian French or Cajun. The 1921 Louisiana constitution banished French from schools and the state underwent an intensive period of Anglicization. In 1968,however,Louisianareversedcourseanddeclareditselfanofficialbilingual(English/French)state and created a government agency CODOFIL (Council for the Development of French in Louisiana), whose mandate is to teach French at the elementary level. Although Colonial French had just about vanished, and Louisiana Creole and Cajun French were disappearing, this action helped to create a Renaissance of Creole and Cajun culture, with “Cajun Power” bumper stickers, Cajun festivals, etc. This article discusses not only the linguistic heritage of Louisiana, where French or French Creole is still spoken by almost 200,000 inhabitants, but also Cajun and Zydeco music, an important unifying aspect of Cajun and Creole culture.

∞

In1682,theFrenchexplorerRobertCavalierdeLaSalle,tookpossessionofalargeterritorywhichextendedfromtheAppalachiantotheRockyMountains,andfromtheGreatLakestotheMississippiRiverdelta.Henamedit“Louisiana”inhonorofKingLouisXIV.CottonandsugarplantationsweresoonestablishedalongtheMississippiintheareaofthepresent

StateofLouisiana.By1763,therewerealready5,000FrenchcolonistsandjustaboutasmanyslavesbroughtfromAfricaandtheWestIndies. AsinotherFrenchplantationcoloniesof thetime, a French-basedCreole soon developed alongsideColonial French, and is referred to bylinguistsasLouisianaCreole.IntheTreatyofParis(1763),FrancerelinquishedterritorieseastoftheMississippitoEngland,whilelandstothewest,includingwhatistodayLouisiana,were

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handedovertoSpain.ThecolonymanagedtokeepitsFrenchflavor,however–citiessuchasSt.LouisandNewOrleansweremajorFrench- speakingcentersupuntiltheCivilWar.Infact,attheendofthe18thcenturyanotherFrancophonegroup,theAcadians,werewarmlyacceptedinLouisiana.

TobrieflytracetheoriginsoftheAcadians,atthebeginningofthe18thcentury,GreatBritain

tookcontrolofFrance’sNewWorldcolonyofAcadia(nowNovaScotia).In1755,theAcadians–descendantsofcolonistsfromwesternFrance–andlivinginAcadiasincethe17thcentury–weredeportedinwhatwaseuphemisticallycalledthegrand dérangementor“biginconvenience.”

TheseCatholicAcadians,whoforreligiousreasonsrefusedtoswearallegiancetotheKingofEngland,weredispersedalongtheAmericancoastwithalargenumberarrivinginLouisiana.OtherstookrefugeinFranceorintheWestIndies.

A largenumber, however, diedduring the forceddeportations andmany familieswereseparated,a tragedythat theAmericanpoetHenryWadsworthLongfellowimmortalizedinhislongnarrativepoem“Evangeline,aTaleofAcadie”(1847).

TheLouisianaAcadians,whobecameknownas“Cajuns,”kepttheirtraditionsandculture

–manyremainedfishermenandfarmers,whileothersbecametrappersandhunters.Meanwhile,manyoftheAcadianslivinginNewEngland,wheretheyweren’texactlywelcome,heardfromrelativesinLouisianaanddecidedtojointhemthere.By1790,theLouisianaCajunsnumberedapproximately4,000.

During theSpanishPeriod, therewere thus threedifferentFrancophonepopulations in

Louisiana: (1) French colonists, who spoke Colonial French; (2)African slaves, who spokeLouisianaCreole,alanguagebasedontheFrenchlexiconthatbecameanativelanguageformany;and(3)Acadians,speakingAcadianFrenchorCajun.Thesethreevarietiesexistedincontact,butColonialFrenchwastheonlyonewithawrittenformandthuswastheprestigiousvarietyofthetime.Tothesethreegroupswerealsoaddedaristocratsescapingthe1789FrenchRevolution,aswellasmanywhites,blacksandpersonsofmixedracefleeingHaitiafterthe1804Revolution.

In 1800,Louisiana becameFrench again for a short time, butNapoleon sold it to the

UnitedStatesin1803andthusarrivedanotherlinguisticgroup–Englishspeakers. Louisianabecamethe18thAmericanStatein1812asafairlyprosperousstatewithanincreasingnumberofplantations.AlthoughLouisianaremainedveryFrenchinflavor,itsprogressiveAnglicizationhadbegun.TheemancipationoftheslavesaftertheCivilWarledtothedeclineoftheplantations,oftheFrencharistocracy,andofColonialFrench.LargeurbancenterssuchasNewOrleansandBatonRouge,whichattracted the largestnumberofEnglish speakers, underwent an intensiveperiodofAnglicization.

CajunFrenchthenbecamethe“standard”Frenchbydefault,persistingalongsideLouisiana

Creoleintheprairiesandbayousintheruralsouthernparishesofthestate,anareaextendingfromTexastoNewOrleansinwhatiscalledtodaythe“FrancophoneTriangle.”Itisherewherewefindafairlycomplexandfascinatinglinguisticsituation,acontinuumofCajunFrenchspokenbyblacksandwhites,alongsideFrenchCreole,alsospokenbyblacksandwhites,attimesthetwovarietiesbeingdifficulttodistinguish.AccordingtoPicone(1997:122),“fromitsearliestperioduntiltoday,FrenchinLouisianahasbeendialecticallydiverseandthepopulationofitsspeakershasalwaysbeenmultiethnicandpolychromatic.”TracesofthisareevenreflectedinanecdotalevidencefromtheLewisandClarkexpedition.

TheintensiveAnglicizationofthestate,alreadybegunintheReconstructionera,culminatedinthe1921Louisianaconstitution,whichbanishedFrenchfromtheschools.TheCajunsandtheformer slavesout in thebayous,were able to avoid this assimilation, however, until themid-

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20th century,whenobligatory education inEnglish,massmedia, especially television, and thediscoveryofnaturalgasledtothesubsequentAnglicizationofruralareasaswell.

In 1968, however, Louisiana reversed course and declared itself an official bilingual(English/French)stateandcreatedagovernmentagencyCODOFIL(CouncilfortheDevelopmentofFrenchinLouisiana),whoseprioritywastoteachFrenchattheelementarylevel.AlthoughColonialFrenchhadjustaboutvanished,andLouisianaCreoleandCajunFrenchweredisappearing,thisactionhelpedtocreateaRenaissanceofCreoleandCajunculture,withadestigmatizationoftheterms“Cajun”and“Creole,”with“CajunPower”bumperstickers,andCajunandZydecomusicfestivals.However,thisreintroductionofFrenchwasproblematic.Inthefirstplace,whathappenedwasnotacaseofpreservingFrenchinthearea,butratherofresuscitatingit,sincemostofthechildrenhadneverspokenFrenchathome.AnentiregenerationofspeakerswaslostduetothebanishingofFrenchinschools.ParentsusedregionalFrenchasasecretlanguageamongthemselvesandencouragedtheirchildrentospeakEnglish,soasnottobepunishedinschoolastheythemselveshadbeen.Furthermore,whatwasfirstintroducedwasreallystandardFrench,andnottheregionalvarietyofCajunFrenchorFrenchCreole,sincetheteachersbroughtinbyCODOFILwerefromFrance,BelgiumandCanada,whocouldnotunderstandorwhodisparagedthe localvarieties. Some localFrench teachersnowcombat thisbyusing regionalLouisianaFrenchinschoolsalongwithstandardFrench.

AlthoughthereisnotmuchTVprogramminginFrench,andonlyonebilingualnewspaper,La Gazette de Louisiane,onedoesstillhearregionalFrench,alongwithCajunandZydecomusic,ontheradiothroughouttheFrancophoneTriangle.

AlthoughLouisianaCreolewasnotactivelypromotedlikeFrenchbyCODOFIL,recent

effortsatrevalorizingCreolethroughsuchorganizationsasC.R.E.O.L.E.Inc.,foundedin1987,doexist.Nevertheless,LouisianaCreoleisstillstigmatized,andreferredtobypejorativetermssuchasfranse nèg,(asopposedto bon franse), gonbo and kouri-vini,derivedfromthefrequentuseofthesetwoverbs(“togo”and“tocome”)incombinationswithotherverbs1.

White speakers will sometimes deny that they even use it, adding to the difficultyof researchers in determining the status of French Creole in the various parishes. Due tostigmatization,andsince,grammaticallyspeaking,LouisianaCreoleistheFrench-basedCreoleclosesttoFrench,manyCreolespeakerswillgravitatetoCajunFrench,orStandardFrenchiftheyareabletointheirspeech.ThusaccordingtoValdmanandKlinger(1997:11)“thereexistsnoclearlineofdemarcationbetweenCajunFrenchandFrench,orbetweenLouisianaCreoleandthemoreprestigiousCajunFrench.”

LouisianaCreoleandCajunFrenchareverysimilarinvocabularyand,exceptforthefront

roundedvowelsofCajunFrench(u, eu),inphonologyaswell.WhileCajunFrenchisspokenthroughout theFrancophoneTriangle,FrenchCreole is limited to fourmainareasofsouthernLouisiana:(1)St.JamesandSt.JohnparishesintheEast,(2)PointeCoupéeparishintheNorth,(3)St.Martinparishinthecenter,and(4)SaintTammanyparishjustnorthofNewOrleans.OnecharacteristicofLouisianaCreolethatdistinguishesitfromHaitianCreoleistheabundanceofagglutinationsofFrencharticlesasindimyèl“honey”,so lamen,“hisorherhand”,en bon diven “agoodwine”,enpyedefig“afigtree”.2

Nevertheless,LouisianaCreoledoesexhibittypicalCreolegrammaticalfeatures,suchas

postpositionofdefinitearticles(chòp-la“theshop”,mo frer ki muri la“thisbrotherofminewhoisdead”,dibwa-ye“thetrees”,mo zariko-ye“mybeans”)andpre-verbalmarkers(m ap vini bèk byen vit“I’mreturningrightaway”,li te gen en char“heusedtohaveacar”).Theseexcerptsofapopularfolktale3translatedinCajunFrenchandLouisianaCreoleillustratethesubtledifferencesbetweenthetwovarieties:

CajunFrench:Monj’aprèsespérerleBonDieum’envoielaviandeLouisianaCreole:

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M’apéespererBonDieuvoiemonlaviandeEnglish:I’mwaitingfortheGoodLordtosendmemeat

CajunFrench:Im’aattendumanderpourlaviandeetil’aenvoyéàmonLouisianaCreole:

LitendmoinmandepourlaviandeetlivoyépourmoinEnglish:Heheardmeaskingformeatandhesentittome

Ascanbeseenintheseexamples,anotherdistinguishingcharacteristicofLouisianaCreole

istheuseinsomecasesofvariantsubjectandobjectpronouns,ratherthanusingauniqueformasinHaitianCreole.

At thesametime, justas there isafairamountofcodeswitchingbetweenFrenchand

EnglishinCajunFrench,thereisagreatinfluenceofEnglishonLouisianaCreole: Yesehang li up“Theycouldhanghim”Ligallòp enchòp“Heruns(manages)ashop” Noticehowtheverbofmotiongallòp“run”takesonthemeaningof“manage”,asinthe

Englishexpressionhe runs a store.

I’llfinishwithafewwordsonmusic–animportantaspectofCajunandCreoleculture.CajunandZydecomusicaretwotermsthataresometimesusedsynonymously,asintherecent“FloridaCajunZydecoFestival”inDeerfieldBeach.Eventhoughbothhavesomeofthesamedefiningmusicalelements(e.g.,theaccordion),CajunmusicandZydeco,whichdevelopedfromCreolemusic,aredistinctmusical forms. The folkloristBarryJeanAnceletclaims thatCajunmusiccanbedefinedastheconvergenceofAfricanandEuropeanmusicaltraditionsintheNewWorld.ItstartedoutasFrenchsongsimportedfromFranceandAcadia,towhichwereaddedthemusicalstyleoftheAmericanIndians(descendingnotesanddrums),aswellastherhythmanddrumsofAfricantradition.Thefirstinstrumenttobeeventuallyintroducedwastheviolin,theheartandsoulofCajunmusictosome,thencamethebanjo,introducedbytheCreoles,andfinallybytheendofthe19thandbeginningofthe20thcenturytheaccordion,inventedinViennaduringthe19thcenturyandwhichplaysperhapsthemostprominentroleinCajunmusictoday.Cajundanceischaracteristicallythetwo-steporwaltz,whichisdonetravelingaroundthedancefloor.

While Cajun music evolved from the original Catholic Cajuns living on the bayous,

Zydecomusichas its origins in theFrench andCreole-speakingpeopleof colorofLouisiana.UpuntilWorldWarII,bothformswerefairlysimilar,butafterthattime,Creolemusicbegantobeinfluencedbythebluesandrockandroll.TheinstrumentsgenerallyassociatedwithZydecoare the accordion, electric guitar, drums, and the groovedmetal rhythm instrument called thefrottoir,orwashboard.AccordingtotheonlinePanfrancophonedictionary,thefrottoiris“asheetofcorrugatedmetalattachedovertheshouldersandwornoverthechestandabdomen.ItisscrapedwithbottleopenersorspoonstomaintainthesyncopatedrhythmassociatedwithZydecomusic.”ThefirstwrittenZydecosongsdatefromthe1950’sbyCliftonChenier,whilemodernZydecohastakenontheinfluencesofhardrock,reggae,rapandsoforth.ZydecomusicismoresyncopatedthanCajun,andmoreenergeticthantheblues,andZydecodance,alsoatwo-step,isgenerallydoneinplaceratherthantravelingaroundtheroom.

Thereisstillsomedebateabouttheoriginsofthewordzydeco.Themusicalgenreobtained

thenamefromtheexpressionLes haricots sont pas salés“Thebeansaren’tsalty”,whichappearedinmanyCreolesongs,andwhichbecameZydeco sont pas saléinCliftonChenier’sfamoussong.The traditional popularmeaningof the expression is that since saltedmeat used to be thrownintothepotofbeans,iftimesweretoughandyoudidn’thavemeat,thenthebeansweren’tsalty.Thusit’sametaphorfordifficulttimesingeneral.AlthoughnoCajunsongsspeakofthegrand dérangementorexile,norZydecosongsofslavery,bothgenresfeaturethemesofmisery,isolation,

27

separatedfamiliesandpartingoflovers. BarryAncelet4,howevermaintainsthatthetermzydecoisnotFrenchinorigin,butrather

WestAfrican,sinceyoucanfindwordssimilartozaricoassociatedwithmusicandthefertilitycultinatleasttendifferentWestAfricanlanguages.AccordingtoAncelet,thetermzarico or zydeco connotes“dance,”“thecourtingevent,”“findingalovedone.”ThusthemeaningofthephraseLes haricots sont pas salés,becomes“thecourtingprocessisgoingbad”andwhenCliftonCheniersaysAllons les zydeco thepronounlesisadirectobjectstandingforwomen.AnceletpointsoutthatthewordzaricocanalsobefoundinsongsfromtheIndianOceanislandsofRodriguesandRéunion,formerFrenchcoloniesthatalsoimportedslavesfromWestAfrica,asinthefollowingexample:

Idéemoi,idéetoi,Azélinecarizarico Quandlalunefaitségamoulinécarizarico(Tétu1993:la musique zarico) TheIndianOceanségadanceincludesstepsmimingtheplantingofbeans.Tisserand(1998)writes: …intheségaisastepcalleden bas en bas,meaning“bendlow”–suggestiveofaLouisiana-

borndancecalled thebaisse bas. That lowbending in theséga and thebaisse bas tested thelimitsofwhatwasacceptableinpolitedances.Anceletreportsthatthetraditionalségaconnectsbeans,fertility,andsexinasymbolicdance.Similarly,thephrase“zydeco sont pas salés”maybeworkingasadoubleentendre,giving“zydeco”anboriginsimilartotheword“jazz,”whichbeganasatermforsexinAmericanblackslang.

Whateveritsorigins,thetermzydecocontinuestoevolveandtodaymeansnotonlythe

music,butalsotheeventwherethemusicisperformed,aswellaswhatpeopledoattheevent.Infact,Tisserand(1998)translatesCliftonChenier’sAllons les zydecoas“Let’szydeco.”

In conclusion, although Colonial French is virtually gone and Louisiana Creole is

quicklydisappearing,the2000censusshowsthattherearealmost200,000LouisiananswhospeaksomevarietyofFrenchathome–includedinthisfigurearealso“Cajun”,“patois”,and“FrenchCreole”speakers.IfFrenchcontinuestobespokeninLouisiana,itwillbebecauseofitscontactswithotherFrancophoneareasandcountriesandtoaconcertedefforttospeakFrench.AlthoughValdmanetal.(1998)estimatethatonly20,000-30,000peoplestillspeakLouisianaCreole,thelanguageisstillanimportantsymbolofidentityfortheLouisianaCreolecommunity.Encouragedand supported by CODOFIL, C.R.E.O.L.E. Inc., and other organizations, music and culturalfestivalslikewisecontributetoaresurgenceofprideinCajunandCreoleculture,andreinforcetheuseoftheFrenchandCreolelanguagesinLouisiana.

∞

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NOTES 1.Linguistsrefertotheseverbalcombinations,typicalofWestAfricanandCreolelanguagesas“serialverbs”.HerearesomeexamplesinLouisianaCreoletakenfromtheDictionary of Louisiana Creole(Valdmanetal.1998): Ekonvouvinikonè,Lapenkouridòrmi“Andbeforeyouknewit,Rabbitwassoundasleep”(p.483) Lèsnoukourivinibalyelòtbout-la“Letusfinishsweepingtheotherend”(p.13) Theexpressionkouri-vini alsomeans“togoback&forth”inLouisianaCreole. 2.All linguistic examples of LouisianaCreole in this article are taken from theDictionary of Louisiana Creole (Valdmanetal.1998)andValdmanandKlinger(1997). 3.Thefolktaleof“TheBuzzardand theChickenHawk,”averypopularstory inFrenchLouisiana,wasusedbyThomasKlingertoillustratethesubtledifferencesbetweenCajunFrenchandLouisianaCreoleattheFifthCreoleLanguageWorkshopatFloridaInternationalUniversityin2000. 4.SeethevideorecordingVoix de Louisiane(Tétu1993):La musique zarico ________________ BIBLIOGRAPHY Ancelet,BarryJean. 1993. Lapolitiquesocio-culturellede la transcription: laquestiondu français louisianais.Présencefrancophone.no.43,47-62. Dubois,Sylvie,WilliamGautreau,HowardMargot,MeganMelançon,TracyVeler.1995.TheQualityofFrenchSpokeninLouisiana:LinguisticAttitudestowardtheVarietiesofFrenchinCajunCommunities.SECOLReview.Vol.19,pp.126-150. Griolet,Patrick.1986.MotsdeLouisiane.Etudelexicaled’uneFrancophonie.Paris:L’Harmattan. Henry,Jacques.1993.LeCODOFILdanslemouvementfrancophoneenLouisiane.Présencefrancophone.no.43,25-46. Neumann,Ingrid.1985.LecréoledeBreauxBridge,Louisiane.Hamburg:Buske. Picone,MichaelD. 1997. EnclaveDialectContraction: anExternalOverviewofLouisianaFrench. AmericanSpeech72,pp.117-153. Tétu,Michel. 1993. Voix deLouisiane video recording: le français louisianais. ProductionAFELSH,ACCT,collaborationFacultédes lettres,Facultédesarts,UniversitéLaval,Centred’études louisianaise,USL.Lafayette,CODOFIL.Quebec:GEREF Tisserand,Michael.1998.TheKingdomofZydeco.NewYork:ArcadePublishing. Valdman,Albert,ed.1997.FrenchandCreoleinLouisiana.NewYork:PlenumPress. Valdman,Albert.1993.LasituationactuelleducréoleenLouisiane.Présencefrancophone.no.43,85-110. Valdman,Albert.1986.UnenormerégionalepourlarevitalisationdufrançaisenLouisiane.RevuefrancophonedeLouisiane.vol.4no.2,24-44.Valdman,AlbertandThomasA.Klinger.1997.InValdman,Albert,ed.FrenchandCreoleinLouisiana.NewYork:PlenumPress,109-144. Valdman,Albert,ThomasKlinger,MargaretM.MarshallandKevinJ.Rottet.1998.DictionaryofLouisianaCreole.Bloomington,IN:IndianaUniversityPress._______________

WEBSITES Basededonnéeslexicographiquespanfrancophone:http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/bdlp/C.R.E.O.L.E.Inc.:http://www.creoleinc.comEncyclopediaofCajunculture:http://www.cajunculture.com

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CREOLE SEASONING:

THE ROASTING OF IDENTITIES AND THE MAKING OF THE AFRICAN DIASPORA

JEssica M. alarcón African New World Studies – M.A. Candidate

Florida International University

Miss Jane jus hear from ‘Merica Her daughta proudly write

Fe sey she fail her exam, but she passin’ dere fe wite!...

Jane get bex, sey she sen de gal Fe learn bout edication

It look like sey de gal gwan weh Gawn work pon her complexion…

Her fambly is nayga, but Dem pedigree is right,

She hope de gal noh gawn an tun Noh boogooyagga wite.

De gal pupa dah-laugh an sey

It serve ‘Merica right Five year back dem Jim-Crow him now

Dem pass him pickney wite.

Louise “ Miss Lou” Bennett 1

I amanartistoftheAfricandiaspora,straddlingacrosshistoricalframeworksthathavedrivenmeintomycurrentskin.TodayIfeeltheshakeofthesaddleasmybasegallopsfurtherintotheworldofacademia,sometimespullingmetoofarawayfromtherealityofmyyouth.Iwasnotbornintoprivilege,butwasabletomakesomethingofthe“goodhorses”Iinherited.

Ihear themneighas Iyank theemptycordsof“oldmoney”. Ibare thebrandof supremacist“prestige”thatallowedthePresident’scursed seedstobeeducatedforgenerations.ThiseducationallowedmetobeabletoreadtheirstoryandbecomeaMasterinmyownright(after all I am seeking a Master’s degree).AsIholdacopyofJamesK.Polk’sparchmentscripted‘LastWillandTestament’,Istareinthefacesofmyancestorswhowereinheritedtohischildren(although they too were his children)topayforthosechildren’seducation.NEIGH!ThehorsesscreamandIsquintattheirtanhides,hopingtheynevertriedtoclaimotherskin.Why is it that we grapple with Africa?

30

Iamatruechildofthediaspora.MyveinsarebluewithbranchesthatruntheirriversfromtheSouthPacificPhilippineIslands,totheAntillesandCaribbeanSea;theseveinshavecrossedtheNuse(river),theHudson,theSeine,theRivièreLézarde,andeventheMiamiRiver.MyveinsspeakTagalog,Español,créole,Patois,ProperEnglishandSlang.

AndIamnotalone.Itjustseemsthatattimes,thoseofusinthediasporaarelikeanold

African(American)spiritual,sometimeswefeellikea“motherlesschild,alongwayfromhome”andwe“imaginehome2”becauseAfricaseemssofaraway.Conversely,Iproposethatthisistrueonlyifwechoosetosevertheconnection.ThispaperseekstoanalyzetheconceptsofcreolizationwithinanAfricanDiasporaframework.

The discourse on creolization/creolite is complex especially since there are so manydifferent definitions and layers to “Creole”.For example, there areCreole identities3,Creole languages4,andCreoleseasonings5.StuartHalltalksaboutRacebeinga“FloatingSignifier”;thatisthatitsimplicationswillchangeand“float”basedonthecontext.Inalikemanner,thesameappliesto“creoleness”,whichcanshiftbydefinitiondependingonwhereoneis;however,fromadiasporanperspective,whichisbroadandvast,thesubjectofcreolitémustberegardedinadifferentlight.OnewhomaybeconsideredCreolewithinone’sowncountrymaytakeonadifferentidentityasheorshemovesthroughoutthediaspora.

SinceithasnowbeenestablishedthatCreoleisnotasingularissue,itisimportantthatthe readerknow that thisbodyofwork isbynomeans isanattempt tocover theentire spanofCreolizationanditsrelatedtopics,andwillinsteadfocusonafewconceptsandapproachescommonlyassociatedwiththediscourse,namely:CreoleapproachesandCreolizationasprocess.Amorein-depthanalysisofthissubjectmatterwillbeexploredinfutureessays.Thefollowingsection will discuss the approaches to Creole, beginning with a brief discussion on Gilssantand Bernabe, Confiante and Chamoiseau’s Eloge de la Creolité (1989) followed by KamauBrathiwaite’s(1974)conceptsofCreolizationwhichpredatestheformerbyoveradecade.

CREOLE APPROACHES

TheinfamousbookEloge de la Creolité,Chamoiseau,BernabeandConfiantopensbytelling the reader“ni Europeens, ni Africains, ni Asiatiques, nous nous proclamons Creoles” -neitherEuropeans,norAfricans,norAsians,wecallourselvesCreoles.CreolitlywasamovementthatwasinresponsetotheNegritudemovementspearheadedbyauthorssuchasLeonDamas,AimeCesaire,LeopoldSenghorandotherswhowroteaboutcelebratingBlacknessintheAfricanDiaspora. The Creolite movement criticized the aforementioned authors for using French soheavilyintheirwritingsandforthemnotusingtheMartiniquanCreolelanguageThiscreolitémovementisbasedonthenotionthatittookmorethanAfricatocreatetheCaribbean;however,thecriticismisthatintheirelegytheyseemtoleaveAfricacompletelyoutofthepicture.Predatingtheaforementionedtext’sdiscussiononCreolitéwasKamauBraithwaite’sContradictory Omens: Cultural Diversity and Integration in the Caribbean (1974)inwhichhenotonlydefines“creole/ization”buthealsoexplainstheprocessbywhichonebecomesaCreole.Thenextsectionwilldiscusstheoriginoftheword“creole”andwillleadtothediscussionofcreolizationasprocessinthemannerdefinedbyBraithwaiteinthe1974publication.

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CREOLE ORIGINS

ManyscholarstracetheNewWorlduseoftheword“Creole”totheSpanishwhocalledthoseborninAmericasthatwereofEuropeandescentcriollos.Criolloisthoughttohavederivedfromthewordscriomeaningchildand/orcriarmeaningtoraiseortogrow(someone/something);butwhatisitthatwascriado bythecrios 6intheNewWorld?TheprocessintheNewWorldwassuchthatthey[colonizers]soughtto“bred”anotherrace.

Ifoneresearchesthename,onewillfindthatCriolloisatypeofhorsefoundinArgentina,Uruguay,Paraguay,Cuba,andBrazil,andasoneadvertisementfor thepurchasingofCriollosstates, theyare“knownworldwidefor theirenduranceandstamina”.Somescholarsprefer theword“hybridity”asanalternativetothewordCreole7,howevertheworditself isproblematicwhenappliedtohumansforanumberofreasons.Hybridityisdefinedas“characteristicofplantsoranimalsthataretheoffspringofindividualsbelongingtoadifferentspecies”(Macey2000:hybridity).Thewordisderivedfromthelatinhybridawhichmeansamongrelorthecrossbetweenatameboarandawildsow.

In thearticle“MovingtheCaribbeanLandscape”IsabelHoving8furtherdiscusses thisconcept:

…racial taxonomies arose out of a new science of colonial plant propagation and animal breeding.. By 1840, European scholars began to defend the view that there were different human species and that the hybrid offspring of parents of different species would prove to be infertile…sexual relations between people of different “races”weredefinedascontrarytonature’sorder…Seeninthelargerhistoricalcontext,claimstothesuperiorityofundilutedEuropeanculturejustifiedcolonialismand the slave trade, much as they constituted the ….missionary project[s] in the Caribbean… (Hoving2005:158) As the abovedefinitions illustrate, creolization and the commonlyusedhybridity both

tracetheiroriginstoanimalsandsciencelabs.IwillarguefurtherthattheaforementionednotionofCreolewasimposedinmanywaysotherthanphysical.Braithwaitecallstheintegratedprocessofpsychological,culturalandphysicaladaptationofAfricans(aswellasEuropeans)totheNewWorld–CreoleSeasoning”.

CREOLE SEASONING

Creolizationisnotaproduct it isaprocess9andBraithwaiteargues that thisseasoningwas,“…aperiodofonetothreeyears,whentheslaveswerebranded,givenanewnameandputunderapprenticeshiptocreolizedslaves”(Braithwaite1974:13)hefurtherstatesthatCreolizationitself isaprocesswhichcomesbywayof:ac/culturation–theyoking(byforceandexample,derivingfrompower/prestige)ofoneculturetoanother(inthiscasetheenslavedAfricantotheEuropean)andInter/culturation–unplanned,unstructured,butosmoticrelationshipproceedingfrom this yoke…the creolization which results becomes the tentative cultural norm of the society. (Braithwaite1974:6)

InthebookThe Reawakening of the African Mind(1998)AsaHilliardstates,“Afterbeingkidnapped, enslavedandcarried toBrazil, theAmericas, theCaribbean, andotherplaces,ourancestorsstillknewwhotheywere…UponourarrivalinAmerica,however,thewhiteningprocessstarted.The longerAfricanshaveremaineddisconnectedfromAfrica, themorevulnerablewehavebeentoeffortstodiluteourculture.Thishasleftmanyofusdividedandconfused”(Hilliard1998:32).

32

IwillprovideafewexamplesdelineatingtheimplementationandresultsoftheconfusioncausedbytheprocessofCreoleseasoningintheNewWorld.ThefirstisrepresentativeofasanintentionalbreedingofAfricanpeoplesascropsofcreoles/hybridshavebeengrown(criado).The Bullwhip Days(1988)chroniclesthelivesofenslavedAfricanpeoplesthroughinterviewsandothertestimonialsthataretranscribedinthisvolumesuchastheonelistedbelowrecountedbyHilliardYellerday:

When a girl became woman, she was required to go to a man and become a mother. There was generally a form of marriage. The master read a paper to them telling them they were an’ wife. Some were married by the master laying down a broom and the two slaves, man and woman, would jump over it. The master would then tell them they were man and wife, and they could go to bed together. Master would sometimes go and get a large, hale, hearty Negro man from some other plantation to go to his Negro woman. He would ask the other master to let this man come over to his place to go to his slave girls. A slave girl was expected to have children as soon as she became a woman. Some of them had children at the age of twelve and thirteen years old. Negro men six feet tall went to some of these children. (Mellon 1988:147) Oncetheprocessofphysical/psychologicalcreolizationwasbegun,anenvironmentwas

establishedwherebythegenerationstofollowwouldbegintocreolizethemselves.Thefollowingexample comes fromColinPowell in an interview forTheNewYorker as transcribed inAsaHilliard’sAfrican Power(2002):

Those who work with him tend to shy away from the subject of his [race], but Powell has thought about it a good deal. He has said that his descent from blacks of the West Indies, where slavery ended earlier than in the United States and where the mixing of African and European bloodlines was more common, gave his people a greater self-assurance than descendants of American slaves. That was reinforced in the comparatively meritocratic world of the Army. He is light skinned, with the ethnically neutral voice of a television anchor and an inviting face, which the writer Henry Louis Gates Jr. described as having “a sort of yearbook openness,” This makes him an easy man to be around. As he told gates in a remarkably candid series of interviews for The New Yorker: “One, I don’t shove it in their face, you know? I don’t bring any stereotypes or threatening visage to their presence. Some black people do. Two, I can overcome any stereotypes or reservations they have, because I perform well. Third thing is, ‘I ain’t that black’.(Hilliard2002:47)

Powell’smentalityas representedabove, reflects theculminationof thecreolegrafting

thatwasbredinthehumansciencelabknowntodayastheAmericas.UnfortunatelyPowellisnotaloneinhisabsurdity.Thiswayofthinkinghasspreadthroughoutthediaspora.Ratherthanbaskinthedeleteriousimpactsofcreolizationofourcommunity,Iinsteadproposethatwe,atthismomentseekmeanstodecolonizeourselvesfromthedenselywovenpatternsofenslavementthathavegrownmoreandmoretranslucentthroughtheyears,butwhoseweightseemstodrawheavieruponourbacks.

Thoseofusintheacademy(institutionsofhigherlearning)mustalsotaketheknowledgetowhichwehaveaccessandcirculatetheinformationtoourcommunitieswhomayeithernotbeprivytothesameinformationaswe,orwhomaynotknowwheretobeginintheplighttodecolonize.Themoreinformedwebecomeasawhole,thelooserthetranslucentshacklesbecomethat tie us down. Even themost amateur of cooks knows that seasoning can be overbearingandwhenthesaltgetstoomuch,ratherthanwastingeverythingonecangobacktothesourceandneutralizetheflavorwiththeoriginal,andifthisisnotanoptiononeseeksoutingredientsthatcomplimentthebase.

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CONCLUSION

I’m loving the skin I’m in. Of all civilization

I AM the origin.

I’ve survived

the horror of enslavery, and now,

the diaspora receives my legacy.

I’m building, despite centuries

of brutality. I’m singing praises

to my melanin, and loving,

yeah loving the skin I’m in

(Springer2005:171)

Oncewebeginto“lovetheskinwe’rein”wewillbegintoseethereversalofthecreolization

process.Whileitisrecognizedthattheinterminglingofculturesisinevitableandaddsrichnesstotheworld,itisthedehumanizationandtheyolkingofone“subordinate”culturetoanotherthatisdeemedsuperiorthatthisessaycallsintoquestion.Weareconditionedtothinkthatcreoleissomethingseductiveandexotic.Wemayfeelthatitadistinctionormakesusdifferenttobecalledcreole.Allthewhile,notrealizingthatAfricahasbeenaroundtheworldsincetheworldhasbeenround.WhatisinterestingisthatmanyoftheculturesthataredeemedtomakeoneCreolecantracetheiroriginsbacktoAfrica.Wehavetobecarefulofinversingwhitesupremacy;paintingAfricaasifitwerea“darkcontinent”makingitseemasifslaverywasAfrica’sfirstventureintotheworld,andhomogenizingAfricanpeoples.Whoarenotonlydiverseingeneticmakeup,butwho’sdiversityoffeaturesandphenotypesareinfinite.Wecannotbuyintopseudosciencethatusesstatisticstoconfuse.Forexample,howitissaidthatthereismorevariationinthegenepoolofBlackpeoplesthantherearebetweenblacksandwhites,whichisusedoftentimestohighlightthecomparativedissimilaritybetweenBlackpeople,whichismisleading.Ofcoursewehavemorevariationinourgenepool‘causewe’vebeenswimminginthisworldjustalittlebitlonger.

Whenwemoveintothediasporacreolitebecomesamootpointbecausethatiswhenour

interconnectednesstrulyshows.Ourdrumsbeatthesamerhythmsandnotonlydowefeelthejoyofthesamesunshine,butgenerallywecanfindhomewhereverwegoamongstourpeopleinthediaspora.Wecaneventastethesaltofthesametearsallaroundtheworld.LikeFanonbeingcalledanigger,LangstonHughesconnectingwithrivers,orhowitfeelstobe“inyourelement”andmarginalizedatthesametime.Perhaps,theanimalisticrelationtoCreoliteisbefittingbecausetodaywearestilltreatedasCreolesandHybrids.Whenmost,ifnoteverycountrypopulatedbypeopleofcolorisstillcalled3rdworld,eventhoughsomeplacesinthe1stworldremindyouof3rdworldplaces;eventhoughthe1stworldonlybecamethe1stworldthroughthecallousedandbruisedhandsofthe3rdworld–andasthecreolistsmaysay–theirbloodwasn’tjustAfrican;no,

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itwasredandthenbrown.

In conclusion, you can change the noun, but the adjective remains.What does it matter what you call me, if you treat me just the same? MaybeweshouldaskFanon;maybewecansummonDiallo;perhapswecantalkwiththeMedicalForensicistfromthebootcampcase,ortakeawalkthroughaMaghrebcommunityinFrance.

Ormaybe…Whentheyaskyouforyourpapers,youshouldsay,“no,I’maCreole”WhentheyactagitatedintheImmigrationOffice,youtellthem,“listen,I’maCreole”Whentheywatchyouinstores–Soy una criolla, triguena, mulata-say,“IamaCreole”Whenthetheyaskyouifyourhairisreal,tellthem“yeahIgotthatCreolehair”Whenthepoliceharassyou–Mais je suis creoleWhentheymakeitafelonyforyoutoliveintheircountry–damn, but I thought I was a Creole Yeah,youtellthemyouareaCreole,buttheworldwillstilltellyouthatyou’reBlack.

∞______________

1 (Bennett2005:284–285)

2 “imaginehome”–SydneyLemelle,R.D.G.KelleyandJ.Didney,Imagining Home: Class, Culture and Nationalism in the African Diaspora(VersoBooks,1994)

3 passant blancofNewOrleans,thecriollooftheHispanicDiaspora(meaningaEuropeanusuallySpanish)bornintheNewWorld),andtherearemanyothercreolesintheAfricandiasporasuchastheSierra-LeoneanCreole.Creolesometimesindicatesthatapersonisofmixedancestry,sometimesitmeansthatsheorheisnot.Sometimesithasnothingtodowithsanguinityatallandithaseverythingtodowithlocationandthemixingofmulti-layersofcultures.

4 Inthatmixture,thereareelementssuchasCreolelanguageswhichhavemanynamessuchaspidginsordialects;intheU.S.diasporathereisGeechee,Gullah,andotherregionallanguages,intheCaribbeanthereare patois, kreyol, krio, Papiamentu (Portuguese and Dutch), Kokoy (Dominica),etc. and in the in theHispanicdiaspora,thereareaspectsoflanguagethatvaryfromcountrytocountrysuchasinthe“dialect”somecallCubanismousingwordslikefulameaningdollars

5 CajunCreole,Creoledressing,Zattaran’sCreolemustard,andevenChefCreole

6 Crioshavecriado–(esp.)thechildren(ofEurope)havecreated

7 seeHomiBhabha,GatryiSpivak,PaulGilroy,StuartHall

8 DeLoughrey,Gosson&Handley’sCaribbean Literature and the Environment

9 Braithwaite(1974)

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

-AmericanHeritageDictionary3rdEditon.NewYork:DellPublishing,1994-Bennett,Louise.JamaicaLabrish.Kingston:Sangster’sBookStoresLtd.,1966(2005ed.)-Bernabe,Jean,PatrickChamoiseau,andRaphaelConfiant.Elogede laCreolite/InPraiseofCreoleness(EditionBilingue).Baltimore:TheJohnHopkinsUniversityPress,1989- Braithwaite, EdwardKamau.ContradictoryOmens: Cultural Diversity and Integration in the Caribbean.Mona(Jamaica):SavacouPublications,1974-DeLoughrey,ElizabethM.,ReneeK.Gosson,andGeorgeB.Handley.CaribbeanLiteratureandtheEnvironment:BetweenNatureandCulture.Charlottesville:UniversityofVirginaPress,2005-Hoving, Isabel, “Moving theCaribbeanLandscape:Cerus Blooms at night asRe-imaginationof theCaribbeanEnvironment”pp154-168-Hintzen,PercyC.andJeanMutebaRahier.ProblematizingBlackness:Self- EthnographiesbyBlackImmigrantstotheUnitedStates.“AnythingbutBlack:BringingPoliticsBacktotheStudyofRace”byPedroA.Noguera.Chapter11(pp193–200)-Hilliard,Asa.AfricanPower:AffirmingAfricanIndigenousSocializationintheFaceoftheCultureWars.

Gainsevile:MakarePublishingCompany,2002-Mellon,James(Ed.)BullwhipDays:TheSlavesRememberANORAL

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HISTORY.

-NewYork:Weidenfeld&Nicolson,1998-Springer,EintouPearl.LovingtheSkinI’mIn.SanJuan(Trinidad):Lexicon,2005

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37

CREOLIZATION, CRÉOLITÉAND THE INTELLECTUAL STRUGGLES

OF THE AFRICAN DIASPORA

BaBaKar M’Bow International Program & Exhibit Coordinator - Broward County Libraries

If dismemberment deconstitutes the whole…thenRe-memory functions to re-collect, re-assemble, and organize into a meaningful sequential whole through… the process of narrativization.

-Henderson, Mae G..

∞

iscussionsofCreolizationandtheAfricanDiasporainSouthFloridahaveespousedUSracialhierarchicorganizationofsocio-culturalspace.AlthoughrecentadvancesintheStudiesofAfricansworldwide(Alpers1997,Palmer1998,Gordon&Anderson1999,Okpewu,MazruiandDavies2001,Zeleza&Eyoh2003,Gomez2005,Nzegwu2006)mayhaveshakensomeassumptions-atleastinthecontextofimportanceofacolorshadeoveranother,thetermsCreolizationandCréolitécontinuetobeimaginedinacolorcodinghierarchicalschemeinSouthFloridaDiaspora.In thiscontribution, I focusattentiononanaspectofboth terms that requiresgreaterscrutiny:Creolization-asaprocessthroughwhichnewidentitiesareforgedfromresistancetooppressionandde-humanizingenterprisesandthealwaysabilityforre-creationandsynthesisandCréolité-themanifestationofaprivilegingofEuropeasadefiningmarkersomewantustoswallow.

ThiscontributionconcentratesspecificallyoncreolizationandCréolitéintheAfrican

D

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Diaspora in South Florida, a place that I will term a “Diasporic Space”. This labelemphasizesSouthFloridaasanewfocalpointforAfricandescendentsencounter.Inthisregard,theideaof“AfricanDiaspora”providesabackdropforadiscussionofthehighlycomplex effects of historical and contemporary experiences, themovement of peoplesacross national boundaries and the various outcome-processes such as Creolization.CréolitéIwillargueisasmokescreenestablishedtosubstitutethe“slavocracy”ofthehistoricalerawithacontemporaryclassofintellectualcompradorsinthe“business”ofmaintainingwesternsupremacistepistemology.

Thisessay’streatmentofCreolizationandCréolitéintheAfricanDiasporais aware of various theories of the concepts (Glissant, Braithwaite,Wynter, Barnabé,Chamoiseau, Confiant) particularly SylviaWinter’s theory of the human and its two“major,andinterconnected,diacritics”ofnormandhumanity(Winter2001).FollowingWinter’s lead, Iwill explore theways inwhichCréolité plays upon the structuring ofsocialorganizationandidentityacrossSouthFloridaAfricanDiaspora.ThevariouslevelsofdefinitionsofCreolizationfromSouthAmericans, theAnglophoneandFrancophoneCaribbean,Brazilians,andAfricansinSouthFloridahelptoillustratenotonlythe“complexinterconnectivity”oftheAfricanDiasporabutalsothepointoffrictionwhichdevelopsfromthatinterconnectivity.Finally,theinterpretationofCréolitéasitmanifestsincommunitiesinSouthFloridawillofferan importantcontrast to thediscourseonAfricanness in thesamesite,IaimtoputafaceonamorecomplexandslipperytendencyofblurringthelinesbetweenCreolizationasaculturalprocessandCréolité-itsneocolonialinterpretationwhichaccessrequirestheerasureoftheblackskin.

CréolitéandAfricannessinSouthFlorida

ThescholarlyarticulationofthesetwotermshasspawnedaratherlaborioustraditionintheAfricanDiasporaliterature.WhileIbreakwithsuchtraditiontoaddresstheirneocolonialmanifestations,Ialsoconsideritusefultociteexamplesofauthorswhohaveconsideredeachterminrelationtooneanother,specificallyinthecontextofAfricanDiaspora.

First,EdouardGlissantjuxtaposesCreolizationandAfricannessunderscoringamoresophisticatednotionof the former in its“liberatingof itself;finallywehear it.Wenowdistinguishitspartinourvoice.Welistentotheexplanationoftheorigins,theperegrinationoftheancestors,andtheseparationoftheelements.Then,thenoiseoftheseathatrhythmsourwords;theirremediablecadenceoftheship;thislaughtheycouldnotdrown.”Second,Boyce-DaviesdefinestheAfricanDiasporaasvariouslocationsinwhichonefindsthepresenceofapeopleofAfricandescent.Davies’definitionprovidesuswithaglobalscaleonwhichtoexploretheDiasporainlocationssuchasAfrica,theGolfStatesoftheMiddleEast-Oman,Qatar,Bahrain,SaudiArabia,inIndiaandPakistan.Fromthere,wecomedown toEuropeandAustralia to theAmericas-North,SouthandCentral.

An exploration of the concept of Creolization -that is the process of dynamic

constant re-fusionbypeoplesofAfricandescentandwhatemerges fromit in termsoflanguages, identitiesandcultureswould require timeandspace thispublicationcannotafford.Hence,Ifocusonasmallgeographicalpart-theAmericasspecificallyinthezonewheretheprocessoccurredintheconfrontationbetweenAfricanandtheFrenchlanguages-thatistheso-calledCaribbeanFrancophone.

Forthepastseventeenthyears, theAfricanDiasporagazedat language,culture,andidentitythroughthelensesofEdouardGlissant’sPolitiquedelaRelationandmore

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specificallyl’ElogedelaCréolitébyJeanBernabé,PatrickChamoiseauandRaphaelConfiant.MyconcernisnotaninventoryofCreolizationandCréolité;theseprocessesoccurredinmanypartsoftheworld-butthewaysinwhichtheauthorsofl’ElogedelaCréolitéandothersimilarworkssuchasAnthonyAppiah’sInmyFather’sHousePaulGilroy’sBlackAtlanticandItain’twhereyou’refrom,it’swhereyou’reatarebeingreproducedinidentityperformanceinSouthFlorida.

Consequently,wemustproceedasAntillesoftheSavannahinthatifwepursuesomething,weshallcatchitandescapeifsomethingpursuesus.Ofparticular importancefor thewhyweshallescapeisthewaysinwhichintellectualimperialistsofthe“metropolis”deployanarrayoflegitimizinginstrumentsforcarryingnegropolitanauthorsontheirshouldersandexhibitingthemasthenewalternativestoBlackformulationssuchasNegritudeandPan-Africanism.

Immediatelyafterthepublicationofl’ElogedelaCréolité,Franceseemedtohavefoundnewprophetsforitsin-directruleofourintellectualcreativity:BothConfiantandChamoiseaureceivedrespectivelythePrixdelaLiterature1991forEaudeCaféandthePrixGoncourtforTexaco.ItisthisCréolitéinits‘ParisianLeftbank”2.0versionthatthecolonialmetropolisheraldsasthenewencyclical.Itsdefiningcharacteristicsare:“NeitherAfricannorEuropean,norAsianbutMétisse”-akindofunsaltedsouptastinglikeapieceofbreadthatsojournedinacupofwater!Itslocation?AnowherenessofacitizenshipimplantedintheAntilleswithagenesisinthefruitoftherapingofenslavedAfricanwomen.Fromthisgenesis,theFrenchmediaandintellectualcirclesinfuseconceptsofMétissageanduniversalisminlargedoseintotheso-calledfrancophoneAfricanDiasporaconsciousnessinarallyingcryforCréolitéexpectingustoapplaudthismyopicvisionthatleavesintacttheirprivilegesandhistoricalfalsificationsandperpetuatestheircontroloverourdestiny.

WhilethepaternityoftheconceptofCreolizationhadbeenattributedtoEdouardGlissant

anditsdeterminacytotheauthorsofl’Eloge,Iwouldarguethat,yearsbeforethese,Creolizationhas already been spoken about as a cultural analytical theory of the experience of peoples ofAfricandescent.Indeed,asearlyasDecember1970,attheconferenceonCulturalDiversityandNationalIntegrationheldattheUniversityofIfeinNigeria,EdwardKamuBraithwaitetheorizedthe concept and expanded it later inTheDevelopment ofCreole society a paper presented atthe 1973 John Hopkins University’s conference on Creolization inAfrica and theAmericas.Braithwaite is important in that he pointed at the outset that “creolization refers to a culturalprocessperceivedastakingplacewithinacontinuumofspaceandtimewhichmaybedividedintotwoaspectsofitself:acculturation,whichistheyoking(byforcederivingfrompower/prestige)ofoneculturetoanother(inthiscasetheenslaved/AfricantotheEuropean);andinter/culturationwhich is an unplanned, unstructured but osmotic relationship proceeding from this yoke.TheCreolizationwhich results (and this isaprocessnotaproduct),becomes the tentativeculturalnormofthesociety.”

FollowingBraithwaitethen,thisnorm,becauseofthecomplexhistoricalfactorsinvolvedinmakingit(mercantilism,slavery,raptandviolenceofallsorts,materialism,racism,superiority/inferioritysyndromes,etc.)isnotwholebutcracked,fragmented,ambivalent,notsureofitself,subject toshifting lightandpressures,hence, the ideaofEuro-latermulatto-creolizationas theidealandnorminmostslaveplantationssituations.ItisthisnormofEuro-CreolethatisproposedassignifierofanAfricanDiasporaidentityinSouthFlorida.

Hence,thenecessitytodefinethewordCreoleandtheformulationsaroundit;TheAmericanHeritageDictionaryoftheEnglishLanguage,initsthirdEditiondefinesCreoleas“1.ApersonofEuropeandescentbornintheWestIndiesorSpanishAmerica.2.a)ApersondescendedfromorculturallyrelatedtotheoriginalFrenchsettlersoftheSouthernUnitedStatesespeciallyLouisiana.b)TheFrenchdialectspokenbythesepeople;3.ApersondescendedfromorculturallyrelatedtotheSpanishandPortuguesesettlersofthegolfstates.AblackslavebornintheAmericaasopposedtoonebroughtfromAfricaetc.Thus,ifweweretotaketheAmericanHeritageDictionaryasthe

40

Bibleinthismatter,wewouldhavetostoprightheretodismissthenameashavinganythingtodowithAfricansintheDiasporaandthishighlightsthereactionarynatureoftheformulationofCréolitéinSouthFlorida.

ForM.S.DaneyinHistoiredelaMartiniqueVolume1page415,quotedbyBraithwaite

in thepaper indicatedabove,“thewordCreoleappears tohaveoriginatedfromacombinationofthetwoSpanishwords.Criar(tocreate,toimagine,toestablish,tofound,tosettle)andcolon(acolonist,afounder,asettler)intocriollo:acommittedsettler,oneidentifiedwiththeareaofsettlement,onenativetothesettlementthoughnotancestrallyindigenoustoit.”

Inthiscontribution,IexploreCreolizationandCréolitéthroughl’ElogedelaCréoliténotinapresentationofaninventoryoftheCreole;dependingonthedefinitionthisprocesshasoccurredinmanypartsoftheworld-butthewaysinwhichtheyhavebeenformulatedandpasseddowninSouthFlorida.Iwanttofocusontheircontentandusagefromthepointofviewoflanguagethatishowtheyplayintheprocessofcommunication,carryingofculture,andprojectionofidentity.Insodoing,Iamattentivetothequestionsofrace,shadesofcolor,class,andlocations.Hence,mypositiononcreolizationespousesthatofBraithwaiteasaversionofthetwoacceptedtermsacculturationandinter-culturation:theformerreferring,totheprocessofabsorptionofoneculturebyanother, thelatter toareciprocalactivity,aprocessof intermixtureandenrichment,eachtoeach.

ThiscontributionisalsoinformedbyothertextssuchasPoétiquedelaRelationd’Édouard

Glissant(1990),LettresCréoles.TracéesAntillaisesetContinentalesdelalittérature1635-1975deChamoiseau&Confiant(1991),andDelanégritudeàlaCréolité:élémentspouruneapprochecomparéebyBernabé(1993).Inl’ElogedelaCréolité,Bernabé,Chamoiseau,&Confiantaffirm,“Créolité is neithermono-linguistic normulti-linguisticwithwater proofed compartments. Itsdomainislanguage.Itsappetite:allthelanguagesoftheworld”.Thecentralquestionsthatinformthisundertakingareasfollow:WhatistobeunderstoodbyCréolitéandCreolization?Arethetermsantagonist? IsCréolitéasdefinedbyConfiant,ChamoiseauandBernabé thesameas itsdeploymentinlanguageandidentityformationintheAfricanDiasporaandspecificallyinHaitiforexample?

LetussketchaframeworkforresponsestothesequestionsbyfirstvisitingGlissant’sownjudgmentonCréolitéasdefinedbytheauthorsofl’Eloge”«ItissurethattheargumentsfoundinL’ElogedeLaCréolité,thosethathavebeencitedandthosethathavenotbeencitedcamefromDiscoursAntillaisorSoleildelaConsciencemeaningfrommyessaysandthesignatoriesrenderedthem direct homage. However, in DiscoursAntillais, I spoke at length of creolization, whichhasgivenbirthtol’ElogedelaCréolité.Créolitéformeisabadinterpretationofcreolization.Creolizationisaperpetualmovementofculturalandlinguisticinterpenetrationthatmakesonenotgotstuckonadefinitionofthebeing”Hewenton,“Thereisonlytheactofbeing-ofparticularexistencesthatcorrespond,thatenterinconflictor,andthisiswhatmakesCréolité:todefineaCreolebeing.Itisawayofregression.Thus,bytryingtodefineaCreolebeing,Créolitéputsanendtotheprocess.Ibelieveintheinfinite-thatistheprocessofcreolization.AndthisprocessthatplaysintheAntillesalsoplaysintheentireworld.Theentireworldisbeingcreolized;alltheculturesarecreolizingthemselvesatthisparticulartimeinthecontactoftheoneswiththeothers.”

WhilecriticalofCréolité,Glissant isalsoproposingcreolizationasauniversalisticflightweallhavetoboard.ForBernabé,ConfiantandChamoiseauCréolitéisthe“‘foundationof the being, foundationwith all possible solemnity,Créolité is themajor aesthetic vector forknowledgeofourselvesandforknowledgeoftheworld”

Hence they cheep “Neither Europeans, norAfricans, orAsian, we proclaim ourselvesCreole.Thiswouldbeaninternalattitude,better;avigilanceorasortofmentalenvelopattheMitanofwhichourworldwillbebuiltinfullconsciousnessoftheworld”Thus,wearepresented

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withaEuroCréolitéwithwhichtosaythemassforourownhistoricalexperienceandourvisionofourselvesonthemapofhumangeography.

SylviaWynter’sformulationof“MistakingtheMapfortheterritory”isusefulherebecause

the conceptsCreolization andCréolité thatmay seem to cover the same realities at first lookneedtobeunpacked.First,thenotionof“being”aslocatedintheEloge’sargumentespousesawesterndefinitionoftheterminwhichwhitenessthronestoconstructallotherhumanitiesinadecrescendohierarchyatthemarginsofwhichAfricaanditsdescendentsarelocked.Thesocio-historicalprocessesthathaveproducedthisEuro-Creole-mulattoarenotofthesamenaturethanthosethatareatworkinidentitydiscourseintheAfricanDiasporaevenifthetwooccurredinthesamematrixand timeframe.Créolité that isEuro-Creoleand the identityemergingfromitdescribeoldpracticesof rappingofblackwomenbybothArabsandEuropeansgoingback toAfricanprehistory.ChancellorWilliamsprovidesaglaringnarrativeofthisEuro/Arab-CréolitéinhowEgyptturnedfromblacktoBrownduetotheraidingandrapingofblackwomenandtheforcedinterbreedingoftheraces,whichbeganaroundthenorthernEgyptianperimeter,andhowtheCreolehalfbrothersoftheAfricansthatweretheoutcomeoftherappingsetouttodistinguishthemselvesfromtheraceoftheirmothers-African.AccordingtoWilliams,“theybitterlyobjectedtobeingidentifiedasAfricansandusurpedoldappellationsofAfricanssuchasEgyptians,Moors,Carthaginians,etc.and tocrowntheirnewidentity,adoubtfulphysicalanthropologyprovidedthespacebyartificiallycreatingfirsta“BlackAfrica”andlatera“Sub-SaharanAfrica.”ItisthesameprocesswearewitnessinginCréolité.IsitbycoincidencethatthetheoreticiansofCréolitéandothersimilarformulationsallhappentobemulatto?Boyce-Daviestellsusthat“coincidencesarenothingbutthedeliberateplacinginconjunctionofaseriesofeventsbyforceswellbeyondrationalinterpretations”.

It is this Euro-creolization- a progressive self-alienation and adaptation of AfricandescendentspopulationstotherealitiesofwhitenessbaptizeduniversalthattheauthorsofL’Elogepropose for a visionof ourselves at theglobal level.However,wehavebeenbreastfed in theNarrativesofResistancewhichenableustosay“hellnowewon’tgo!” Wewon’tevengotoGlissant’scallforcreolizationas“notageographicalconceptbuttodesignatethebrutalcontactineitherinsularorenclaveterritoriesofculturallydifferentpopulationsgenerallyassembledwithinaplantationeconomy,andorderedtoinventnewculturalschemasallowingtheestablishmentofarelationshipofco-habitation.”

The camouflage of Europeanism into Créolité that is proposed toAfrican descendentsas thesolepathforaccesstoa“human”entitywhichemergesfromtheseprocessesmust thenbe somethingelse than simply that.Creolizationasproposed in this frameworkpossesses thisuniversalcharacterandisnotpropertotheEuropeanandthatacontact[even]brutalwouldleadsoonerorlatertoaprogressiveadaptationtheytellus.

This concept of creolization has no cultural future for theAfricanDiaspora because itallowsawhitemanfromLouisianatoshareintheCréolitéwhilelegislatingthemostabjectJimCrowdiscriminatorypolicies,enjoyingtheprivilegesoftheracistsocialorderwhichlocateshimattheheadofthebusandtheone,twoorthreedropsandblacksattheback!

“OurfirstrichnessweCreolewritersaretopossessseveral languages:Creole,French,English,Portuguese,Spanish,etc.Itisnowaboutacceptingthispotentialbilinguismandtoexitfromtheconstrainedusageswehadofit

ForSylviaWynter,thisisthe“CreoleEye”whichvisionoftheAfricanDiasporaisparttheeyeofthenativeparttheeyeofthestranger.“Itisdeceptivelylucid.Aconfusionofself-imagehauntsitsmostilluminatingdiscoveries.Itlooksoutupontheworldwithamyopicbrilliance.Itpinsthefactsdowninapreciseanalyticalstare.Butthesearchlightofitsgazeisdirectedbyagridofmisconceptionspre-packagedinthecornflakesofacolonialeducation”.

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FromanAfricanDiasporicviewpoint then,wecannotseehowtomeaningfullydiscussCreolizationanditsoutgrowthCréolitéoutsidethecontextofthesocialforceswhichhavemadethemissuesdemandingourattention.Ontheonehand,imperialismanditsneo-colonialcompradorscontinuouslygang-globalizeourhandstoturnthesoiloverandputonusblinkerstomakeusviewthepathaheadonlyasdeterminedbyaEurocentricepistemologyanditsnewadvocates.Inotherwords,EurocentrismcontinuestocontroltheculturesofAfricansandAfricansoftheDiaspora.Butontheotherhand,pittedagainstthisepistemologicalhegemony,areourceaselessstrugglestodechoukéknowledge fromtheEuropeanstranglehold tousheraneweraof true intellectualequalityandself-determination.

Westruggletoseizebackourcreativeinitiativeinhistorythrougharealcontrolofallthemeansofcommunalself-definitionintimeandspace.Thechoiceoflanguageandidentityandhowtheyaredefinedarethencentraltoourselfdefinitioninrelationtonaturalandsocialenvironment.Hence,languagehasalwaysbeenattheheartofthetwocontendingsocialforcesinAfricaanditsDiaspora.

ForAfricandescendentswhoselanguagehavebeenextirpatedinthehelloftheplantationsofthenew-world,theirnamesandreligionserased,theirgodsdebased,theirhumanityparenthesized,theconstructionofalanguageandanidentitywithwhichtoexpresstheircreativityandavisionofthemselvesinrelationtootherselves,thewayinwhichthelanguageistalkedaboutandhowthetalkdistortsorclarifiesthedebateareimportantissues.

ThekindofjokethatconsistsatjugglingwithlinguisticnotionsinagreatopaqueambiguityandoftenblatantcontradictionpresentedasthecanonswithinwhichtotheorizeAfricanDiasporaexperienceneedtobechallenged.Forexample,intheabovequotationabouttherichnessofCreolewriters, is it aboutCreole and one of the enumerated languages or is it about FrenchCreole,PortugueseCreoleofEnglishCreole?Theabsenceofdeterminationintheenumerationrendersthedeclarationambiguous.Secondly,thequestionofbilinguismneedstobeunpackedtoseehowitis“potential”whenonestateshavingseveral“languages”.InthecoloniesofMartinique,GuadeloupeandFrenchGuyana,Frenchisnotaforeignlanguage;itisamaternaltongue,theofficiallanguage,thelanguageofthemetropolis.WearenotinHaitihere.ItistheFrenchofFrancewhether,French,Antillean,Creolizedorotherappellationcontrolée.Letusnotforgetthatwhetherinoneortheotherdepartmentsofoutofsea,oneisstillinapartofa“tropicalFrance”.Theauthorsofl’Elogetellusthattheyhave“conqueredFrench”,and“IfCreoleisourlegitimatelanguage,theFrenchlanguage(emergingfromthewhiteCreoleclass)wassimultaneouslygivenandcaptured,legitimizedandadopted.CréolitéhasmarkedFrenchlanguagewithanindeliblestamp;inshort,weliveinit”AllthatremainsisforthemtotellusthatthattheirCreoleisreallyFrench.

WhatisbeginningtostinkinthediscourseistheerasureofAfrica.TospeakofAfricaasthePoteauMitanoftheHaitianCreoleisheresyfortheseCreolesbecauseitwillsendbacktonegritudeandweknowtheirpositiononCésaire.Forthem,AfricanneedstobeerasedàlaDorotheaSmart:“bleachit,scrubit;stepblindlyintotubsofClorox,permit,lightenit,makeitgoaway”.

ThisiswhatWyntercalls“thepoliticsofrhetoric”.Forher,itisthepoliticsofthose

whowanttheappearanceofchangewithoutitspainfulreality.“Rhetoricistheweaponwithwhichtheyobscure theareasofconflict; andcreatesaverbalconsensuswhich seeks todamupnewdirectionsinthedryriverbedofCreolecustom”.ThisquestionandtheresentfulconsciousnesswhichitimpliesistheorganizingprincipleofwhatisbeenproposedtotheAfricanDiasporainl’ElogedelaCréolité

ForthisvisionofEuro-Créolité,itisintheplantationthattheforcesoftheoralandthewrittenareconfrontedandthisiswheremultilinguism,ismadeandremade.Forit,thePlantationofferedmarvelouslaboratoriesofobservationoflanguagesinformationpracticallyinvivofrom

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whichallkindsofhypothesishavebeenelaborated.Theproblemwith thisargument is that itreifiestheatrocitiesintheplantationtransformingitinto“marvelouslaboratories”andonehastobelocatedinthemaster’shousetofindanythingmarvelousintheplantation.Besides,fromanAfricanDiasporastandpoint,theplantationhasalwaysbeenasiteforresistanceandtheultimategoalwastoburnitdownorrunawayfromit.InHaitiandthroughouttheAnglophoneCaribbean,thishasledtotheemergenceoftheMarooncommunities.

Hence,theEuro-CreoleswanttopresentuswithaCreoleidentityframeworkinwhichnopoliticalorideologicalagencyparticipates!Nohistoricalmemory!Nore-membering!ItisalmostbyaccidentthattheCaribbeanarrivedattheconstructionofthislanguage.However,JeanPaulSartreintheforewordofEthiopiqueshassomethingtosayaboutit“Fromthelanguageimposedonthem,theBlacksengagedindismantlingitpiecebypieceandfromitsruins,builtasacredlanguagewithwhichtoexpresstheirhumanity”.

Thus,Creoleasalanguage,at least intheliberatedterritoryofHaitiandusingNguggiWaThiongo’sformulationperformstwofunctions:“It isbothameanofcommunicationandavehicleofculture”.Let’stakeFrenchforexample;itisspokeninFranceandHaiti.ButfortheHaitianitisonlyameanofcommunicationwithnon-Haitian.Itisnotacarrierofhis/herculturedespitethenoisyclaimofHaitianneo-colonialists.ButHaitianCreoleisinseparablybothameanofcommunicationandacarrierofthecultureforthoseHaitianstowhomitisamothertongue.

KarlMarxinGermanIdeologydefinesanotherfunctionoflanguagehecallsthe“languageofreallife”.ForMarx,“theproductionofideas,ofconceptions,ofconsciousness,isatfirstdirectlyinterwovenwith thematerial activity and thematerial intercourseofwo/men, the languageofreal life.Conceiving, thinking, themental intercourse ofwo/men, appears at this stage as thedirecteffluxoftheirmaterialbehavior.Thesameappliestomentalproductionasexpressedinthelanguageofpolitics,laws,morality,religion,metaphysics,etc.,ofapeople”.Wo/menarethentheproducersoftheirconceptions,ideasetc.,astheyaredefinedbyadefinitedevelopmentoftheirproductiveforcesandoftheintercoursecorrespondingtothese,uptoitsfurthestform.

Thereisalsolanguageaswrittensignsimitatingthespokenwords.Whereaslanguageinitstwofirstaspectsofcommunicationandspokenwordsemergedalmostsimultaneously,writingisamuchlaterdevelopment.AccordingtoNgugi,thereismoretolanguage“communicationbetweenhumanbeingsisalsothebasisandprocessofevolvingculture.Indoingso,similarkindsofthingsand actions over and over again under similar circumstances, similar even in theirmutability,certainpatterns,moves,rhythms,habits,attitudes,experiences,andknowledgeemerge.

InthevisionoftheEuro-Creole,weseeagrossnaivetywithregardtothequestionsoflanguage in itsvoluntarygliding from theproblematicoforal language topreoccupationwithwriting,andnormofusagereducingtheroleoflinguistictostereotypedaspects.However,iftheprinciplesoffixationandof transcriptionare indispensable, they remain tobe imaginedgiventheconstitutivemarginalityofCreolevariable systems thatwoulddistinguish from the simplerepartitionofvariantsbetweenHaitian,Guadeloupean,andGuyaneseetcCreolelanguage.

Central to theEuro-Créolité theywant to foldus into is thevacationofAfrica and anidentitylocatedinanowherenessinwhichFranceisstillthereference.IstheCreoleasdefinedintheFrenchcoloniesoftheAntillesthesameasinthefirstBlackRepublic?Werespondbythenegative.InHaiti,Creoleisameanofcommunicationandacarrierofculture.CreoleascultureisthusmediatinginHaitians’verybeing,transmitsorimpartsimagesoftheworldandrealitythroughspokenword-thatisthroughaspecificlanguage.Thus,CreoleascommunicationandascultureinwhichAfricastandsasaPoteauMitaninHaitiisthenaproductofeachother.Communicationcreatesculture;cultureisameanofcommunication.Languagecarriesculture,andculturecarriesparticularitythroughorature,theentirebodyofvaluesbywhichwecometoperceiveourselvesandourplaceintheworld.Howweperceiveourselvesaffectshowwelookatourculture,atourpolitics,atthesocialorderandatourentirerelationshiptonatureandotherbeings.Creoleisthus

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inseparablefromtherevolutionarynatureofHaitianhistoryandculture.

Thus,tohearthoseliketheauthorsofl’Elogeproposingfromthecoloniesaformulationwithwhich to speakabout languageas a liberation talk is anoxymoron.AudreyLordalreadywarnedusthat“Wecannotdestroymaster’shousewithmaster’stools”.ForNguggi,“colonialisminvolvestwoaspects:thedestructionordeliberateundervaluationofourculture,ourart,dances,religions,history,geography,education,oratureandtheconsciouselevationofthelanguageofthecolonizers”.Thedominationofapeople’slanguagebythelanguageofthecolonizingnationsisthencrucialtothedominationofthementaluniverseofthecolonized.

Poet, President of theRepublic of Senegal, Leopold Sédar Senghor is an enlighteningexample,whenhedeclared“althoughFrenchhasbeenforceduponmebyFrenchcolonization,ifIhadbeengiventhechoiceIwouldstillhaveoptedforFrench”.HecontinueshissubserviencetoFrenchintheseterms:“WeexpressourselvesinFrenchsinceFrenchhasauniversalvocationandsinceourmessageisalsoaddressedtoFrenchpeopleandothers.Inourlanguages[i.e.Africanlanguages]thehalothatsurroundsthewordsisbynaturemerelythatofsapandblood.Frenchwordssendoutthousandsofrayslikediamonds”.SenghorwasthenrewardedbybeinganointedtoanhonoredplaceintheFrenchAcademy-thatinstitutionsafeguardingthepurityoftheFrenchlanguage.

TheAfricanDiaspora

Whilevarioustypesofmigrations(forced,induced,andvoluntary)havemuchtodowithourpresenceallovertheworld, thestruggleforfreedom,independence,justiceandequalityisthe basis ofAfricanDiaspora culture.Built on anAfrican base, our songs, stories, languages,identitiesandworldviewhavebeenshapedbyourpresenceinthenew–worldfirst inphysicalenslavement thenboundby racial,educationalandculturaloppression.Theemergenceofnewlevelsofblackness,theglobalizationofblackethnicityinanewmeaningofAfricanDiasporaareprovidinginternationaltendenciesamongpeoplesofAfricandescenttoestablishlinkagessymbolicandrealacrosstheboundariesofsocietiesvastdistancesapartandwithsignificantdifferenceincultureandscaleoforganization.

Throughtheworksofdedicatedblackintellectuals,thetermAfricanDiasporaisacquiringsymbolically generic proprieties-representing a rising consciousness of kindwhich transcendsformallyaccepted/imposeddistinctionoftribes,shades,colonialstates,andreligionandlanguagegroup. In this term,“Nomatterwhereyoucomefrom, ifyouareablackwo/man,youareanAfrican”Unlessyouchooseotherwisethatistobejustaskin-folk.

∞

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1DiscoursAntillais,1981

2L’imaginairedeslanguesinÉtudesfrançaises,1993

3PatrickChamoiseau,RaphaëlConfiant,JeanBernabéElogedelaCréolité,Gallimard19934ChancellorWilliam,TheDestructionofBlackCivilization:GreatIssuesofARacefrom4500B.Cto2000A.D.,ThirdWorldPress,1976.5StokelyCarmichael/KwameTourestatementontheVietnamwar6PatrickChamoiseau,RaphaëlConfiant,JeanBernabéElogedelaCréolité,Gallimard19937SylviaWynter,CreoleCriticism-ACritique8KarlMarxandFredericEngels,Feuerbach:OppositionoftheMaterialandIdealistOutlooks,London1973p.8.9NgugiWaThiongo,TheLanguageofAfricanLiteratureinPostcolonialisms:AnAnthologyofCulturalTheoryandCriticismed.byGauvarDesaiandSupriyaNair,RutgersUniversityPress200510SenghorinresponsetoaquestionduringaninterviewbyArmandGuiberandpublishedinPresenceAfricaineunderthetitle:LeopoldSédarSenghor,1962

∞BabacarM’BowistheInternationalProgram&ExhibitCoordinatorfortheBrowardCountyLibrariesandfocusesoncultural studieswithemphasisonAfricanandAfricanDiasporaStudiesHismost recentpublications include:SplendorsofTrinidad&Tobago:theArtofCarnival2000,TheSoulofBlackFolksAfricanDiasporaContemporaryArt,2003,TheDescentoftheLwa:JourneythroughHaitianMythology2004,Bushiki:TheConceptsofKnowledgeinAfricanArts2005,Benin:AKingdominBronze2006,RaceandRacisminAfrica2006andTheIdeaofModernityinContemporaryHaitianArt(forthcoming2007).

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47

AFRO-FUSION DANCE: A PERSPECTIvE FROM THE AFRICAN DIASPORA

augusto solEdadE, M.F.a.Asssistant Professor of Dance

Florida International University - Department of Theater and Dance

Introduction

I remember…I remember a time when I was clearly interested in dance. I remember one day asking my

aunt, the youngest of my father’s sisters, to teach me how to dance samba the way she did. Her styleisknownas“miudinho”–tiny.Thefeetareflatonthefloorandinchupthroughthespacemarking the rhythm. This style of samba is believed to be the traditional form performed in the “Samba de Roda”.

I remember…I always participated in all the school plays and dance events, which usually came as part

of the celebration of national holidays in Brazil, like the day of Folklore. Girls would dress up as “Baianas” - Black Bahian women, who sell fruit and goodies of the Afro-Bahian cuisine on the streets, wearing long white skirts, which go on top of layers of other ironed and starched hard cotton skirts that would support, give volume, and a bounce to the hips; a loose light-weight cotton blouse, which would fall off of one shoulder, exposing it; and a white head wrap that followed the traditions of dressing the heads in the Afro-Brazilian religion of Candomblé. Boys would dress as “Pescadores”(fishermen)BlackBahianmen,wearingapairofwhitecottonpants,whichwentdown to the lngth of the calves, bare chest and a straw hat on the head.

∞

Afro-Fusion: A Natural Condition

MyAfro-Brazilianconditionspeaksoftheexperienceofamulti-cultureddancingbody.Iseektoarticulateamoredetailedaccountofanindividual’sartisticvoicethatsurfaces,sometimes, through conscious aesthetic choices, and sometimes, as a spontaneousreactivemechanismtothefunctioningofaninternallyinscribedandlivedhistory.The

inherentobjectiveofthe“Afro-Fusion”approachtodanceistoestablishacoherentdanceidiomthatadequatelycapturesthisexperience.

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I now realize that reminiscing is a strong characteristic in my creative process. ByconsciouslyaccessingthememoriesofmychildhoodandearlyadulthoodinBrazil,Iamabletoplacemyself in a stateofmind that functions as the resource toproduce andgenerate thecreativeideaaswellasmovement,whichareanimportantpartof theinitialstageincreatinganartisticdance.Thestateof reminiscingbringsabouta sentimentof longing for thingsandplacesofthepast,bothgeographicallyandhistorically.Thus,connectingmyself,atthemomentofcreation,to“Home.”“Home”asintheplaceandtimewhereI livedmyearlyembodimentof discoveries, experiences and experiments; themoment of identity formation, identificationwith,andsedimentationofspecificculturalvalues.The“Home”thatIfirstgottoknowwithasenseofbelonging,whichis,initsessence,aconstructionofacollectivehistoricalmemory.This“Home”isaplacethatbecomeseasilyrecognizableespeciallywhencontrastedwithsomeoneelse’srepresentationofthatsameconcept,orthroughtheprocessofphysicallyrelocatingoneself.Theexperienceofresidinginaforeigncountry,forinstance,providesthenaturalenvironmenttobecomeawareof“Home”andtoattempttoreliveitasmemoryofplace.

Thecontactwithaspokenlanguagethatdoesnotflowasfluentlyasonenative’stongueandtheinteractionwithpeoplewhoseattitudetowardstheselfandotherareconstructedbasedonthesameprinciplesasyourown,butreflectsdifferentinsightsandbiasespresentotherwaysof understanding “Home.” “In the broadest sense the Africanist aesthetic can be construed asaprincipleofcontradictionsandanencounterofopposites.Theconflict,orparadox, thatis innate to and insinuated by difference, disagreement, discord, or irregularity is embraced, rather than erased or resolved.”(Gottschild5)“Home”is,therefore,anessentialelementintherepresentationofmyculturalmatrix,inlocatingmycreativeselfandinsettingthefoundationforanidentificationthatwillcomeforthasafreshartisticoutlookwhencontrastedwithadifferent“Home.”..

Howeverwhathappens to thecreative imaginationafter living ina foreigncultureforanextendedperiodof time,whenconsciouslyorunconsciously,ashift inone’sperceptionofwhatinitiallywasdifferent,oppositionalorevenplainlyunknownoccurs,andaconstructionofinteractivedichotomistrelationshipsstarttosubmergeinpersonalandcollectivespheres?

Ononesidethereis“Home”andontheothersidethereis“home”-“thehomeonemakesforoneself,thehomeofone’sadultlife.”(Kincaid98)“Home”isalwaysinthepresent,neverinthepast.The fact that we as a culture have made such a big deal of the oppositional nature ofbinaryconcepts, ignoringthesymbioticrelationofoppositesdefiningeachothersaysalotabout how we perceive, what we value or devalue, what we do, and how we do it. It is heartening that some groups in our contemporary culture are showing signs of receptivity toward Asian and African concepts which are more sophisticated than ours in embracing competing opposites, or contrarieties (Gottschild168)

“Home”becomesaplacewhereanaudience,here identifiedasagroup that isoutsideBrazilanditscollectiveassumptionsof‘Brazilianess,’hasthepowertoperceive,toname,andinfluencetheartisticoutcomeintheinterpretationofAfro-Fusiondance.New practices necessarily arose within the new historical context of slavery, which mixed Africans from many distinctive linguistic and social groups and resituated these “crowds” (their tem) within the parameters of the subjugating relationship of slavery. New religious practices, male and female relationships, reworkings of kinship patterns and their meanings, as well as artistic practices arose from these new conditions of prohibitions and possibilities.(Desmond35,36)

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Fusion: A Loaded Term

As a dance artist (choreographer, performer and teacher) who can identify the binaryrelationship of “Home” and “home”, I am interested in looking at the symbiotic relationshipsof opposites as the context from which to draw the creative impulse. The definition of suchmodelbecomestheinstigatingeventformemoryandtheprerogativeandlocusforimagination,recollection,andapproachtodance,dancingandthecreationofdances.

“Fusion”bringsinitsetymologythesymbioticqualitywhichreflectstheinteractivenatureofanartisticcreativeprocess.“Fusion”emergesasadefiningtermtorepresentthecreativeworkingmodeto:generatechoreographicideasanddancematerial,accessembodiedhistories,assesstheartistic outcome and structure expression in dance. “Fusion” has been a recurrent approach todancethatseemsto,historically,interestmanydanceartistsintheAfricanDiaspora.Numerouschoreographershavepresentedablendofdanceformsandculturesasthedrivingforceintheircreativework.Theblendmaynotalwaysbetermedas“Fusion”bytheartists,butitundoubtedlyrepresentsthesamedichotomistnaturedescribedabove.

In The Black Dancing Body: a Geography from Coon to Cool, Gottschild interviewsvariousdanceartistsabouttheirdefinitionofBlackandWhiteDance.Theresponsesspeaktotheattitudesoftheartiststhemselvestowardsfusingformsinordertoreachapersonalaestheticvoiceandasenseofidentity:Garth Fagan comments, “When I use my cultural background, which is Caribbean and African, and when I get rid of the African adornment and the straw hat and the fabric – which is nothing wrong with that, I love that – but when I choose to just take the movement and blend it into the modern ballet vocabulary, then people can’t see it [as the category that is labeled and recognized as black dance], and they get upset. But if it were another culture [that is, white culture] done that way, it would be wonderful, hello and hosannas, you know.”(Gottschild18)

“Fusion”maycomeasanaturalpersonal response to thepressureofdisempowerment.Despitemyinvolvementandinterestindancefromanearlyage,thefactthatIpursuedadancecareerattwentyfivewasachallengingendeavortosaytheleast.IcameintothedancedepartmentattheFederalUniversityofBahiawithwhatIwouldevaluatenow,byacademicstandards,asaminimumacceptablesenseofconventionaldanceanddancetrainingatthebeginnerlevel.WhatIbroughtinwasnothingmorethanmymanyyearsofquadrilleandsambadancingfrom“Home.”

Quadrille,Sambaandtheeverchanging,spontaneousstreetdancesinsecularmanifestationsinBahiawerethemoreinfluentialformsofsocialdanceandinteractionthatestablishedmyearlynotionsofperformance-culturally,aestheticallyandsocially-apartfromothermodesoflivingtradition, learningmovement and social behavioral patterns.The quadrille fueledmy sense ofrepresentingwhatisnotlivedonadailybasis,throughtheimaginativere-placementoftheindividualinanadverseenvironment(wewerekidsbroughtupinanurbancenterre-presentingtherurallifestyle);Sambawasrelivinghistory;whilethestreetdanceswereanexerciseofcontemporaneity.“One of the easiest ways to disempower others is to measure them by a standard which ignores their chosen aesthetic frame of reference and its particular demands.”(Gottschild171)

TheshapingofmyartisticselfdrawsonthecontinuousdialogandnegotiationwithinmyAfro-Brazilianandworldlybody.I,hereidentifiedasanAfro-BraziliandescendentwhoassumesthatmyAfro-Brazilianconditionalreadyaddressescomplexissuesofhybridityandfusions,bothAfrican and otherwise, in a newworld country, live and produce dancework to an audience,mainly,intheUnitedStates.IamnowpresentedwiththeopportunitytomakeartisticchoicesanddevelopanaestheticpreferencethatIfeelwouldbeoutlineddifferentlyifIweretocreatedancesinBrazil. Inherarticle“SomeThoughtsonChoreographingHistory,”Gottschildstates thatalltextsareintertexts.“Thatis,forces,movements,motifs,trends,languages–textinotherwords–ofpreviouslyandcontemporarysocietiesinfluenceus,livewithinandaroundus,andconstitutethethreadsthroughwhichweweaveour“new”patterns.”

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“Intertextuality”constitutes, therefore,a leadingprinciple in“Fusion”and the intrinsicoperatingsystemthatplacesacquiredbodilytext1inachronologicalorder-textisacquiredastheexperienceislived-availableforpotentialaccessandreference. “By enlarging our studies of bodily “texts” to include dance in all its forms – among them social dance, theatrical performance, and ritualized movement – we can further our understanding of how social identities are signaled, formed, and negotiated through bodily movement.”(Desmond29)

Afro: A Matter of Identity

RegionalityandNationalityaretheunderlyingconstructofidentitywhichthequadrille,the samba and street dances help set up, playing an important role inmy individual processofdemarcatingthegeographical,psychologicalandemotionalreachoftheself.Understandingmicroandmacrostructuresisanusefultoolinaccessingthecomplexwebofpersonalexperience,thus,assistingtheprocessofrelivingacomparativehistory.

SambaasthenationaldanceofBrazil,withoriginsintheCongo-Angolaregion,reenactsandrearticulatesthehistoryofslavery,rape,disempowermentandpartialannihilation.However,sambaarticulatesaswellthehistoryofresistance,throughdeception;survival,throughrebellion;strategy,throughfusion;andempowerment,throughdance.ThecaseofsambaisnotanydifferentfrommanyothercasesthroughouttheAmericasandtheCaribbean.“In the 1800 and even before, African-Americans throughout the Americas, from Brazil to Louisiana, danced similar dances. These dances had a variety of names – calenda, chica, batuque, samba – but they were variations of a common theme. Many features of the dances would carry on into dances like yuka, and from there to rumba.” (CrowellJr.15)

Adancethatwasinitiallyassociatedwithamarginalizedgroupdevelopedtothestatusof“national”duetothe“moredialecticalconceptionofculturaltransmission.”IntheirworkonAfricanAmericanculturesintheAmericas,SidneyMintzandRichardPricehavearguedpersuasivelyforthismoredialecticalconceptionofculturaltransmission.Theyemphasizethestronginfluencethatslavery,asaninstitution,exertedonbothAfrican-andEuropean-derivedculturalpractices.Theyargueagainstasimplisticback-writingofhistory,whichwouldunproblematicallytraceAfricanAmericanpracticestooriginsinAfrica.Whiletheyacknowledgethatsomespecificpracticesaswellasverylargeepistemologicalorientationstowardcausalityandcosmologymayhavesurvivedtheviolenceofenslavement,theyemphasizeinsteadtheparticularityofAfricanAmericancultures–theirdistinctivenessfromAfricanculturalinstitutionsandpractices.”(Desmond35)

Asanartistwhoapproachesdancethrough“Afro-Fusion”,IaminterestedinlookingatthecontrollingstandardssetbytheBraziliansocietytomeasureandmaintainnotionsofaestheticauthenticityandidentityandhowthesenotionsareperceivedbyanadverseaudience.Inthecaseofsamba,Iattesttothefactthatthestandardsofnormalizationandauthenticityechotheoriginalform,despite thedevelopmentofvariationsdue to forcesof regionalityandevenpolitical,asingovernmentalstrategiestosupportanideologythaterasesandcoversfundamentalissuesofsocial,politicalandeconomicscopeandthesignificanceoftheAfricancontributioninBraziliansociety.

Thefunctionofsambaremainsrootedprimarilyinrepresentingsexualplayandmodesofmale-female interactions.Within theRoda-de-Samba inBrazil, theguiding rulesof sambaaestheticcallforfluidhips,eloquentfeetandsubtleshoulders,andastrongsenseofimprovisation,whicharealltraitsinheritedfromAfricansthatsetthemodelforthe“sambista”-sambadancer.

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Conclusion

TheobjectiveinvestigationofmyowncreativeprocessasamethodinwhichtoidentifyandarticulatethepracticeofcreatingcontemporaryartisticdancesintheAfricanDiasporasurfacedasanaturalrouteinthepursuitofadancecareer.AsIviewvariouscontemporarydanceartist’sworksIperceiveastrongconnectioninthechoreographicstructure.Weallseemtorelyontheinterpretationofoursubjectivenessinordertopresentanartisticviewoftheworldwithinandaroundus.Myintentioninpresentingadiscussionofmycreativeprocedureistoencourageartiststocontinuelookingforwaystoinnovateandadvancetheunderstandingofoursharedhumanity.

∞(Endnotes)

1 References

Crowell,Jr.,NathanielHamilton.“WhatisCongoleseinCaribbeanDance”,page15.CaribbeanDancefromabakuátozouk:howmovementshapesidentity.EditedbySusanSloat.UniversityPressofFlorida.2002

Desmond,Jane.“EmbodyingDifference:IssuesinDanceandCulturalStudies”,MeaninginMotion:NewCultural Studies inDance. Ed. JaneDesmond.North Carolina:DukeUniversityPress.1997.

Gottschild,BrendaDixon.“Crossroads,Continuities,andContradictions:TheAfro-Euro-CaribbeanTriangle”,page5.CaribbeanDancefromabakuátozouk:howmovementshapesidentity.EditedbySusanSloat.UniversityPressofFlorida.2002

Gottschild,BrendaDixon.“SomeThoughtsonChoreographingHistory”,MeaninginMotion:NewCulturalStudiesinDance.Ed.JaneDesmond.NorthCarolina:DukeUniversityPress,1997.

Gottschild,BrendaDixon.TheBlackDancingBody:aGeographyfromCooltoCoon.NewYork:PalgraveMacmillan,2003.

Kincaid,Jamaica.MyBrother.NewYork:TheNoondayPress,ADivisionofFarrar,StraussandGiroux.1997.

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53

EvOLUTION OF KREYòL IN THE ERA OF GLOBALIZATION

rogEr E. savainBilingual Education Consultant

Translator-Interpreter affiliated to the American Translators Association

Bonjou tout moun alawonnbadè!Gooddayeverybody“allaroundbythere”.

MyfirstinclinationwastomakemypresentationinHaitian,thelanguagecommonlycalledKreyòlandspokenbytheentirepopulationofHaiti. However,IdecidedtoproceedinEnglishbecauseIhadnoideahowmanyamongyou,thelearnedparticipantsinthiseventwouldbefluentinHaitian.Aprofessionalinterpretermyself,Idonot

trustinterpreters.Therefore,insteadofthemothertongueoverwhichIhavemoremastery,youwillhavetoenduremyratherimperfectEnglishasIsharewithyoumythoughtsonthe“EvolutionofKreyòlintheeraofGlobalization”.Althoughthethemeofthis“woumble”refersto“Kreyòl Culture”,IwilllimitmytalktotheKreyòllanguagesasessentialcomponentofdiverseCultures,andtotheirencounterwithGlobalization.

What is Globalization?

AmongmultipledefinitionsofGlobalization,onecanseeitasaneconomicphenomenonthatinvolvesthegrowingintegrationofnationaleconomicsystemsinthesphereofinternationaltrade,investmentandcapitalization.Thereisevidence,however,thatGlobalizationhasextendedbeyondthispointtotherealmofsocial,culturalandtechnologicalexchanges.Suchadevelopmenthasraisedconcernsforthesurvivalofnationalidentities,regionalbeliefssystems,languagesandlocalethos.

AccordingtothosewhofavorGlobalizationtheconsensusisthat“itwillbringnecessarychangetothecountriesitreaches”...Indeed,newglobalmediaandofcoursetheinternet,doleapbeyondtheboundariesoftraditionalculture”.

Defenders of globalization also argue that the expanded availability of Western oressentiallyAmericanculturalproductsthroughouttheworldisharmless.Besides,theymaintain,thisdevelopment issuccessfulbecauseitprovideseffectiveandusefulgoodsandservices thatpeoplewant.

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Theopponents ofGlobalization see it as an immense shadow threateningnational andregionalidentities.AreportbytheUnitedNationsEducational,ScientificandCulturalOrganization(UNESCO),confirmsthegiganticscaleoftheprocesswhenitrevealedthat“theworldtradeingoodswithculturalcontentalmosttripledbetween1980and1991:from67billiondollarsto200billiondollars.”

WorldwideUSfilm,music,televisionproductionsaredominantintheimageandsoundindustry.SomefearthattheconsequencesofGlobalizationwillbetheendofculturaldiversity,andthetriumphofauni-polarculturecontinuouslyaddingtothewealthofafewtransnationalcorporations.Nottoosurprisingly,opponentsofGlobalizationperceiveitasAmericanization,andfindthedominantstanceoftheEnglishlanguageasdangerouslyintrusive.

Languages and Globalization

Originally, the official languages at theUnitedNationswereChinese, English, FrenchandRussian.Thechoicewaslargelypolitical.Thesewerethelanguagesspokenforthemostpartincountriesregardedthenasmajorpowers.In1973,theUNaddedSpanishandArabicbecauseapparentlythesearethelanguagesofasubstantialnumberofmembernations.

In 2001, the United Nations released a new directory of all the national delegationsrepresentedinNewYork.Whenpreparingthedirectory,U.N.officials,forthefirsttime,askedthedelegationstoindicateinwhichlanguagetheywouldprefertoreceivecorrespondenceandpublications.ThechoicesofferedincludedEnglish,FrenchandSpanish,butnottheotherU.N.languages–Arabic,ChineseandRussian–consideredtoodifficultformostwordprocessorsande-mailprogramstohandle.

OneHundredThirty (130)nations choseEnglish, 36 selectedFrench and19 indicatedapreference forSpanish. Inotherwords, theoverwhelmingmajorityof representativesof theEarth’spopulationchoseEnglish.ItmaybethatmoststaffoftheUNdelegationsinNewYorkarefluentinEnglish.

Othersmightsee in thissurveyasamplingofanewglobal reality. ThewriterJeremyRifkin, commentingon this trend, said “TheAmericanDreamputs an emphasis on economicgrowth,personalwealth,andindependence.ThenewEuropeanDreamontheotherhandfocusesmoreonsustainabledevelopment,qualityoflifeandinterdependence.

“TheEnglishlanguage,inthecontextofglobalization”,hecontinues,“isoftenperceivedasanextensionoftheAmericanDream-adreamthatpayshomagetotheworkethicandChristianreligiousheritage.Expressedinmanylanguages,theEuropeandreaminitscontemporaryformpresentsitselfasseculartothecore.TheAmericanDreamforitspartthrivesonassimilation.TheEuropeanDreamfavorsthepreservationofindividualculturalidentityinamulticulturalworld”.

The Kreyòl Languages

Bythesestandards,theKreyòllanguagesareindisputablypartofthemulticulturalworld.Evenoccupyingarelativelysmallspaceinthecommunityoflanguages,theyholdtheirowninastruggleforrelevancyandlinguisticsurvival.Acknowledgingthatreality,UNESCO’sUniversalDeclarationonCulturalDiversityrecognizedin2001,theimportanceofalllanguagesinpromotingculturaldiversity.AcelebrationisplannedforaEuropeanDayofLanguages,onSeptember27

In France,meanwhile, the government accepted the recommendation of an authorizedCommitteetorecognizeasregionallanguagessome10languagesincludingKreyòl,butatfirst,itdecidedtosetKreyòlaside.Ultimately,KreyòlwasaddedtoFrance’snewrosterofregionallanguagesinOctober2000.

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Thisdecisionauthorizes itsuseasa teaching language,and then, theFrencheducationministryannounced thecreationofaKreyòlCAPES, theacronymfor“Certificatd’Aptitudeàl’Enseignement Secondaire”-aHighSchoolTeacher’sCertificateforKreyòl.

OnApril25,2001,Mr.JacquesLang,FrenchministerofNationalEducation,carriedtheprocessastepfurther.Hedeclaredhisintentiontowidenthescopeofbilingualeducationinorderto“endtheunjustsystemintheschoolsoftheRepublicwhichfortoolonghadoverlookedseverallanguagesandcultures”.Headdedthat“thereisnominoritylanguage;therearedistinctlanguagesandcultures,eachanintegralpartofaregion’sheritage.”

What is a Kreyòl?

This is the question for which Linguist-professor Marie-Christine Hazaël-Massieuxproposes an answer in the introduction of her book, “LES CRÉOLES: L’INDISPENSABLESURVIE”–TheKreyòls:TheIndispensableSurvival,publishedin1999,“EditionEntente”.

“ThetermKreyòl,sheexplains,referstodiverselanguagesspokeninseveralregionsoftheworld.TheycametolifeduringtheEuropeancolonizationofthe16thand17thcenturies.AmongtheseareFrenchKreyòls,EnglishKreyòls,PortugueseKreyòl,DutchKreyòls,andaccordingtosomeresearchersafewSpanishKreyòls …

“The termKreyòl, she continues, comes from a Spanish or Portugueseword ‘criollo’.Initially,itsusedesignatedthosebornintheislandsofparentsnotnativetotheseislands.Thetermappliedaswelltohumansasitdidtoanimalsorplants.Intime,theyusedthisdesignationinterchangeablytodescribethenewlanguageofthisnewpopulation.KreyòlbecamethelanguageoftheKreyòls …”

However,thereisawidevarietyofKreyòllanguages.Thisiseasilyunderstood,whenyoucompare‘EnglishKreyòl’and‘FrenchKreyòl’,-meaningvocabularybaseEnglishorFrench.

However,Hazaël-Massieuxremindsus that,“evenamongKreyòls thatareundoubtedlyrelatedtoFrench,thereareimportantdifferences”.

Haitian Kreyòl and Globalization

Most of the efforts seeking to preserve and develop HaitianKreyòl have come fromindividualsor religiousorganizations,manyfromoutsideofHaiti,without truegovernmentorcivilsocietysupport.ItwouldbeinterestingtoknowhowmanyliterateHaitiansformallystudiedHaitianKreyòl?Isuspecttheyarefew.Howmanycanreadandwritethelanguagetheyspeak?Howmanyamongthe80,000Baccalaureatecandidatesandhowmanyamongtheteachersatallgradelevelsdoreadandwritethelanguage?Howmanyareawareofthelanguageparticularitiesoftheilliteratemajority?

GerardBarthelemyremarksthatinHaiti,“literateelitesandtheilliteratemassesspeakthesamelanguagebutarenotusingthesametongue”.Thisisprobablythecaseinmostcountries,whereclassdifferentiateson theuseof thesame language.Therefore; is theHaitian linguisticdilemmaemblematicofthegreatertensionofthehavesandhavenot?Alternatively,isthefactthatwearediscussingthisissueindicativeofanewdawnofheightenedrecognitionofthevalueof distinct expressions? It is at least salutary that allHaitians speak the same language, albeitsomewhatdifferently.However,cantherebegenuinedevelopmentwithoutallbecominginvolvedinthenurturingofthelanguage?

AlthoughKreyòlenjoysthestatusofanofficiallanguage,thepracticeofitsuse,however,stillrelegatesittooralcommunications;whilewrittenmaterialsortrulyofficialdocumentsare

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mainlydrafted inFrench. Adding to thecomplication is the increasinguseofEnglishdue tothe largeHaitianAmericanpopulationand thedominanceof that language in technologyandcommercialexchanges.

Thedangerthereforeisthatalanguagethatisnotmadeanintegralpartofallaspectsofitsusers’liferunstheriskofdisappearingorbecomingobsoleteinsignificantfacetsofasocietyandculture.Inaworkonthissubjectentitled“WhatDoYouLoseWhenYouLoseYourLanguage”,JoshuaFishmanobserveswhenyouaretalkingaboutthelanguage,mostofwhatyouaretalkingaboutistheculture,andwherelossoccurs,itencompasses“allthosethingsthatessentiallyarethewayofthought,thewayofvaluing,andthehumanreality”.

In an article published inTheUNESCOCourier in 1983, on “National language andculturalidentity”,CliffordFyle,addstothispoint.Henotesthat“Countriesseekingtoachieverapiddevelopmentfortheirpeoplesneedrapidlyalsotoprovideeducationforalltheircitizens.Onlybymobilizingtheirtotalmanpowerandputtingittoeffectiveusecantheyhopetomaketheeconomicstridesanationanditspeopledesire.Thismeansmasseducation,themassteachingofreadingandwriting;aconstantflowofinformationandongoingpositivecommunications;theteachingofnewhabitsandnewattitudes,andnotleastamongthese,extensivetraininginnewskills.Allthisisimpossiblewithoutavastnationalmasseducationprogram.Smartleadershipisusuallyquicktorealizethatsuchaprogramcanonlysucceedifitisconductedinthelanguageorlanguageswithwhichpeoplearefamiliar”.

ItisthenonthatsimplepropositionthatthequestionofGlobalizationandKreyòlrests.Botharepropelledbytheirowncompellingforceandthatdynamiccallsforaccommodationsonbothsides.Thisisallthemoreso,sinceIsuspectthatuniqueculturesandlanguagesareheretostayandthejuryisnotallinonglobalization’sfate.

Now, allowme to leave youwith aHaitian proverb as I always do inmy newspapercolumns:“Bouch granmoun ka santi move men pawòl-yo santi bon.”“Oldfolks’mouthsmaysmellbad,buttheirspokenwordshaveapleasantodor.”

∞

Bibliography:

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BARTHÉLEMY,Gérard.«Lepaysendehors»,EditionsHenriDeschamps–CIDIHCA,1989.

FYLE,Clifford,National Language and Cultural Identity, UNESCOCourier1983. FISHMAN,JoshuaA.InStabilizing Indigenous Languages, G.Canton(Ed.)(1996),FlagstaffCenterforExcellenceinEducation,NorthernArizonaUniversity–SectionIII:Family and Community.

HAZAËL-MASSIEUX,Marie-Christine.“Lescréoles:l’indispensablesurvie”,Éd.Entente,1999

UNESCOUniversalDeclaration2001.

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