Creolization of Caribbean
Identity:
Diversity and Displacement
Outline
Definitions & History of colonization
Creolization:
English language & of people
Race Relations  Conflicts and Displacement;
Resistance and Formation of Distinct
Culture
• Caribbean poetry; Derek Walcott & dub poetry
• Popular culture: Different ways; Calypso, Reggae &
Hip-Hop
Image of the Caribbean
Jan van de Straet’s engraving “America”--the
new world as a woman
Definition (1): the Caribbean
names:
West Indies (Anglophone)
the Antilles (Francophone)
the Caribbean as a term encompassing
both
Composed of immigrants only:
the aboriginal communities [Amerindians-Arawaks, Caribs, etc.] exterminated;
Immigrants from Africa, Asia and Europe.
The Caribbean area and the Caribbean diaspora
Canada
The U.S.
“Children of the Sea”; Fugees
Annie John
M. Cliff, B. Marley
Wide Sargasso Sea
Sugar Cane Alley
Derek Walcott
England
France India
History of Colonization in the Caribbean Area
1492-96 -- Columbus’s “discovery” of the West
Indies
16th-18th centuries --Colonial period:
also a period of wars among colonial nations and
pirates, and conflicts between the white masters,
black slaves and mulatto.
Rebellion (1) –the Maroons
e.g. Abeng – (from a West
Africa); used primarily as a
signalling device; served as a
vital means of communication
when the Maroons were at
war with the British (e.g.)
Ways of rebellion (2):
petit marronage (小走私) in
francophone islands
pretend sickness, steal, or even poison
their masters.
with music, dance, religion (voodon),
or simply their different ways of living;
open rebellion
History of Colonization in the Caribbean Area
1808 --1838 Britain and USA abolished
slave trade; complete abolition of slavery
in British colonies
1845 East Indian indentured laborers in
Trinidad; Chinese indenture in French
colonies (e.g. Wide Sargasso Sea)
History of Colonization in the Caribbean Area
1919-1939 seen as
•
Slums of the
Empire.
Negritude; Back to
Africa movement
(e.g. MARCUS GARVEY)
riots & strikes in 19351938 and afterwards
History of Colonization in the Caribbean Area
Since the 50’s
Colonization in reverse: West Indian
migration to England  restrictions imposed
Independence movements:
1958-62 -- The Federation of the West Indies
independence  1962 -- Jamaica, Trinidad and
Tobago;1966  Barbados and Guyana;
American Imperialism in the Caribbean
Area (Cf. Bob Marley site
http://www.bobmarley.com/)
Economic
the area becomes the tourists’ heaven and a
cheap labor factory (capital, technology and
management shipped to the area to use the labor
power without leaving the profits there.)
Cultural domination –
music styles – the emergence of
raggae (e.g.)
History of Colonization in the Caribbean Area
Neo-Colonialism of the U.S.A.
military intervention (e.g. "Caribbean
Basin Initative"– bribing Jamaica
and the rest of the Caribbean to
support the armed confrontation in
Grenada and the war in El Salvador.
Definition (1): Creolization
1). Orignal meaning: Native,
local,”pure”;
2). Native-born whites;
3). Hybrid
Definition (2): Creolization
People -Europeans born in the Caribbean,
mulatto
Language –
the mixture of English and African tribal languages
into some special kinds of native languages (Patois,
such as French Patois, Jamaican Patois). E
• e.g. Beijan: The English used in Barbados-- closest to
standard English (e.g. 1); Jamaican creole,
• "postcreole continuum“-- parallels the social hierarchy to
some degrees (--those speaking in creole are looked down
upon).
• Postcolonial usage of creole  dub poetry
Color System in the Caribbean Society
“Dying to raise their color all of
them” (199) (e.g. “Bright Thursday”)
The color triangle: white
brown
dark
Race Relations: multiple division
Post-emancipation period – conflicts
between different races (e.g. the English vs. the
French),
between plantation owners and small farmers,
between the newly rich and the declining
aristocrats.
Discriminated: mulatto and creole.
In the contemporary Caribbean area and
diaspora: the Bajan vs. the Jamaican, all
against Haitian, etc.
Consequences of creolization
racial conflicts;
split sense of identity – in between Europe
and Africa
diverse and dynamic culture (Walcott)
The people’s resistance to colonialism:
some examples of
Caribbean Poetry
Caribbean poetry (introd.)
Derek Walcott (e.g.)
“ I who am poisoned with the blood of both,
Where shall I turn, divided to the vein?”
"A Far Cry From Africa“ Derek Walcott, 1957
The people’s resistance to colonialism:
some examples of
Caribbean Poetry
Dub poetry: forerunner of hip-hop
an extension of reggae culture
a form of performance poetry having
its roots in popular Jamaican culture,
and more particularly in reggae and
Rastafarianism.
The movement has served to bring
poetry back to the people
Dub poetry
openness to pop culture and esp. to
music (reggae and calypso); appeal
of public performance; acceptance of
social responsibility
--poetry has
a “function” (poetry vs fiction as a
middle-class genre)
amateur poetic practice in the WI (e.g.
Jamaican creole )
e.g. Edward Braithwaite, Michael Smith;
Mutabaruka
“dis poem”
http://www.mutabaruka
.com/lyrics.htm
“Colonization in Reverse”
What a joyful news, Miss Mattie;
Ah feel like me heart gwine burs-Jamaica people colonizin
Englan in reverse
By de hundred, by de tousan
From country an from town,
By de ship-load, by the plane-load,
Jamaica is Englan boun.
Dem a pout out a Jamaica;
Everybody future plan
Is fi get a big-time job
An settle in de motherlan
What a islan! What a people!
Man an woman, ole and young
Jussa pack dem bag an baggage
An tun history upside dung!
--Louis Bennett (e.g.)
The people’s resistance to colonialism: some examples of
Popular Culture (1)
Trickster Tradition
Anancy stories (spider)—from West
Africa—the experience of the Middle
Passage in animal forms (42)
The “Monkey Business”—the monkey as
a gentleman-like animal—a symbol of
the (pseudo-)colonizer—undressing
unmasking the (pseudo-)colonizer
Functions of a trickster—for survival and
revenge
The people’s resistance to colonialism:
some examples of
Popular Culture
Calypso: originated in the songs of
African slaves who worked in the
plantation fields of Trinidad.
Forbidden to talk to each other, they
used calypso to communicate feelings
and information.
e.g. Work songs in Sugar Cane Alley.
e.g. "Dan is the Man".
Bob Marley(1944-1981) &
Jamaica: his efforts in promoting peace
A ghetto kid; his father, a white plantation owner.
(e.g.)
Formed the Wailing Wailers in 1963.
Attempted assassination: before the PNPsponsored "Smile Jamaica" concert in 1976.
the One Love Peace Concert in 1978.
Received the Third World Peace Medal by all the
African delegations at the United Nations.
Rastafarianism
Origin in Africa: the Nile Valley (including both
Egypt and Ethiopia) ; Ethiopian Orthodox Church,
a pure form of Christianity that kept its
connection with its Judaic and Egyptian pasts, all
elements within Rastafarianism.
Major Belief: the blending of the purest forms of
both Judaism and Christianity; rejects the
Babylonian hypocrisy of the
modern church. (Babylon can also refer to the
Western colonial culture in general.)
Rastafarianism (2)
practice: the herb "ganja" (marijuana) was
regarded as "wisdomweed for a religious rite; a
life of asceticism and artistry; the difference
between rastas and hippies.
Jah: Haile Selassie, Emperor of
Ethiopia, arrived in Jamaica in 1966
the 1930s in Jamaica: were years of social
upheaval and labor strikes --perfect timing for the
rise of Rastafarianism, a religion of the
dispossessed. (Different from hippie culture)
(e.g.)
Bob Marley’s major messages:
Peace, love & Anticolonialism & selfliberation
e.g. Redemption
Song (first part,
about slavery)
“ Old pirates yes they rob I
Sold I to the merchant ships
Minutes after they took I
From the bottomless pit
But my hand was made strong
By the hand of the almighty
We forward in this generation
Triumphantly
All I ever had, is songs of freedom
Won't you help to sing, these songs
of freedom
Cause all I ever had, redemption
songs
Redemption songs
Emancipate yourselves from
mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our
minds ...
Bob Marley’s song: another
example
“Buffalo Soldier” from Legend-A gritty
ballad that tells the cruelly ironic story of
black men being conscripted into the
ranks of the Union Army to kill indians.
Fugees: The Score
“No Woman, No Cry”
I remember when we used to sit in the government
yard in Brooklyn.
Observing the crookedness as it mingled with the
good people we meet.
Good friends we had,
Good friends we've lost along the way.
In this great future you can't forget your past, So dry
your tears
I say And to my peers who passed away,
No woman, no cry, no woman no cry, say say say.
Fugees: a “Hopeful” Image about
the refugee
A Hip-Hop band from Haiti
Hip-Hop style: re-assemble a lot of music
and styles by the Black singers in the past;
the themes: refugees; colonialism/sexism;
their escape and tendencies to commit
crimes in the host city
these themes are treated with sympathy for
the refugees and/or uplifting messages.
Killing Me Softly
Strumming dub plates with
our fingers,
Eliminate sounds with our
song,
Killing a sound boy with this
sound,
Killing a sound boy with this
sound,
Taking sound boys' lives with
this dub,
Killing him softly with this
sound.
Strumming my pain with his
fingers,
Singing my life with his
words,
Killing me softly with his
song,
killing me softly with his
song,
Telling my whole life with
his words,
Killing me softly with his
song.
Carnival by Wyclef Jean
Carnival: the setting is a court trial, in
which Wyclef tries hard to excuse himself.
e.g. Guantanamera: disclose the beauty myth about the
Caribbean woman,
who is actually a prostitute.
Carnival by Wyclef Jean
Closing Arguments
In closing, ladies and gentlemen of the jury
I'm not gonna sit here and bore you with a
long, drawn out story or excuse, of why I
think Wyclef is guilty I'm gonna stand by
the exhibits as well as the tapes And songs
such as Jeopardy, Til Novemeber, All the
Girls, and Bubblegoose, which stand side
by side with my allegations I rest my case
Carnival by Wyclef Jean
.. .
Your honor see, this, this is exactly
what I'm talkin about
I mean I've been meaning to ask this
the whole time Who the hell is Bishop?
Eh?
And and why the hell hasn't he been brought
on the stand?
Bishop, bishop, not true, false, bishop
Ohh, bullshit!