CREOLISATION HYBRIDISATION CREOLISATION HYBRIDISATION Creolisation and Hybridisation are

CREOLISATION & HYBRIDISATION

CREOLISATION & HYBRIDISATION – Creolisation and Hybridisation are classifications that are applied to Caribbean society. – CREOLISATION: This term is used to describe the fusion of ideas, beliefs, culture, customs, traditions and people resulting from Hybridisation. Creolisation is applied when the hybridisation is a result of European Colonisation.

HYBRIDIZATION – This term, taken from biology, can be viewed as the cross-fertilization that occurs among cultures, religions, races and the like which eventually result a new species. In essence, it is the deliberate or unintentional mixing of cultures and ethnic groups. This mixing results in new cultural/ creole manifestations; it is a hybrid of peoples and cultures. – Some categories of hybridization include: – Racial and Ethnic Hybridization – Cultural Hybridization

RACIAL AND ETHNIC HYBRIDIZATION – Racial and ethnic hybridization perpetuated ideologies which held that skin colour made one either superior or inferior. – A person’s colour or shade had social meaning. The person closer to white will be allowed certain benefits whilst the person on the darker end of the spectrum was marginalised. – Racial mixture came out of the plantation society. In this system Amerindian, African and some East Indian women were forced to sleep with their white owners/ master. This interbreeding resulted in children of mixed race (MISCEGENATION).

RACIAL AND ETHNIC HYBRIDIZATION – In modern Caribbean society there is still the preference for persons of lighter skin tones. – It can also been seen as a status symbol in that: successful black men or men of colour look for women/ wives of a lighter complexion. It is sometimes called “marrying upward”. – There are many terms used to describe people of mixed race in the Caribbean, some include: – Mestizos : White/ Amerindian; African/Amerindian; White/African – Mulattoes: African/White – Dougla: African/Indian or anyone of mixed race

CULTURAL HYBRIDIZATION – Cultural Hybridization is the development of new cultural forms out of existing ones through a period of contact and interaction. – Some forms of cultural hybridization include: – SYNCRETISM; The incorporation of different religions, cultures, or schools of thought in order to produce a new product ( religion, culture or school of thought). – Myal common in Jamaica. It is a religion which blended Christianity with African world views. – Shouter/Spiritual Baptist combined African belief systems of the Rada, Shango and Obeah with Christianity – Santeria common in the Spanish Caribbean is a mixture of Roman Catholicism and African Yoruba beliefs

CULTURAL HYBRIDIZATION – Some forms of cultural hybridization include: – LANGUAGE – The mixture of African and European languages- PATOIS or CREOLE – PIDGINS, the mixture of several European languages with African

KEY TERMS ASSOCIATED WITH HYBRIDIZATION – CULTURAL ERASURE: Cultural practices that have died out or are dying out e. g. Amerindian cultural practices. – CULTURAL RETENTION: Cultural practices that have survived even when most other aspects of the culture have died out e. g. elements of African religious practices can be seen in the Shango or Spiritual Baptist. – CULTURAL RENEWAL: This occurs when a group goes through a period of cultural rejuvenation. They return to some elements of their original culture which they believe was oppressed or suppressed e. g. the Black Power Movement in the 1970’s. – TRANSCULTURATION: Is a process in which the culture changes drastically over time. – INTERCULTURATION: Refers to the mixing of cultures that occurs when groups share a space. They do not give up their own culture but participate in the cultures of others who share the same space.

CREOLISATION – The term Creole was first used by the Spanish and later the French to describe persons of white European heritage who were born in the Caribbean. – In Trinidad, there is a distinction between the Creole and the French Creole is used to describe someone of African heritage whilst French Creole is used to describe a person of French European heritage.

EDWARD KAMAU BRAITHWAITE ON CREOLISATION Edward K. Braithwaite is a Caribbean poet from Barbados. His theory on the emergence of “Creolisation” was first published in his writing of “The Development of Creole Society in Jamaica, 1770– 1820” (1971), His works are used to account for the ethnic, racial and cultural variations in the region. – Describes Creolisation as a cultural process that took place over time. – It was first applied to the African-European relationship but can also be applied to the various groups in Caribbean society that have absorbed each other cultural products. – As a region, these colonised islands, share a common experience in which the subordinate groups adopted or adapted the cultural constructs of the dominant group, the Europeans.

EDWARD KAMAU BRAITHWAITE ON CREOLISATION – Creolization is based on the value system of colour/ class. It is an obscure (difficult to understand) force that compelled those of the subordinate groups to conform to a certain concept of themselves. As a result, these groups perform certain roles and adopt certain values which are fundamentally European in origin. – Creolization is a combination of moving parts and each part plays a role in the creolisation process. – Blacks will mix the culture they already held from Africa with new European values. – He stresses that the area of sexual relationships is one of the most important facilitators of the creolisation process.

EDWARD KAMAU BRAITHWAITE ON CREOLISATION – Creolisation started when blacks were given European names and taught to speak in European languages. – Blacks were also thought to view European culture as superior. They emulated the values of the Europeans and saw them as more desirable. – He also argues that all cultural forms in society are mixed to varying degrees but the European influence remains dominant. – He held that creolisation is an ongoing process and that it will ultimately produce a new form of creole identity.

RACIAL ADMIXTURE AND COLOUR – Caribbean society was formed out of waves of migration. These people came from various cultures which they brought to the region. – Therefore, racial mixing (miscegenation) is a large part of our society. This has created new forms of cultural hybridisation. – In the Caribbean there exists peoples of various skin colours. This sometimes reveals the racial mixture of their heritage. – This has often allowed those of lighter skin shades to achieve certain privileges in society. – It is believed that increased social mobility is gradually removing the merits oor demerits once given to skin colour.