Métamorphoses transnationales de l’oralité africaine : la poésie dub de L. K. Johnson

Abstract

Dub poetry represents a major form of Black popular art, standing as a perfect mix of past and present, of tradition and experimentation. Dub poetry makes use of the old oral traditions of Africa (mixing storytelling, music, poetry and performance) and has developed out of the reggae tradition in Jamaica and England, using the same channels of communication - records, live act, music - as the singers and DJs involved in the scene. Linton Kwesi Johnson’s dub poetry - which is based on a fascinating synthesis of Caribbean dialect and the rhythms of reggae and dub - speaks to the heart of the British experience of London black youth. Johnson’s work on language has, according to Hitchcock, the effect of providing his community - that of first and second generation Caribbean immigrants living in Britain - with a shared linguistic code enunciated through a shared cultural practice, that is reggae. Through this very language Johnson can comment on racial discrimination and social injustice- in such poems as It Dread inna Inglan and Sonny’s Lettah provoking an active/committed reaction from his audience.