Abstract
The author makes the case for “transinsularism” as a descriptive approach to address the complexities of Caribbean island identities. This approach accounts for the Caribbean islands’ condition of being simultaneously isolated and connected, mobile and insular, and constituted in processes of relations with other island spaces. In the article, the concept of transinsularism is related to Glissant’s reflections on the opacity of culture and the methodological implications of his approach. The author (Cubero) suggests an ethnographic contextualisation of Glissant’s ideas by presenting an account of musical politics on the Caribbean island of Culebra, which is located in the north-eastern Caribbean. He argues for a continuance of Glissant’s approach to identity as a performative act that finds expression in affective practices, rather than in predetermined structural markers of difference.
Highlights
My intervention is concerned with descriptive approaches that intersect Caribbean identity politics with musical practices
I am interested in the ways in which the interaction between narratives of musical insularism and creolisation informs descriptive approaches to Caribbean musical identity politics
I refer to narratives that emphasise island nations, an idea that is rooted in the linguistic compartmentalisation of the archipelago, such as the Spanish, British, French, and Dutch archipelagos
Summary
The author makes the case for “transinsularism” as a descriptive approach to address the complexities of Caribbean island identities. This approach accounts for the Caribbean islands’ condition of being simultaneously isolated and connected, mobile and insular, and constituted in processes of relations with other island spaces. The author (Cubero) suggests an ethnographic contextualisation of Glissant’s ideas by presenting an account of musical politics on the Caribbean island of Culebra, which is located in the north-eastern Caribbean. He argues for a continuance of Glissant’s approach to identity as a performative act that finds expression in affective practices, rather than in predetermined structural markers of difference
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