Creole Community Research Articles

Sociolinguistic challenges and new perspectives on determining French speakers in Creole communities: the case of Haiti

Abstract This study examines the sociolinguistic challenges and explores new perspectives on the evaluation of French competency in creole-speaking communities, particularly in Haiti. Due to the absence of an effective and adaptable French proficiency test in the country, the percentage of Francophones often varies between 5 % and 10 %, and as high as 42 %. This inconsistency may be the result of the assumption that schooling is an effective metric of French proficiency. In this study, I argue that while schooling creates some French speakers, it is not necessarily indicative of French proficiency for all Haitians. In other words, not all Haitians enrolled in schools can count as French speakers. I make three propositions to improve the accuracy of the proportion of French speakers in Haiti: (1) combining schooling with some proficiency instrument to determine French speakers; (2) using an adaptable proficiency test that is based on the salient features that distinguish French from Haitian Creole (Kreyòl); (3) controlling for sociolinguistic varieties such as Frenchified Kreyòl or Kreyòl swa to prevent the miscategorization of monolingual Kreyòl speakers as French speakers.

Alaskan Russian: Cultural and Historical Trace of the Russian Expansion in North America

The article analyzes approaches to creating a chronology of Russia’s exploration of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands, highlights historical periods relevant for the main purpose of our research. The goal is to describe the Russian language as a dynamic and integral part of a unique culture formed in the Creole communities, uniting the paternal culture of Russian colonists and the maternal cultures of the indigenous population. This culture lies in the center of social interactions and makes its core. The issue is topical for the present study, since it contributes to our understanding of the phenomena of the interaction of cultures. The Russian period of Alaska is recognized by researchers, both domestic and international, as an important and special epoch in the life of the American state, an epoch which to a great extent determined its history. Alaskan Russian was an intermediary language for the people from the continent and the native speakers of indigenous languages. It was used in communication until the middle of the 20th century. At the moment, the Alaskan Russian language exists as a cultural artifact: to a certain extent, it is known by a few descendants of Creoles of very advanced age. The purpose of this study is to create a historical context of the formation of the Alaskan Russian language and to describe conditions for its uprise and preservation on the territory of Russian America. We show that the existence of permanent functional settlements in which Russian language was spoken – in the family, in the community, and for trade and professional contacts – determined consolidation of the Russian language, in a number of places in Alaska up to the middle of the XX century. The data presented in the article confirm that the Orthodox tradition and the Russian language that have survived to this day are the main features of Russia’s long-term cultural influence in Alaska. The study used both universal scientific methods and special methods of historical research determined by the specifics of the problem, namely: the problem-chronological method, the method of comparative analysis, the systematic method. Exploring the influence of language on social life, the author adheres to the methods of linguistic anthropology and historical anthropology

Morphophysiology of creol seeds in genotypes of Phaseolus vulgaris L.

Creole seeds are considered a local heritage because of their natural biological ability to adapt to different environments. Maintenance of seed vigor has been a challenge for farmers, often because of prolonged droughts and/or lack of technical assistance, making it difficult to renew seed vigor. The objective of this study was to evaluate the morphophysiological characteristics of native seeds of Phaseolus vulgaris genotypes. Seeds were provided by the custodian of the Creole community seed bank in the municipality of Piranhas, AL. The following were evaluated: weight of one thousand seeds (PMS g), water content (TA%), germination index (IG%), germination speed index (IVG), seedling length (CP cm), and seedling dry mass (MSP g). Scott Knott was used at 5% probability, and all analyses followed the Rules for Seed Analysis. For water content, the varieties ranged from 6.9% to 11.78% moisture. For PMS, the genotypes ranged from 351 to 123.5 g. In terms of germination, the bean genotypes presented 29 to 85% and one presented 100% dead seeds. The seeds were stored with the recommended water content, and the Creole genotypes showed great diversity in their sizes, a factor that impacts storage and planting planning. For varieties that presented germination values below 70%, it must be observed whether it is related to a specific factor of a crop and/or the storage conditions and time. Black presented good averages for all morphophysiological characteristics.

‘My brother from another mother’

Abstract Studies in linguistics and anthropology have demonstrated that kinship systems and cultural practices change upon contact with other languages and cultures; however, creole kinship systems are generally overlooked. This paper examines the kinship terminology used by the Portuguese Settlement community in Malacca, Malaysia. The mapping of this kinship terminology is based on the division into terms of address and terms of reference, using three theoretical frameworks (‘identity alignment’, ‘language as an act of identity’, and ‘partial reciprocal diffusion’), while also taking into account Malacca Creole Portuguese, the standard variety of Malay, Baba Malay, Chetti Malay, Dutch, and English. The findings point to the existence of parallel kinship systems within the same language and indicate lexical connections to the other creole communities in Malacca (namely, Chettis and Baba-Nyonya). Accordingly, the terminology is divided into two segments: one oriented to the Portuguese superstrate and one toward the substrates and adstrates.

Economy Hall: The Hidden History of a Free Black Brotherhood

Economy Hall: The Hidden History of a Free Black Brotherhood

The “Other” Sor Juana: Racialized Subjectivities, Languages, and Cultures in the Ensaladilla to the Villancico Series in Honor of San Pedro Nolasco (1677)

In “The ‘Mexican’ Sor Juana” (2007), Stephanie Merrim presents a very compelling approach to Sor Juana’s writings in which the reader traces the “Mexican” texts the nun used as the basis for her writings, a collection of texts Merrim identifies as “the Mexican archive” (78). Even though I find this approach to reading Sor Juana’s texts very appealing, my main contention with this approach is not considering the non-written sources Sor Juana uses and references in her writings and forgetting that Sor Juana wrote for a diverse audience, not only the learned and erudite Spanish and Creole community. As scholars such as Yolanda Martínez San Miguel and Alfred Arteaga have pointed out, Sor Juana also wrote for the “common people,” that is, for the multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-lingual, and multi-cultural society of late 17th Century Spanish America. Hence, I propose to expand Merrim’s notion of Sor Juana’s “Mexican archive” to include the multiple dialects, languages, cultures, and subjectivities of marginalized groups. Sor Juana’s ensaladillas to various villancicos illustrates this “living archive” the nun uses in her writings while making a critique of Spanish American society. In this article I focus on the ensaladilla which closes the series of villancicos in honor of San Pedro Nolasco, founder of the Order of Mercy. Thus, the ensaladillas and villancicos Sor Juana wrote for public performances reveal an “Other” Sor Juana, a Sor Juana who writes for the common people and presents a critical vision of the dialects, languages, cultures and subjectivities of a diverse multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-lingual and multi-cultural society.

Language styles, styling and language change in Creole communities

Language styles, styling and language change in Creole communities

Creating culture-centered health and health insurance literacy resources: lessons learned from Haitian Creole, Mandarin, Native American, and Vietnamese communities

ABSTRACT Background To improve health insurance literacy, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services launched From Coverage to Care (C2C) to help individuals translate health insurance into appropriate healthcare utilization. One aim of C2C is to extend its health communication tools to vulnerable populations, including providing materials in several languages in addition to English and Spanish. Understanding the experiences of organizations and populations that utilize these materials is critical for ensuring meaningful and effective conveyance of health literacy information. Methods The authors evaluated C2C, which included a qualitative case study approach of four communities using C2C products. The authors draw on findings from interviews with organizations that used C2C materials and focus groups with Haitian Creole, Mandarin, Native American, and Vietnamese consumers. Results Five key lessons learned are described that are relevant to public health education and campaigns. Lessons include: the importance of culture-centered materials in building empathy and trust; emphasizing appropriate and salient translations of materials; choosing targeted venues for dissemination that are responsive to the constraints and preferences of minority populations; drawing on educational tools in conjunction with individually tailored approaches; and, working with other local organizations to amplify dissemination. Conclusions Increasing health insurance literacy among vulnerable populations is critical. National efforts, such as C2C, are an important step, but moving beyond simply providing educational materials in additional languages and adopting a culture-centered perspective throughout an initiative is important for creating positive change.

Echoes of Madame Bovary in Anna Karenina: A Comparative Study

The Awakening by Kate Chopin and The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemmingway published in 1899 and 1926 respectively are two American novels that question the notions of gender ideology that prevailed at the time. The two novels were presented to the public during a time when there was a significant shift in the perceptions of gender roles in America. The Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 followed by the first-wave feminist movement brought into discussion social, civil and religious rights of women. The Awakening revolves around the literal and figurative ‘awakening’ of Edna Pontellier “who refuses to be caged by married and domestic life and claims for herself moral and erotic freedom.” Edna defies the oppressive, traditional conceptions of marriage, motherhood and Victorian mores of the Creole community. The Sun Also Rises presents a redefinition of femininity and fusion of clearly gendered spaces in society through the characterization of Lady Brett Ashley. She comes across as a representation of the female self that underwent transformation from the “passive, private creature to [the] avid individualist in pursuit of new experiences.” Numerous studies have been conducted into the exploration of the struggle for autonomy and sexual freedom of Edna Pontellier and the seductive power of the expatriate Englishwoman, Brett Ashely, over the men around her which qualifies her as an extraordinarily independent woman. Nevertheless, they have failed to underline the defiant nature of the two characters and their attempt at the redefinition of assigned gender roles in the face of hegemonic and masculine forces at work in society and the present study seeks to fill that gap in the current scholarship. The study is a critical textual analysis of the two novels. The postcolonial feminist theories of Judith Butler and Gayatri Spivak will be incorporated along with the social theoretical ideologies on power and hegemony by Michel Foucault, Antonio Gramsci and Louis Althusser to underline the self-individuation of the two women. Thereby, the intention of this study is to explore the gradual evolution and subversion of ascribed female gender roles in American literature corresponding to the social changes that took place in the late 1800s and mid-1920s, reflected through the progressive roles of Edna and Brett and its relevance to the self-liberation of women across time and space.

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz e Kate Chopin: literatura de resistência em sociedades moralistas e repressoras

O presente artigo traz uma breve biografia sobre duas escritoras que abordaram nas linhas de suas obras importantes questionamentos sobre o papel da mulher dentro de sociedades nas quais as vozes femininas não costumavam ser ouvidas. A poeta barroca mexicana Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651 – 1695) e a escritora norte-americana Kate Chopin (1851-1904) foram duas precursoras da literatura de conscientização feminina. Procuramos mostrar como as autoras transgridem várias regras sociais e históricas em termos de questões de gênero no contexto de sociedades conservadoras – nas quais viviam. Como exemplo das suas escritas traremos o romance O Despertar (1899), no qual Chopin traça o desenvolvimento psicológico e sexual de uma jovem norte-americana em meio à comunidade creole de Nova Orleans. E Hombres Necios, poema de Juana Inés que faz uma crítica às sátiras que ridicularizavam as mulheres e eram muito comuns naquela época. Este trabalho aborda a contextualização literária, social, histórica e cultural das autoras, trazendo informações sobre as suas relações com o feminismo e, por fi m, uma breve análise de suas obras sob a ótica feminista. É possível concluir que Juana Inés de la Cruz e Kate Chopin representam a vanguarda na luta pela eliminação das discriminações de gênero.

Making Space for Heritage: Collaboration, Sustainability, and Education in a Creole Community Archaeology Museum in Northern Belize

Working with local partners, we developed an archaeology museum in the Creole community of Crooked Tree in the Maya lowlands of northern Belize. This community museum presents the deep history of human–environment interaction in the lower Belize River Watershed, which includes a wealth of ancient Maya sites and, as the birthplace of Creole culture, a rich repository of historical archaeology and oral history. The Creole are descendants of Europeans and enslaved Africans brought to Belize—a former British colony—for logging in the colonial period. Belizean history in schools focuses heavily on the ancient Maya, which is well documented archaeologically, but Creole history and culture remain largely undocumented and make up only a small component of the social studies curriculum. The development of a community archaeology museum in Crooked Tree aims to address this blind spot. We discuss how cultural sustainability, collaborative partnerships, and the role of education have shaped this heritage-oriented project. Working with local teachers, we produced exhibit content that augments the national social studies curriculum. Archaeology and museum education offer object-based learning geared for school-age children and provide a powerful means of promoting cultural vitality, and a more inclusive consideration of Belizean history and cultural heritage practices and perspectives.

The restoration of old mosques heritage in Pekojan, Jakarta

Recent efforts of restoration on the Muslim religious sites in Jakarta take place in several old mosques that were built around the old settlements (kampung) of creole communities in Pekojan. This historic kampung is situated on the western fringe of Jakarta Old Town since eighteenth century and adjacent to the other diverse ethnic groups’ neighbourhood. The challenges emerge when the old mosque continues to expand its space volumes and adapt to accommodate the users’ needs and so the expansion impacts the ethics of restoration. This research specifically took a case study in Jami Mosque of Kampung Baru as one of the heritage mosques built in Pekojan. The early process of the documentation and historical research found various levels of deteriorations and extensions in the building. By applying participatory action research, it showed the early efforts of restoration led by locals. This research also concerned with the responsibility of the owners, functionaries, community officials, and users towards the cultural heritage to be contested. It also extended the conceptual meaning of “ownership” of cultural heritage by definition in terms of religious building in Indonesia.

An ‘Indies’ Couple: Colonial Communities and Issues Surrounding Identity in the Dutch East Indies, ca. 1890-1930s

The life-stories of two individuals – the married couple Johanna Bezoet de Bie and Alexander MacNeill – provide the context for discussion of segments of the upper strata of the Dutch creole communities in the Dutch East Indies/Colonial Indonesia around the turn of the twentieth century. In particular, it focuses on the characteristic pervasiveness of regular family formation and sociability among people established there, in some cases, over several generations. In addition to its exploitation of recently digitalised materials relating to family history, the reconstruction attempted here also makes extensive use of the visual record, in a context in which the agency of the photograph is much to the fore. The argument turns, however, on the extent to which the couple in question sought to differentiate – even distance – themselves from the extensively referenced Indisch environment in which they were located, and in so doing underscores the complexity and fluidity of diasporic identities.

Recherches Sociolinguistiques À Maurice ed. by Yannick Bosquet-Ballah et al.

Reviewed by: Recherches Sociolinguistiques À Maurice ed. by Yannick Bosquet-Ballah et al. Dan Golembeski Bosquet-Ballah, Yannick, Arnaud Carpooran, Shameem Oozeerally, et Didier de Robillard, éd. Recherches sociolinguistiques à Maurice. L'Harmattan, 2018. ISBN 978-2-343-13712-4. Pp. 277. The idea for this collection arose at Bosquet-Ballah's dissertation defense a few years ago: a subsequent call for papers drew fifteen submissions, ten of which were selected for publication in this special volume of the Cahiers internationaux de sociolinguistique. The volume, which is entirely in French except for one article in English with a following condensed version in French, adds ten new articles to the body of literature investigating the complex linguistic situation of the island of Mauritius. Contributors include both veterans in the field (Arnaud Carpooran, Didier [End Page 272] de Robillard, Nita Rughoonundun-Chellapermal, and Peter Stein) and emerging researchers (Tejshree Auckle, Yannick Bosquet-Ballah, Hélina Hookoomsing, Kumari Issur, Shameem Oozeerally, and Daniella Police-Michel). Articles address rather pointed issues of Mauritian sociolinguistics: epistemology and methodology, inter-cultural interactions in educational and online settings, multilingualism and plurilingualism in classrooms and how these topics are treated in primary school textbooks, and the history and current situation, especially of specific linguistic groups. Stein provides the broadest overview of Mauritius's linguistic situation of the volume, addressing both diachronic and present-day perspectives, and his article is the one I would most recommend for someone seeking a general understanding of the island's complex interplay of languages. As for the historical dimension, Carpooran highlights Charles Baissac's nineteenth-century contribution to our understanding of Mauritius's Creole community today. Specific histories are laid out in Issur's discussion of the Bhojpuri community and in Bosquet-Ballah's article, "Une relecture de l'espace des langues…", which sheds light on island urban areas. Several articles mine online communications data, analyzing messages from an intercultural and polylingual perspective (Auckle's contribution in English and French, and Oozeerally's "Aborder la (socio) linguistique…"). Two articles specifically address multilingualism in educational settings, including an analysis of a failed multilingual education program (Rughoonundun-Chellapermal) and anthropocentrism in primary school textbooks (Oozeerally and Hookoomsing). Intercomprehension in plurilingual interactions is addressed in Police-Michel's contribution. The remaining articles tackle methodological or epistemological questions with respect to conducting research on Mauritian multilingualism and plurilingualism, especially the volume's first article, written by Robillard. The volume suffers from a handful of typographical glitches (the publication date) and it is unclear to me why the authors' names appear only as footnotes to article titles and are absent from the table of contents. While this is by no means a layperson's introduction to Mauritian linguistics, each of these studies is a significant contribution to the field and provide important and, in some cases, new perspectives of value to all those interested in Mauritius's sociolinguistic situation and especially anyone planning linguistic research in plurilingual communities in general. Dan Golembeski Grand Valley State University (MI) Copyright © 2020 American Association of Teachers of French

Language and attitude shift of young Mauritians in secondary education

ABSTRACT This study investigated the changing patterns of language use and language attitudes of younger generations of Mauritians over the last two decades. This article discusses the shift in language attitudes of students in secondary education with special emphasis on Kreol*, taught since 2012 in primary schools and from 2018 in secondary schools. A comparison with results from earlier studies suggests a positive attitude shift towards Kreol in education as well as an acceptance of multilingualism and multiculturalism as an integral part of being Mauritian. Asian heritage languages lag behind in the multi-diglossic patterns of language use. Nonetheless, despite a steady decline in the home domain, students choose to study them in schools and attitudes towards them highlight a strong sense of cultural and religious attachment to ancestral heritage. *The word Kreol refers to Mauritian Creole. The term Creole is used to refer to the type of language and members of the Creole community, who are descendants of former slaves and mixed parentage.

WOMEN CONTESTATION IN CHOPIN’S THE AWAKENING

<p>This study aims at describing the depiction of four women in Creole community which is applied as the contestation in “<em>The Awakening</em>” and describing the reasons of Creole women’s character contestation which related to particular purpose in that time. The writer uses the descriptive qualitative method as research design. The data is collected by using documentation. The data sources in this research are divided into two parts, primary and secondary. The primary data is novel of <em>The Awakening</em>. The secondary data is taken from the history of Creole society in Louisiana, journals, and the other sources from the website as the information. The base of this research is focused on Pierre Bourdieu’s concept. This concept is used to discover the problem formulation through the sociologycal view which influences the way of thinking from four Creole women. The result of this research are a) the depiction of three women reveal that women can support economic as businesswomen and even artist. Meanwhile, the other one is submissive and worship to husband due to keep the balance in the household. b) the reasons of three women reveal that the men’s authority is not important due to their basic background that support their economic through their proficiency as their manifestation to exist in the society. Meanwhile, the other one relies on the man to support her economic and a man as symbolic power. Based on the finding, the distinctive ideology as genetic structuralism which is connected to economic , politic and social background influence their way of thinking to get the opportunity.</p>

The Diocese of Lafayette's Crusade to Save Catholicism: Nationalizing Creole Communities in Southwest Louisiana in the Interwar Period

Events between 1916 and 1926 disrupted the flow of Francophone clergy from Europe to Creole communities in Louisiana. New industries supplanting sugar cane cultivation prompted in-migration of Anglophones and out-migrations of Creoles. English-speakers established diverse Protestant denominations in Creole communities and hired Creoles to assist in their evangelization efforts. In the Diocese of Lafayette, many Creoles apostatized. In response Church officials launched a crusade to save Catholicism and the Church's authority in the region. Severed after World War I from sources of Church personnel in Francophone Europe, the Lafayette diocese looked to Anglophone Catholics with no commitment to local identity and traditions, to expand and bolster Catholicism in Creole communities.

Running in Jamaica: A Slavery Ecosystem

Running in JamaicaA Slavery Ecosystem Hilary McD Beckles (bio) In 1655 an English army invading Jamaica defeated and ran Spanish occupiers off the island. On the run, settlers found refuge in neighboring Cuba, still under Spain's imperial control. Unable in the conflict to exercise effective control over their enslaved Africans, the Spanish had little choice but to bid their chattels farewell. Happy to be rid of their enslavers and unwilling to fall into the legal and military grip of English conquistadors, enslaved blacks ran to the Blue Mountains. High above the site of their enslavement, they constituted themselves into a maroon community out of sight of whites.1 In the century that followed, English occupiers converted the valleys under their control into their largest Caribbean slave plantation complex. More than four hundred thousand enslaved Africans were imported to work and die in the sugar fields and cattle pens. But each annual cohort of imported chattels supplied a steady stream of runners who multiplied by the thousands in the deep recesses of mountain ranges. An endemic war between mountain runners and valley enslavers defined social relations in the colony until treaties were signed calling for peace. The provisions of each agreement sought to nullify the benefits of running. Old runners agreed to return imitators to the valley in return for the right to walk about the plantations unmolested. This strategy was only partly successful. New runners formed new maroon communities, and the flight out of sight remained the norm in the political culture.2 [End Page 9] Running was resistance. It evolved as a social strategy that sustained a way of life. Uphill and across valleys, flights were methodologies of movement in which the spirit of the sprint defined daily life and defied institutional power. Fight and flight were as Jamaican as pirates and planters. But as the frontier gave way to the proliferation of creole communities during hthe second half of the eighteenth century, the running culture and its corresponding consciousness were diversified and incorporated into a more accommodating ontology of town and village living. Flight along the byways and highways that connected urban ecologies increasingly defined forms of movement. The sprint to freedom was accompanied by the silence of slipping out of sight downtown. Everywhere runners could be seen and not heard. An ecosystem of freedom emerged in which runners walked about freely and survived in plain sight of those with military might.3 Simon P. Newman's pathbreaking essay, "Hidden in Plain Sight," takes this evolved Jamaican colonial reality as a starting point. He traverses the movement of enslaved Jamaicans as recorded in the local archives and seeks to present them as enslaved subjects without chains and obvious ownership claims. The process of enslavement was demeaning and degrading for the Africans. Their strategies of resistance were designed to be uplifting and fulfilling. Not everyone could run and keep up the fight; not everyone possessed the body and spirit to spill blood in battle. Most had the desire for more space and full control over their bodies and time. In this sense, then, running was not simply a physical action but a process with multiple phases that was undergirded by a state of mind that understood periods of stillness to be as significant as persistent running.4 Newman's essay, furthermore, is a critical contribution to the booming literature on Jamaica's slavery enterprise. Its focus is the British perception of the social and cultural performance and production of the enslaved as revealed through the gaze of prominent enslavers and stakeholder narrators. The eye of the English, and the brutality of Britishness, are set in motion as analytic tools in order to display how chattel slavery was constructed and sustained as a profitable part of the colonial project, and how the enslaved excavated a culture committed to freedom within the constricted bowels of bondage.5 British colonists produced an enormous and diverse archive of racial opinion and belief that has long been the primary source of "histories." The [End Page 10] considerable historiography that depicts Jamaica in slavery is a main artery of Atlantic colonial imagination and (mis)understanding. More so than for any other British...

Africa and the wider world: creole communities in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans

Abstract: Portuguese creoles were instrumental in bringing sub-Saharan Africa into the intercontinental systems of the Atlantic and Indian Ocean. In the Atlantic Islands a distinctive creole culture emerged, made up of Christian emigrants from Portugal, Jewish exiles and African slaves. These creole polities offered a base for coastal traders and became politically influential in Africa - in Angola creating their own mainland state. Connecting the African interior with the world economy was largely on African terms and the lack of technology transfer meant that the economic gap between Africa and the rest of the world inexorably widened. African slaves in Latin America adapted to a society already creolised, often through adroit forms of cultural appropriation and synthesis. In eastern Africa Portuguese worked within existing creolised Islamic networks but the passage of their Indiamen through the Atlantic created close links between the Indian Ocean and Atlantic commercial systems.

Creole Language and Space: Entertaining Patrick Chamoiseau's Texaco

My essay explores Martinican writer Patrick Chamoiseau's novel Texaco (1992) and its idea of a multilingual collective space where the communal resilience of the former slave population finds its expression in the productive encounter between Creole and French. Chamoiseau's revisionary historical novel counters the official history of colonial dislocation with the celebration of infiltration and squatting through which unauthorized communities, languages and histories demand to be accommodated. The linguistic and spatial assertion of the Creole community suggests that its place depends, to a large extent, on the narrative inscription of its communal experience. The very real economic limitations of the slum community do not amount to a flawed or incomplete sense of identity but trigger, instead, a collective struggle for group identity and collective ownership of space and self through the vibrancy and resourcefulness of multilingual and polyphonic narration.