4 - Creolising Political Identity and Social Scientific Method
Corresponding Author(s) : Jane Anna Gordon
Africa Development,
Vol. 39 No. 1 (2014): Africa Development: Special Issue CODESRIA’s 40th Anniversary
Abstract
Both nurturing and giving institutional expression to a solidarity of diverse people and scholarly communities on the African continent and its transnational diaspora, CODESRIA has embodied the imperative of continuing the unfinished work of building a world that is no longer colonial. But which methods are best suited to such decolonizing work? In what follows, I suggest that the concept of creolization, that emerged to grasp the distinctly African world of the Caribbean, remains an especially useful resource, especially if rearticulated and qualified in the ways for which I advocate.
Keywords
Download Citation
Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS)BibTeX
- Alleyne, Mervyn C., 2003, ‘The Role of Africa in the Construction of Identities in the Caribbean’, in A Pepper-Pot of Cultures: Aspects of Creolization in the Caribbean, Gordon Collier and Ulrich Fleischmann, eds, 29–42, Amsterdam: Rodopi B. V.
- Bernabé, Jean, Patrick Chamoiseau, and Raphaël Confiant,1990, ‘In Praise of Creoleness’, Callaloo13 (4): 886–909.
- Bolland, O. Nigel, 2006, ‘Reconsidering Creolization and Creole Societies’, Shibboleths: Journal of Comparative Theory 1 (1): 1–14.
- Browers, Michaelle, 2008, ‘The Reconciliation of Political Theory and Comparative Politics’, in New Approaches to Comparative Politics: Insights from Political Theory, Jennifer S. Holmes, ed., 7–22, Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
- Buck-Morss, Susan, 2009, Hegel, Haiti, and Universal History, Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.
- Chaudenson, Robert, 2001, Creolization of Language and Culture. Revised in collaboration with Salikoko S. Mufwene and translated by Sheri Pargman, Salikoko S. Mufwene, Sabrina Billings, and Michelle AuCoin, London: Routledge.
- Cornell, Drucilla and Panfilio, Kenneth Michael, 2010, Symbolic Forms for a New Humanity: Cultural and Racial Reconfigurations of Critical Theory, New York: Fordham University Press.
- deCerteau, Michel, 1984, The Practice of Everyday Life, Berkeley: University of California Press.
- DeGraff, Michel, 2003, ‘Against Creole Exceptionalism’, Language 79 (2): 391–410.
- Eriksen, Thomas Hylland, 2007, ‘Creolization in Anthropological Theory and in Mauritius’, in Creolization: History, Ethnography, Theory, Charles Stewart,ed., 153–177, Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.
- Fischer, Sibylle, 2006, ‘Unthinkable History? The Haitian Revolution, Historiography, and Modernity on the Periphery’, in A Companion to African- American Studies, Lewis R. and Jane Anna Gordon, eds., 360–76, Malden, MA: Blackwell.
- Gilroy, Paul, 1993, The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
- Gordon, Lewis R., 2006, Disciplinary Decadence: Living Thought in Trying Times, Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers.
- Hall, Stuart, 1999, ‘Thinking the Diaspora: Home-Thoughts from Abroad’, Small Axe 6 (September): 1–18.
- Henry, Paget, 2000, Caliban’s Reason: Introducing Afro-Caribbean Philosophy, New York: Routledge.
- Hintzen, Percy, 2006, ‘The Caribbean: Race and Creole Ethnicity’, in Cultural Identity and Creolization in National Unity: The Multiethnic Caribbean, Prem Misir, ed., 9–31, Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
- Khan, Aisha, 2006, ‘Feats of engineering: Theory, ethnography, and other problems of model building in the social sciences’, American Ethnologist 33 (4): 566–70.
- Legesse, Asmarom, 1973, GADA: Three Approaches to the Study of African Society, New York: Free Press.
- Meijer, Guus, and Muysken, Pieter, 1977, ‘On the Beginnings of Pidgin and Creole Studies: Schuchardt and Hesseling’, in Pidgin and Creole Linguistics, Albert Valdman, ed., 21–45, Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
- Mintz, Sidney W., 1998, ‘The Localization of Anthropological Practice: From Area Studies to Transnationalism’ Critique of Anthropology 18 (2): 117–33.
- Prasad, Vijay, 2002, Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting, Boston: Beacon Press. Pratt, Mary Louise, 1992, Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation, New York: Routledge.
- Puri, Shalini, 2004, The Caribbean Postcolonial: Social Equality, Post-Nationalism, and Cultural Hybridity, New York: Palgrave.
- Romberg, Raquel, 2002, ‘Revisiting Creolization’, www.sas.upenn.edu/folklore/center/ConferenceArchive/voiceover/creolization.html.
- Segal, Daniel, 1993, ‘Race and “Color” in Pre-Independence Trinidad and Tobago’, in Trinidad Ethnicity, Kevin Yelvington, ed., 81–115, Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press.
- Thomas, Deborah A., 2004, Modern Blackness: Nationalism, Globalization, and the Politics of Culture in Jamaica, Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
- Trouillot, Michel-Rolph, 2003, Global Transformations: Anthropology and the Modern World, New York: Palgrave.
- Turner, Victor, 1969, The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure, Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruyter.
- Wiredu, Kwasi, 1996, Cultural Universals and Particulars: An African Perspective Bloomington: University of Indiana Press.
References
Alleyne, Mervyn C., 2003, ‘The Role of Africa in the Construction of Identities in the Caribbean’, in A Pepper-Pot of Cultures: Aspects of Creolization in the Caribbean, Gordon Collier and Ulrich Fleischmann, eds, 29–42, Amsterdam: Rodopi B. V.
Bernabé, Jean, Patrick Chamoiseau, and Raphaël Confiant,1990, ‘In Praise of Creoleness’, Callaloo13 (4): 886–909.
Bolland, O. Nigel, 2006, ‘Reconsidering Creolization and Creole Societies’, Shibboleths: Journal of Comparative Theory 1 (1): 1–14.
Browers, Michaelle, 2008, ‘The Reconciliation of Political Theory and Comparative Politics’, in New Approaches to Comparative Politics: Insights from Political Theory, Jennifer S. Holmes, ed., 7–22, Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
Buck-Morss, Susan, 2009, Hegel, Haiti, and Universal History, Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.
Chaudenson, Robert, 2001, Creolization of Language and Culture. Revised in collaboration with Salikoko S. Mufwene and translated by Sheri Pargman, Salikoko S. Mufwene, Sabrina Billings, and Michelle AuCoin, London: Routledge.
Cornell, Drucilla and Panfilio, Kenneth Michael, 2010, Symbolic Forms for a New Humanity: Cultural and Racial Reconfigurations of Critical Theory, New York: Fordham University Press.
deCerteau, Michel, 1984, The Practice of Everyday Life, Berkeley: University of California Press.
DeGraff, Michel, 2003, ‘Against Creole Exceptionalism’, Language 79 (2): 391–410.
Eriksen, Thomas Hylland, 2007, ‘Creolization in Anthropological Theory and in Mauritius’, in Creolization: History, Ethnography, Theory, Charles Stewart,ed., 153–177, Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.
Fischer, Sibylle, 2006, ‘Unthinkable History? The Haitian Revolution, Historiography, and Modernity on the Periphery’, in A Companion to African- American Studies, Lewis R. and Jane Anna Gordon, eds., 360–76, Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Gilroy, Paul, 1993, The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Gordon, Lewis R., 2006, Disciplinary Decadence: Living Thought in Trying Times, Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers.
Hall, Stuart, 1999, ‘Thinking the Diaspora: Home-Thoughts from Abroad’, Small Axe 6 (September): 1–18.
Henry, Paget, 2000, Caliban’s Reason: Introducing Afro-Caribbean Philosophy, New York: Routledge.
Hintzen, Percy, 2006, ‘The Caribbean: Race and Creole Ethnicity’, in Cultural Identity and Creolization in National Unity: The Multiethnic Caribbean, Prem Misir, ed., 9–31, Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
Khan, Aisha, 2006, ‘Feats of engineering: Theory, ethnography, and other problems of model building in the social sciences’, American Ethnologist 33 (4): 566–70.
Legesse, Asmarom, 1973, GADA: Three Approaches to the Study of African Society, New York: Free Press.
Meijer, Guus, and Muysken, Pieter, 1977, ‘On the Beginnings of Pidgin and Creole Studies: Schuchardt and Hesseling’, in Pidgin and Creole Linguistics, Albert Valdman, ed., 21–45, Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Mintz, Sidney W., 1998, ‘The Localization of Anthropological Practice: From Area Studies to Transnationalism’ Critique of Anthropology 18 (2): 117–33.
Prasad, Vijay, 2002, Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting, Boston: Beacon Press. Pratt, Mary Louise, 1992, Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation, New York: Routledge.
Puri, Shalini, 2004, The Caribbean Postcolonial: Social Equality, Post-Nationalism, and Cultural Hybridity, New York: Palgrave.
Romberg, Raquel, 2002, ‘Revisiting Creolization’, www.sas.upenn.edu/folklore/center/ConferenceArchive/voiceover/creolization.html.
Segal, Daniel, 1993, ‘Race and “Color” in Pre-Independence Trinidad and Tobago’, in Trinidad Ethnicity, Kevin Yelvington, ed., 81–115, Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press.
Thomas, Deborah A., 2004, Modern Blackness: Nationalism, Globalization, and the Politics of Culture in Jamaica, Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Trouillot, Michel-Rolph, 2003, Global Transformations: Anthropology and the Modern World, New York: Palgrave.
Turner, Victor, 1969, The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure, Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruyter.
Wiredu, Kwasi, 1996, Cultural Universals and Particulars: An African Perspective Bloomington: University of Indiana Press.