Creolization

Creolization refers to processes of cultural syncretism or transformation, especially of people, language, and social customs around the world. The term derives from the Portuguese word crioulo and gained common usage in Spanish plantation societies in the Americas during the 16th century. It is often used to refer to “mixing,” but it originally referred to children of Spanish parents born in the New World. Later, it developed a range of specific local and historical meanings in the Americas. Creolization is used to refer to the global processes of hybridization and interculturation. However, this broader usage has been criticized for divorcing the term from its sociohistorical context, rendering it too general to be analytically useful.

In the late 16th century, the word Creole referred to a Spaniard born in the New World rather than in Europe. At that time, it was widely believed that the natural environment of the New World caused babies born there to be inferior to those born in Europe. Thus, a child born in Europe was viewed to be superior to his or her full sibling born in the New World. Creole children were excluded from the upper rank of colonial societies.

By the early 17th century, Creole had been extended to refer to any plant, animal, or person born in the New World but of Old World parents. It was used to distinguish slaves born in the Americas from slaves born in Africa. The growth of independence movements in the 18th century and the abolition of the slave trade in the early 19th century heralded a transformation in the meaning [Page 311]of the term. Creole came to refer to any person who was both locally born and locally loyal. This provided colonial societies with an oppositional identity with which to differentiate themselves from Europe, creating a local culture and society.

Creolization thus came to mean the process by which elements from the Old World were combined in the New World to create a cultural synthesis that incorporated elements of the past, yet with a distinctly local character. Exactly who or what is defined as Creole varies throughout the region. In Haiti, generally only people of primarily African descent are described as Creole; yet the language Haitian Kreyol is a mixture of both French and West African languages. In Martinique, Creole refers to any person who cannot claim to be of purely European heritage.

In Trinidad, there is a tension between mixing within people and mixing within the nation. Historically, the term has referred to the descendents of Africans and Europeans but has excluded Indians. Since Trinidad gained independence in 1962, it has attempted to define the nation, rather than the people, as Creole. This definition does not require intermarriage to take place. Instead, creolization refers to the creation of a national culture out of distinct elements.

Clearly, significant variations are observed in the meaning of creolization across time and space. Nevertheless, it has it become a key analytical concept across the region and indeed the globe for three main reasons.

First, the term is useful in the Americas because it points to shared historical circumstances as well as diversity. It provides a tool with which to think about how new societies and cultures were created out of the forced displacement of Africans and their replacement in a world dominated by European socioeconomic and administrative structures. Because creolization refers to a process, it allows us to think about these social changes as an ongoing process rather than as an historic event.

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