THE POWER OF COMPARISON IN THE CARIBBEAN: CREOLIZATION AND TRANSCULTURATION IN PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

The Antilles have been described as a bridge between the Global North and South. However, the global study of the Caribbean societies has often been hindered by the very elements used to describe them. Thus, in response, several concepts have been proposed from across the disciplines of anthropology, linguistics, and literature to make sense of the Caribbean societies’ experiences as a result of the colonial encounter. This study compares two “bridge-concepts” creolization and transculturation, based on the works of Fernando Ortiz, Édouard Glissant, Jean Bernabé, Patrick Chamoiseau, and Raphael Confiant. Consequently, it sheds light on the concepts’ definitions, and the ways in which they address the aspects of temporality, cultural interactions, particularization versus generalization, and the violence of the colonial encounter. This study also includes a discussion of associated concepts like acculturation, Americanization, and Antillanité. Finally, it also makes a significant contribution to literary studies because by providing conceptual clarity on these terms, it contextualizes their explanatory potential of and limitations in understanding complex phenomena that unfolded in the Caribbean region.