creole

Creole – a term of racial identity usually designated for black people of mixed African and European heritage with colonial roots in the West Indies; can also represent any person of African descent born and raised in colonial lands, first generation offspring and beyond.

“Thus while cultural differences between newly arrived Africans and second and third generation Afro-Americans or creoles everywhere provided the basis for social stratification within black society, African-creole differences emerged at different times with different force and even different meaning in the North, the Chesapeake region, and the low country.” (Ira Berlin, “Time, Space and the Evolution of Afro-American Society on Mainland British North America.” The American Historical Review, Vol. 85, No. 1, Feb. 1980. p 45)

  • Appreciate that Berlin has expanded this concept beyond the usual British West Indies or Euro-American colonial influence because it highlights a larger diasporic experience among colonial blacks
  • Highlights the biological and cultural aspects of social transformation
  • Not sure how this term works on a larger scale, because of the historical connection to particular regions and ethnic origins that privileges European descent; i.e. French creoles of Louisiana and cultural practices, including cuisine. Does it work both ways, in multiple directions, or does it serve to uphold colonialism?

Janelle Poe