Creolization

According to the Caribbean scholar Edward Kamau Brathwaite (1974) Creolization is the process through which the various groups in the Caribbean society absorb each other’s cultural product. Our Caribbean culture as we know it today was born out of many different cultures as the Jamaican national motto reads ‘Out of Many One People’. This change in the pre-emancipation days was brought about by the main components of acculturation and interculturation. Acculturation where the enslaved Africans were forced to assimilate the culture of their European oppressors through the process of ‘seasoning’ where a more versed and already brainwashed slave who has experience with plantation life teaches the novice the culture; (basic language, religion etc.) of the plantation society and Interculturation seen where Europeans inadvertently but at times consciously absorbed some of the cultural styles, languages and mores of the subordinate group. In contemporary society the components of The Creole Society still exist and hold their relevance as we see elements of acculturation and interculturation where specifically in Trinidad and Tobago people are forced to accept the Muslim Halal meat products of the major meat companies even though not all citizens are of the Muslim Faith or subconsciously or consciously where all households no matter what faith they believe in celebrate the Christian festival of Christmas. The consequences of this type of multicultural society are not all negative as even though our different cultures can serve to divide us rarely and temporarily they are also the unique and one-of-a-kind foundation stones that we build our now diverse society on. Franklin Knight stated that the island culture is very important and it is often said that people who are born on islands have a different perspective of the world and of themselves.