Créolie

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Not to be confused with Créolité.

Créolie is a musical and literary movement in Réunion. The term was first used in 1970, and was adapted by Catholic bishop Gilbert Aubry in 1978. It is a traditional movement which seeks to place Réunionese identity within a larger, integrated French identity. In contrast to the créolité movement, it places more focus on French folklore, and less on the history of French slavery.

History[edit]

The term créolie was coined in 1970 by the poet Jean Albany, which was later adapted by Gilbert Aubry in his conference text Hymne a la Créolie (1978), given in Saint Denis;[1] Aubry, a Catholic bishop,[2] later wrote that his text was the "trigger" for the movement.[3] Other prominent writers include Jean-Henri Azéma[4] and Jean-François Samlong [fr].[5] Works by créolie practitioners include the poetry collection Zamal (Albany, 1951),[A] the text Vavangue (Albany, 1972),[B] the music recording Chante Albany (Albany and others, 1979; English: Sing Albany), and the poetry collection Olographe (Azéma, 1978; English: Holograph).[C][8]

Analysis[edit]

In contrast to the créolité movement, which developed some ten years after créolie was developed,[9] créolie is a traditional, conservative, and apolitical movement.[9] It does not seek to place Réunion Creole as the sole emancipatory language of the island or its people.[4] The movement, through writing and song,[10] seeks to recuperate a regional identity of France, where the individual identities of its possessions—including Réunion and its historical associations with Portugal, Spain, Madagascar, and the Indian subcontinent[11]—are brought to the fore and integrated with a French identity into a cohesive and unitary national one.[12] The conformist agenda of créolie is seen in the movement's combination of creole cultural traditions and French folklore, while créolité activists use the history of French slavery and traditional music.[13] The movement, however, disavows any hereditary links between France and Réunion, instead taking an integrative approach.[14] Its perspective of history is similar to négritude, in that créolie seeks to challenge history and come up with pride.[15]

According to the literary scholar Françoise Lionnet, the movement ignores the value of Réunion Creole as a language, and its move toward integration is ultimately a nationalist reaction.[2] Similarly, the French scholar Valérie Magdelaine-Andrianjafitrimo writes that the movement is a theoretical one of redemption for the Réunionese as members of a French nation-state, where creole "is no longer a patois but not yet a language".[16]

Notes and references[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Réunion Creole for cannabis.[6]
  2. ^ The text in which he introduced the term créolie.[7]
  3. ^ During World War II, Azéma collaborated with Vichy France after a history of supporting nationalist ideologies. He fled to Argentina in the postwar years, and later reconnected with his Réunionese identity through créolie.[7]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^ Lionnet 1993, p. 109.
  2. ^ a b Lionnet 1993, p. 110.
  3. ^ Aubrey 2000, p. 124: "déclic".
  4. ^ a b Lionnet 1993, p. 104.
  5. ^ Prabhu 2007, p. 48.
  6. ^ Hawkins 2007, p. 124.
  7. ^ a b Hawkins 2007, p. 125.
  8. ^ Hawkins 2007, pp. 124–125.
  9. ^ a b Hawkins 2007, p. 126.
  10. ^ Samson & Pitre 2007, p. 42.
  11. ^ Samson & Pitre 2007, p. 35.
  12. ^ Lionnet 1993, pp. 109–109.
  13. ^ Samson & Pitre 2007, p. 28.
  14. ^ Samson & Pitre 2007, p. 36.
  15. ^ Jack 1996, p. 154.
  16. ^ Magdelaine-Andrianjafitrimo 2008, p. 59: "n'est plus un patois mais pas encore une langue".

Bibliography[edit]

  • Aubrey, Gilbert (2000). "Poésie en Créolie" [Poetry in créolie]. Pierre d'Angle (in French). 6: 123–133. doi:10.5840/pda2000610.
  • Hawkins, Peter (2007). The other hybrid archipelago: Introduction to the literatures and cultures of the francophone Indian Ocean. Lanham: Lexington Books. ISBN 9780739116760.
  • Jack, Belinda Elizabeth (1996). Francophone literatures: An introductory survey. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198715061.
  • Lionnet, Françoise (1993). "Créolité in the Indian Ocean: Two models of cultural diversity". Yale French Studies (82): 101–112. doi:10.2307/2930213. ISSN 0044-0078. JSTOR 2930213.
  • Magdelaine-Andrianjafitrimo, Valérie (2008). "Les littératures réunionnaises: Entre francophonie et outre-mer" [Réunionese literature: Between francophonie and overseas]. Nouvelles Études Francophones (in French). 23 (1): 52–66. ISSN 1552-3152. JSTOR 25702104.
  • Prabhu, Anjali (2007). Hybridity: Limits, transformations, prospects. Albany: State University of New York Press. ISBN 9780791470428.
  • Samson, Guillaume; Pitre, Shawn (2007). "Music, poetry, and the politics of identity in Réunion Island: An historical overview". Popular Music History. 2 (1): 25–48. doi:10.1558/pomh.v2i1.25. ISSN 1740-7133.
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