The Power of Comparison in the Caribbean: Creolization and Transculturation in Perspective

Abstract

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 anthropology, linguistics, and literature to make sense of 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 how they address the aspects of temporality, cultural interactions, particularization versus generalization, and the violence of the colonial encounter. By clarifying these concepts and terms like acculturation, Americanization, and Antillanité, the article makes a significant contribution to literary studies as it contextualizes the explanatory potential and limitations of these critical terms for understanding complex phenomena that unfolded in the Caribbean.