Decolonizing Creolistics Through Popular Culture

Abstract

Abstract This chapter discusses popular music, dancehall, as a fruitful site for decolonizing work on Creole languages and Creole-speaking communities. Scholarship in Creolistics in the Global North has primarily been focused on the linguistic structure of creole without much attention to the social context of Creole use and the identities of their speakers. The author urges Creolists to broaden their research agenda and engage with research on the embodied experiences of Creole speakers. Dancehall music and culture is one important focus of such research, because the dancehall space is a site of struggle between high and low culture, underscores the centrality of embodiment, and welcomes the negotiation of intersecting identities. In proposing research on dancehall as a model for decolonizing Creolistics, the author illustrates the possible contributions of popular music to expanding knowledge in Creolistics on race, gender, sexuality, and Creole languages.