Efforts to develop and promote the Kwéyòl (Creole) language and culture and in effect, a Dominican national identity, date back to the 1950s and 1960s with the late Premier Edward Oliver LeBlanc and the late Cissie Caudeiron.
Leblanc’s government succeeded in gaining internal self-rule from Britain, developed the early symbols of nationhood and started a revival of folk traditions through national day festivals and literature. Cissie Caudeiron, a creole activist, promoted traditional creole wear, traditional dances and the use of Kwéyòl in plays and in songs.
That period saw the first recordings of folk songs and the emergence of chorales. The 1970s ushered in a new genre of creole music called cadence-lypso and with it, a plethora of electronic bands, with creole language at the centre.
The Creation of KEK
The 1980s ushered in a new phase in the struggle to define and develop a national identity. Dominica was now an independent nation, having formally gained such status on November 3, 1978. In June 1980, stimulated by the work of the budding creole movement in St.Lucia, Guadeloupe and Martinique, the Division of Culture of the Government of Dominica invited a group of young creole activists, functionaries and teachers to form the Standing Committee for Creole Studies/Konmite pou Etid Kweyol (KEK).
Since then, KEK in partnership with the Cultural Division has promoted research on the French creole language, dispensed with the name patois in favour of Kwéyòl, adopted a standard Kwéyòl orthography, implemented Kwéyòl literacy programmes and produced a body of Kwéyòl literature including a Kwéyòl Dictionary, kwéyòl newspapers, books on riddles, proverbs and popular expressions. Other actions included the establishment of Jounen Kwéyòl (Creole Day), Simenn Kwéyòl (Creole Week), Jounen Eritaj (Heritage Day), the development of creole pageants (Miss Wob Dwiyet, Madam Wob Dwiyet), the promotion of creole fashion, national creole wear, public art and decor, creole cuisine, herbal products, craft, jing ping music and creole music festivals, notably the World Creole Music Festival.
More recently KEK participated in the organization of a regional symposium to mark the 30th anniversary of International Creole Day. That symposium held on October 22-24, 2013 in Dominica brought together one hundred persons representing government institutions, mayors, academics, students, cultural activists and professionals from Haiti, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Dominica and St. Lucia.
KEK is currently developing a Kweyol language curriculum for schools and a new Kweyol Dictionary.
Brand Kweyol
Against this backdrop, creole and all its trappings have now become the hallmark of Dominica’s national identity. Creole has achieved brand status in Dominica. The creole brand has been appropriated and milked to the maximum; Jounen Kwéyòl, Simenn Kwéyòl, World Creole Music Festival, Creole in the Park, Creole Bòd Lanmè and the list goes on. Such creole-based celebrations and actions have become both institutionalized and popular. These have become the established and entrenched norm especially during the so-called ‘creole season’, the period September-October. All these actions reflect a new national and cultural consciousness and identity.
Regional cooperation
The emergence and growth of the creole movement entailed networking strategies at the regional level be it in the Caribbean or in the Indian Ocean region. A key element of this was the development of bilateral and multilateral cooperation with universities and other tertiary or specialized institutions.
Creole activists and academics at the Université Antilles-Guyane established a forum called in the 1980s. GEREC provided a forum and framework for reflection on philosophical and theoretical issues as well as the development of practical actions such as the development of a standard Kweyol orthography used in the Eastern Caribbean, the development of creole studies and language courses, curricula and teacher certification.
In this context, Creolité as a philosophical concept emerged. Creolité was developed by Martiniquan writers and academics such as Patrick Chamoiseau and Rafael Confiant among others in an effort to define creole identity and philosophy and provide an ideological and philosophical basis for the creole movement. Creolité is now recognized and accepted as an important concept in creole language, identity and cultural studies alongside concepts such as Negritude and is the focus of much academic debate and contestation.
More recently, the UWI Department of Linguistics, which has been engaged in research and documentation on Anglophone Caribbean creole languages for many years, is now broadening its remit and is linking into other Caribbean creole language development efforts. This Department recently spearheaded the development of a Charter on Language Policy and Language Rights of the Creole-Speaking Caribbean.
The Creole Symposium held in Dominica in 2013 promises to usher in a new period of regional and international cooperation among countries of the creole community of nations.
I simply do not understand why there is so much hostility and criticism for folks like Gregory Rabess, Lennox Honychurch, the late Marcel Fontaine, Pearle Christian, Daryl Phillip, and Eileen Burton among others. For these folks, the promotion of Kweyol language and culture was and remains part of the very fiber of their being and has nothing to do with intellectualism.” Its all about understanding oneself and one’s identity. Also, Kweyol language orthography as conceived by St. Lucian linguist, Lawrence Carrington, and developed right here in Dominica by KEK with very little financial support is and always has been completely phonetic. Take a close look at it before you criticize! Si ou ka tiwe twop kont an lanjounen, ou ke fe sot kon panye pyes’i.
How about a creole model village that tourists can come and visit .where traditional methods are demonstrated and the story of Dominica culture can be sampled in our food and drink our music and dance. Like the Carib territory , where schools can visit and see some of the methods of our past.where visitors could have breakfast , lunch or an evening meal. no other Caribbean country has this
What place does “Cockouy”, I might have spelled that incorrectly, play in the cultural evolution of Dominica? Are the non-patois speaking communities of the North East included or are they not significant enough to be recognized? The contributions of W.S. Stevens and Pat Stevens among others have to be taken into consideration.
The article is very commendable.But the reality is that, Dominica, whilst having experienced a commendable resurgence of sort of its splendid cultural heritage re, the arts forms, dress cuisine and other cultural activities,there is no reliable evidence that the most crucial element of Creole culture:the Language,has become more proliferate.(ie increasingly spoken by more people) in the wider population particularly among the youth.( Has by the way, a creole speaking poll ever been conducted to determine the “health”of creole on the Island?)
If the extent to which creole is spoken in Dominica today was to be used as a yardstick in ascertaining our ‘creoleness’ then D/CA would be most likely downgraded from being a true creole speaking nation.At best some individual communities like Grandbay and Grand Soufriere where the continuation of the creole speaking legacy is consistently evident, would still earn the right to be called real creole Speaking communities.
With all our emphasis on La Journe creole, the facts are:unlike our sister island of St.Lucia.the greater majority of Dominicans either can’t speak or are not fluent in creole. often one can hear persons on radio intermingling English with creole words. The Haitians from whom we ought to take a clue,have long since developed the ability to write and to read creole to the point where its usage is fairly standard in all institutions, starting at the schools.
Like in the French Antilles, Creole commands the status as an official language in Haiti.One only has to look at Haitian TV to get the point.As insightful and visionary as the effort in re-awakening “parler Creole” was, via the now landmark program-Espeweyans Kweyole;,this still falls woefully short in ‘reviving’ creole. Mostly middle-agers and the elderly call this program.
A much more dynamic innovative and aggressive endeavour is needed for the preservation and propagation of this beautiful and exotic language in the Nature Isle. What about young creole rappers performing or competing on the media for example.What about worship and praise songs written and sung in creole in our churches right here.(am not talking about gospel cds by artists to make money).And the list could be expanded. In this regard the Roman Catholic Church has exceeded the Evangelicals who ironically have a greater proclivity to writing and producing songs.
May Almighty heavenly Father help us to see the untapped blessing that lies within Creole culture and language in particularly to His Glory and Honour.Psalm.150
,
Why no mention of Kevin Henderson, who made Kweyol speakers take pride in their language?
We will have truly achieved linguistic recognition when we have a Kweyol Bible. The closest thing is the Saint Lucian Creole Bible. Surely we are just as deserving as our brothers across the Caribbean Sea?
Thank you Mr. Alwin Bully and especially Mr. Raymond Lawrence for a magnificent job well done….Higher awards for you Mr. Lawrence…
Although all those cultural events have been staged over the years, yet the national consciousness has not been jerked and our identity is being taken away.
Hand-outs is the strategy for uplifting ones living standards. Our culture was one of hard work, cooperation, koudmen.
Agriculture, the main form of occupation and revenue earner for many rural folks, have been neglected.
The rural communities have been keeping up the traditional culture, speaking the kweyol language, and participating in the dances. Their Kweyol lifestyle has been changed to one of medicancy. The “Red Clinic” handouts avenue is institutionalized.
Unemployment rising. Rural folks running away from the farms. Production low,low. The farmers sent their children to school, feed them, paid the bills, took care of the family. as a result of working in agri-culture on the farm.
Identity? The country has been sold to the highest bidder. We know not what the deals are. The PWC area taken away from the local co. and workers.
Our passport selling here, there and everywhere to whoever. Diplomatic immunity being sold secretly. Consciousness erased. Support for corruption, illegal acts, disrespect for the Constitution, etc., etc., like never before.
Where’s the cultural consciousness to muster the courage to condemn injustices by those “in power’, “with power?” We have a long way to go to free ourselves from that mental slavery which continues to cloud our judgements. Massa day still goes on. A culture of bowing to one-man rule?
The struggle is to dig deep, evoke the spirits of our forefathers, check our consciences, re-think of the situation in which our country has been allowed to sink and make that Change for the better.
Our Kweyol culture must move us all to work towards a democratic way of life. Not giving support to dictatorship trends. ,
Well papa, ask DNO for you to publish your own thesis nuh. who wants to read your long comment.
The orthography developed by the KEK folks is much too intellectualized and highbrow for ordinary mortals like me. What’s with all the accents and odd spelling? Could you guys not have stuck to a more phonetic base? I would hazard a guess that until you folks scale down from that pinnacle, Kweyol will continue to be more of an oral tradition than a written one. And therein lies the biggest impediment to teaching Kweyol in schools. I will continue writing Kweyol in my humble phonetic style and be totally understood.
People are not stupid, stop assuming Dominicans are… Maybe it is just you and the people in your circle who have a low intellect. What is phonetic based? So you are simply saying it needs to be anglicized. It should draw it source from its origin.
kekekekekekekek! brainbox!
He/she is saying that the spelling of kweyol words should be done according to the way they sound. Though this would make things very simple… it would cause alot of confusion and misspellings. This isnt due to people intellect but their dialect… different villages around the country use different words or variations of the same word to describe the same thing also Marigot and Wesley people speak cocoy language which is not widely understood by other towns but have influence of patois.
Mr Rabbess. Please stick to KEK and leave history alone. Where you got that Leblanc’s government succeeded in gaining self-rule from Britain? And no it was definitely NOT Leblanc that made patois palatable to Dominicans. That was Sissie Caudeiron, You and so many others, in a newfound burst of enthusiasm, are so busy rewriting history, we are going to end up with some real confused youth. SMH
If DBS 1n 1975 had not made Kweyol part of its programming removing the stigma around it the language would have gone nowhere. Give the station its flowers.
Emile Lancelot reading news in Kweole on GIS programme followed also by Arlington Riviere if I remember.
True saying.