Creolisation

The term creolisation was coined by the Jamaican historian E. K. Brathwaite and widely expanded upon in the writings of Stuart Hall and Édouard Glissant. Creolisation is defined according to three principles.

– linguistic: The formation of new languages, originally developed to enable communication between colonists and enslaved people.

– anthropological: The formation of a new society, within the economic framework of the transatlantic slave trade, and how humans have reacted to the new circumstances.

– sociological: Beliefs and gestures that have survived forced displacement and how they are incorporated into a new social structure. Gradually, a society made up of borrowed and reinterpreted elements is formed.

Many of the works presented in this season follow similar processes of assembling and reconstructing: Michael Armitage blends historical painting and popular culture; Lungiswa Gqunta explores the survival of ancient beliefs in a new environment.