ANTH 383 - Creolizing the World: Language, Empire, Globalization

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

(Same as AFRS 383) This current era of mass migration, multilingualism, globalized economies, and hybrid identities began with European imperial expansion into the Americas five centuries ago. This seminar on creole studies—an interdisciplinary field consisting of anthropologists, linguists, historians, philosophers, and literary scholars who study creoles—examines how the formation of creole language structures, creole speech communities, and creole identities are part of broader histories of imperialism, slavery, and global trade. While creole languages and their speakers are often devalued, they nevertheless have important perspectives on global interconnection and the practices of transnational solidarity required to confront the socio-economic, ecological, and geopolitical challenges that present themselves on a planetary scale. This course examines the profound challenges that creole studies pose to essentialist approaches to language, human diversity, race, and identity. The course centers the speakers of creole languages, their worldviews, historical narratives, and cultural expressions to gain insight into how they make sense of global interconnection, challenge racial and colonial ideologies, and practice forms of solidarity across difference. While focusing mainly on Atlantic creoles spoken by Afro-diasporic communities in the Americas and Africa, the course includes readings discussing creoles in the Indian and Pacific Ocean areas as well. Louis Römer.

One 3-hour period.

Course Format: CLS