ILS 30102: Creole Language and Culture

Course Description

This course introduces students to the language of Haitian Kreyòl, or Creole, and to the culture of its speakers.  The course is intended for students with no prior knowledge of the language and will develop both reading and writing skills--emphasizing communicative competence as well as grammatical and phonetic techniques.  Importantly, this study of Kreyòl explores the language's social and cultural elements, as seen in Haiti and elsewhere in the Caribbean.  The course includes an anthropological survey of Haitian history, economy, politics and religion.  In addition to class work, audio tapes, music and film combine for a multilateral approach to language development.  The program is designed to meet the needs of those who plan to conduct research in Haiti or in the Haitian diaspora, or who intend to work in a volunteer or professional capacity either in Haiti or with Haitians abroad.

Course Objectives

• Build elementary skills in listening, reading, writing, and speaking Creole.
• Gain basic insights into Haitian history, society, culture, and religion.
• Diagnose individual learning processes and achievement in order to continue as an independent learner.

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for this course; it is designed for beginners and those wishing to refresh their skills.

Required Textbooks

• Valdman, Albert. Ann Pale Kreyòl (APK). Chamoiseau D'anticat, Edwige, ed. Roumain, Jacques Edition, 2006. 

View promotional version of Valdman's text online.

Additional Texts

• Brown, Karen McCarthy. Mama Lola : A Vodou Priestess in Brooklyn. Europäische Verlagsanstalt, 2000.

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• Cadet, Jean-Robert. Restavec: From Haitian Slave-Child to Middle-Class American.  University of Texas Press, 1998.

• Chamoiseau, Patrick, School Days. University of Nebraska Press, 1997.

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• Laforest, Marie-Helene. Homelands in the Butterfly’s Way: Voices from the Haitian Dyaspora in the United States. edited by Edwidge Danticat.  New York: Soho, 2001.
  
• Mintz, Sidney. "The Caribbean as a Socio-Cultural Area." In Cahiers d’Histoire Mondiale. Commission Internationale pour Une Histoire du Developpement Scientifique et Culturel de L'Humanite, 1966.
• Richman, Karen. "A Lavalas at Home/A Lavalas for Home": Inflections of Transnationalism in the Discourse of Haitian President Aristide.  In Towards a Transnational Perspective on Migration: Race, Class, Ethnicity and Nationalism Reconsidered, Linda Basch, Nina Glick-Schiller and Cristina Blanc-Szanton, eds.  New York Academy of the Sciences. 1992.
  
• Richman, Karen. Migration and Voodoo. University Press of Florida, 2005.

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• Valdman, Albert. "The Linguistic Situation of Haiti."  In Haiti–today and tomorrow, edited by Charles R. Foster and Albert Valdman.  University Press of America, 1984.
  

Further Reading

• Kidder, Tracy. "Trials of Haiti."  The Nation.  27 Oct 2003. 

Read Online

• Metraux, Alfred. Voodoo in Haiti. Pantheon, 1989.
  
• Richman, Karen. "Miami Money and the Home Gal." Anthropology and Humanism: Vol 27, issue 2, 2002.

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• Wainwright, Babette. "Fencing out the People." Haiti Progress, Vol. 17, no. 7, 5-11, May 1999.

Read Online

Films

• Haitian Song. Karen Kramer (dir). USA, 1981.
  
• La Rue Cases-Nègres. Euzhan Palcy (dir).  France, 1983.

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• Legacy of the Spirits. Karen Kramer (dir). USA, 1985.

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• To Serve the Gods. Maya Deren (dir). UK, 1982.
  

Music

• Kannte. by Ti Manno and the Gemini All Stars.Canter.  Recorded on Gemini All Stars de Ti Manno by Ti Manno and the Gemini All Stars.  Recorded by Robert Denis at Audioteck of Port-au-Prince, Distributed by Musiqiue des Antilles Records, Inc., 1981.
  
• Jean, Wyclef. “Jaspora.” Presents the Carnival. Sony Music/ Columbia Records, 1997.
  

Lyrics and Translation

• Jean, Wyclef. “Yele.” Presents the Carnival. Sony Music/ Columbia Records, 1997.

Lyrics and Translation

• "Sida." Ti Manno and the Gemini All Stars. Gemini All Stars.  Recorded by Robert Denis at Audioteck of Port-au-Prince, Distributed by Musiqiue des Antilles Records, Inc., 1981

Lyrics and Translation

Online Links

resources that may be of supplementary help

• The Creole Clearinghouse - an online Creole-language database.
• Sakapfet.com - center for Haitian youth culture, music, and commercial products.
  

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