Hybridization

‘Hybridization’ is borrowed from biology and refers to one species being cross-fertilized
with another to produce a new species. It is used in the Caribbean life to describe many levels of
meeting and mixing and creating something new. The plantation society was an institution under
which hybridization became deeply established especially in Caribbean society and culture despite
attempts to keep the races apart by white plantation owners. This attempt is seen during the
discovery and conquest of the Amerindians, the slavery era between Europeans and Africans and
Indentureship between Indians, Europeans and to a lesser extent Africans.
Hybridization is partly responsible for the diversity in Caribbean culture. Hybridization
refers to the process by which a new cultural form is created by combining two existing cultural
forms. It is the process of cultural and ethnic mixing to produce a new creole form. The best
examples of these can be found in the language and religion of the region. The multiplicity of
language can be found in the sing-song accent of Trinidadians, The French Creole of St Lucia and
to a lesser extent Grenada, The Garifuna language of Belize and the vibrant patois of Jamaica.
Religion is easily identified in Rastafarianism, which was founded by a group of Jamaicans in the
1940s.

Racial and Ethnic Hybridization

Amerindian, African and to a lesser extent East Indian women were forced to cohabit with
the European conquistadores, slave-masters and overseers. This resulted in miscegenation which
is sexual unions between persons of different races resulting in children of a mixed race. A
pigmentocracy evolved in which persons of fairer complexion wielded more prestige and power
in society than others.
Colour and shades came to characterize Caribbean people with each colour and shade coming
to have social meaning. Although various terms have been coined for the offspring of some of
these unions, not enough terms have been developed to describe them all. For example some terms
are:
1. Mestizo – Amerindian and European. Hispanic scholars used this term today to label all
mixed race in the Caribbean such as Euro-Amerindian mestizo, Afro-Amerindian mestizo
and Afro-European mestizo. Other unions were taking place forming the Afro-Amerindian
mestizo category. The Misquito Indians of the Nicaraguan coast are an ethnic group
comprising persons of mixed heritage. Their African ancestors were completely
assimilated, fully adopting the language and customs of the Amerindians. The Garifunas
of Belize, on the other hand, are descendants of Black Carib rebels deported from St
Vincent by the British in 1797 and relocated on the coast of Honduras, where
miscegenation occurred with the local Africans and Amerindians.

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 2. Mulatto – African and European. (A mulatto was half black and half white. A child of a
mulatto and a black person was called a sambo; a child of a mulatto and a white person
was called a quadroon; and a child of a quadroon and a white person an octaroon).
3. Dougla – Indian and African in Trinidad. ‘Douglarisation’ refers to the mixing of cultures
between the two groups that is Afro-Trinidadians and East Indians.
The peoples of the Caribbean showcase the rich racial and ethnic diversity of the region
resulting from hybridization.
The term ‘creole’ has several meanings:

• In Trinidad and Tobago the term ‘creole’ is used to describe persons of African descent.
• The term ‘French Creole’ refers to the descendants of French settlers who came to
Trinidad in the late 18th Century they were white colonials.
• The hybrid languages of the Caribbean are known as ‘creole’.
• There is also widespread of the use of the term in the Caribbean and Southern United
States to describe specific culinary arts as ‘creole cooking’

Cultural Hybridization
Cultural Hybridization is the development of new cultural forms out of existing ones
through a period of contact and interaction. The term ‘creolization’ is used if this hybridization
took place in the context of European colonization. Thus, hybridization and creolization means the
same thing in the Caribbean. Cultural hybridization is itself a process that changes and develops
overtime, for example religion.
The major religions of the world met in the Caribbean region and underwent considerable
hybridization or syncretism into creolized forms. Christianity and the African religion have
undergone a lot of syncretism when they came to the Caribbean in their various forms. The Myal,
Revivalism, Rastafarianism, the Shouter Baptist and Shakers are Caribbean religions that are
primarily Christian and syncretized with African elements. Many of these syncretic religions share
similar beliefs, rituals and practices. Differences can sometimes be attributed to their historical
evolution under varying colonial conditions.
Another example of cultural hybridization is language. The Caribbean language is ridden
with hybridization with the European language and sprinkled with words from other languages
and passed on via oral culture. These hybrid forms are referred to as patois or the ‘creole’ and it is
viewed as inferior. Recently, there has been more an inclination to accept the creole as a language
in its own right and see its widespread use in the media. Jamaica has an English-based patois and
St Lucia a French- based patois, and they are languages in their own right, having forged through
a process of creolization to produce something of immense hybridity.

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 Cultural hybridization from music stem from the historical fact that many diverse groups
of people either came here or were brought here from elsewhere. They brought with them their
traditions, which underwent syncretic changes, borrowing and mixing elements yet still emerging
as distinctly different musical forms and genres. The African influence of music in the Caribbean
is varied:

• Soca (Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, St Lucia)

• Calypso, steelpan, chutney, parang, tambrin (Trinidad and Tobago)
• Junkanoo, mento,ska, rock steady, rockers, reggae, dub, dance-hall (Jamaica)
• Cadance, zouk (St Lucia)

Creolization
Creolization is a process of change and adaptation that takes place in the way of life of
culture of a particular society or region. It is an evolutionary process since it happens over time. It
refers to any kind of fusion of people, ideas, customs, culture and beliefs to create a different form
or likeness which may or may not be very similar to the original.
Creolization of the Caribbean society and culture is represented by the mixture of languages,
religious rituals, musical expressions and cuisines in the region. Creolization involves the process
of acculturation, interculturation and transculturation.
Acculturation is a process by which interaction between different cultural groups result in
the acquisition of new cultural patterns by the subordinate groups. It means socialisation into
another, more dominant culture, whether it be the culture of a colonial power, or that of a migrant’s
host country. The formation of syncretic religious practices such as Revivalism is a good example
of this.
Interculturation involves a mutual exchange of cultural traits, it is the mixing of cultures
that goes on between groups who share a space. This is evident in the dishes and diets of the region.
Trinidad is a good example of this. Members of the African-creole population consume, purchase
and even prepare some traditional items of ‘Indian’ food and Indians in turn also consume,
purchase and prepare some African- creole dishes. The groups do not necessarily give up their
own culture but participate in various ways in each other’s lives.
Transculturation refers to the process by which significant changes take place to a certain
aspect of a culture until it evolves into something new. The experience of slavery to newly arrived
Africans and Creole-Africans in the Caribbean can be described as a process of transculturation.
Historian Edward Braithwaite believes that a diverse society is a dynamic one. While there
are separate distinctive groups in society, there is a continuous exchange and interchange between
the various groups. The best examples of these can be found in the language and religion of the
region.

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 The multiplicity of language can be identified as mentioned before in the sing-song accent
of the Trinidadians, the French Creole of St Lucia and to a lesser extent, Grenada, the Garifuna
language of Belize and the vibrant patois of Jamaica.
Braithwaite argues that the creolization results in the mixture of history, society and culture
of the Caribbean that gives birth to the plural society. Each group of people that a country is
composed of are from different races, but each makes a significant contribution to the shaping of
the history, society and culture of that country, even if some of the contributions are imposed.