Talibah John, upper 6

Caribbean Studies 

Asynchronous Session 

Research the following terms 

1. Cultural Diversity 
2. Social Stratification 
3. Creolisation 
4. Hybridisation 
 

Cultural Diversity
Cultural Diversity refers to the existence of people from a variety of orgins,
cultures and ways of living within a society without one getting in the way of the
other and without forcing their culture on the other. These people are placed in
cultural groups which share many different characteristics such as Culture,
religion, ethnicity, language, nationality, sexual orientation, class, gender, age,
disability, health differences etc.
Culture itself is diverse and cultural diversity explores it in the context of many
cultures existing within the same society and they are easy to notice. People will
differ because of ethnic categories such as religion, customes and traditions and
even though we are placed into cultural groups together, not everyone would have
the same interpretation of the same teachings because we all have our own beliefs,
morals and value system.
For example in Trinidad and Tobago, due their history, has a mix of races and
culture whihc can be traced back to Afriac, India, Europe, China and The Middle
East. The religion of the island can also be used to reflect its diversity as the
ancestors that came from different places also brought their religion as well, the
nation is refered to as multi-religious as it has: Protestant Christians (including
Anglicans, Presbyterians, Methodist, Evangelicals, Pentecostals and Baptist),
Roman Catholic Christians, Hindus, and Muslims.

Social Stratification
Social statification is the process by which society is divided in terms of hiercarcy where
one social group is placed higher than another group. The hierarcy is a rank order of groups
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and is linked strongly to perceptions of income, race, education, occupation and even
gender

Social stratification is a trait of society, not simply a reflection of individual

differences, it is carried over from generation to generation and it involves not just
inequality but beliefs as well.
It is divideded into the lower class, the middle class and the upper class;
In the caribbean, the upper class is considered to be white as they own and control
a significant proportion of the territory’s wealth and as such posses great
economic, social and political power. The non white populations aresituated at the
lower end of te social strata. They constitute the public servants and unskilled
workers in the society.

Creolization
Creolization is the process in which Creole cultures emerge in the New World. As
a result of colonization there was a mixture among people of indigenous, African,
and European descent, which came to be understood as Creolization.
Creolization is traditionally used to refer to the Caribbean; although not exclusive
to the Caribbean it can be further extended to represent other diasporas; The
mixing of people brought a cultural mixing which ultimately led to the formation
of new identities. It is important to emphasize that creolization also is the mixing
of the "old" and "traditional" with the "new" and "modern".
Furthermore, creolization occurs when participants actively select cultural
elements that may become part of or inherited culture. Robin Cohen states that
creolization is a condition in which "the formation of new identities and inherited
culture evolve to become different from those they possessed in the original
cultures," and then creatively merge these to create new varieties that supersede the
prior forms.
The creolization theory was introduced by Edward Kamau Brathwaite. The theory
focuses on culture and caribbean identity. Through interactions, different groups
learn to adapt and even imitate the various cultures they are exposed to. These
adaptations are referred to as acculturation and interculturation.
Talibah John, upper 6

Acculturation is when contact between various cultural groups lead to the practices
of new cultural patterns, while interculturation is the mutual, symbiotic exchange
of cultural traits (Chinipoo 2014, p98)

The origin of creolization in the Caribbean region lies arguably within the
processes of colonization, slavery and migration which created the foundation of
the New World.
As a result of the slave trade, Africans of diverse cultural backgrounds came into
contact with people from Europe, China, South Asia and the Middle East.
Consequently, the Caribbean became a melting pot of cultures thus, the process of
creolization came into effect.
Kamau Brathwaite stated that it was through this process that the Africans undergo
the most change because their culture were inferior to the culture of the Europeans.
At the time of the “seasoning” process would be a perfect example, because the
new Africans were immediately taught the European cultural traits by those who
surrounded them.

Hybridization
This refers tot he process of cultural and ethnic mixing to produce new or creole
forms. These mixtures of people and culture began in the disocvery era and has
been a part of histoiry since then. When hybridization ocurred, they adopted each
other’s language and adapted cultural practices, however the plantation society was
the institution under which hybridization became deeply established in caribbean
society and culture.
Amerindians, African, and to the lesser extent Indian women, were forced to
cohabit with the and have children for the European conquistador, slave masters
and overseers therefore a mixed or coloured ‘race’ of people were born. Many of
the children of such unions had physical features proclaiming their ‘white’
inheritance. By inference, according to racial ideologies, lighter skinned children
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were ‘better’ than their maternal ancestors, they were dealt with more leniently and
some were educated, all because they had biological/physical traits publicizing
their European connections. A pigmentocracy evolved, where persons of fairer
complexion were more prestige and powerful in society than others. Skin, colour
and to a lesser extent hair texture and facial features plays in the development of
society, culture and identity in the Caribbean.
Sexual unions between persons of different races, resulting in children of mixed
races is called miscegenation; Mulatto (British historians, enslaved Africans and
their white Europeans overlords produced the ethnic group known as mulattoes),
Mestizo (Europeans first encountered the Amerindians in the fifteenth century, and
in that violent impact between the powerful and the powerless the mixed race of
mestizos was born) and Dougla (East Indian and African mixture).

Cultural Hybridization
This term is defined as the development of new cultural forms out of existing ones
through a period of contact and interaction. It also includes cultural traditions,
language and different mass communications from a society and mixing it into
another society creating a new culture from its current one.
Religion is A social institution which embodies the valued ideas and beliefs that
society has about our relationship to a divine or sacred entity and the afterlife.
When religions of the world met in the Caribbean region, they underwent
considerable hybridization or syncretism into creolized forms.Social institutions
are the most cherished ideas in society such as : education, religion, what it is to be
healthy etc.A social institution is an ideology which may differ from one culture to
the next.
Hybrid religions include:
 The Amerindian/Christian mix- this resulted in the creation of: Garafuna
(present in the Jamaican and Belizean society)
 The African/Christian mix- this resulted in the creation of: Santeria (present
in Cuba and Brazil) Myal (present in Jamaica)
 Voodoo (present in Haiti)
 Shouter Baptist (present in Trinidad)
 Shango Baptist (present in Grenada)
Talibah John, upper 6

 Orisha Baptist (present in Grenada)

 Rastafarianism (present in the Jamaican society)

Hybridization and Religion is about how Christianity has changed and adapted to
different cultures in society. In other words, when the enslaved people came to the
Caribbean, the Europeans tried to enforce their culture and religion onto them and
instead of them enforcing Christianity on themselves, the enslaved individuals then
adapted Christianity to their religious beliefs.
Language
Language In most Caribbean Countries, it is fair to say that the “creole” exists as a
Continuum. However, the African languages that the enslaved population used
were not usually written languages, so that the “creole” forms which mixed,
emerged and evolved would differ greatly from the European master language.
These hybrid forms were usually referred to as “Creole” (for the English/ African
mix) or “Patois” (for the French/ African mix). The basilect includes the raw form
or the least socially prestige (Tobago, Guyana, Jamaica), mesolect refers to the
languages used by most creole persons (Trinidad), while acrolect is the Standard
English (Highly Prestigious – Barbados).
Creole is defined as:
• A language- every country has a version of creole
• Used for Europeans who have been born outside of Europe
• A racial slur directed towards African people
• A genre of food- example pelau or callaloo
Processes of Cultural Hybridization
Cultural Erasure – this refers to practices that have died out or are dying out. Thus,
a culture can survive based on the artefacts it has left behind.
Cultural Retention – this refers to practices that have survived even when most
other forms and symbols of culture are no longer evident.
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Cultural Renewal – this occurs when a group goes through a conscious

rejuvenation process and returns to some elements of its culture, which it believes
have been ignored or suppressed.
Cultural Change

Enculturation – This is a process of socialization whereby a person becomes part

of another‟s culture. A person can become enculturated through processes of
„acculturation‟ and „assimilation‟, which have been policies tried by the various
Eurpoean colonizers in the Caribbean.
Assimilation – The process of integration whereby immigrants or other minority
groups are ‘absorbed’ into a generally larger community. This presumes a loss of
all characteristics which make the ‘newcomers’ different. A region where
assimilation is occurring is sometimes referred to as a melting pot. The various
types of assimilation include : language, customs, ideas and values, name change,
religious affiliation. To achieve this there were different assimilation strategies.
These were: non assertive assimilation;1) Emphasising what the dominant and
non-dominant groups have in common. Acting positively. 2) Sensoring remarks
that might offend the dominant group; avoiding controversy, Assertive
assimilation; 1) Carefully preparing for meeting dominant group members 2)
Manipulating stereotypes 3) Bargaining and Aggressive assimilation; 1)
Disassociating from one‟s own group 2) Copying dominant group’s behaviour 3)
Avoiding interaction with other co-cultural groups i.e. ridiculing oneself.
Transculturation – This describes the process whereby a culture changes
drastically, actually overcoming itself and translating into something new. Cuba,
before and after the revolution, exemplifies this process.o Interculturation – This
refers to the mixing of cultures that goes on between groups who share a space.
The groups do not necessarily give up their own culture, but participate in various
ways in each other‟s lives.
Due to colonization there is no caribbean culture apart from hybrized/creolized
products and this is because of its historical evolution.