language du colon/slave master's language

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Reply to Msg 2990

What you said is very true, however, it does not negate Felicia's point.

The fact that today the word is used in a non-derogatory way in most cultures et particulièrement intériorisé dans notre société, does not take anything away from its origin.

One can say that the word has evolved into a new cultural expression, but its origin remains fixed in time. At different historical junctures, through such movements as the one called Negritude, many of our famous ancestors struggled against their own intellectual skills while trying to resolve the question of using the slave owners' language for self expression; how do you truly express your own identity when the only tool you have is le language des colons.

But many like Jacques Stephen Alexis and J. Roumain tried really hard to remove the European influence from their expressive works.

Later, the great African filmmaker Ousmani Sambini, after his first film Black Girl, which was made entirely in French, tried hard to use only Wolof in his next films (the girl's voice in Black Girl was dubbed by our own Toto Bissainthe).

This was his way of really connecting to his people and rejecting the colonial influence.

On the other hand, this is just an intellectual debate--a sort of mental stimulation for those of us who have the time--average Haitians today would most likely wonder what the heck we are talking about, simply because the word's current meaning is all they know. A similar example is how Native American scholars, knowing the origin of the word "Indian" refuse to us it--choosing instead to only use the term Native American to represent their people.

However, no matter how hard the NA scholars try, they have not really been able to change the average American's use of the word Indian.

The fact is, as with the word mulatto and Haitians, the majority of NAs are not really aware of the issues involved and continue to refer to themselves as Indians.

Linda, August 23 2007, 3:41 PM

Topic: le mot multre est péjoratif

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