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salient categories
Dr. Murray discusses his experiences as a white Canadian man spending a year in Martinique, a territory of France. He describes his participation in an amateur acting troop to explain how 'we' (Westerners across racial ascriptions) cannot get past identity categories. Dr. Murray retells how acting directors told their participants that acting is all about putting yourself in the role of someone that you are not. Then when the participants are assigned to roles in a play about the Haitian Revolution, Murray is not given a role because the director said no one would believe him as a black slave. The play is meant to promote black autonomy and unity, but participants mention their (xenophobic? elitist?) dislike of Haitian residents in Martinique. During Carnival, when many men are in drag in this gender-rigid region, a real transsexual stays out of the festivities seeing them as a mockery. This is a fascinating project in which it's taken as a given that identities are in flux, but then added to the mix is how people of African descent who are citizens of a European nation deal with these matters. When Murray speaks of performativity, he is speaking of both definitions: the usual, stage-based kind, and the theoretical-political Butlerian kind. He said that he deals with Aime Cesaire because he's the governor of the island, not just because he is well-known in academic circles. He doesn't bring up Franz Fanon because the Martinicans seems to make no mention of him, though American and European university instructors can't get enough of him. To me, the most useful part of this book is the analysis of lingual use. Like Haitian-Americans and other polyglots, the Martinicans choose which language to speak depending on the circumstances. French is used in formal settings, but Creole is used in order to be intimate or emotional. Murray notices that a neighboring boy is allowed to speak Creole while his sister is not. Many Martinicais would not speak to Murray in Creole due to his ancestry and fears that they would not be seen as worldly citizens for speaking a vernacular. The most hilarious scene in the book is when Murray recalls how the actors change not just their words, but their body language, hand gestures, and attitudes when performing a stage scene in French, then in Creole. This will remind many of Black American comics who use the 'Have you noticed how Black people do X and White people do Y?' routines. Undergraduate and graduate students in cognitive science or comparative literature will find this part of Murray's discussion highly useful. Progressives have been arguing that identities are not separate, but overlapping and informative to each other. Many heterosexist scholars put it like this: 'There's not enough analysis on race, class, and gender.' [Notice how sexuality gets left out of the picture.] Here Murray tries to juggle race, gender, and sexuality at the same time. Though he begins with race and ends with gender, it is clear throughout the book that his main interest is sexuality. In fact, he describes a beauty contest as his gender politic, but this section is scant and half-hearted. Class barely comes up at all. In his epilogue, Murray says something like, 'Whereas sexuality was the big issue on the island 5 years ago, nowadays, criminality and the influence of 'gangsta masculinities' is.' I am quite sure that the average Martinican would not agree with this statement. Murray really should have said that his interests are his own. Jamaica has kept homophobic laws on their books long after their creators, the British, have abandoned them. Dancehall music is full of violent, anti-gay lyrics. Gay men from the Caribbean have often successfully argued from asylum in the United States or Canada due to the bigotry in their homelands. Dr. Murray recalls that Martinican gay men got upset when he said that Montreal could be a prejudiced place toward immigrants and people of color. Just as African-Americans scholars have said blacks once looked at Brazil as a possible utopia, that idea of a utopic place as an alternative and a necessity comes up in this Francophone context. Given this context, Murray's discussion of Martinican gays is a fresh addition to work on Caribbean gays, and black gay men generally. This book will disappoint many. To begin, even if someone is sophisticated enough to say that categories like 'race' and 'sexuality' are 'socially constructed,' many would easily argue that they are still salient in modern societies and can't just be tossed aside. Also, like many anthropological texts, this is just another book where a scholar has an experience abroad, describes it in a diary style, and throws some academic jabber into the mix to sound polished. Because the United States has territories, this book may be helpful to American readers, especially those who want to do international comparative studies. Though this book is small in page length, the academic language is rigorous and thus this will take a while to read. Don't let my criticisms fool you: I enjoyed this book greatly. I found it highly informative and even humorous at times. ... Read more

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Martinique has recently come to the attention to global strategic planners.This report puts these executives on the fast track.Ten chapters provide: an overview of how to strategically access this important market, a discussion on economic fundamentals, marketing & distribution options, export and direct investment options, and full risk assessments (political, cultural, legal, human resources).Ample statistical benchmarks and comparative graphs are given. ... Read more

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Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Martinican Music, Religion in Martinique, Music of Martinique, Culture of Martinique, Créolité, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Fort-De-France, Hinduism in Martinique, Kadans, Biguine, Zouk Chouv, Chouval Bwa, Lewoz. Excerpt: The music of Martinique has a heritage which is intertwined with that of its sister island, Guadeloupe. Despite their small size, the islands have created a large popular music industry, which gained in international renown after the success of zouk music in the later 20th century. Zouk's popularity was particularly intense in France, where the genre became an important symbol of identity for Martinique and Guadeloupe. Zouk's origins are in the folk music of Martinique and Guadeloupe, especially Martinican chouval bwa, Guadeloupan gwo ka. There's also notable influence of the pan-Caribbean calypso tradition and Haitian kompa. French Antillean Carnival in ParisCarnival is a very important festival, known as Vaval on Martinique. Music plays a vital role, with Martinican big bands marching across the island. Vaval declined following World War II, bouncing back with new band formats and new traditions only in the 1980s. Like Guadeloupe, Martinique features participatory, call-and-response style songs during its Vaval celebrations. In the early 20th century on Martinique, Creole bands travelled on trucks or small carts during Vaval, playing a music known as biguine vidé (or just videé). After the decline of Vaval in World War II, the tradition began anew in the 1980s, when large marching bands of fifty or more people became common, including a number of horn players, percussionists and dancers. These large bands, known as groups à pied, are each identified with a neighborhood. Biguine vidé is participatory music, with the band... More: http://booksllc.net/?id=242947 ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Countries and Their Cultures, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 1271 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Covers the broad range of popular religious culture of the United States at the close of the twentieth century. Beliefs, practices, symbols, traditions, movements, organizations, and leaders from the many traditions in the pluralistic American community are represented. Also includes cults and phenomena that drew followers, such as Heaven's Gale and UFOs. ... Read more

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Les achats comprennent une adhésion à l'essai gratuite au club de livres de l'éditeur, dans lequel vous pouvez choisir parmi plus d'un million d'ouvrages, sans frais. Le livre consiste d'articles Wikipedia sur : Créole Martiniquais, Kmt Télévision, Carnaval de Martinique, Yvan Labéjof, Mino Cinelu, Edmond Mondésir, Tempo, Discours Sur le Colonialisme, Télé Martinique, Bèlè, Antilles Télévision, Cahier D'un Retour Au Pays Natal, Suzanne Dracius, Jenny Alpha, Gwoka, Roland Brival, Cap 110, Albert Palmier Télévision, Musiques de La Martinique, Quadrille Créole, une Tempête, Antilla, Peinture En Martinique. Non illustré. Mises à jour gratuites en ligne. Extrait : Le créole martiniquais est un créole basé sur le français parlé en Martinique. Il est également partiellement influencé par l'anglais et l'espagnol, suite à une occupation ancienne par ces deux nations. Il est devenu une véritable langue au fil du temps, toujours en constante évolution, sous l'influence du français, de l'anglais américain, et des patois des îles anglophones voisines. Il est très proche des créoles guadeloupéen et haïtien, et des créoles parlés dans les îles anciennement francophones (la Dominique et Sainte-Lucie) Parfois le créole guadeloupéen, le créole dominicain, le créole martiniquais et créole sainte-lucien sont considerés comme une seule langue - le créole antillais. Les r ne se prononcent pas w comme on peut trop souvent le lire : il existe un r comme dans diri (= le riz), et un w. Il arrive que des mots créoles comprenant un w aient pour origine un mot français comprenant un r qui fut transformé en w, sans que cela soit systématique. De plus, le r placé en fin de mot (ou dans la dernière syllabe) devient souvent muet. Exemple : Cette langue a une grammaire propre et différente du français : Exemple : Exemple de proverbes créoles: Le G.E.R.E.C (Groupe d'Études et de Recherches en Espace Créolophone) fondé en 1975 par le Pr Jean Bernabé, regroupe de...http://booksllc.net/?l=fr ... Read more

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Diaries of nineteenth-century plantation managers are rare; diaries of French sugar planters are rarer still. Although such works as the diaries of Ella Gertrude Thomas and James Henry Hammond provide insight into the plantation societies of the antebellum South, virtually no contemporary source treats planter-slave relations as extensively, or presents a white planter's views on slave society in as much detail, as do the letters and diary of Pierre Dessalles.

Now Elborg Forster and Robert Forster have translated and edited the most historically and socially significant portions of this unusual work. Previously available only in a four-volume French edition, these materials treat a wide range of topics, including the slave economy, management and socialization of the labor force, the role of free blacks in society, the lives led by the plantation owners, and, significantly, black-white relations before, during, and after emancipation.

"This is a remarkable document, beautifully translated and well presented. I know of nothing else quite like it. The Dessalles diaries are both an account of the daily thoughts and actions of an important colonial planter over the course of an immensely rich and interesting period of societal transformation and a presentation of the life history of Dessalles himself. They contain an immense amount of information about the maintenance of the slave gangs, work routines, punishments and rewards, sugarmaking, relations between planters and merchants, race relations and the nature of the status order in the colonies, kinship, property, inheritance, and insight into the transatlantic character of planter society both in the colony and in France." -- Dale W. Tomich, Binghamton University

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This Book Is In French. ... Read more

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This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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"Illustre d'une carte et d'un hors-texte en couleur" ... Read more

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This Book Is In French. ... Read more

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12 x 8 Inches softcover annual. Six underlined pages - no other flaws. 166 Pages. Color and black/white photos. Twenty-two contributions arranged under following topics: Implications et enjeux - Decloissonnement des categories - Pratiques hybrides - Terres de metissage - La Caraibe, une estetique de l'hybride - Metissage et litterature. Text is in French. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

The Rhythms of French Caribbean Popular Music
Explore the culture of the French Caribbean while experiencing its popular music is the invitation from Brenda F. Berrian in her seminal text, Awakening Spaces: French Caribbean Popular Songs, Music and Culture.Berrian gives the reader a comprehensive critique of the composers, singers, and production of music on the islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe.Berrian combines insightful scholarship with her joyous celebration of the artistry of the music makers.For lovers of this music, Awakening Spaces features all of the major players: the bands of Malavoi, Kassav', Taxikréol, Kwak, and Volt Face; the singers Joselyne Béroard, Patrick Saint Éloi, and Pôglo; the instrumentalists Jean-Paul Soime, Mario Canonge, and Mano Césaire; and versatile artists like Henri Guédon who excels as a composer, percussionist, and painter.

Berrian's book is a treasure trove of personal interviews with musicians and original transcriptions of song lyrics in French Creole and English.Awakening Spaces effectively bridges the past and present in Francophone Caribbean music for all lovers of music-be they exuberant fans of zouk or musicologists.

A well researched piece of art, enjoyable start to finish!
Well, when I first received this book in the mail for my review, I looked at the front and then the back cover and the first thing that came to mind is the phrase 'This I've got to see'.Why? Because this book discusses and analyzes in English, music from French West Indies sung primarily in Creole.Those of you who know Creole also know that is a very metaphoric, symbolic language that is sometimes difficult to decipher when you are not from a Creole background.To take the lyrics and deduct valid conclusions about the francophone culture would be no easy task. Well a couple of pages into the book, my qualms were put away, and I discovered a pleasant, vibrant book that covers such a broad range of topics: lyrics, politics, perception, tradition and culture all based on French Caribbean popular songs and music.The author Brenda F. Berrian, has taken the time to go deep into the scene of Martinique's and Guadeloupe's artistry with candid interviews, and lyrical analysis,all wrapped up neatly with her well thought out and researched interpretations and conclusions. The read was an enjoyable flirt with wonderful Creole songs, and to someone who is familiar with the music that is being showcased in the book, the book will be a ten-fold more enjoyable.Brenda's often-comical anecdotes at the beginning of each chapter are also a very nice touch.Over all, I'd recommend this book to those who have been to the French West Indies and have wondered what was being said and why. If you are a fan of Zouk music, Biguine, Ka, French Reggae; you'll especially want to pick this book up!Bravo Brenda on a job well done!I will write a more detailed review for the readers of www.zoukarchive.com. In the meantime definitely pick up this book! ... Read more

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Édouard Glissant, long recognized in the French and francophone world as one of the greatest writers and thinkers of our times, is increasingly attracting attention from English-speaking readers. Born in Martinique in 1928, Glissant earned a doctorate from the Sorbonne. When he returned to his native land in the mid-sixties, his writing began to focus on the idea of a "relational poetics," which laid the groundwork for the "créolité" movement, fueled by the understanding that Caribbean culture and identity are the positive products of a complex and multiple set of local historical circumstances. Some of the metaphors of local identity Glissant favored--the hinterland (or lack of it), the maroon (or runaway slave), the creole language--proved lasting and influential.
In Poetics of Relation, Glissant turns the concrete particulars of Caribbean reality into a complex, energetic vision of a world in transformation. He sees the Antilles as enduring suffering imposed by history, yet as a place whose unique interactions will one day produce an emerging global consensus. Arguing that the writer alone can tap the unconscious of a people and apprehend its multiform culture to provide forms of memory capable of transcending "nonhistory," Glissant defines his "poetics of relation"--both aesthetic and political--as a transformative mode of history, capable of enunciating and making concrete a French-Caribbean reality with a self-defined past and future. Glissant's notions of identity as constructed in relation and not in isolation are germane not only to discussions of Caribbean creolization but also to our understanding of U.S. multiculturalism. In Glissant's view, we come to see that relation in all its senses--telling, listening, connecting, and the parallel consciousness of self and surroundings--is the key to transforming mentalities and reshaping societies.
This translation of Glissant's work preserves the resonating quality of his prose and makes the richness and ambiguities of his voice accessible to readers in English.
"The most important theoretician from the Caribbean writing today. . . . He is central not only to the burgeoning field of Caribbean studies, but also to the newly flourishing literary scene in the French West Indies." --Judith Graves Miller, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Édouard Glissant is Distinguished Professor of French at City University of New York, Graduate Center. Betsy Wing's recent translations include Lucie Aubrac's Outwitting the Gestapo (with Konrad Bieber), Didier Eribon's Michel Foucault and Hélêne Cixous's The Book of Promethea.
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Customer Reviews (1)

A unique voice in our contemporary world
The Poetics of Relation is an amazing book. It promotes a non sectarian relationship between cultures, in a world where virtual borders are disappearing. Read it in French if you can. Although I might have the only copy of Poetique de la Relation in the USA. Another good introduction is a text he wrote about the French Rule in India which you can read on bilingual blog bilingue de la curiosité (in French & English) on blogspot. ... Read more

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The Game of Slipknot, Contrast and Critisizm
Countermodernism and Francophone Literary Culture : The Game of Slipknot (New Americanists) by Keith L. Walker

This book, was not only interesting but also puts you into a better perspecive to look at modern culture. How the world's beliefs and feelings have changes drastically. The main point of this story is about a heavy metal band Slipknot, and angered heavy metal band highly popular by rock/heavy metal fans, as they are considered as Maggots. As a huge fan of them I believe, I may have a different opinion than someone oblivious of the band. Overall I think this book is worth its money. So, if you are ready to take on a farely challenging book and enjoy criticing the modern art of music and culture this is the book for you. ... Read more

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In 1946, after more than three hundred years as French colonies, Martinique, Guadeloupe, and French Guiana were transformed into "overseas departments" of France, equal and identical in theory to any French department. This book assesses the effects of almost half a century of political assimilation into France and asks to what extent the high standard of living enjoyed by French West Indians today has been offset by losses on the political, cultural, and psychological levels.

The book, whose contributors come from the French West Indies themselves and from Britain and Jamaica, brings a variety of perspectives to bear on what to many observers will seem a paradox in the postcolonial age: three West Indian societies that are now part of Europe and whose desire to remain French far outweighs- or so it seems- their desire to be West Indian.

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This comprises correspondence addressed to the Elus parfaits at Bordeaux by the brethren of Saint-Pierre de la Martinique.A large part is concerned with he events linked with he creation of the Parfaite Loge d'Ecosse of Saint-Pierre, and to the enmity that arose between two rival factions.It has been possible to recreate the original of the Sharp document 30, lost in America but of which the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris has a very poor copy. ... Read more