Lambert, Katie Ellen (2020) The many faces of Creole: Revisiting the links between language, positionality and youth culture in Guadeloupe, 2000-2020. MA by research thesis, University of Leeds.
Abstract
The aim of this study is to demonstrate the extent to which socio-economic context and individual positionality affect how a group of young people aged between 10 and 15 perceive, use and interact with French and Creole language and culture in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, in 2020. In order to achieve this we carried out surveys and interviews with 91 pupils at Collège Nestor de Kermadec which were designed to discover how this group of young people strategize language and culture in their daily lives. While theories such as diglossia or the Creole continuum suggest that French and Creole have fixed roles, often associated with social class in this former colony turned French department, we argue that these theories no longer fully represent how language and culture are perceived, used and engaged with in this space. Using Salikoko Mufwene’s ‘ecology of language’ concept and Pierre Bourdieu’s ‘habitus’ theory to illuminate our findings, we argue that changes to the sociolinguistic environment between 2000 and 2020, such as globalisation and the influx of global media and technologies, and the particular position of individuals within Guadeloupean society, mean that perceptions and uses of, as well as engagement with language and culture are characterised by plurality, hybridity and multiplicity. We found that while some areas of society remain dominated by French language and culture, in some subsystems, social networks and spaces Creole enables speakers to gain social esteem. As such, the subsystems, social networks and spaces that speakers participate in influence how they strategize language and culture. Moreover, these findings allow us to explore other questions surrounding how power relations are reflected, refracted and enacted in Guadeloupe through language and culture, and also investigate how the relationship between language, culture and identity alters in accordance with ecological and personal transformations.
Metadata
Supervisors: | Stafford, Andrew and House, James |
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Keywords: | Guadeloupe, Creole, language, positionality, youth, culture, ecology, pluriglossia |
Awarding institution: | University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > School of Languages Cultures and Societies (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > School of Languages Cultures and Societies (Leeds) > French (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Miss Katie Ellen Lambert |
Date Deposited: | 24 Mar 2021 14:56 |
Last Modified: | 24 Mar 2021 14:56 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:etheses.whiterose.ac.uk:28298 |
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