Understanding Complexity

The French Caribbean cannot be understood through simple binaries of colonizer and colonized, traditional and modern, or authentic and hybrid. These territories exist in a state of perpetual negotiation—politically tied to France yet geographically and culturally rooted in the Caribbean, speaking French in government offices while Creole dominates the streets, practicing Catholicism on Sunday while consulting a quimboiseur for healing.

Dr. Édouard Glissant, the renowned Martinican philosopher, coined the term "créolisation" to describe this process of cultural mixing that creates something entirely new. It's not mere fusion or multicultural coexistence, but a fundamental transformation where elements from different cultures interact to produce unique expressions that belong fully to the Caribbean.