African Presence In Caribbean Literature Summary

The West Indies is English-speaking islands located in the Caribbean. England colonized in America on the 17th century and was an economical source to England due the labor of African slaves. With the arrival of the African to the West Indies a new culture was born, mostly based on their religion and African tradition. “African culture survived in the Caribbean through religion” (Brathwaite, 31). African slaves were emancipated and received a colonial education, and “became literate in a language which was foreign to them, `liberated` into a culture which was not theirs” (Brathwaite, 33). African slaves were punished for not following the English idea of civilization. The West Indians has resisted cultural imperialism by clinging to their African

He proposed that the official use of the language of the workers and slaves of African origin should create the concept of a national language. In his essay, “The African presence in Caribbean literature” he gave a lot of credit to the oral tradition and he celebrates the African culture. Also, Brathwaite criticizes the European scholars that wrote about the African and described them as people with no philosophy, no social life, no family structure, no arts, and no sense of personal or civic responsibility. “African culture not only crossed the Atlantic, it crossed, survived and creatively adapted itself to its new environment” (Brathwaite, 29). The author examines the African influences on the Caribbean folk traditions, highly focused on the religion point of view. African cultural practices and norms survived periods of slavery and colonization and they continue to influence Caribbean folk culture in very important aspects like: form, literature, and rhetoric. One de-celebrated calypso that Brathwaite uses as an example on his essay is “Dan is the man in the