I don't need them to be completed
but I am only incomplete,
it's as if the pieces of the puzzle
which I need to find inside me
are already placed in someone else.
To be completed I need to find out what I lost:
what was lost during that ill-fated period,
that sense of self and the pieces that I had not yet found.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Ghost Ships of the World: El Caleuche - Chiloé Island, Southern Chile
Ghost Ships of the World: El Caleuche - Chiloé Island, Southern Chile: According to Chilean legend, based on the mythology of the people of Chiloé Island, located about 600 miles south of Santiago, a ship sails ...
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Contacting The World Festival
Hey,
check it out. It's an English festival incorporating theatre companies from different parts of the world using 'crowd-funding' to support their actors and festival planning.
check it out. It's an English festival incorporating theatre companies from different parts of the world using 'crowd-funding' to support their actors and festival planning.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Being mixed, créolité/creolitude, mestizaje
I come from a cultural background (through my parents) which is based on the mixture of the various peoples which inhabited the island of Mauritius (Creoles). It's not easy to define and it's not straightforward. Our heritage includes Afro-Malagasy slaves who lost most of their traditions due to discrimination that they experienced. It includes the European settlers who came and formed the most influential culture during the period of colonialism.
It is very hard to define where Creoles stand and should stand on culture, if my grandmother's Chinese my experiences would be different from a Creole who had an Indian grandfather. Each individual can take their own stand on their heritage.
There are two main foci or cultural focal points though: the African and the European which have been the most influential in defining the identity Creole culture today. The African slaves who were born in Mauritius were known as Creoles as were considered their Mauritian-born European counterparts (though Euro-Mauritians would not be called Creoles today).
The main thing I have realised from reading about similar cultures and backgrounds in the Caribbean and Latin America is that, it is not just enough to say the we are a blend of this and that. But to realise that some cultures suffered in the process, while others prospered (Africans and Native Americans versus Europeans) and that reinforced the development of our identities.
That is not to say that our European heritage is not valuable and should be rejected but we should try and honour the different parts of our heritage as something specific, tangible like the Caribbean writer Edouard Glissant says when seeing Creolitude/créolité as something which incorporates our different heritages like a rhizome (taken from contemporary European philosophers called Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari).
A rhizome is for an example the roots of grass which spread out starting new plants without a specific root starting a single tree but a connection of nodes from which we have different plants starting out.
Thus for Creoles around the world and similar cultures of mixed heritage - mixed people in Latin America (mainly of African, Native American and European heritages), each of our heritages can be seen on an equal level and be learned about to help reinforce and better define our identity today.
It is very hard to define where Creoles stand and should stand on culture, if my grandmother's Chinese my experiences would be different from a Creole who had an Indian grandfather. Each individual can take their own stand on their heritage.
There are two main foci or cultural focal points though: the African and the European which have been the most influential in defining the identity Creole culture today. The African slaves who were born in Mauritius were known as Creoles as were considered their Mauritian-born European counterparts (though Euro-Mauritians would not be called Creoles today).
The main thing I have realised from reading about similar cultures and backgrounds in the Caribbean and Latin America is that, it is not just enough to say the we are a blend of this and that. But to realise that some cultures suffered in the process, while others prospered (Africans and Native Americans versus Europeans) and that reinforced the development of our identities.
That is not to say that our European heritage is not valuable and should be rejected but we should try and honour the different parts of our heritage as something specific, tangible like the Caribbean writer Edouard Glissant says when seeing Creolitude/créolité as something which incorporates our different heritages like a rhizome (taken from contemporary European philosophers called Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari).
A rhizome is for an example the roots of grass which spread out starting new plants without a specific root starting a single tree but a connection of nodes from which we have different plants starting out.
Thus for Creoles around the world and similar cultures of mixed heritage - mixed people in Latin America (mainly of African, Native American and European heritages), each of our heritages can be seen on an equal level and be learned about to help reinforce and better define our identity today.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Colombian folklore (legends): Patasola
Colombian folklore involves stories which relate to the cultural influences that have helped to create Colombian society: European (Spanish), Indigenous and African.
The first one I will look at is called Patasola, Patasola is a one footed female monster who lives in the jungle. Patasola actually comes from the Spanish words for one foot (sola and pata)
Here is an example of her taken by Edgar Feria:
The first one I will look at is called Patasola, Patasola is a one footed female monster who lives in the jungle. Patasola actually comes from the Spanish words for one foot (sola and pata)
Here is an example of her taken by Edgar Feria:
Patsola was originally a human being who was killed by her husband for being unfaithful during which time he hacked off her leg.
Patasola is like a similar Colombian legend (Madremonte), they both serve as guardians of the environment. She lures lone male farmers, being attractive and takes them when they are in the forest too suck their blood and devour them.
For more info. :
http://www.todacolombia.com/folclor/patasola.html (in Spanish)
Monday, August 8, 2011
Exploring Mauritian instruments: Part 1 the Ravanne
The Ravanne is a Mauritian instrument made from goat skin, it comes under the frame drum category (which also includes tambourines, riq, daf, bodhran).
The name comes from either the word iravanum in Tamil or possibly rebana in Malay(my personal theory on the origin/etymology) which is also a frame drum.
It is quite a large drum and is hit by using the fingers around the edges.
Its origins come from the time of slavery in Mauritius. The drums it resembles the most would have to be the bendir(North Africa, Middle East), thappu (South India) and the large bodhran (from Ireland).
Here is an example of the ravanne being played:
For a comparison with one of have a look at this bendir solo:
Monday, November 1, 2010
Saving Threatened Languages
I found a nice video about saving dying languages in Mexico, it was really nice because it gave examples of
people using the language in a contemporary context (a rock band), people from other cultures learning the language.
Here's the video:
people using the language in a contemporary context (a rock band), people from other cultures learning the language.
Here's the video:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)