Kamau_Brathwaite

8/3/2019 Kamau_Brathwaite

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kamaubrathwaite 1/10

Edward “Kamau”

Brathwaite

Emma Christiane DashUniversity of the West Indies

8/3/2019 Kamau_Brathwaite

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kamaubrathwaite 2/10

Introduction• Born in on May 11th 1930 in Bridgetown, Barbados.

• Attended Harrisons College, where he created a school newspaper

• Travelled to England on a Barbados Scholarship to continue hiseducation.

• Education officer in Ghana

• He is the most recognizable symbol of Barbados literature.• His most acknowledged achievement was the creation of the term

“Nation Language”

• Winner of the 2006 International Griffin Poetry Prize

• Intellectual contributor to the understanding of the dialect used by

slaves; enhanced the outlook people had on the slaves way of usingthe English language.

8/3/2019 Kamau_Brathwaite

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kamaubrathwaite 3/10

Overview

• Explanation of his most credibleterm “Nation Language” 

• Literature contributions; Kamauauthored many poems, plays,

essays and lectures.

• Explanation of his use of the word“Creolization”

• His search for identity in theCaribbean

8/3/2019 Kamau_Brathwaite

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kamaubrathwaite 4/10

Nation Language

• Type of English slaves spoke.• Adapted to the modern language; still spoken

today.

• Developed through languages English, Spanish,French, Dutch – “Official” languages. 

• Hence referral “creole” English. 

8/3/2019 Kamau_Brathwaite

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kamaubrathwaite 5/10

Literary Contributions

The Development of Creole Society in Jamaica, 1770- 

1820  

The Arrivants History of the Voice  

Born to SlowHorses

1971 1973 1979 2005

Explains how“creolization”

occurred by themixture of twodifferent cultures.

In this bookKamau describesthe search foridentity ofliterature and

scoiety.

Explains the term“Nation

Language” 

A series of poeticmeditations.

8/3/2019 Kamau_Brathwaite

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kamaubrathwaite 6/10

Creolization

• Many people from two separate culturesmerging together in one environment.

• Kamau explains the term Creolization as

“way of seeing the society, not in terms of whiteand black, master and slave, in separate nuclearunits, but as contributory parts of a whole”

(Brathwaite, The Development of Creole Society in 

Jamaica .307)• Brathwaite also acknowledges the role “Sexualrelationships” in creolization.

8/3/2019 Kamau_Brathwaite

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kamaubrathwaite 7/10

Kamau’s Search for Identity in

the Caribbean. 

• In his literature, he makes close connection toAfrica by using the names of empires and townsin Africa

• Trying to remove the alienation felt by the

Africans in the Caribbean.

• He tries to recreate the spirit of his Africanbackground.

8/3/2019 Kamau_Brathwaite

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kamaubrathwaite 8/10

Conclusion

• Edward Kamau Brathwaite was successful inenlightening the the thoughts and ideas of manyin the Caribbean and around the world withterms such as “Nation Language” and

“Creolization” • Provided knowledge of culture for the people of

the Caribbean today.

8/3/2019 Kamau_Brathwaite

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kamaubrathwaite 9/10

Reading and Analysis of the

Poem “from the Emmigrants” 

8/3/2019 Kamau_Brathwaite

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/kamaubrathwaite 10/10

Resources• Herbert, Sarah. "Caribbean: Nation Language." Caribbean Poetry: 

Barbados . 15 July 2002. Web. 1 July 2011. 

• Brathwaite, Edward Kamau. History of the Voice . London: NewBeacon, 1984. Print.

• Brathwaite, Edward Kamau. The Development of Creole Society in Jamaica . Oxford: Clarendon, 1971. Print.

• Murchison, Cherhonda N. "Edward "Kamau" Brathwaite." Writers ofthe Caribbean. 29 May 2003. East Carolina University, Departmentof English, Multicultural Literature Program. 1 July 2011.

• Kehinde, Ayo. "Edward Brathwaite’s The Arrivants and The Trope of

Cultural Searching." The Journal of Pan African Studies 1 (2007):182-98.