Trinidad’s creolization myth projects European ideals stripped of racial exclusivity

Evidence

Notwithstanding these challenges, the fundamental thrust of creolization is deeply imbedded in the Trinidadian national psyche. This thrust is evident in the mythic representation of the “Spanish.” It has emerged as a means of managing the complexities and conflicting pulls of disaporic identity. More importantly, it exposes the European aspirations in Creole discourse that is at the root of the country’s nationalist expression. It is a narrative of a simpler time in Trinidad colonial history before the introduction of plantation slavery (and hence of the complexity of the African presence). In the “Spanish” construct is embodied all the positive elements of the various ethnic groupings that occupy the country’s territorial space (creolized or otherwise). As such, it is a trope of hybridized harmony within the context of multiple and competing representations and practices of difference (Khan, 1993). But it is a harmony forged out of idealized “European” qualities, devoid of its racial exclusivity. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3261

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines how the ‘Spanish’ construct operates as a mythic trope of hybridized harmony and what creolization means within Trinidadian nationalism.