Trinidadian Creole identity fused French and Spanish colonial legacies

Evidence

The European cultural component of Trinidadian society has been shaped quite significantly by Spanish colonialism (the former colonial power) and by the presence of a French merchant plantocracy (via Haiti after the Haitian revolution). As “local whites,” French Creoles became historically differentiated from the administrative class of the British in colonial representation and practice. Creole identity in Trinidad has, thus, become heavily infused with French and Spanish representations and with Roman Catholicism. It has been influenced, also, by the presence of East Indian, Chinese, Portuguese, Syrian, and Lebanese diasporic populations and by the various racial and cultural hybridities produced in social interaction among all these groupings. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3257 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Creole emerged only in French colonies, not British or Spanish ones — Édouard Glissant, Poetics of Relation, 504; Caribbean identity is defined by creolization across difference; Trinidadian creole identity blends Spanish, French, and Catholic influences with Asian diasporas. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3257 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Trinidadian creole identity blends Spanish, French, and Catholic influences with Asian diasporas. #expands (0.93) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3257