| ID | 115228 |
| Title Proper | Diverse unity |
| Other Title Information | creole contributions to interethnic integration in Guinea-Bissau |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Kohl, Christoph |
| Publication | 2012. |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | The paper explores how creole categories of people who have constituted a small but influential minority in Guinea-Bissau for centuries contributed to a countrywide, integrated national culture since the eve of independence in 1974. Since independence, several cultural representations previously exclusive to creole communities have been - driven by the nationalist independence movement and the early postcolonial state - transformed into representations of a new national culture, crossing ethnic and religious boundaries. The fact that creole identity and culture had been transethnic - i.e. creole identity brings together individuals of heterogeneous cultural, ethnic and geographic descent - during the colonial period, has fostered in postcolonial times the countrywide spread of previously exclusively creole cultural features. I argue that this 'transethnicisation' of creole cultural representations has unified Bissau-Guineans across ethnic lines, causing a strong commitment with their nation 'from below'. |
| `In' analytical Note | Nations and Nationalism Vol. 18, No.4; Oct 2012: p.643-662 |
| Journal Source | Nations and Nationalism Vol. 18, No.4; Oct 2012: p.643-662 |
| Key Words | Guinea - Bissau ; Nation - Building ; Creolization ; Language ; Carnival ; Associativism |