Kreyolity in Literature and Education

Carrol F. Coates

I have suggested to a number of people in Haiti, including those working with schools, that Kreyol should be the first language in elementary schools. Let the children learn to read and write Kreyol--let them begin school in the language they understand. It would be possible to introduce French or English (according to circumstances) as early as the 3rd year. Such an experiment was tried many years ago in the Netherlands--in the northeastern province of Friesland, where the rural and village children did not speak Dutch (nor did their parents frequently). Friesian was introduced into the elementary schools for the first 2 or 3 years, with Dutch introduced as a second language in the third year. I visited those schools and the system was working.

During this fall, I have taught a course on Haitian literature and culture in which some of the works were in Kreyol, and some of the "francophone" novels had dialogues in Kreyol (Paulette Poujol Oriol's LE PASSAGE, for example). The Haitian students were generally delighted to hear their own culture recognized for its value and they participated by reading Kreyol poetry, drama, singing, etc. The other students took it in stride and read the bilingual works.

In translating "francophone" Haitian novels, I am making it a policy to convert Kreyol words, phrases, dialog, proverbs from the fanciful individual and gallicized spelling of individual older authors (most of whom did not learn to write Kreyol!) to standard Kreyol orthography and including glossaries (on occasion, translations of proverbs and songs in notes) so that anglophone readers will get the sense that Kreyol language, conversation, culture are subsumed and represented by substantial elements of language and thought in these literary works that have been taken as "works in French."

One of these novels was published earlier this year--Lilas Desquiron, Reflections of Loko Miwa (U. Press of Virginia). The second Haitian novel in the series will be my translation of Jacques Stephen Alexis, General Sun, My Brother, (in production and to appear late in 1999, if there are no unforeseen problems). I first read Alexis, years ago, as a novel "in French." Like other Haitian novelists published in Paris and Montreal, he frequently footnoted Kreyol expressions, or even explained them in the text of the novel. Since his orthography was gallicized, the text still "looked" French. It was only in reworking through the entire novel as I translated that I began to realize the overriding extent to which Alexis presented popular culture, folk wisdom and art in his novel (the French titles of his 3 novels and 1 vol. of short stories: Compère Général Soleil, Les Arbres Musiciens, L'Espace d'un Cillement; Romancero aux Etoiles).

Some of the Kreyol words are not understandable without explanation, but the really deceptive cases are the words/expressions that appear to be "ordinary" French, but which have in fact Kreyol meanings, connotations not recognizable to a person who knows only French. One example is the expression "cheval a papa," an expression that I have been unable to find attested in any French or French-English dictionary. I finally found it, long after I had begun the translation, in the Freeman/Laguerre Haitian-English Dictionary, as "an inherent right or privilege." In working with both the Desquiron translation (I edited the translation by Robin Orr Bodkin) and my own translation of Alexis, I have found a number of examples, which can lead to non-sensical sentences in translation if they are not recognized for their Kreyol meaning/value.

I have no illusions that these efforts are changing educational policy in Haiti, but I keep working in my own way to disseminate and promote awareness of the rich Kreyol culture, with a growing body of print literature as well as popular music, that has gone largely unnoticed by a number of people who think that Haitian literature and culture are "French."

My hat is off both to the writers who have let the "kreyolity" of their culture show through, even when writing in French, and all the more to those who have dared (mostly without profit or great reknown) to write and publish in Kreyol--the early efforts of Oswald Durand ("Choucoun") and the extensive collection of animal fables of Georges Sylvain (Cric? Crac!); Franck Fouche, Felix Moriso-Lewa, Franketienne, Deyita from older generations; and the productive younger generations, including Koralen, Georges Castera, Rodney St.-Eloi, Jean Mapou, Josaphat Large, Denise Lauture, Emmanuel Vedrine, Patrick Sylvain, and many others (...apologies for not making the list longer and more complete!).

Those who are making tools should not be forgotten, of course--the dictionaries of Albert Valdman, Bryant Freeman (and his collaborator Jowel Laguerre), Felquiere Vilsaint; to a number of persons who have worked and are working on the language--Valdman, Michael DeGraff, Jeff Allen, Alix Renaud, Roger Savain, Pierre Anglade, the Dejan brothers. Since I have added to and diversified my summary list, Jan AfrikAyiti (Jean Saint-Vil) should not be forgotten with his recently instituted and very active Kreyol network, "Rezo EntEnEt Kreyolis Ayisyen" along with Guy Antoine's "Windowsonhaiti" and Bob Corbett's email net.

Email: ccoates@binghamton.edu