From the Caribbean to North America and Back

Processes of Transculturation in Literature, Popular Culture and the New Media

The Caribbean has been a zone of extreme cultural encounters between indigenous, European, African, Asian and Arabic peoples. This phenomenon emerged in the course of colonization, slave trade and general migration. Today, the Caribbean has changed towards a zone of emigration. Very often, the land of preferred choice appears to be the United States of America, which continues to gain political and economic influence in the Caribbean region. Moreover, the US is a relatively heterogeneous cultural space.

The working group endeavors to analyze the processes of cultural exchange in literature, popular culture and the new media in the transnational space comprised of the Caribbean, the Caribbean "Diasporas" and North America. Starting point of the analysis are the ties between the Caribbean archipelago and the United States in the 20th and 21st century. The main focus will be on new links in and due to cultural modes of expressions in the major immigration hubs in North America and their repercussions on “original” Caribbean cultures, a process initiated by circular migration patterns and improved communication channels.

Processes of transculturation manifest themselves in and by means of literature. This is the case if, for example, new or 'foreign' elements of contextual, aesthetic or any other language-related nature are adapted. Processes of transculturation are also present in the emergence of new literary hybrid genres or if new intertexts are being referred to. In popular music and the new media, such as web communities and blogs, similar phenomena of hybridization and (comic, heretic, and serious) adaptation can be observed.

Rex Dixon, "Go on then turn right" 2006, from the Writing Home series, medium " Collage with Gouache on watercolour paper" 12 inches x 8 inches (www.rexdixon.com) Owned by Dr Patricia Saunders, Miami, FL, USA.

I.Transcultural Spaces of Memory - Nuyorican, Dominicanyork and Haitian American Literature.

Dr. Anne Brüske, Junior Research Group Leader

II. Narratives of the Body: Coming-of-Age in Contemporary Caribbean Women's Writing in the Diaspora

 Wiebke Beushausen, research assistant

III. Between “Murder Music” and “Gay propaganda” - The media debate about homophobic dancehall lyrics in the Jamaican press

Patrick Helber, research assistant

IV. (Ex-)Changing ‘Indian Wear’: The Influence of International Migration on the Consumption of Clothing in Guyanese Hindu Traditions

Sinah Kloß, research assistant

V. Desde las dos orilas: Cuban and Cuban-American Identity in Literature and New Media

Ana-Sofia Commichau, associated member