The Body in Relation to the Other

Marie-Dominique Boyce-Dumas

In this study， I analyze Glissants idea of the Caribbean society as an inclusive community that treats its members with equality and mutual respect. The literary analysis includes novels Brown Girl in the Ring （BGR） by Nalo Hopkinson， Les Affres dun défi （The Throes of a Challenge） （AF） by Frankétienne， and LEnvers du décor（Behind the Scene） （ED） by Ernest Pépin. All three novels demonstrate how the enslaving western governments of the Black populations of the Caribbean， have dispossessed the Black people of their culture and identity and instilled a feeling of shame into them， and minimized them as zombies. Glissant， like the mentioned authors， raises the question of whether our modern governments still operate on the same principles. Ernest Pépin shows how modern tourists and settlers still envision the Caribbean islands as Christopher Columbus did for the Western worlds profit only. Glissant proposes another form of world relations in the Caribbean， neither ontological nor one of political affiliation with France， but a rhizomatic relation with all the former communities of which the Caribbean peoples are composed.

Keywords： slavery， disposession， zombie， shame， Caribbean poeple， White supremacy， Voodoo religion， sexualization of the Caribbean， consuming the Caribbean， creolization， opacity， rhizomatic relation

In this study， I analyze Glissants idea， which consists of an inclusive community that treats its members with equality and mutual respect. The literary analysis includes the novels Brown Girl in the Ring （BGR） by Nalo Hopkinson， Les Affres dun défi （The Throes of a Challenge） （AF） by Frankétienne， and LEnvers du décor（Behind the Scene） （ED） by Ernest Pépin， which demonstrate how the enslaving western governments of the Black populations of the Caribbean， have left a permanent mark on them. They have dispossessed them of their culture and identity upon instilling a feeling of shame into them， that has minimized them as zombies.

Glissant， like the mentioned authors， raises the question of whether our modern governments still operate on the same principles. Ernest Pépin shows how modern tourists and settlers still envision the Caribbean islands as Christopher Columbus did for the Western worlds profit only. He proposes another form of world relations in the Caribbean， neither ontological nor one of political affiliation with France， but a rhizomatic relation with all the former communities of which the Caribbean peoples are composed.

Edouard Glissant notices that black communities are based on a non-hierarchical principle of unity of the communities. Black communities display a relation of equality and respect of one another， while Western communities are based on a hierarchical system of a hierarchical system of authority. It is the colonial ideology where one individual is a separate unit from the other individual. There is a hierarchy established on the superiority of ones spirit over the other， and a domination of that spirit/mind onto the community. There is a split between the mind and the body， whereas the mind is considered as governing the body.

In African and Caribbean societies， we see on the contrary an inter-subjectivity in-between people， a mutual communication within people， and between the people and their ancestors being dead or alive， and with the Spirits. There is an inter-connectedness among Soul， Spirit， and Body. The body is used in Voodoo rites to welcome the Spirits. It is the site of this inter-connectedness with the Other world.

In Brown Girl in the Ring， the grandmother Gros-Jeanne invokes the spirits in her Voodoo practices to help her grand-daughter Ti-Jeanne with her visions.

Ti-Jeanne， who graduated as a nurse in the Canadian system of education， is battling with what she learned in this system， the reality， the factual clarity， and what her mind puts forth as visions of what would happen to the people around her. She goes to see her grandmother who explains to her how the inter-connectedness of people with the spiritual world functions：

The spirits. The loas. The orishas. The old ancestors… them is the ones who does carry we prayers to God father. Each of we have a special one who is we father or mother， and no matter what we call it， whether Shango or Santeria or Voudun or what， we all doing the same thing. Serving the spirits. （BGR， p. 126）.

And she explains that Legbara1 is Ti-Jeannes special father-spirit and that he will watch over her when she is ready to accept the call.

In this novel， we see the violence that the Western world has inflicted onto the Afro-Caribbean community of Toronto. It has alienated them culturally， socially， and physically， as we are about to see.

In Hopkinsons novel， the Afro-Caribbean community is segregated socially in a “ghetto” called “the Burn”downtown Toronto， while the Whites have dispersed to the suburbs. There are roadblocks that prevent the free crossing of Afro-Caribbean people from “the Burn” to the suburbs. The Afro-Caribbean community has to live within its own means in an apocalyptic world where neither resources， nor any assistance reach them. People barter for any kinds of goods， and gather homeless with children on the streets. They prey on people passing by for survival.

Nalo Hopkinson wants to show the impact of the colonialist ideology of the Canadian Prime Minister has had on the Afro-Caribbean community of Toronto. The black community is enslaved by the white community. This domination is economical， social and physical.

The white people do not even consider the black people as human beings but as potential organ donors. The Black people are a body-part farm for the White supremacists who surreptitiously penetrate into the Burn to kill them for their body parts， such as their heart and kidneys. …2. In this novel， the Canadian Prime Minister needs a new heart and Gros-Jeanne is the designated donor. Tony， Ti-Jeannes ex-lover （also formerly educated as a nurse）， attracts Gros-Jeanne in the bathroom and without pity， cracks her skull with a hammer. He immediately plugs her into a machine3， which artificially keeps her heart beating and immediately calls a team of medics， who transport her to the suburbs for the transfer of her heart into the Canadian Prime Ministers body.

The Black people are dispossessed of their identity by the loss of their culture. Gros-Jeanne is the only one who has kept in contact with her Haitian culture4. Therefore， she is “clean” and does not use the drugs that Rudy（Gros-Jeannes ex-husband who has become the Prime Ministers henchman）， pushes onto people. Gros-Jeanne is the only one who has kept her humanity and heals the people with the Haitian plants that she still cultivates in her garden. She is also the only one who invokes the Spirits of the Haitian Voodoo religion that can help her dysfunctional grand daughter Ti-Jeanne who cannot see beyond the borders of reality. Gros-Jeanne evokes like a preacher the Spirits and by a call-and-response chant of the community， Ti-Jeanne is introduced to these spirits. Gradually， Ti-Jeanne opens up to this spiritual world and learns from her father-spirit Legbara that she has to defy her grandfather Rudy. Rudy is a sorcerer who has acculturated to the Voodoo rites through the grand-mother. However， Rudy has been5 corrupted by the Canadian governments money and has become a treacherous man who tracks the Black community and steals their spirits that he turns into zombies or duppies. These dispossessed people become just like empty bodies that function like robots used by Rudy.

Rambhani in her article “Zombies go to Toronto”， explains that the figure of the zombie comes from the Afro-Caribbean legend and represents dispossessed people. She argues that the figure of the zombie stems back from “the brutal history and emotional legacy that African people have experienced from the transatlantic slave trade via the Caribbean and North America to present-day Toronto， while at the same time revealing ways to emotionally heal this trauma for the African-Caribbean diaspora” （BGR， pp. 72-73）.

Tony is the first character who sees Rudys former secretary Melba turn into a zombie. He acknowledges how drastically low she has fallen for having stolen from her boss. She is now only a maid， and a drink bearer， who cannot even react to the coldness of the ice cubes in the glass turning her fingers blue. She has no feelings， no volition. She is mindless.

Poor Melba was standing beside Rudys desk， a dust cloth tucked into the waistband of her thin cotton skirt， she was holding a glass jug filled with water and ice cubes ready to refill the goblet of water that Rudy kept on his desk… She was deathly still… Her will， her volition seemed to be gone. Tony knew that she would do whatever Rudy told her. （BGR， pp 27-28）

Rudy not only uses his zombies to serve him but he also extirpates their spirits from them， which he puts in his calabash. He uses these zombie spirits to chase the living people， whom he sells to the Canadian authorities6. Not only zombies but duppies like Mi-Jeanne （Rudys daughter and Ti-Jeannes mother） fall under Rudys domination. The duppie Mi-Jeanne7 （Rudys own daughter） is even more precious to Rudy because of her visionary powers. Rudy uses her visions to prey on people that zombies cannot find otherwise.

Deprived of their will， these zombies and duppies are under the complete control of Rudy who can destroy their bodies. Mi-Jeanne has become a blind woman who gave her eyes to Rudy to have extra-vision. Later， Rudy shows all the powers that he has over his zombies to Tony who dreams of escaping from his domination. Rudy then， operates on Melba， stripping her of her black skin：

Most horribly， since Rudy had ordered her to lie perfectly still on the dining table， she had made no attempt to escape over the last minute as Rudy methodically flayed her alive… Tonys medically trained mind persisted in identifying the structures that Rudy had exposed with his knife： anterior tibialis of the lower leg， the long bulge of the rectis femorus muscle of the thigh， external obliques covering the stomach region， … The fat pads and gland tissue that had been her breasts had come off with the skin covering her torso. Lips， eyelids， hair had come away too. （BGR， p. 136）

Fortunately， Ti-Jeanne who was about to become a zombie herself， fights Rudy and wins the battle. A new society is emerging where Black people impose their rights onto the Canadian community. Simultaneously， Gros-Jeannes transplant of her heart into the Canadian Prime Ministers body is operating the same rejection. In this dystopian novel， it is not the body that wins over the graft， it is the graft that rejects the body. In this imagery， Nalo Hopkinson foresees the end of the supremacist domination over the Black community that came to Toronto and got grafted onto that population.

In Frankétiennes novel Les affres du défi （AF）， the zombie economy is also very well described. Saintil is a plantation owner in Haiti who has an army of zombie-slaves who incessantly work for him， under the sadistic control of his foreman Zofer. There is no escape to the fate of a slave but being a zombie exploited for ones labor. Zofer wants to give a lesson to the beautiful slave Clodonis who has finished his secondary studies in the capital， Port-au-Prince， and can speak French to perfection. Clodonis wanted to escape his life of a slave by working in the capital Port-au Prince but Saintil brings him back to the plantation at the end of his whip8. By beating him，Saintil degrades Clodonis into a terrorized body that has lost his power of speech， and can only answer by “oui， ouan”：

“Avance！ Avance te dis-je！ Marche devant moi. Je suis venu te chercher à cause de ton impertinence. Immanquablement， je vais te projeter dans un danse infernale… rappelle-toi la belle insolence manifestée envers moi lannée dernière. Je tavais mis en garde. Aujourdhui， tu vas payer le prix de tes paroles outrageantes. Avance！ Tu te targais dêtre un philosophe… tu fl？tais le fran？ais mieux quun rat. Montre-nous ce que tu vaux réellement aujourdhui. Par mon pouvoir tu es transformé en zombie à cause de ton orgueil… Sussurrer le fran？ais nimplique pas forcément lintelligence…Les coups de fouet retentissent dans les profondeurs de Bois-Neuf… Trébuchant contre une souche， Clodonis culbute. … il évite par miracle de sécraser le visage… Par des murmures， il commence à gémir dune voix rouillée. Plaintes étouffées， voix nasillarde. Voix doutre-tombe. Oui ouan！ Oui ouan！ Dun revers de la main， Saintil le frappe à la nuque.

_Ta gueule！ Zombi réfractaire. Cesse de grommeler！ Tu ne parleras quavec ma permission！ Tu ne répondras quavec mon autorisation！ Tu es totalement sous ma dépendence. Tu es le jouet de mes caprices！ Avance te dis-je！ （AF， pp. 74-75）

English version：

Advance！ Advance！ Come on I tell you！ Walk in front of me. I came to get you because of your impertinence. I will inevitably throw you into a hellish dance… Remember the beautiful insolence shown to me last year. I warned you. Today you will pay the price for your outrageous words. Advance！ You prided yourself on being a philosopher… You could speak French better than a rat. Show us what you are really worth today. By my power you are transformed into a zombie because of your pride… To overcome French does not necessarily imply intelligence… The lashes resound in the depths of Bois-Neuf… Stumbling against a stump， Clodonis tumbles… He miraculously avoids smashing his face…Through whispers， he begins to moan in a rusty voice. Muffled complaints， nasal voice. Voice from beyond the grave. Yes yeah！ Yes yeah！ Saintil slaps him on the back of his neck with the back of his hand.

_Shut up！ Refractory zombie！ Stop grumbling！ You will only respond with my permission！ You are totally under my dependency！ You are the plaything of my whims！ Come on I tell you！

And Saintil gives Clodonis to Zofer， his henchman， who proceeds to transform Clodonis into a zombie in front of all the other zombie-slaves.

A genoux， Bande dabrutis！ Bande de dénerflés！

Tous les zombis sinclinent， sagenouillent， la tête baissée… Silence lourd. Zofer enlève les vêtements de Clodonis qui tout nu， lair hébété， se tient debout près du poteau mitan… （AF， p. 82）

English version：

On your knees， you assholes！ Bunch of nerds！ All the zombies bow， kneel， head down… Heavy silence. Zofer takes off the clothes of Clodonis who， naked and dazed， is standing near the middle post…

Saintil like a Voudou priest invokes the Spirits to take away Clodonis mind while Zofer beats him up and leaves him dismembered.

Sultana， Saintils daughter is troubled by the beauty of Clodonis and is outraged at seeing him transformed into a zombie.

Clodonis reste figé. Hébété. Sans ame. Sans conscience. Sans vie. Ses bras pendent immobiles le long dune masse amorphe… La tête baissée， les yeux fixant ses orteils. Les épaules distordues， dissymétriques. La langue pendante. Un filet de bave gluante lui coule de la bouche jusquau sol. （AF， p. 87）

English version：

Clodonis remains frozen. Dazed. Soulless. Without conscience. Without life. His arms hang motionless along an amorphous mass… Head lowered， eyes fixed on his toes. The distorted asymmetrical shoulders. Tongue hanging out. A trickle of slime runs from his mouth to the ground”.

The description of Clodonis shows a person who has completely surrendered to the Master and looks like an animal not controlling its mouth.

This representation of slaves degraded to an animal level comes from the trauma of shame that Rhomdani links to colonialism. She says： “Shame is a negative of the whole self （Lewis， 2003， p. 75）； it is a debilitating condition that controls and inhibits the functioning of clear thought， positive emotions， self-esteem and self-respect and the ability to maintain good relationship with others” （ZTT， p. 74）.

Frankétiennes slaves like Hopkinsons Black characters have incorporated that feeling of shame and inferiority due to their black skin that enables their domination by the white men.

But in Frankétiennes novel， hope exists. Sultana loves Clodonis and decides to disobey her father， the plantation owner Saintil. She gives salt to Clodonis as well as to all the other zombies. Salt acts like a magic potion helping the slaves regain their lost consciousness. Born anew， the slaves fight to their death Saintil and his army of colonizers and they win the battle. A new order is established in Bois-Nouveau. And Frankétienne ends his novel by describing the slaves consciousness of their former powerless state：

Cest aujourdhui seulement que nous découvrons les horreurs de la zombification et que nous sentons la nécessitéde lutter contre toutes les formes de servitudes et daliénation. De leur c？té， les paysans， victimes de la misère et de lexploitation， ont souffert peut-être plus que nous. De toute manière， il est urgent que les uns et les autres， nous formions un front uni pour écraser ce soir même la tête du serpent （AF， p. 194）… nous devons en tous temps， et en tous lieux apprendre à vivre pour le partage du sel. Beaucoup dautres zombies croupissent dans la misère et linconscience au fond des montagnes， à lintérieur des plaines et jusque dans les villes. Allons les réveiller par le sel. Pour garantir les visas de laube， soyons dinfatigables semeurs de sel. Car， là où il y aurait un seul être， affamé， humilié， cest lhumanité toute entière qui est tra？née dans la boue…（AF， p. 199）.

English version：

It is only today that we discover the horrors of zombification and that we feel the need to fight against all forms of bondage and alienation. For their part， the peasants， victims of misery and exploitation， suffered perhaps more than us. In any case， it is urgent that both of us form a united front to crush the serpents head this very evening （AF， p. 194）… We must at all times and in all places learn to live for sharing salt. Many other zombies languish in misery and unconsciousness deep in the mountains， inside the plains and into the cities. Lets go wake them up with salt. To guarantee dawn visas， let us be tireless sowers of salt. Because， where there would be only one being， hungry， humiliated， it is all of humanity that is dragged through the mud…

The zombie economy of Les Affres dun défi seems to recall what Marx said of capitalist economy in his book Capital ： “Capital is dead labour that， vampire-like， only lives by sucking living labour and lives the more， the more labour it sucks” （C， pp. 170-171）.

Frankétiennes blood-thirsty plantation owners like Hopkinsons blood-thirsty Rudy are alike our Western economy. These authors want us to reflect on our present-day governments and ask ourselves whether our present governments are repeating the patterns of supremacy and exploitation that colonialism has used in the past.

In Brown Girl in the Ring， we see also another kind of consumerism of black people. Instead of labor exploitation， we see sexual consumerism taking place. The white community from the Suburbs crosses the borders to come into the Burn， when they feel decadent and want to have sexual relationships. Mimi Sheller explains in her book Consuming the Caribbean that like former colonists used the slaves bodies as a commodity so does the new colonist-the tourist- by requesting cheap services from the local population when enjoying their stays in the Caribbean islands. She warns us over the colonial gaze that the tourists cast over the black population of these islands， transforming them into sexual objects. She writes： “The sexualisation of young exotic bodies， male and female has become a standard toll of Caribbean tourist promotion9 from hotel brochures to magazines and guidebooks” and she explains： “What began as the commercialization of slave womens sexuality has evolved into the sex tourism of today” （CC， p. 164）.

In Lenvers du décor by Pépin， Jean Paul and his new wife Sylvie perpetuate the Western point of view on the Caribbean people. They are also attracted to Guadeloupe by the false touristic pictures10 of a tropical vegetation that seem to reproduce itself abundantly every season without effort. They are also attracted by the pictures of a docile hospitable population， and by the pictures of an idyllic landscape. They want to take advantage of it. They leave Paris and decide to begin a new life in Guadeloupe and they open a restaurant. They feel that they belong to this land because of its history of having been discovered by white European discoverers who made it known to the whole world.

Nous appartenons à ce pays. Ainsi sera-t-il！

Ce pays！ Quel pays！ Dont nous ne savons rien mis à part les phrases sucrées des dépliants publicitaires. Les mérites de lhospitalité！ Amen！ Les vertus des acras， du boudin et du piment Man Jacques！ Amen！ L？le au grand soleil， paradis entre terre et ciel. Une ile dont la tête amarrée dans les nuages plonge un regard br？lant vers une mer docile， doudou aux pieds de son ma？tre. Une ？le-vanille ouverte， offerte. （ED， p. 30）

English version：

It is known to the whole world. “We belong to this country. So will it be！ This country！ So will it be！ This country！ Which country！ We dont know anything except the sweet phrases in the flyers！ The merits of hospitality！ Amen！ The virtues of accras， black pudding and Man Jacques pepper！ Amen！ A sunny island， a paradise between earth and sky. An island whose head moored in the clouds gazes fiercely at a docile sea， a soft toy at the feet of its master， an open vanilla island， offered…

Like Christopher Columbus who stumbled on the West Indies on his way to Asia， Jean-Paul and Sylvie are completely oblivious of what Guadeloupe really is. They are duped by their sense of sight. They see the luxuriant landscape of the tourist pictures and imagine that Guadeloupe is a Land of Cockaigne where everything grows without effort. They feel that it is a Garden of Eden where nature provides for the needs of its inhabitants， where survival is easy. They see this land as the complete opposite from Paris where they presently live and where the sky is grey and it is difficult to make a living. Convinced by the trope of easy living in the Caribbeans， Jean-Paul leaves his delivery job at an exotic Parisian restaurant and Sylvie leaves her studies at the University to come to Guadeloupe and they make Guadeloupe their new home. Their fate is sealed. They do not want to just come as tourists but to restart their lives there. Like Adam and Eve， they feel pregnant of a new creation， a new beginning.

But in fact， they create the same story as Christopher Columbus. They see the abundance of the vegetation and see the profit that they can make of it for themselves and transform themselves into conquerors. They stride the countryside with their tourist brochures in hand， deciding to visit methodically one beach a day.

They immerse themselves in this vegetation to make it theirs. Anita， a local old lady says：

Deux mois durant ils avaient découvert leur pays， les trésors de leur pays！ Je ne comprends pas pourquoi à peine arrivés， les Blancs de France se considèrent comme plus guadeloupéens que les natifs-natals？ En un cillement des yeux， le pays leur appartient. （ED， p. 36）

English version：

During two months they had discovered their country， the treasures of their country！ I do not understand why as soon as they arrive， the whites of France consider themselves to be more Guadeloupean than the native-born？ In a blink of an eye， the country belongs to them.

Jean-Paul and Sylvie like the colonialists of before are completely unaware of the inhabitants of this land and of the consequences of their exploitation of the Caribbean islands. They just want to acquire factual knowledge about the island. They do not see that their colonialist ancestors have destroyed the natural landscape and the peoples psyche， leaving behind old sugar factories falling into ruins and people destroying one another. They refuse to accept such responsibility as Anita says：

Vous ne pouviez savoir quici et là derrière les balancements de fleurs rouges… les braises des bougainvillés， le sang avait coulé pour des histories damour. On saimait fort à lHabituée！... Vous vous étonniez du chaos des cases… Vous ignoriez le chaos des vies… Lémerveillement nest pas pour nous. Il vous appartient， vous venus pour lenchantement des ？les. Sommes-nous des ？les？... Cest une énigme à résoudre. （ED， p. 47）

English version：

You could not have known that here and there behind the swaying red flowers… the embers of the bougainvillea， blood had been spilled for love stories. We loved each other very much at the Habituée！ … You were amazed at the chaos of the huts… You were unaware of the chaos of lives… Wonder is not for us. It is yours， you who came for the enchantment of the islands. Are we islands？ It is a puzzle to be solved.

Jean Paul and Sylvie only see the business opportunity that represents the island of Guadeloupe： a cheap location， a place where Guadeloupeans buy a lot， and they decide to open a restaurant that they name “Le Christophe Colomb” that will cater to tourists and the upper middle class.

The same colonial gaze guides Jean-Paul into hiring the local people he will need in his restaurant. He does not try to understand their difficulties in life. He is even spiteful at their low condition， thinking that they did not know how to be economically successful， and he tends to hire people who， like him， are opportunists.

Business is good， and still Jean-Paul sees only the right side “lendroit” of the picture of Guadeloupe11.

But one day， there is an oil crisis and the people of the Caribbean fight the capitalists settled in Guadeloupe. Guadeloupe， which had accepted the assimilation to France as a French department together with the consumption of overstocked foie gras and champagne from France at Christmas time， revolts. The Guadeloupeans see that their relationship to the Motherland is one of abuse and their revolt is a traumatic reaction， which Glissant explains in Power of Relation in these terms： “What remains here is only the suppressed， the intermittent violence of a community convulsively demonstrating its sense of disquiet. What sense of disquiet？ The one that comes from having to consume the world without participating in it， without even the least idea of it， without being able to offer it anything other than a vague homily to a generalizing universal. Priviledged disquiet” （PR， p. 145）.

Anita shows the evils of that universal consumption in Guadeloupe：

Les jeunes adoptaient de sales manières. Ils ne respectaient plus leurs parents… prenaient de force ce quils ne pouvaient acheter… Les containers déversaient leurs couillonnades et le pays sempoisonnait sans réagir. New York meme na pas autant de voitures que nous！ Nous buvons plus de champagne que tout le monde！ … et nous nous agenouillons devant lEurope pour des subventions. （ED， pp. 152-153）.

English version：

Young people adopted dirty ways. They no longer respected their parents… took by force what they could not buy…The containers spilled their balls and the country poisoned itself without reacting. New York itself does not have as many cars as we do！ We drink more champagne than every one else！ … and we kneel down in front of Europe for subsidies！

It is Christmas and still Jean-Pauls imported goods for his restaurant are still not delivered. Jean-Paul loses money. But finally the strike ends and Jean-Pauls restaurant knows a second economic boost thanks to the relationship of one of his opportunistic employees. This pushes Jean-Paul to even begin to be more of a businessman and he pins the unpaid check of a creole countess at the front window of his restaurant. This causes the death of his business. Jean Paul， who always refused to see the downside of slavery and colonialism in Guadeloupe， is vanquished by this same image of slavery in the person of the creole Countess. Jean-Paul， as a Westerner， had a conception of assimilation into the Caribbean society that was pirating the word “creolization”. He had been thinking that creolization was a fluid hybridization of cultures， a hybrid of the Master culture and of the slave culture in a consensual consuming of the Other （the Caribbeans） by the dominant people （the Whites）， but the Creole lady reminds him of the conflicting collision of the cultures， of the tortures of slavery that she still keeps in mind， and instead of letting him cannibalizing her， after a long fight with him， she bites him and asks him to reconsider his responsibility in the economic downfall of the Guadeloupe and of its local people.

She takes him to court and Jean Paul is found guilty. This verdict obliges him to acknowledge the syncretic dynamism of the creole ladys thinking， who appropriates elements from the master-codes of the colonial culture， the purity and nobility of her ancestors genealogic line， and who declares like the former colonialists her right to live over her means. She “creolizes” those signs， by disarticulating them and re-articulating their symbolic meaning.

Moi， Comtesse Perse de Montalègre， descendante de Grignon de Monténard， … et de Fulbert Perse de Montalègre， vous osez déshonorer ma charité en placardant ma chèque dans votre restaurant！ Si on peut appeler ？a restaurant！ Moi， jappelle ？a une d？natoire， monsieur！ Une d？natoire malgracieuse où lon sert du jus de purin！ （ED， p. 136）

English version：

Me， Countess Perse de Montalègre， descendant of Grigon de Monténard， … and of Fulbert Perse de Montalègre， you dare to dishonor my charity by putting up my check in your restaurant！ If we can call it a restaurant！ Me I call it a diner， sir！ A gruesome diner where they serve liquid manure juice！

It is ironic that Jean-Paul is terrorized by this Creole woman and the Creole court who judges him， and that he has to experience this same racialized terror that the Black people experienced in colonial times. Through that misfortune， Jean Paul is challenged by the way the Creole lady remembers colonialism and he has to redefine his idea who the colonialists were. He has to reconcile his former ideas of Western supremacy with these new variations. While doing so， he is making himself anew. He is creolizing himself.

While in British territories， the term “creole” was predominantly used to refer to populations of mixed African and European descent， in French territories， the term “creole”12 was also used to locally born white populations. In both territories， the term carries the connotation of achieved indegeneity. That is to say， it refers to a process of being uprooted from one place and regrounded in another such as ones point of origin loses its significance and ones place of arrival becomes home. It implies the falling away of a previous home and the claiming of a new place of belonging. At the same time， the word creole carries the connotation of mobility and mixture of peoples， cultures， languages and cuisines. Jean Paul has moved from France to Guadeloupe and at first， he had not mixed in with the local people culturally. But now， by experiencing bankruptcy and falling to the level of a beggar， Jean-Paul has been able to open up to the touch of the others， Anita and her community and conversely to feel/touch others. He has abandoned his previous Westerner self-centered view point of the Caribbean people as service people that he employed for his benefit and he is now like them a man of service at the margin of society， cleaning up a piece of land for Anita as Master of his life with the help of the most destitute people in Guadeloupe， migrant Ha？tians.

As Nettleford says “creolization refers to the agonizing process of renewal and growth that marks the new order of men and women who came originally from different Old world cultures （whether European， African， Levantine or Oriental） and met in conflict otherwise on foreign soil” （Nettleford， 1978， p. 181）. Creolization is not a mixing of elements but a process of cultural regrounding following experiences of violent uprooting from ones culture of origin. The violent uprooting in Jean-Pauls experience， which causes his destitution， is his false idea of his superiority of White men who could denigrate a Creole customer and her sensibility at having her unpaid check exposed to every bodys eyes.

In giving that turn in Jean-Pauls story， Pépin wants to reject the colonial gaze of the Westerners and their idea that everything should be clear-cut， and visible for everybodys eyes. Jeannine Murray-Román in Performance and Personhood （PP） explains the desire of Black people of escaping the Westerners eyes on them by quoting what Glissant says about “opacity”. She says： “What Glissant rejects here in championing opacity is … the violent demand for non European peoples to translate their worldviews， philosophical grounds， and culture in terms that can be evaluated along Eurocentric metris and values， and [which] results in the reduction of their full existence” （PP， p. 97）. And she continues by enforcing opacity， proposing “that comprehensive and absolute truth about a person or collective is an impossible question. Here， aspects of ones own self are always opaque to oneself， let alone to another， and allowing oneself the space for unknowable complexities is not only an act of interpersonal generosity but also a necessary corrective to the assumption that rigorous research questions will always yields the most accurate knowledge” （PP， p. 97）.

In Discours antillais （DA）， Glissant says： “We demand the right to obscurity. Through which our anxiety to have a full existence becomes part of the universal drama of cultural transformation： the creativity of marginalized peoples who today confront the ideal of transparent universality imposed by the West， with secretive and multiple manifestation of Diversity” （DA， p. 14）.

Jean-Paul who has become a beggar， comes back to life when he lets the rhythm of the Caribbean music invade him. He reorients his ideas then， he lets his ideas of capitalism， of colonial superiority that had formed an infection in himself escape him in that kind of puss drawn by the sweat and the tears of the dance.13 This void can then be filled by more compassion， a new interpretation of the environment that surrounds him and a new way of being.

Il sentit son corps se déglonfler en lachant tout le pus de ses malheurs. Il devint léger， léger et voilà que lui aussi il sélevait dans lair avec la virtuosité dun oiseau foufou. Se compères ha？tiens avaient lhabitude des métamorphoses. Simplement ils ne savaient pas que les Blancs aussi pouvaient entrer dans le corps dun oiseau… le miracle du compass se manifestait là… ils admiraient ce Blanc qui dessinait des volutes， des boucles des lassos au gré de son ivresse. （ED， p. 54）.

English version：

He felt his body deflate by letting go of all the juice， all the pus of his miseries. He became light， light and there it was that he lifted himself into the air with the virtuosity of a crested hummingbird as well. His Haitian brothers were accustomed to metamorphoses. They simply did not know that white men could enter into the body of a bird. Lightly surprised， they accompanied Jean-Pauls arabesques by clapping their hands. The miracle of the compass was manifesting itself right there， before their eyes.

The curve has replaced the Western lines of Action- Consequence and Jean-Paul understands that the Sea should be the answer to the economical problems of Guadeloupe. He sees the Sea as a dancer and all the islands as pearls of her skirt dancing together to the sound of the drum gwonka telling their common history of oppression and he wonders why all the islands had so much difficulty to give each other a hand.

Et il fut ébloui lorsquil survola la mer de la c？te sous le vent. Soulevant ses jupes à la manière des danseuses de gwoka， voltigean ses pieds en de grands tourbillons， creusant et recreusant ses reins dans une transe continue. La mer avait des mains. Ses mains étaient des ？les！ Et les ？les pensive méditaient sur leur sort， se demandant pourquoi elles avaient tant de mal à se donner la main. （ED， p. 55）

English version：

He was blown away when he flew over the sea of the coast under the wind. Lifting its skirts in the fashion of the gwoka drum dancers， acrobatically fluttering its feet in great whirls， digging and digging in its hips in a continuous trance. The sea had hands. Its hands were islands！ And the pensive islands meditated on their fate， asking themselves why they had such a hard time giving each other a hand.

While Jean-Paul is changed into a hummingbird， he can oversee the world and has a global view of the world and understands that the Caribbean should see itself as an archipelago open to the world. All the different islands of this archipelago should see above their historical colonial origins that made them stand out against the others， but on the contrary they should unite and help one another14.

And the Caribbeans will protect themselves by uniting together. Glissant proposes another form of relation in the Caribbean， not ontological as the original occupants the Caribs， and the Arawaks have been decimated by the European discoverers but a “complicity of Relation” with all the populations imported on the land by the Europeans， the Pre-Columbians， the Africans， the Hindies and mulattoes…）， getting rid of the sacred intolerance of the root wit its sectarian exclusiveness and seeing the Caribbean land as rhizomatic and having relations with all the communities that composed it.

The creolization of Jean-Paul is a project. It is a dynamic of constant invention like the music that the Caribbeans produce. It is a shifting， morphing， chaotic improvisation， highly mutable and open to change that infiltrates in him and changes him all over. Anita recalls：

Ce qui me plaisait par-dessus tout， cest quil perdait sa vieille peau de Blanc-France pour rentrer dans celle dun Guadeloupéen. Il nétait plus une personne venue， ni une personne envoyée， mais quelquun （nous-même！） qui inventait sa trace dans le désordre des halliers et la folie des bois. （ED， p. 126）

English version：

What appealed to me most of all was that he was losing his old skin Blanc-France to that of a Guadeloupe one. He was no longer a person who had come， nor a person sent， but someone （ourselves！） who invented his mark in the disorder of the thickets and the madness of the woods.

Anita teaches Jean-Paul what creolization is. She is opposing it to the free-floating concept of globalization， re-grounding the history of Guadeloupe in its specific social and cultural itineraries. She accepts the history of colonization and all the objects it has left behind in Guadeloupe. She even collects these objects， which are part of her culture， too， and wants to display them in the restaurant she opens together with Jean-Paul. She creolizes these objects by stripping them off of he horrors of colonialism and of the suppression of the others that they once conveyed.

Vieille machine à coudre Singer/ Pot de chambre en terre cuite dAubagne/Lave-mains en email/… Bo？te à crabes/ Nasse/ Morceau de charette à boeufs/ Fer à cheval/Casquec colonial/ Masques de carnival/ Pièces dusine à sucre/ Vieilles photos…. （p. 169）

English version：

Old Singer sewing machine/Aubagne terracotta chamber pot/Enamel hand basin/… Crab box/Trap/Piece of oxcart/Horseshoe/Colonial helmet/ Carnival masks/ Pieces of sugar factory/ Old photos…

This is what Anita does by teaching Jean-Paul about her interpretation of the history of Guadeloupe， about her Kassav music and her cooking. She incorporates Jean-Paul into a global network of all the cultures of which Guadeloupe is composed. Jean-Paul struggles at the beginning， refutes her view points and still criticizes Anita about slavery by saying：

Oui， Ana， je comprends… Vous ne voyez pas la Mer， vous voyez la traite. Vous ne voyez pas la terre， vous voyez le fouet！ Vous ne donnez pas au pays la valeur quil a. Alors vous vous jetez， comme les enfants de lenchanteur Merlin， dans une eau qui vous noie： la consommation！ Il faut vous réveiller， sortir de votre cauchemar… Vous avez gagné uneétape！ Mais la course nest pas finie！... Cassez vos casiers！ Bousculez vos damiers！ Inventez votre vie dans le monde tel quil est！ （ED， p. 132）

English version：

Yes， Ana， I understand… You dont see the Sea， you see the slave trade. You dont see the earth， you see the whip！ Your are not giving the country the value it has！ So， you throw yourself like the children of the wizard Merlin into a water that drowns you： consumption. You have to wake up！ Get out of your nightmare！… You have won a stage！… But the race is not over！ Brake your lockers！ Shake up your checkers！ Invent your life in the world as it is！

But gradually， Jean-Paul opens up to Anitas experience and he finally sees Anita as she is：

Elle voyait des mondes dans lesquels il métait difficile dentrer. Elle entendait des voix et me demandait de prêter loreille. Elle bougeait et， dans la pénombre où dansait la poussière， je vis tous ses visages. Je vis la fille dun Cara？be et dun Blanc espagnol. Je vis lenfant née de ce mélange enfanter à son tour avec un nègre des plantations. Je vis quatre enfants de couleurs différentes et lun deux épouser une Indienne de Pondichéry. Cétaient ses grands-parents！ Je vis enfin son père et sa mère sur une vieille photo. Ils posaient fièrement devant une case en gaulettes en tenant par la main une petite fille. Cétait elle， Anadine. Toute noire， avec dépais cheveux coiffés en petites nattes. Et je reconnus dans son visage les mêmes yeux marron clair， presque transparents， pétillants de malice. Anadine ma mère！ Emu par cette révélation， je suis tombé dans ses bras. Je venais de na？tre！ （ED， p. 171）

English version：

She saw worlds that were difficult for me to enter. She heard voices and asked me to listen. She was moving， and in the half-light where the dust was dancing， I saw all her faces. I saw the daughter of a Caribbean and a Spanish white. I saw the child born of this mixture give birth in turn to a plantation negro. I saw four children of different colors and one of them marry an Indian from Pondichérry. They were her grandparents！ I finally saw her mother and father in an old photo. They posed proudly in front of a case in gaulettes， holding a little girl by the hand. It was her， Anadine！ All black with thick hair plaited into small braids. And I recognized the same light brown eyes in her face， almost transparent， sparkling with mischief！ Anadine， my mother！ Moved by this revelation， I fell into her arms！ I had just been born！

Jean-Paul on his side has also performed the same type of cultural re-grounding and itinerary and has become a chef uniting Creole and French flavors for the benefit of all. Anadine describes his cooking like：

…Le monsieur a élégamment concocté un vivaneau au beurre blanc coco fa？on Jean-Paul. Il est entré… dans le délectable dun plat de dombrés et de queue de cochon… et dans laisance dun ti-figues et de tripes. Saveur！15 （ED， pp. 158-159）

English version：

The gentleman has elegantly concocted a snapper with coconut white butter， Jean-Paul style. He entered… into the delectable dish of dombrés and pigtail… and into the ease of ti-figs and tripe. Savor！

As Jean-Paul saves himself financially and can open a new restaurant with Anita by combining French and Caribbean tastes， so can the Caribbeans survive， not by going back to an understanding of the territory as affiliation to France and acceptance of their exchange of imported public money against exported private profit， but as an understanding of the Caribbeans as a land in Relation to the whole world where ethno-technology as Glissant says “would save us from excessive imports， protect the vivid physical quality of the country， find an equilibrium for our drive to consume， and cement links among all the individuals concerned with producing and creating amounts to saying that we would return to a pre-technical， artisan level， elevated to the rank of a system， leaving it to others to take care of providing us with the spin-off from their dizzying experiments， making us admire from afar the achievements of their science， and renting us （but under what conditions） the fruits of their industry. Have something to exchange that is not just sand and coconut trees but， instead， the result of our creative activity” （PR， pp. 152-153）.

In this study， I have demonstrated how colonialism has physically and socially reduced the Black population of the Caribbean to laborers working for the profit of the Western world. However， colonialism has also acculturated these people by depriving them of their identity and by filling this void with a sense of shame. Moreover， shame has made them dysfunctional in society and has let the super powers of the Western world take advantage of them.

Although Nalo Hopkinson， in her dystopian novel says that the same supremacist ideology still rules in Toronto， a new order of relations between Blacks and Whites is developing. A “creolization” of the relations is materializing as seen in the transformation of Jean-Paul in Pépins novel， who as a Westerner accepts to open up to the Caribbean people and to consider them as equal partners in an international economic setting.

References

Britton， C. （1999）. Edouard Glissant and postcolonial theory. Charlottesville： The University Press of Virginia.

Castro， A. （2020）. The sacred act of reading： Spirituality， performance and power in Afro-diasporic literature. Charlottesville： The University of Virginia Press.

Frankétienne. （2000）. Les affres dun défi. Paris： Jeanmichelplace.

Glissant， E. （1989）. Caribbean discourse. Paris： Seuil.

Glissant， E. （1990）. Poetics of relation. Ann Arbor： The University of Michigan Press.

Glissant， E. （2020a）. Introduction to a poetics of diversity. Liverpool： Liverpool University Press.

Glissant， E. （2020b）. Treatise on the whole-world. Liverpool： Liverpool University Press.

Hooks， B. （1992）. Black looks： Race and representation. Boston： South End Press.

Hopkinson， N. （1998）. Brown girl in the ring. New York： Grand Central Publishing.

Lewis， M. （2003）. The role of the self in Shame in Social Research， Vol.70， No. 4， Winter 2003. John Hopkins University Press.

Marx， K. （2013）. Capital. Hertfordshire： Wordsworth Editions Limited.

Minter， W. （2000）. America and Africa： Beyond the double standard in Current History， Vol. 99， No. 637. University of California Press.

Murray-Román， J. （2016）. Performance and personhood in Caribbean literature. Charlottesville： University of Virginia Press.

Nettelford， R. M. （1978）. Caribbean cultural identity： The gaze of Jamaica， an essay in cultural dynamics. Kingston： Institute of Jamaica.

Pépin， E. （2006）. Lenvers du décor. Courtry： Le Serpent à plumes.

Rogozinski， J. （2000）. A brief history of the Caribbean. New York： First Plume Printing.

Romdhani， R. （2015）. Zombies go to Toronto： Zombifying Shame in Nalo Hopkinsons Brown Girl in the Ring. Research in African Literatures， 46（4）， 72-89.

Sheller， M. （2003）. Consuming the Caribbean. New York： Routledge.

Spivak， G. C. （1999）. A critique of postcolonial reason： Toward a history of the vanishing present. Harvard University Press.

Womack， Y. （2013）. Afrofuturism： The world of black sci-Fi and fantasy culture. Chicago： Chicago Review Press.

1 Legbara is a Voodoo divinity from the old kingdom of Dahomey （actual Benin， Togo）. He is the divinity at the threshold of the world of the humans and the supernatural world. He is the intermediary between the humans and God. He very often appears in the life of the humans when the human is at a crossroads in his life. He gives pedagogical enigmas to the human in order for him to reflect on his life and to reorient himself in the proper direction.

2 Another type of cannibalism is the scientific cannibalism that has used poor Black people for research. Haiti has been used for research on the birth control implant Norplant， for the export of blood rich in antibodies for use in US hospitals and even the export of cadavers for use in US medical schools.

3 The movement of Afrofuturism initiated by Alondra Nelson， projects the story of the Black community unto science fiction. Alondra Nelson considers the story of slavery like a rapture of Black people by extra terrests. This permits to reimagine this traumatic experience and to liberate the Black people of these traumatic events. By using technological machines， we have a hope of a future.

4 It is to note that Sir Han Sloane is the first European to have made the Caribbeans known to the European world. Sloane who was the private doctor of the Christopher Monck， the 2. Second Duke of Albemarle， went to Jamaica with him where he was going to take the position of governor. As a scientist， he decides to take samples of this new lush vegetation to see their medicinal properties. This is by observing mothers curing their sick children of consumption with a sweet milk chocolate drink that he decides to inquire about it and find out about chocolate. He brings the recipe back to England and becomes rich by that trade.

He discovers also how indigineous people use tree bark to make quinine， which cures malaria. Sloanes legacy is paramount in the system of plant classification， medical botany and life-saving pharmaceutical research. The Chelsea Physic Garden where Sloane planted his New world plants is the place where grows “one plant known to cure nine out of ten cases of leuckemia in children”（Minter， 2000）. Miller identified cultivated and distributed the Madagascar periwinkle， a crucial source for alkaloids used in the treatment of cancer and one the many species used in biochemical research today. It is ironic to see that although science in Western civilization had started from the Caribbean plants， it has not been acknowledged and thence forgotten. On the contrary， Grand-Ma Gros-Jeanne in the book Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson， has not forgotten the powerful properties of Haitian plants and uses them to cure the ailments of the people in her community.

5 Caribbean people are also demonized as they are seen as trafficking drugs from the Caribbeans into North America and Europe， which infects the population like a disease and brings inhuman violence like during slavery， and we are again beset with stories of people having their skin flayed off by acid， bodies slashed to pieces…

6 Blood-sucking and Cannibalism are other tropes that the colonialists superimposed on the Caribbean people to suggest their primitivism and barbarism.

7 Dayan describes well in his book Haiti， History and the Gods， “the Haitian folk belief in evil spirits， understood as the …remnants of an institution that turned humans into things， beasts， mongrels”. These evil spirits are consumers like the soucriants（suckers）， which are said to eat their victims by sucking their blood.… Dayan connects this ‘oppressive magic with the remembered torture of slavery， when slaves in Saint Domingue had their skin flayed off and rubbed with pepper， salt， lemon and ashes （ibid， p. 265）. Mimi Sheller says that “these beliefs also seem to reiterate the sheer sense of loss， death and pathological dismemberment of the slave system” （p. 168）.

8 Mimi Scheller says in her book Consuming the Caribbean， that the sense of touch as well by caressing as by whipping and domesticating the Other was important to maintain a mastering the self and not succumb to the sensual morass and the lethargy of the Tropics. “The marks of race were applied by these vairations of touch as much as coded by gaze. And to gaze and to touch required the white agent to move through the dangerous Tropics， to seek pleasures and to gain an advantage by turning what might have been an incommensurable and discontinuous other into a domesticated other that consolidates the imperialist self”（Spivak， 1999， p. 300）. The planter risked his own body… too much sweaty self-indulgence， too much blurringof East and West， leads Europeans astray， corrupting their own compass. The colonists in the Caribbeans were not only disoriented， mistaken to be in Asia， but also disoriented morally by the proximity of these Black bodies.

9 Hooks says “the commodification of difference promotes paradigms of consumption wherein whatever difference the Other inhabits is eradicated， via exchange， by a consumer cannibalism that not only displaces the Other but denies the significance of that Others history through a process of de-contextualisation” （Hooks， 1992， p. 31）. The longing for an unattainable pleasure has led Westerners to sustain a romantic fantasy for the primitive and a primitive paradise perceived as the perfect embodiment of that possibility. Caribbean islands and Caribbean bodies have been made to work as sites for seeking pleasure in the form of Caribbean cannibalism of Caribbean difference.

10 It is to note that the other word that designates the Caribbean “the Tropics”， comes not only from the Tropic of the Cancer and of the Capricorn， but also from the word “trope” which means “turning” and by derivation an expression used in a different sense from what it properly signified.

Historically， Christophe Colomb used of this subterfuge to cover his disappointment at travelling West and not East as his Spanish rival discoverers and not having reached the luxuries of Asia （gold， precious stones） by that route. He set the luxuries of the West Indies in the timber， vegetation and Black population itself.

Nowadays， the Caribbean is still seen as the pleasure island where the Westerner indulges his senses： bathing， sun-bathing， snorkeling， eating， sleeping are his main activities. He does not go there for the culture.

11 Glissant explains in Power of Relation that the poverty of some countries comes from the contamination of sensibilities who do not listen to political dictates of self-sufficiency， eating local food， not over-consume foreign goods… He recalls Caribbean children who “with a fierce ‘tchip！ of the lips… reject even the thought of breadfruit and relish the idea of dried sausage”…. And Glissant adds： “In countries where imports reigns， childhood is the first deportee”.

12 Mimi Sheller explains that “While the etymological origin of the word “Creole” remains murky， the Spanish word “criollo”was first used in the 16th century Caribbean to refer to people of Iberian descent who were born in the Americas， in order to set them apart from the “peninsulares” who were sent out from Spain. I was also applied to locally born and bred livestock and slaves as set apart from European goods and ‘salt-water slaves”.Criolos， whether human or animal， had survived the seasoning process of entering a new disease environment， and were thus seen as better suited to local conditions than in-comers. But it also came more importantly to refer to a hybridization of cultures and a turning away from metropolitan Iberian culture” （p. 181）.

13 Researchers have explained this process through the theory of osmosis. In osmosis， a thick substance can be drawn through a thin wall and interpenetrate the other substance.

14 Glissant says in PR “The suffering of human cultures does not confines permanently with a mute actuality， mere presence grievously closed. Sometimes this suffering authorizes an absence that constitutes release， soaring over： thought rising from the prisms of poverty， unfurling its own opaque violence that gives-on-and-with every violence and contact between cultures… this antiviolence violence is no trivial thing， it is opening and creation”. （PR： 156）

15 Glissant says that “an international standardization of consumption will not be reversed unless… we put forward the prospect… of this revived aesthetic connection with the earth… If we dont， all the prestige felt in international standardized consumption will triumph permanently over the pleasure of consuming ones own product and he adds： “passion for the land where one lives is a start， an action we must endlessly risk” （PR， pp. 150-151）.