Polymorphic creoledom: The Creole society of Guinea-Bissau

The process of creolization that resulted from the encounter of Africans with Portuguese in the West African coast reached its zenith with the emergence of the Creole society of Guinea-Bissau. As a social formation with a reproductive structure of its own despite its porous boundaries, Guinea-Bissau\u27s Creole society has for centuries played the role of go-between in the relations that were established between the social entities that begat it (African traditional societies and Portuguese society). Belonging to two different cultural and social traditions at the same time, the Creole society that emerged around Portuguese fortresses on Guinean river banks has faced a Hamletian identity dilemma: to be African or European--that is the question. Its ambivalent identity can be grasped in its myriad manifestations on and in the social projects it has drawn for its own existence. It has taken on such forms as a set of patrimonial households, an elite-group, a group of second-class Portuguese citizens, and a nation. This work examines Guinea-Bissau\u27s Creole society, especially the hybrid and liminal character that results from its identity dilemma through the analysis of three voluntary associations as well as a set of rumors that is disseminated throughout the Guinean towns