Reviving Indigenous Language and Culture in Post-colonial Sent Lisi (St. Lucia)

Abstract Word count: 5516 Introduction For some time now, the authors of this paper have been preoccupied with defining what it means to be St. Lucian. By our own admission, we align ourselves with a broader group of individuals who are seeking to conceptualize the essence of Caribbean identity. This search for individual and cultural identity is particularly salient for Caribbean people, who as a society have suffered purposeful and generational dehumanization. Consequently, it has been observed that a rich Caribbean intellectual tradition has resulted from the desire of African, Amerindians, and Indians to achieve racial and national liberation and to preserve a sense of their identities The explanations we propose in this paper are generated from a naturalistic inquiry -ethnographic and historical analyses -of processes that have transpired within the language-culture context of St. Lucia. Language communication is culturally and philosophically significant both in terms of the intended messages of its producers and the personal interpretations of its receivers. Furthermore, individuals identify themselves reflexively through their social interaction with other individuals, and it is through language that the modes of representation, interpretation and communication within a culture are socially specified. In order to discover how individuals generate meaning within a multi-language culture like St. Lucia, it is necessary to understand the historical, cultural, economical, and political aspects of social interaction within that culture. We report on some of these aspects of languages used in St. Lucia, making special reference to Kwéyòl Language and its role in self-relevant meaning-making. Colonialism and the languages of St. Lucia Beyond its racial and psychological impacts, colonialism succeeded in its attempts to historicize the existence and identity of the African in the Caribbean. Traditional African philosophy is cosmogonical and mythological, but not historica