Re-ImagInIng DIveRsIty anD ConneCtIon In the
Chaos WoRlD
an Interview with Patrick Chamoiseau
by Janice Morgan
We have all heard the rhetoric of politicians and corporate leaders on the topic of global-
ization. Meanwhile, fierce controversies are arising all around the planet about just what,
exactly, globalization means, what its implications are, and who it serves. And then, there
is the ugly paradox: even as global cultures seem to be merging more closely together,
we see ethnic/racial/linguistic conflicts erupting on nearly every continent. With the old
identity structures breaking down and amid ardent appeals to maintain the boundaries
by returning to religious and cultural fundamentalisms, what progressive alternatives do
we have? How do we, both individually and collectively, re-conceive our identities and
our places in the world?
For a group of forward thinking Caribbean writers who grew up within a post-colonial
society with a history of slavery going back to the 17
th
century, returning to the past is
neither possible nor desired. So it is not surprising that some of today’s boldest thinkers
on the subjects of diversity and re-imagining cultural identities should come from tiny
islands located between worlds. Both Patrick Chamoiseau and Edouard Glissant (cited
often in the interview) come from the French Caribbean island of Martinique, situated
geographically between the two Americas; demographically between Africa, Europe, and
Asia; and historically between a genocidal past and an uncertain future. In this region of
the world, which has seen two Nobel laureates in literature recently–V. S. Naipaul (Trini-
dad, 2001) and Derek Walcott (Saint Lucia, 1992)—issues of racial/ethnic identities, native
territories, and linguistic communities have never been easy. Yet, while keeping their eyes
open to present dangers, writers like Chamoiseau and Glissant believe that it is possible
to persuade a troubled world with the beauty of another vision.
Patrick Chamoiseau (b.1953) is a novelist and essayist, known internationally especially
for his multi-generational fictional history of Martinique, Texaco, which won the Prix Gon-
court in 1992. With a style as rich and thick as a Creole gumbo, Chamoiseau writes tales
of working class struggle, unrequited love, marronnage, sorcery, zombies, and politics.
Though many readers associate him with the créoliste movement, the writer’s ideas have
evolved to become more complex on the subject of identities that are both post-colonial
and transnational, as can be seen in his essay, Ecrire en pays dominé/ Writing in a Dominated
Land (Gallimard, 1997). The author lives in Fort-de-France, where besides working full-
time as a counselor for young adults in the court system, he is a public spokesperson and
activist for the preservation of local culture and the environment.
Callaloo 31.2 (2008) 443–453
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