Caribbean Haiku of Wisdom: Reading Elis Juliana’s Haiku in Papiamentu Translated into English

Abstract

The chapter offers a transpacific perspective of Caribbean haiku written in Papiamentu, a Creole language spoken only locally in the ABC Islands. Elis Juliana, a prestigious artist and writer in Curaçao, has created his work in the tradition of their folk culture. Mitsuishi approaches his haiku through English translation, the very act of which can be taken as part of Curaçaoan culture, where most people are multilingual. Compared to the traditional Japanese haiku, Juliana’s shows strong interest in morals and community life, as well as love of nature and an ordinary life characteristic of both haiku worlds. This study identifies Juliana’s haiku as inherited wisdom of people that have survived in the Caribbean history as the language Papiamentu itself.