Last updated: July 29, 2019
Lesson Plan
LESSON 3 - CREOLIZATION: THE CREATION OF CULTURE
- Grade Level:
- High School: Ninth Grade through Twelfth Grade
- Subject:
- Literacy and Language Arts,Social Studies
- Lesson Duration:
- 90 Minutes
- State Standards:
- HISTORICAL THINKING SKILLS.
US.1.5
HISTORY STANDARDS
C. Historical and Cultural Perspective. - Additional Standards:
- World Geography
Standard 4 – Place
WG.4.4, WG.4.5
NATIONAL COUNCIL ON THE SOCIAL STUDIES
Ia, Ib, Ic, IIa, IIb, IIc - Thinking Skills:
- Understanding: Understand the main idea of material heard, viewed, or read. Interpret or summarize the ideas in own words. Analyzing: Break down a concept or idea into parts and show the relationships among the parts.
Essential Question
How do differing cultures collide and mix, and create new cultural forms?
How does understanding the racial dynamics of the past help us to better understand ourselves today?
What are the consequences of racial categorization?
Objective
Learn additional vocabulary terms: BINARY and NEGRITUDE
Gain an understanding of the process of CREOLIZATION and the creation of a new culture from portions of older cultures.
Analyze an historic photo through use of the photo analysis sheet developed by the National Archives.
Background
To prepare for this lesson the teacher should read the provided readings. The lesson examines the process of cultural mixing and evolution through the lens of creolization.
Preparation
Items Needed:
- Text Le Kér Creole
- Photographic Analysis sheet as developed by the National Archives. (See LESSON MATERIALS)
- Readings.
- Copy of cd LeRoy Ettienne’s Creole: Let Me Explain Something to You. https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/leroyetienne
Teacher should read the handout/student readings under LESSON MATERIALS and become familiar with the book Le Kér Creole.
Materials
This is a sheet developed by the National Archives to assist students in the analysis of photographs. It has a series of directions to lead them through the analysis, and spaces to write answers. It could be used as an assessment. If used as an assessment it is best to grade it for completion.
Download National Archives PHOTO ANALYSIS WORKSHEET
These are readings for the students to give them an understanding of important concepts. In this lesson they read and become basically familiar with the material. In the next lesson they will more closely analyze the readings.
Lesson Hook/Preview
Ask students how the influx of cultures into the United States is changing culture. Point out to them that such cultural mixing has been taking place in America for at least hundreds of years, and in reality for thousands of years when considering the impacts of various indigenous cultures upon each other.
Procedure
1. Ask students to define the vocabulary terms which are given above.
They should have encountered them in the previous lessons. (This could be done as whole class discussion, or as a quick write.) For quick write you might allow students five minutes to discuss with others as they write one or more sentences about each term. Give students credit if they approximate the given definitions.
Have students share responses orally.
- Clear up any misconceptions.
- Have students write down the definitions as given above.
- Introduce two new vocabulary words: BINARY and NEGRITUDE. Ask students if they know or are able to figure them out.
- These hints might help them:
- BI: Two, as in bicycle.
- Négritude: Negri as in the Spanish term negro, meaning Black. (sombrero negro= black hat).
DEFINITIONS
- BINARY: Having two opposing parts. In the history of race in America, it is the idea that a person is either BLACK or WHITE. (In Louisiana law after becoming part of the United States, having African ancestry in any amount classified one as Black.) This discounted the existence of groups such as Creoles who were of multi-ethnic/racial ancestry.
- NÉGRITUDE: A literary and social movement celebrating Blackness and African pride and culture. In the words of founder Aimé Césaire, it is “The simple recognition of the fact that one is black, the acceptance of this fact and of our destiny as blacks, of our history and culture.”
2. DISCUSSION-Deeper exploration of CREOLIZATION.
5 to 10 minutes.
Students will explore creolization as an act of resistance to oppression, and the creation of new culture.
Begin with a discussion that deals with these points. (The purpose of the discussion is to get them to think beyond the obvious and continually expand their understanding. You may need to prompt them, and even ask individual students probing questions.)
- What is CREOLIZATION?
- They should be able to answer this with the definition.
- How is San Maló an example of the process of creolization?
- He resisted. He created connected small settlements peopled by formerly enslaved people both directly African and American born of African descent.
- How were maroon villages an example of the process creolization and of creolité?
- They were probably populated by a mixture of people. Escaped slaves who spoke the language of the slave holders, French, Spanish, Creole, or the new mixed language of Kréyol, and African languages. Their cooking, family arrangements, and other survival strategies would have been adapted from what they knew in previous lives, and what worked for them in their new surroundings.
- How is the music an example of creolization?
- You might wish to play any one of the songs when considering this question. Two of the most African songs are SHANGO and DANSÉ CODAN.
- Language is often in Kréyol. Instruments used are descended from European and African. Rhythms are often Caribbean or African. Lyrics consider American and African subjects. You may wish to ask students to identify instruments they hear.
- How is the language “CREOLE”? (Besides its name?).
- Most of the words are French. There are English and African influences. The pronunciation and spelling has been Americanized in many cases. Students who speak French might be able to identify pronunciation differences. One of the Creole vocalists, LeRoy Etienne, says that French (and Cajun French) are “spoken from the throat” while Kréyol is spoken “on the tongue”.
3. PHOTOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
20 minutes
See page 8: CREOLITÉ. PICTURE OF MAN WITH ACCORDION. 10 minutes.
- Students will first examine the picture of the man with accordion.
- Have students turn to the picture.
- Distribute the photo analysis worksheet (created by the National Archives.)
- Alone or in groups, students study the photograph.
- Give the following instructions:
- Examine the picture on p. 8. Instructions are given on the worksheet.
- Study the photograph for 2 minutes. Form an overall impression of the photograph
- Then examine individual items.
- Next, divide the photo into quadrants and study each section to see what new details become visible.
- Record your observations on the sheet.
- You have 10 minutes
- Students should examine the picture on their own.
- If you wish you could give them a short amount of time to share answers. (Two minutes).
- DISCUSSION: The class could engage in discussion, though this would also allow students who did not fill in the sheet to get answers. Alternatively, you could have students turn in their sheets or exchange them with others before having the class discussion.
Possible observations by the students of the overall photo
- Young Man
- African descent
- He is somewhat light skinned, and so might be of partial European ethnicity.
- Holding an accordion (An instrument of European invention, either German or Austrian depending on which authority is accepted). https://www.britannica.com/art/accordion
- Wearing European style clothing.
- Bow tie
- Stiff white shirt.
- Attire seems European formal.
- Hair is parted on his left.
- Tweed pants
- A musician
DISCUSSION POINTS.
5 to 10 minutes.
- Project a copy of the worksheet to help focus students. If possible, project a computer copy which can be filled in as students discuss.
- Ask students for examples from the photograph that demonstrate some aspects of CREOLIZATION/CREOLITÉ. (Remind students that one important aspect of Louisiana Creole ethnicity is connection to the language of Kréyol that is not in evidence here, but that other aspects can be observed.)
- Possible multi-racial heritage.
- The use of a European developed instrument. (Accordion of German or Austrian invention, 1820’s-30’s.) Authorities report that the accordion was popular in African music beginning around the year 1880.
- European style clothing (It would be doubtful this picture is of an African living on the African continent.)
3. TEXT READING
15 to 20 minutes.
Analysis will be done in the next lesson.
Depending on the class academic level and attention span, you may elect to conduct this section in one of several ways.
- Students read all selections alone and then do the short activity in STEP 5.
- Students read each section separately and then do the short activity after completing each separate reading.
- Students read each selection aloud as a class, and then do the short activity as a discussion.
- If you are facing time constraints consider having students read only one or two of the readings.
- The short activities are meant to prepare students for more in depth analysis of the readings in the next lesson.
- More academically skilled students could skip the short activities and go straight to the analysis as seen in the next lesson if time allows.
Students are to read the selection immediately below the photograph they have just examined.
- See the resource READINGS: Creolité, Louisiana Creole: Notes on Listening & Reading, Creolization in the Spanish Colonial Era, and Americanization under LESSON MATERIALS.
5. Short Activity.
- PREPARING TO UNDERSTAND THE READINGS.
- For each of the readings (CREOLITÉ, NOTES ON LISTENING AND READING, CREOLIZATION IN THE SPANISH ERA, AMERICANIZATION), have students answer each of the questions below.
- This may be done as a discussion or as an individual written assignment as suggested at the beginning of Step 4.
- You may also combine the methods by having students begin by writing answers, then sharing in discussion. They could then edit their initial answers.
- The purpose of this exercise is not to demonstrate an in depth understanding, but to enable students to assist each other in gaining an initial understanding and prepare them for in depth analysis in a later lesson.
QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS TO ANSWER
- Do you feel you understand the reading?
- What words did you not understand?
- What was clear?
- What was unclear?
- What questions do you have about the reading? Write at least two.
- What is one thing you learned?
Vocabulary
CREOLITE/CREOLIZATION: The creation in the New World of a new culture from the clash of European, Indigenous, and African cultures. Creolite as a noun: Cultural forms created by Creolization, such as “Cuban Creolité” or “Haitian Creolité”. ADDITONAL INFO: “Créolité movement in the Caribbean claimed creoleness as a continuous process of hybridization (“Neither Europeans, nor Africans, nor Asians, we proclaim ourselves Creoles”)”
KRÉYOL (LANGUAGE): Alternative spelling of CREOLE, specifically referring to the language and culture. Specifically it is a language that arose from the clash of French and African languages.
MALO: Bad, Wrong, ILL.
MAROON: (noun): A legally enslaved person who escapes to a semi-permanent life of freedom lived in an isolated region within slave territory. Maroons do not escape to free territory, but instead establish a free society within an enslaved area.
OPPRESSION: The unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power.
POWER: Ability to direct or influence the behavior of others.
RESISTANCE: Refusal to comply or obey.
SAN: Saint
ZYDECO: A folk music of southern Louisiana that combines elements of French, African, and Caribbean music, and the blues, and that features accordion, washboard, and guitar.
SAN MALÓ: A man who escaped slavery and established free communities in the swamp regions of southeastern Louisiana.
CREOLE: Something with Old World roots that is created in the New World. A culture created in America from Old World African and European, and New World Indigenous people and cultures. ADDITONAL INFO: “Créolité movement in the Caribbean claimed creoleness as a continuous process of hybridization (“Neither Europeans, nor Africans, nor Asians, we proclaim ourselves Creoles”)”
Assessment Materials
There is no assessment for this lesson, though a teacher could use the photographic analysis sheet as an assessment if so desired.
Supports for Struggling Learners
The readings for this section are complex. Students in grades 8 and 9, and struggling readers in later grades will have some difficulty. Below are several suggestions for assisting them.
- Do all of the readings as group or whole class readings. Discuss each reading and have students write notes on their copies. Notes could also be kept on a computer document and then distributed to students.
- Divide the readings among the students and have them report to the class on what they see as being the major points.
- Subdivide the readings by writing numbers on them. Assign numbers to the students. The student’s job is to become familiar with that section and to read it to the class.