Скачать или смотреть The Writer as a Cultural Activist: One Hundred Years of Kriol Usage in Belizean Literature

Synopsis: In my presentation, I propose to illustrate how Belizean writers have, over the past one hundred years, used the Kriol language as a means of affirming their cultural identity. Borrowing Michael Busner and Jane Arnold’s definition of cultural activism, which they describe as an intermingling of “art, activism, performance and politics,” and drawing upon my recently published article by the same title (Amandala, December 19, 2020), I argue that Belizean writers were among their country’s first public activists. From the earliest period of Belize’s literary history, writers have used their art to challenge the status quo and assert their Belizean identity. The presentation emphasizes the early use of Kriol by James S. Martinez, Milton Arana, James Elliott, and Colville Young who embraced Kriol at a time when prevailing attitudes relegated the language to inferior status. It also highlights the works of Evan X. Hyde, Zee Edgell, and a host of contemporary poets and writers that utilize Kriol in significant ways. I propose to read or perform short excerpts from a few of these including my short story “Stilbaan” which, published in 2019, was the first major work of fiction written entirely in the standard Belize Kriol Spelling system.


About the presenter: Ivory Kelly is the author of Point of Order: Poetry and Prose and Pengereng, a collection of short stories in English and standard Belize Kriol, her mother tongue. Her works also appear in journals and anthologies in the Caribbean, the UK, the US, Mexico, Brazil, and Belize. In 2018 she was the winner of the Copal Distillery Fellowship at the Belize Writers’ Conference, and in 2017 the third and second place winner of the Belize Literary Prize in the poetry and fiction categories respectively. She currently teaches in the Languages and Literature Department at the University of Belize and is a founding member of the Belizean Writers Guild. For more information, visit her website at http://www.ivorykelly.com.

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