Creole Identity

Abstract Creolization and the emergence of creole identity have occurred on a global scale and are distinct in structural and historical rather than regional terms, involving specific forms and practices of interaction, exchange, and mixture. To study their historical and contemporary relevance and meanings in a globally interconnected world, we need to tap the creole terminology's heuristic potential and apply it as a comparative tool. A historical perspective shows that the use of the term creole and its variations has generally been connected to processes of varying degrees of indigenization linked to the creation of new common identities among peoples of different origins. Whereas “regular” ethnic groups tend to emphasize and be ascribed common origin, groups and categories of people classified as creole emphasize and are ascribed a diversity of origin as a distinguishing feature. Creolization involved interaction and mixture as well as indigenization and took place under specific conditions of life in specific historical contexts. It involved slave exiles and/or, more generally, colonial (settler) societies, in which social class and status largely correlated with origin and race and in which ethnic and racial categories served as the major factors determining social class as well as everyday practices of social interaction. Consequently, creolization and the construction of creole identities involved not only different degrees of (re‐)ethnicizing in terms of forging new group identities but also the ethnicization of social classes and, vice versa, the “class‐ification” of populations according to race and origin.