Being Creole - Exploring the evolving of the Surinamese-Creole identity and their embodiment practices during celebrations

Current conversations on national and global platforms aim to deconstruct the colonial views attached to the interpretation of creolisation and the ideas of what a creole person is. The aim of this PhD research is to contribute to ongoing conversations about the anthropological notion of creolisation, enriching existing studies about post-colonial identities. By drawing from the oral history of the Surinamese-Creole in Suriname and in the Netherlands, I utilise lived experiences to provide a more diversified lens for understanding the development of creolised societies. By amplifying the voices of research subjects, who have often been silenced in previous studies, I actively demonstrate the importance of acknowledging their knowledge without altering it to fit academic concepts. The research was also inspired by my lived experiences as a mature, female, Creole, Dutch-speaking higher education student in a highly Eurocentric anthropological education space. Although participant observation is the overarching research methodology, I also applied narrative analyses, image work, and autoethnography to provide insightful new ethnographic data. The questions leading this research are as follows: In what ways does the existence of labels and categories of being Creole enhance or diminish processes of creoleness, and to what extent do these processes become significant to the safeguarding and continuation of their socio-cultural identity? To what extent do typical Surinamese-Creole celebrations, either public or private, dictate the socio-cultural evolution of the different categories of Surinamese-Creoles in Suriname and abroad? This research must allow the next generation of Surinamese-Creoles, no matter the socio-cultural space, to embrace their Surinamese-Creole cultural heritage to strengthen their socio-cultural identity.