Search

En quelques années, le djokan (un art martial que son inventeur présente comme « une fusion des arts guerriers et des pratiques traditionnelles amérindiennes, businenge et créoles ») a acquis en Guyane une grande lisibilité dans les médias mais aussi dans le champ politique, alors même qu’il peine à recruter des pratiquants et que son développement comme sport demeure encore très incertain. Cette situation interroge la manière avec laquelle le champ des pratiques martiales se développe, est mis en forme et structuré dans les pays occidentaux, mais elle est aussi l’occasion de porter un éclairage indirect sur les logiques traversant la société guyanaise. Il faut pour cela prendre en compte la manière avec laquelle le discours dont le djokan est porteur est en quelque sorte entré en résonnance avec les attentes, parfois les inquiétudes, d’une société qui tente de repenser un « vivre-ensemble » dans une Guyane en mutation., Within a few years, the djokan (a martial art that its inventor introduces as « a fusion of the knowledge of the native American, Businenge and Creole warriors ») acquired in French Guyana a great readability in the media but also in the political sphere, even if it is still struggling to recruit practitioners and if its development as a sport is still very uncertain. This situation questions on how the field of the martial practices grows, is formatted and structured in Western countries, but it also sheds an indirect light on the underlying logic of the today’s Guyanese society. For that, one needs to take into account the way in which the discourse of the djokan entered somehow in resonance with the expectations, sometimes the concerns, of a society that attempted to rethink a « living together » in a French Guyana undergoing substantial changes., En unos cuantos años, el djokan (un arte marcial cuyo inventor lo presenta como « una fusión de artes guerreros, prácticas tradicionales amerindias, businenges y criollas ») ha adquirido en Guyana una gran legibilidad en los medios, así como en el campo político, aunque tiene dificultades para reclutar adeptos y que su desarrollo como deporte es muy incierto. Esta situación cuestiona la manera en la que un campo de prácticas marciales se desarrolla, se formaliza y se estructura en los países occidentales, aunque también se presenta como una oportunidad de arrojar una nueva luz indirecta sobre las lógicas que atraviesan a la sociedad guyanesa. Para ello es necesario tomar en cuenta la manera en la que el discurso que porta el djokan tuvo resonancias en las expectativas, a veces en las inquietudes, de una sociedad que trata de re-pensar una manera de « vivir juntos » en una Guyana en mutación.

International audience; The Creoles of Suriname and the Maroon Creoles in particular figure prominently in research on creole genesis, descriptive linguistic research and in formal linguistic approaches to creole grammar. The main reason for their prevalence in this kind of research is that they are widely asumed to be linguistically conservative meaning that they have been subject to little change. This is somewhat surprising for two reasons. First, diachronic research has shown that at least some areas of grammar have undergone change over time due to both contact-induced and internally-motivated change. Second, both Suriname and French Guiana, the countries where most Maroons live, are highly multilingual and in both countries interethnic contact including intermarriage and urbanization are clearly on the rise among all ethnic groups in the region. So are Maroons linguistic isolates in an otherwise multilingual region or are current linguistic descriptions simply abstracting away from heterogeneity due to discipline-internal analytical consideration? In this presentation, we will investigate this question by examing the current sociolinguistic situation of Maroons in the region using data coming from participant observation, interviews and survey of language practices among school children. Our investigation reveals that Maroons are far from monolingual. While language maintenance among Maroons appears to be relatively high compared with other ethnic groups, like members of other ethnic groups, most Maroon children declare speaking two or more languages on a regular basis. Besides their their Maroon variety, they also declare speaking the official language of the country as well as one or more Surinamese Creole varieties. Especially in Suriname, most children declare using Sranan Tongo but also other Maroon languages. With respect to written productions, most children declare being able to write in the official language of the country and to a much lower degree also in Sranan Tongo. Writing in Maroon languages is not very widespread and is not always positively evaluated. The situation is somewhat different with respect to Sranan Tongo-speakers. A great number of children declare using it as an L2 and often report not being allowed to speak it. Negative attitudes towards Sranan Tongo are still quite frequent throughout the population both in Suriname and French Guiana for different reasons. The final part of the presentation will focus on interactional data. We will show that monolingual practices are decreasing and that both code-switching and code-mixing practices are on the rise. Such practices are increasingly leading to perceptual changes: Urban children appear to be less able to distinguish between different Maroon varieties and particularly between Maroon varieties and Sranan Tongo. We will show that this is linked to social changes and identity issues.