Twenty-first International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

Through phenomenological analysis and qualitative grounded theory, this paper provides a higher education study through which to understand how Creole people have survived through the transmission of culture and values learned at the crossroads of American History – a time when two different cultures, one European American and the other African and enslaved collided in the New World. Creoles, marginalized and vilified for having ideas dissimilar to black and white Americans, are historically multiracial and multicultural. Often forced to assimilate by context and circumstance, they retain a significant portion of cultural identity and survival skills based on family history and associations forged over time. Focused on the case of a Creole Higher Education program in Natchitoches, Louisiana, this paper documented the unique perspectives of program stakeholders and essential archival program records to reveal the folk and traditional beliefs, values, faith, and language, mainly as these are related to higher education achievement. Using narratives of Creole men and women who are stakeholders in the Creole Studies Program and the Heritage Center Stakeholders, the critical task was to document their stories in the context of emerging 21st-century values and survival skills, as there were relevant to higher achievement and education. This research includes document analysis. Interviews and narratives form the substances of the methodology.

Presenters

Mildred Barlow-Espree
Assistant Professor, English (Academic Writing) PT, Arts, Letters and Sciences, National University, California, United States