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Oral and Literate Strategies in Performances: The la Rose and la Marguerite Organizations in St. Lucia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2019

Jocelyne Guilbault
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Extract

This paper explores the differences between two social organizations of the West Indian island of St. Lucia. The rivalry between the La Rose and La Marguerite societies, exemplified in the adoption of contrasting strategies in performance, forms of communication, and sets of values, is examined in relation to the profound influences of written and oral traditions on people's consciousness (see Finnegan 1977; Havelock 1963, 1982; McLuhan 1962, 1964; Ong 1976, 1977, 1982; and Tedlock 1983). This paradigm informs the meaning of the activities of the two organizations insofar as it brings forth other discrepancies which are related to but transcend the phenomena of orality and literacy: it leads to the discussion of social and economic classes, and what St. Lucians themselves conceive and perceive as their correlating behaviors and attitudes, mores and ideals. It serves as a vantage point from which to survey the network of associations formulated by St. Lucians to make sense of their world as they relate to the past and imagine the future.

Type
Articles
Information
Yearbook for Traditional Music , Volume 19 , 1987 , pp. 97 - 115
Copyright
Copyright © 1987 by the International Council for Traditional Music

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References

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Discography

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