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Klik hier voor de Nederlandse versie van deze blogpost!
Keti Koti literally means “the chains are broken” in Sranan Tongo: the most spoken language of Suriname aside from Dutch. Keti Koti refers to emancipation from Dutch slavery. Annual celebrations and remembrance taking place on the first of July. Not only in Suriname itself but in the Netherlands as well. And also in the Dutch Antilles where they have several other names for the same event. This year will be a special Keti Koti because the Dutch government has declared a Slavery Memorial Year from 1 July 2023 to 1 July 2024.1 See also:
- Dutch involvement in the transatlantic slave trade and abolition (Leiden University)
- Keti Koti Festival in Amsterdam
In honour of this fine day I thought it would be fitting to highlight some key research findings about the African roots of Surinamese Creoles & Marrons. I will just focus on what I happen to be aware of. Providing a summary of the main take-aways. But I intend to follow-up on this introductionary post.2 As always it should be kept in mind that this type of research is not intended to give the final say! It will not cover all grounds and of course future efforts might bring new or additional insight 😉 But I do believe that what has been uncovered sofar is already quite valuable. Especially from a holistic perspective.
From all places across the Atlantic Afro-Diaspora African cultural retention is probably the greatest in Suriname. And therefore the outcomes discussed should not be completely surprising. Although especially for younger generations these cultural legacies might no longer be widely known. Furthermore the link with specific modernday African countries such as Benin or Liberia might not be immediately clear for many people. Also for reasons of prestige perhaps some types of African lineage have traditionally been more emphasized than others.
In fact there are several distinct groups of Afro-descendants in Suriname. Nowadays also called Afro-Surinamese when combined. But usually the main distinction being made is between largely urbanized Creoles for whom arguably Keti Koti is most relevant. And also the various so-called Marron peoples who famously escaped from slavery, many generations before 1863/1873!
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Contents of this blog post:
- DNA Studies
- Linguistic Studies
- Exciting new prospects to uncover African Identities for Dutch Caribbeans & Surinamese!
- Ontrafel de ontnomen identiteit (Arwin Ralf)
- Sign this petition! (use this link). It will enable a large-scale DNA testing project to learn more about the various types of African lineage found among Dutch Caribbeans & Surinamese.