“Roots (1986)” is an essay written by Barbadian literary critic and poet Kamau Brathwaite. Originally published in BIM magazine, (July-December issue, 1963) and later in the collection Roots (1986). “Roots” explores the post-colonial identity of West Indians through the written works of their most prominent writers.
“Roots”: Kamau Brathwaite
Born Lawson Edward Brathwaite on May 11th, 1930, Kamau grew up in Bridgetown, the capital of Barbados. He won a scholarship to study at the University of Cambridge in England, where he studied English and History. While pursuing his cultural roots in Ghana, the state gained its independence and profoundly affected his sense of West Indian identity and culture.
Brathwaite received the name “Kamau” from the grandmother of Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o after being awarded a fellowship from the University of Nairobi. He taught at the University of the West Indies in 1962 and New York University in 1992. A frequent writer, contributor, and founder of literary publications, he became a voice for the post-colonial era of the Caribbean and supported upcoming writers.
He died on February 4th, 2020.
“Roots”: Book
“Roots” was originally published in BIM magazine, of which Brathwaite was the editor and a regular contributor.
“Roots” explores West Indian Identity and East Indian identity. The "West Indies" was the name used by European explorers such as Christopher Columbus to describe the islands of the Caribbean. The indigenous populations were decimated by slavery and disease by colonization. Colonizers imported enslaved Africans from Western Africa. The Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 gradually emancipated enslaved people. In 1838, indentured servants from India came to fill the labor shortages, forming a minority within the Black majority of African descent, referred to as East Indians.
As enslaved people, Africans were ripped from their cultural heritage. Establishing a separate cultural identity that’s not solely defined by enslaved ancestry plagued the societies of the West Indies during Brathwaite’s lifetime. The understanding and cultivation of a post-colonial society was a major theme of Brathwaite's work, and the essay “Roots” explores the attempts to create a literary tradition by West Indian writers.
“Roots”: Summary
Brathwaite reflects on the height of the West Indian literary renaissance. He wrote an article called “Sir Galahad and the Islands,” in which he tries to point out a “subtle dichotomy” in West Indian writing. Those that lived in the West Indies desired to emigrate, while those who had emigrated rejected their foreign identity.
It now seems that the trend has changed. A multitude of writers, “Lammings, Selvon, Naipaul, Hearne, Carew, Wynter, and Kempadoo,” have traveled and returned home. Their experiences are reflected in their writings from those times. Brathwaite feels the next step would be to create a conference of Caribbean writers and start a publication on the scale of Presence Africaine.
Presence Africaine is a quarterly magazine founded by Senegalese writer Alioune Diop and published in Paris, France.
He believes the “subtle dichotomy” is still there and inescapable. It is a part of the West Indian identity. They have no past and relieve this tension through movement, like emigration. Brathwaite observes that the best autobiographies of West Indians are “picaresque.”
Picaresque – stories that follow an adventurer as they travel from one place to another.
He shares a couple of passages from Selvon’s Lonely Londoners (1956) and A Brighter Son (1952). They both describe an aimless wanderer who feels detached from their surroundings. More excerpts from other authors express frustration with the West Indian post-colonial identity upon their return. They feel they have a “borrowed” culture, and do not experience any real agency in shaping and improving their identities, and consequently, their heritage. Brathwaite concludes that nothing has really changed.
An artist cannot produce “meaningful” work without referring to their society. Brathwaite notes that nearly all West Indian novelists refer to themselves as poets, in the manner of Hemingway and Faulkner. Their description of West Indian culture is true, but they also refuse to attach themselves to it. Since these writers are defined by their “rootlessness,” they cannot contribute meaningfully to the developing a West Indian literary tradition.
A good example to contrast this with is of East Indian novelist Vidia Naipaul. His novels have a strong sense of narrative and characterization. They do not have the aimlessness and ethereal quality of all the aforementioned writers. He introduces us to the world of the East Indian within the West Indian “framework.”
Fig. 1 - Kamau Brathwaite lived in Bridgetown, Barbados.
East Indians exist as a minority in the West Indies and are largely unnoticed by the West Indian, African, and slave descent, majority. Only once they “distinguished” themselves publicly were any authors of note absorbed into the majority. West Indians should consider if this minority, with their own established culture, wishes to be incorporated into this rootless majority. Naipul’s A House for Mr. Biswas (1961), written in Trinidad, is the first important expression of a minority culture.
A House for Mr. Biswas has a clearly defined central character who desires to fit into the culture, rather than get away from it. Mr. Biswas visits Hanuman House, where he desires to court a woman named Shama. First, he must engage certain formalities, like meeting the head of the household, Mrs. Tulsi. Through extended excerpts of the book, we learn of the attention to detail that author Naipaul uses to describe this household, its hierarchy, boundaries, and formalities.
Mr. Biswas comes “face to face… with a way of seeing and believing - a culture in other words”.
Naipaul demonstrates that while individual needs are significant, they cannot be met without addressing communal needs as well. Brathwaite believes that Naipaul shows that coherent art can only come from a coherent tradition and culture, regardless of the “variations” an individual chooses to deviate with. In his novels, we understand individuals from their respective societies.
Fig. 2 - European explorers called the Caribbean the "West Indies," believing they had found a part of India.
There is a strong sense of character in A House for Mr. Biswas, in contrast to the wanderers of the West Indian novels, where we learn almost nothing about their cultures.. By positioning an outsider who wants to integrate into a culture, Naipaul helps contribute to a West Indian literary tradition by exposing the world to a significant minority, the “East Indian West Indian” in “our midst.”1
Brathwaite concludes that many West Indian authors' stylistic choices show their middle-class background and distance them from representing “the people.” When they solely look to other artists to develop their sense of style, ripped from the context of heritage, they unintentionally produce work that does not contribute to their home culture. He suggests they take up “old-fashioned” techniques from authors like Dickens, Eliot, or Austin. To understand the novel, they need to revisit structure and form and produce meaningful work to accept “responsibility” for building a traditional heritage.
“Roots”: Analysis
The essay “Roots” is an exploration of the cultural identity of West Indians.
Rootlessness
West Indian writers of Brathwaite’s time lived within a duality. They were frustrated with their lack of customs and traditions. Being of African descent, slavery robbed them of any cultural assets they had in their home country. During their lifetimes, they had grandparents who were the living memory of being enslaved. While an abstraction for the living, having a history of slavery and being Black was the one commonality among the vast majority of West Indians. This lack of roots is a shared frustration among West Indians.
Emigration and Identity
Brathwaite spent many years overseas. He earned scholarships to attend university in England, and a teaching fellowship in Nairobi. He worked as an educator in Ghana. He understood the impulse to leave the West Indies and try to find oneself in a foreign country. Many authors he refers to wrote autobiographical novels about their experiences abroad. They describe the feeling of being outsiders in an ever-changing environment. Yet, many of them express homesickness while acknowledging they don’t feel invested in their home of origin.
In contrast, East Indians have defined themselves as immigrants among a larger majority of West Indians. They have retained their customs and traditions, as shown in Naipaul’s A House for Mr. Biswas. Mr. Biswas is an outsider to their culture but wishes to integrate.
Art and Cultural Heritage
Artists contribute to developing cultural traditions. They do not feel connected to the culture abroad because it’s not theirs.
Brathwaite challenges West Indian artists to own their identity and culture. He believes no one can contribute to a cultural identity if they refuse to attach themselves to a society, especially the one they were formed in. Many cultures have histories that are thousands of years old. The major frustration of West Indian artists was their lack of traditions and customs that went beyond the inheritance of slavery.
Brathwaite uses Naipaul as an example of an eccentric artist who is better understood in the context of a culture, whether it is theirs or not. The desire to integrate helps one to understand the nuances and formalities of a culture, which helps develop our understanding of a character. Brathwaite suggests that choosing a society to integrate with, whether it's where one is from or not, allows an artist’s work to have relevance and the potential to contribute to a cultural heritage.
“Roots”: Quotes
Below are a few key quotes from Brathwaite's essay.
The dichotomy, I think, is still there. It is a permanent part of our heritage”.
Brathwaite is referring to the specific circumstances of West Indian heritage. There is a tension between not having a past and wanting to relieve the tension by moving, like traveling abroad. Black West Indians are descendants of slavery. It is a defining characteristic that frustrates writers like Brathwaite. Other West Indian writers have tried to escape this past, distancing themselves by emigrating. Brathwaite believes that owning this history is part of developing a literary tradition.
No novelist, no writer - no artist - can maintain a meaningful flow of work without reference to his society and its tradition.”
Many of the West Indian writers that Brathwaite refers to have a pattern in their works. They write about loosely defined characters who do not feel part of any culture, whether at home or abroad. They are inspired by writers outside their culture. Their work does not stylistically reference previous works written by West Indians, nor does the content of their work relate to life in the West Indies.
Novels are essentially expressions of society. They reflect the individual toil within the society.”
Brathwaite believes that artists meaningfully contribute to a culture by referencing their roots and upbringing, whether in style or content. He feels the most prominent West Indian writers do not do this. He cites a successful example, A House for Mr. Biswas, by Vidia Naipaul, an East Indian. In the story, the main character is an outsider to Hanuman House, where a woman he desires lives.
To access her, Mr.Biswas needs to integrate with the culture of the East Indian household. Being an outsider allows readers to empathize with Mr. Biswas while he learns about a new culture. The reader also learns about the culture of East Indians through his interactions with the heads of the household.
"Roots" - Key takeaways
- "Roots" is an essay by writer and literary critic Kamau Brathwaite.
- The essay explores the cultural identity of the West Indies.
- Brathwaite believes there is a permanent dichotomy in West Indian culture of having no past and a desire to emigrate.
- Many West Indian writers show a pattern of stories involving loosely defined characters who feel out of place.
- East Indian writer Vidia Naipaul's novel A House for Mr. Biswas is a good example of a writer who owns their heritage and makes their story accessible to readers outside West Indian culture.
1Brathwaite, Kamau. Roots (1993).
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