This book offers a comprehensive, holistic, and systematic description and analysis of the language, culture, and traditions of the Sierra Leone Krio people. The authors bring significant new insights into the establishment of Krio society, a better understanding of the linguistic elements in the Krio language, and greater recognition, use, and role of oral traditions in the everyday lives of the people. The authors celebrate Krio creativity as reflected in their fashion, music, and poetry. Featured here are some previously unpublished Krio poems, as well as Jamaican Patois poems that have been translated for the first time in Krio and English. These latter poems reveal the similarities in the themes, social commentary, and African continuities witnessed across the diaspora. The authors provide concrete evidence that the underlying structure of Krio is based in languages belonging to the Kwa language family. Unique in their analysis of Krio language is the demonstration of substantive linguistic contributions from at least one indigenous local language, Temne, and opens up a whole new area for future research.
This book fills the void in the literature about the Sierra Leone Krio people by delineating the connective tissue between their history, language, culture, traditions, and contemporary poetry. This work demonstrates how deeply rooted Krio is in West African behaviors, practices, communication, tradition, and creativity.
