Creolization, the process of cultural interchange-in this 
case, between peoples of the continents bordering the 
Atlantic Ocean-is an important aspect of the American 
experience. Language, literature, food, dress, and social 
relations are all affected by the interplay of cultures. 
Only recently, though, have scholars fully begun to understand
creolization as a mutual exchange rather than the acculturation 
of colonized peoples to a dominant culture.


Focusing on diverse settings and different aspects of culture, 
David Buisseret, Daniel H. Usner, Jr., Mary L. Galvin, Richard 
Cullen Rath, and J. L. Dillard examine the process of 
creolization in Jamaica, Mississippi, South Carolina, and 
Georgia, among other places. They focus on creolization's 
origins, historical and modern meanings of the term, and the 
various manifestations of the complex, continuing process of 
cultural exchange and adaptation that began when Africans, 
American Indians, and Europeans came into contact with each 
other.


Buisseret also contributes an introduction that places the 
other articles within the context of recent scholarship on
creolization.


Readers will find Creolization in the Americas a unique 
glimpse into how cultural interchange has contributed to the 
American way of life.


_________________________________________________________


DAVID BUISSERET is professor of history at the University of 
Texas at Arlington, where he holds the Jenkins and Virginia 
Garrett Endowed Chair in Southwestern Studies and the History 
of Cartography. STEVEN G. REINHARDT is associate professor of 
history at the University of Texas at Arlington and formerly 
curator of French manuscripts at the Louisiana State Museum.


Number Thirty-two: Walter Prescott Webb Memorial Lectures