Kathy Taylor

Teaching Papiamentu

“I think that maybe in another life I was a Curaçaoan,” Kathy began by telling us. The Birthing House is a novel that won an international prize. Kathy was a professor of Spanish. She studied and worked in America and other parts of the world. She was a professor at a small college in Indiana. She loves language and has a passion for language. She used to teach linguistics in Spanish. Kathy remembers that she had two colleagues in French who gave classes in a creole; Haitian creole, for one. She wanted to do something in that direction. In a textbook she noticed that among other creoles, Papiamentu has quite a lot of people who speak it. She had heard of Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao; she did some research and Curaçao seemed to be less touristic. When she arrived here, she had no idea where to stay but she connected with an international group called Servas, made up of people who want to share their culture with others. You can apply and later they send you a book for the relevant country. She received one for Curaçao, Bonaire and Aruba together. When she arrived on Curaçao, one of the first people she was introduced to was Nydia Ecury (well-known writer, teacher, poet, actress), in a supermarket no less. Later she met Frank Martinus (well-known novelist, poet, linguist, educator and political activist). Kathy continued to study Papiamentu on her own. She had never heard it spoken and her first impression was that it sounded similar to Spanish and Portuguese.

Bringing students to Curaçao
Little by little, Kathy continued to study and decided that she wanted to create a small course for language students in America. She taught a semester course in Papiamentu every other year. She also started a brief program (May Term) where she would bring students to Curaçao. It would include study of Papiamentu and its history/culture. She taught the students, and for people who weren’t (native) speakers of Papiamentu, they learned to speak it well. It wasn’t only American students, but international students as well.

Connection
With regard to Papiamentu, Kathy said that it had stolen her heart. She finds it poetic. It’s musical. And since she speaks other languages like German, Spanish and Portuguese, she has found Papiamentu to be like a language from a mixture of her own brain. Papiamentu came to her easily and she felt a connection with it.

The Birthing House
This is the fifth book that Kathy has written. The first was a literary academic book from her dissertation. Later she wrote a novel as a result of conversations with Mexican taxi drivers. Then a book of poetry followed that she published here in Curaçao and it was bilingual Papiamentu / English. Then a book of short stories in English that take place in Mexico, Nicaragua, and with immigrants in the U.S. And now she has The Birthing House, which won an International Firebird Book Award and was a finalist for the American Writing Book Award, both in the category of multicultural fiction. The Birthing House is a novel based on Kathy’s experience living in Germany with her husband and six-year-old son. It is fiction; a book that digs deep. It is a book about writing, memory and belonging / community; how you can find a home and yourself in another culture. Also, the importance of writing to understand, to know and heal yourself, as we see in the protagonist, Clare. There are two alternating timelines in the book. In the first one Clare has lost a baby (miscarriage) and the story begins with the pain and loss of that child; the pain of absence. Twenty years later she arrives with her husband, her children now on their own, after the recent sudden death of her beloved father. Writing for her is a way to process everything, to know and heal herself. On one side, the loss of a baby (1st timeline) and on the other, the loss of her father. But gradually Clare recovers with the help of her writing.

Writing towards healing
Writing can be a kind of therapy for healing. In the second timeline of the book, Clare can’t write the academic book she is supposed to write. She feels empty inside and she talks about a huge emptiness that fills her being. But gradually she starts writing intimate things in her journal and communicates with others through emails and letters. She has many conversations with her husband and she gets to know many people and forms friendships with folks of other cultures. And eventually Clare is able to write her book.

Other book awards
This is not the first book of Kathy’s that has gained recognition. She mentioned to us a book of short stories titled Trees and Other Witnesses, which was a finalist in the category of literary fiction (Colorado Author’s League).