Takie-Takie
"Takie-Takie" (caption translation). This image shows a group of women, including an elderly lady, engaged in informal conversation. One of the women is nursing her child. Benoit explained how "slave women are in general excellent mothers, and as soon as they begin to breast feed their children they abstain from any physical contact with their husbands. During the period that they breast-feed, he writes, they can relax and have time to engage in takie-takie or gossip sessions" (p. 54). "Talkie-talkie" likely refers to Sranan, a widely used creole language of Suriname which combines grammatical elements of European, West African and indigenous languages with vocabulary elements mainly of English and Dutch origin. Pierre Jacques Benoit (1782-1854) was a Belgian artist, who visited the Dutch colony of Suriname on his own initiative for several months in 1831. He stayed in Paramaribo, but visited plantations, maroon communities and indigenous villages inland.
Image Title
Takie-Takie
RegID
SI-OB-947
Date
1831
Title
Takie-Takie
Source
"Figure 88" in Pierre Jacques Benoit, Voyage à Surinam; description des possessions néerlandaises dans la Guyane (Bruxelles: Société des Beaux-Arts de Wasme et Laurent, 1839).
Language
French
Item sets
Music, Dance & Recreational Activities
Spatial Coverage
South America--Suriname--Paramaribo
Researchers
Jerome Handler; Michael Tuite; Henry B. Lovejoy Graduate Research Assistants: Tiffany Beebe; Travis May
Last Updated
3-May-12; 3-Sep-19
Identifier
BEN2