"Focusing on diverse settings and different aspects of culture, five scholars here examine the process of creolization: its 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. While the authors vary in their approaches and, in some respects, their conclusions, they essentially agree that the notion of cultural syncretism - whether described as acculturation or creolization - is a conceptual tool of crucial importance for analyzing the interchange that occurred between peoples of Europe and the Americas."--BOOK JACKET.