Subverting the Monolingual Paradigm: Mapping the Creolization of German—an Artistic Research Method.

The article focuses on the experimental artistic research project "Kreolisierung der deutschen Sprache" ("Creolizing German"), which maps a network of verbal artists who challenge nationalist monolingualism in the German language by blending diverse linguistic influences and subverting standardized grammar. Created between 2021 and 2022 as part of the Mapping Decolonial Berlin project, the map situates these artists within historical and cultural contexts including hip hop, immigration following the 1960s Gastarbeiter agreements, and "minor German world literature," drawing on Édouard Glissant’s concept of creolization to frame German linguistic and cultural transformation. The project critiques the homogenizing tendencies of the German nation-state and language standardization, highlighting marginalized literary and musical expressions that resist these norms. The map exemplifies a decolonial cartographic method that crosses disciplinary boundaries and promotes a multidirectional, non-linear approach to knowledge production aimed at decolonizing academia and fostering inclusive cultural awareness.