Academic literature on the topic 'Haitian literature'

This article explores the ways second-generation Haitians in The Bahamas strategically manage their Haitian identity. In The Bahamas, there is a stigma of being Haitian and anti-Haitian sentiment is heavily ingrained in Bahamian society. While there are individuals who hide their Haitian identity, there are others who actively engage in processes of choosing whether to conceal or disclose their Haitian ethnicity. Using coming out literature as a framework and interviews with second-generation Haitians, I argue that second-generation Haitians who do not readily reveal their Haitian identity may not necessarily be hiding their identity, but instead actively engaging in processes of negotiating and strategically managing their identity in the context of place by choosing whether to conceal or disclose their Haitian heritage. Living in a society that is hostile to people of Haitian descent, it can be important to negotiate the spaces wherein one discloses their heritage in order to protect one's spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical well-being. The objective is not to refute that there are individuals who deny they are Haitian but instead to explore the ways second-generation Haitians negotiate anti-Haitian spaces and strategically manage their identity as it relates to disclosing or concealing their Haitian heritage.

Resumo: Este trabalho refaz o percurso de parte de uma pesquisa de iniciação científica centrada no estudo do conto Dayiva, de Évelyne Trouillot (escritora haitiana de expressão francesa), publicado no livro Parlez-moi d’amour (2002). Na primeira parte, apresentamos o contexto histórico, político e cultural haitiano a partir de Laguerre (1989) e Figueiredo (2006); Trouillot (1990) guiou nossa compreensão do contexto histórico específico em que o conto está inserido – a ditatura de Papa Doc – e de particularidades lexicais, como os termos noir e mulâtre; aproximamo-nos do problema religioso graças a Desmangles (1992) e os trabalhos de Dash (1981), Césaire (1978) e Corcoran (2007) permitiram-nos melhor situar as questões literárias do ambiente haitiano; por fim, com Ferreira (2006), investigamos o conceito de négritude. Todo este aparato crítico-teórico nos ajudou a ler melhor o conto, propiciando uma aproximação da multiplicidade de suas referências. Na segunda parte deste artigo, apresentamos a autora e lemos os primeiros parágrafos do conto, mostrando, em uma análise narratológica e temática, como alguns aspectos culturais, históricos e geográficos do Haiti ganham forma literária, com particular atenção aos aspectos linguísticos, políticos, religiosos e naturais, mais especificamente, ao crioulo haitiano, ao regime ditatorial, ao vodu e à presença do mar.Palavras-chave: Évelyne Trouillot; Dayiva; literatura de expressão francesa; literatura haitiana.Abstract: This paper retraces part of a scientific initiation research centered on the study of the short story Dayiva, by Évelyne Trouillot (a French-speaking Haitian writer), published in the book Parlez-moi d’amour (2002). In the first part, we present the Haitian historical, political and cultural context from Laguerre (1989) and Figueiredo (2006); Trouillot (1990) guided our understanding of the specific historical context in which the story is inserted – the dictatorship of Papa Doc – and of lexical particularities such as the terms noir and mulâtre; we approached the religious problem thanks to Desmangles (1992) and the works of Dash (1981), Césaire (1978) and Corcoran (2007) allowed us to better situate the literary questions of the Haitian environment; finally, with Ferreira (2006) we investigated the concept of négritude. All this critical-theoretical apparatus helped us to better read the tale, providing an approach to the multiplicity of its references. In the second part of this article, we present the author and read the first paragraphs of the story, showing, in a narratological and thematic analysis, how some cultural, historical and geographic aspects of Haiti take literary form, with particular attention to the linguistic, political, religious and natural aspects, more specifically, the Haitian Creole, the dictatorial regime, voodoo and the presence of the sea.Keywords: Évelyne Trouillot; Dayiva; Francophone literature; Haitian literature.

Abstract In 1824, the Haitian government passed a series of laws that secularized the Catholic Church’s lands in Santo Domingo and placed this religious institution under state control. Using correspondences, pamphlets, and petitions, this article argues that Haitian reforms of the Church in Santo Domingo created a new power dynamic that incorporated local communities with these secular and religious institutions. In doing so, this literature brings together two literatures that rarely speak to one another: the impact of the Haitian Unification on the Church in Santo Domingo and Haitian diplomatic negotiations over sovereignty in the Atlantic world. This article will discuss how different relationships between Church and state in Santo Domingo and Haiti resulted in conflict after Haiti’s annexation in 1822. Next, it will focus on the clerics’ responses to Haitian rule that includes the consequences of the 1824 secularization law. Finally, it will examine the impact of Haitian reforms on local communities particularly their relationships with their priests.

Abstract: This special issue on Haiti’s environment and a recently created working group within the Haitian Studies Association (HSA) share a birth year: 2020. The pair had their conception during HSA’s 2016 conference in Cap-Haïtien, “Haiti’s Eco-systems: Focus on Environmental Realities and Hopes.” The meeting in Cap-Haïtien demonstrated a significant interest in the environment of Haiti and its challenges. Members responded to the call with papers, panels, and a plenary session, all of which examined Haiti’s ecosystems through the lenses of education, economics, visual and performing arts, spirituality, natural science, communications, literature, archaeology, agriculture, and health—to name a few. Following up from the interest generated, members responded again in 2020 to a call for working-group proposals. The lanbi (conch shell) sounded, and HSA’s Working Group on Haiti’s Ecosystems (WGE, also Konbit) answered. As the special-issue and working-group projects took shape together, we might think of them as Marasa, named after the sacred twins of Haitian Vodou who dramatize the ultimate unity in dualisms that might help us think through our human-nature divisions. The Marasa also represent new beginnings.

Drawing on a postcolonialised approach to the traditional trauma paradigm, this paper analyses Roxane Gay’s novel An Untamed State as a trauma narrative which does not solely revolve around the Haitian American protagonist’s Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder ensuing her abduction and violation in Port-au-Prince, as suggested by previous critical work. Particularly, it aims to demonstrate that Gay’s heroine is a resilient survivor of both a rape-related trauma and the traumatic blow to her partly Haitian identity caused by her direct contact with Haiti’s social and gender issues. Lastly, the essay examines how the novel delves into the unresolved cultural traumas derived from the effects of (post)colonialism in Haiti, which push the protagonist’s victimisers to commit such terrible acts.

From the 1960s, literary criticism in Quebec has had a new impetus, in particular in the comparative field. Maximilien Laroche (1937-2017), a Haitian critic and professor who has lived in Quebec since the 1960s, has contributed to this wave by establishing some points of convergence between Quebec and Haitian literature. This essay aims to analyze Laroche’s main concepts, “the American man” (l’homme Américain) and the “oraliture” (the Haitian oral heritage), underlining how his “exotopic position” (Bakhtin) has influenced his theories. The analysis of Laroche’s main works will reveal how his transitional position between Haiti and Quebec has promoted news prospects for the interamerican comparative studies. Laroche has contributed to the broadening of the continental approach, linking literatures and cultures from all over the world, but he has also underlined the importance of indigenous and traditional cultures. However his global approach has never been disconnected from his native culture and his choice to revaluate the Haitian oraliture.