Haitian Studies Association Conference

Last weekend I had a wonderful time attending the Haitian Studies Association
conference at Brown University. The theme for this year’s 22nd annual
conference, “Haiti, History, Healing: Facing the Challenges of Reconstruction”
necessarily invoked and referenced the impact of the January 12th earthquake.
For two days Haitian and Haitianist scholars, mostly from U.S. and international
colleges and universities met to discuss and present on an array of
interdisciplinary topics. This year was the largest conference in the organization's
22 year history. The schedule was packed with several panels taking place
concurrently, my only regret was that I could not be everywhere at once to
participate in all the lively discussions or connect with as many people as I
wanted to!

The conference organizers were committed to offering viable strategies for
addressing the issues surrounding Haiti’s rebuilding in diverse ways. We
wrestled with questions such as what is, and what should be the role of the
diaspora in the rebuilding? What are some effective strategies for dealing with
the problematic NGO deluge in Haiti? What do viable transnational
partnerships look like post January 12? The ostensible concern with thinking
about Haiti in the aftermath of the earthquake manifested through conversations
about infrastructure, economics, politics, and education as well as through papers
on culture, literature and religion. I participated in one such panel on the visual,
textual and media images of the earthquake coverage for which I gave a paper on
Haiti parmi les vivants, Louis-Philippe Dalembert’s widely circulated testimonial
and the Ciné Institute film Haiti’s Heroes to explore how Haitians are using
cultural production to offer up their own images that we can read as counternarratives
to the dominant media images. Stéphanie Larrieux of Clark
University provided some analytical tools and a theoretical lens for watching and
understanding displays like the “Hope for Haiti” telethon that aired shortly after
the earthquake.

Gabrielle Civil’s paper “ Reconstructing Silence: Jacqueline Beaugé- Rosier’s A Vol
d’ombre as Poetry/ Translation/ Performance” was a powerful example of how to
think about reconstruction as a lens for viewing literature. I especially
appreciated that Gabrielle focused on poetry by a woman writer that many
people had not heard of. Following her paper, Omise’eke Natasha Tinsley also
offered new theoretical concepts for understanding sexuality and gender in Haiti
in a paper on the documentary film “Of Men and Gods.” The type of scholarship
on these panels demonstrates the kind of groundbreaking work people are doing
to use new frames for thinking about old concepts. Of course the old staples
were also present, there were at least two papers that looked at the work of
Edwidge Danticat and one that focused on the representation of violence in
Marie Vieux-Chauvet’s Colère that were given by graduate students from Yale and NYU.

In the words of HSA president and professor of psychology at the University of
Miami, Guerda Nicolas, the conference was “dedicated to the lives of those
whom we lost during the quake, the survival of those who continue to defy the
odds, and the hope for a better Haiti to come.” Themes of loss, hope and
solidarity were evident through personal conversations with people, many of
whom had not had a chance to connect since the earthquake. As Marc Prou
put it, “through the various presentations at the conference, we hope that all of
us will find a common place to grieve, reflect, and develop strategies for the
reconstruction of our homeland, Haiti.” Here I am reminded of the important
social and emotional role that an academic organization can play. HSA operates
in many ways like a family of people who love, care about, are committed to and
conduct their research on Haiti -- at times with passions bordering on obsession.
As Dr. Prou also noted in his introductory comments, the earthquake has shifted
the contours of Haitian Studies and there lies “critical work” ahead for
Haitians and members of the diaspora. The program reflected this critical work
in conversations through panels with titles such as “The Republic of 10,000 NGOs - Roles and Impacts of NGOs Following Haiti’s Earthquake” organized by professor and Poto-Mitan filmmaker  Mark Schuller and featuring feminist scholar and sociologist Carolle Charles and Alix Cantave. (Unfortunately, neither Tatiana Wah nor Nancy Dorsinville, both of whom were scheduled to be a part of this panel, could attend and thus were not able to contribute their important work to this conversation).

In a roundtable on the “Gender Specific Needs of the Reconstruction," feminist
activists Anne-Christine d’Adesky, Taina Bien-Aimé of Equality Now and Nadia
Todres, a photographer for the Haitian Adolescent Girls Network addressed
some of the major issues facing women in the camps. Leonie Hermantin of the
Lambi Fund chimed in regularly for this session ,weighing in the on the
relationships between women’s organizations in Haiti and women’s groups
doing transnational work in Haiti. This was the only panel that addressed the
reconstruction from the perspective of gender and it was unfortunate that this
could not have been a plenary session. The discussants took hold of the
following questions: how are gender specific issues being played out in the
reconstruction? What are some of the ongoing challenges that reconstruction has
introduced for women and girls? How have grassroots women’s organizations
in Haiti responded to these needs? How have Haitians in the diaspora
attempted to build transnational alliances with women in Haiti in response to
these needs? Specifically, this panel took on the issues of rebuilding from a
gender specific perspective by discussing major issues such as the high incidence
of sexual violence in the tents, the escalation of infant and maternal mortality
rates, and the prostitution of young women. D’Adesky spoke about the need for
monitoring to collect data about the incidence of sexual violence in the camps.

She also called for members of HSA to “step it up” in regards to work that
addresses the needs of women. Taina Bien-Aime provided an overview of the
delegation of lawyers and women’s health specialists who traveled to Haiti in
May 2010 in order to investigate the prevalence and patterns of rape and other
forms of gender based violence as well as of the petitions before the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) calling for the IACHR to require that
the government of Haiti and the international community take immediate action
to protect Haitian women from sexual violence. This delegation partnered with
KOFAVIV in Haiti which resulted in the report entitled “Our Bodies Are Still
Trembling: Haitian Women’s Fight Against Rape.”

The conference featured two keynote speakers, Professor Laurent Dubois who
spoke on the theme of revising our understandings of Haitian history focusing
on early 19th century understanding of democracy, and Professor Emeritus
Patrick Bellegarde-Smith who gave a lecture entitled “Foundations of Haiti: The
Telescope of History.” Bellegarde-Smith also received the Association’s Lifetime
Achievement Award for his work on Haitian history and vodun.
The final plenary section was a discussion about rebuilding the Haitian higher
education system which featured several scholars and administrators based in
Haiti and the United States. This panel included Pierre Michel Laguerre,
Director General of the Ministry of National Education in Haiti and Yves Voltaire
from Université Publique du Sud aux Cayes. Laguerre emphasized the link
between the legal system and the education system as well as the importance of
not only considering higher education but also primary and elementary levels of
education, “il est encore temps de penser aux enfants de notre pays.” He
ended on a positive note, declaring that “une nouvelle Haïti est possible.” Yves
Voltaire tapped into the energy and solidarity of the association, noting that HSA
is “becoming my family as well.” Voltaire offered several tangible solutions for
addressing higher education: to design and implement masters and doctoral
programs, organize e-learning and e-teaching, implement overseas scholarships,
create community colleges, and encourage innovative entrepreneurship. His
presentation also showcased the activities of the students from his university,
describing their unparalleled drive and desire for education. Fritz Deshommes
from l’Université d’Etat d’Haïti expressed that his only regret was that more Haiti-based
scholars could not participate in the conference. In making this point he addressed
what was the greatest weakness of the conference, and is always one of the
greatest challenges for HSA. The topic was brought up again at the business
meeting during a discussion about HSA finances.

The final speakers on the panel were Alix Cantave and Marc Prou who reported
back on the meeting on Rebuilding Haiti and Improving Higher Education that
took place in Port-au-Prince from October 26-27. Like their co-panelists they
outlined some of the challenges to the Haitian university system and emphasized the fact that the change needs to come from within that system rather than from the
outside via the diaspora, NGO’s etc. They also outlined what HSA is trying to
trying to accomplish through the partnership, mainly being able to create a
consortium of institutions that would support the rebuilding with the
participation and leadership of Haitians in Haiti.

I am always struck by the rigorous inter-disciplinarity of HSA as well as its
political import as compared to other academic conferences (although right now
I am in Texas at the American Studies Association which is more like HSA in
terms of its political commitment!). There were panels on literature, religion,
economics, and political science. The array of people present was equally
impressive; there were scholars, practitioners, activists, and artists present to share
how the earthquake had impacted their work and to offer new lenses
through which to understand post-earthquake Haiti.

For me, the most powerful part of the conference was the feeling of camaraderie
and solidarity that imbues the organization and its members. Being part of this
community as a junior scholar is particularly edifying, given the opportunities for
mentorship and guidance that senior scholars like Claudine Michel, Gina Ulysse,
Marc Prou and others are so committed to providing for students and junior faculty.

RMJC

Bon bagay

I hope today's post makes you smile. Sometimes I feel like I focus too much on the negative in my posts, giving the false impression that nothing good is happening in the world of Haitian culture these days. That is far from the truth.

For example, this past October 16th and 17th, the 4th annual edition of Artisanat en Fête was held. It was a great occasion for a family outing. It’s no secret that Haitian art and craftsmanship is not only beautiful, but usually of high quality, so it was a delight to wander the grounds of the Parc Historique de la Canne à Sucre and behold all the wonderful items on display. There were paintings and clothes, handbags and sculptures, furniture and sandals, jewelry and traditional foods. This year, the Office National de l'Artisanat (ONART) provided a wonderful addition to the festival, with hands-on workshops for the kids in attendance. The children were able to work with clay or make necklaces out of shells and beads, learning the value of Haitian craft and artisans from an early age. The art on display was out of my price range, but I did take pictures and collect business cards in the hopes that I could track down some of the artists when I’m able to afford their work. There seemed to be fewer artisans in attendance than last year and there were some organizational problems. Paying with a credit card was especially tricky. Still, Artisanant en Fête continues to attract patrons and artisans alike and constitutes an amazing showcase of Haitian culture and talent.

To continue with the bon bagay theme: last weekend, I had the pleasure of participating in the Haiti and the Americas conference, organized by Florida Atlantic University. From October 21-23, Rafe Dalleo, Carla Calargé and Clevis Headley brought together a wonderful group of scholars, artists and professionals to reflect upon and discuss the links and relationships that exist between Haiti and the rest of the Americas. Myriam Chancy’s keynote address, "A Marshall Plan for a Haiti at Peace: To Continue or End the Legacy of the Revolution" was especially noteworthy. Chancy examined the notion of aid, how it is distributed and the various motivations behind it. The other keynote speakers were Sibylle Fischer and J. Michael Dash. There were no simultaneous panels, allowing the conversation to flow from one panel to the next. Of course, that made for some very long days, but it also fostered a sense of community that was well worth it. Topics discussed included the rise of Protestantism in Haiti, the Haitian community in Cuba, representations of sex in Haitian literature, the reaction of African Americans to the US refusal to recognize Haitian independance and a reading of Wyclef Jean's candidacy by yours truly. The interdisciplinary perspective was quite stimulating, allowing us to engage the main topic from various angles. Many scholarly and personal connections were made over the course of the three days.  I look forward to the published volume that will result from this conference and encourage everyone else to look for it, too.

NM

Chimen lekòl

Lekòl Repiblik Ekwatè nan Delma ki poko janm ouvri ane sa a

Lekòl ta sanse ouvri mwa sa a ann Ayiti. Ministè Edikasyon Nasyonal te programe rantre lekòl la pou lendi 4 oktòb. Men pi fò lekòl nan zòn tranblemantè a te frape a pa t ouvri pòt yo jou sa a. Genyen ki ranvwaye antre a pou youn oubyen de semenn. Gen lekòl ki fèmen pòt yo nèt. Genyen ki ouvri men ki pa konn pou konbyen tan yo ka kenbe.

Selon tradisyon ayisyen, Oktòb ta sipoze vle di blokis nan lari, bak machann devan pòt lekòl. Inifòm tout koulè k ap pran chimen lekòl. Ane sa a, se yon lòt koze. Ane sa a, blokis la se pa paske gen anpil timoun ki pral lekòl, men paske wout yo vin pi kraze toujou, yo plen debri, tant nan tout lari. Pandan Minis Edikasyon Nasyonal ap mande tout moun montre solidarite, elèv Lise Tousen ap fè manifestasyon pou yo mande gouvènman an deplase moun k ap viv nan lakou lekòl yo pou kou kapab kòmanse. Profesè ki pa touche depi plizyè mwa pa al travay. Genyen ki fè sit-in. Sa fè plizyè mwa n ap tande pale de valè kòb ki pral bay pou kore sektè edikasyon nan peyi a, pou fè tout ti ayisyen al lekòl gratis. Men oktòb rive sou nou. Kisa ki fèt vrèman ? Anpil moun isit ak medya yo tou gentan pale de echèk. Anpil moun gentan wè distans ki egziste ant timoun ki soti nan fanmi ki gen mwayen ak sa k soti nan fanmi ki pa genyen ap vin plis. Sosyete a ap vin pi dezekilibre toujou. Preske di mwa apre tranblemantè 12 janvye a, rantre lekòl la pèmèt nou wè valè travay ki rete pou fèt. Valè travay ki pa fèt, menm pandan tout kantite moun ak òganizasyon vle ede Ayiti ak Ayisyen. Nan nouvo projè CIRH la fenk aprouve, gen plizyè ki konsène edikasyon. Men si se 7 oktòb, kòb pou bati lekòl sa yo aprouve, kilè y ap disponib pou timoun ki bezwen al lekòl ?

Pitit pa m lan kòmanse premye ane fondamantal ane sa a. Eske l ap fè tout ane lekòl li nan lekòl prive ? Menm jan avè k lè m te lekòl, menm jan ak lè granparan l te lekòl ? Anpil moun te espere apre sa k te pase 12 janvye a, t ap gen kèk gwo chanjman nan sosyete a. Mwen poko wè chanjman sa yo. Si semenn sa a, gen kèk timoun ki kapab pran chimen lekòl, pi fò pa ka ale. Swa paske lekòl yo pa egziste ankò, swa paske espas lekòl la okipe, swa paske paran yo pa gen mwayen. Olye chak ti fondasyon, chak ti ONG, chak gwoup moun k ap anonse sa y ap fè pou timoun nan tèl kan oswa tèl lòt, ala bèl sa ta bèl si te gen yon anons nasyonal ki di bon jan lekòl ap gratis pou tout timoun jan konstitisyon an mande l. Ala bèl sa ta bèl si sa te fèt vre. Gen peyi kote lekòl prive se yon chwa, yon privilèj. Isit la, se sa ki nòmal pandan nou konnen majorite popilasyon an nan difikilte ekonomik. Se lekòl leta a ki vin yon privilèj. Gen yon epòk, lise yo te pami pi bon lekòl peyi a te genyen. Fòk nivo akademik lekòl leta yo tounen nan nivo ekselans sa a pandan tou yo kapab resevwa tout timoun nan peyi a. Tout paran vle sa ki pi bon pou pitit yo. Paran ayisyen pa ta dwe nan tout difikilte sa yo pou voye pitit yo lekòl.

Semenn sa a mwen kontan, mwen fyè paske ti pitit mwen an rantre nan lekòl fondamantal. Semenn sa a, mwen tris, mwen wont paske pi fò ti konpatriyòt li yo pa ka fè menm jan avè l.

NM

How to Build a Course on Haitian Literature

How do you construct courses about Haiti?  Or, what are some classes that you have taken that focus exclusively on Haiti?  This semester both of my classes have a Haitian focus:   "Haiti Chérie:  Haitian Literature and Culture" and "Haitian Studies 101 or Haiti and Globalization."  The former is in the department of Romance Languages and Literatures and the latter for the African and African Diaspora Studies Program.  In compiling my syllabi and preparing to teach I have been confronted with what has become an increasingly daunting task.  How to you cover the vastness of Haitian history, the depths of Haitian culture, and the vicissitudes of Haitian literature, and the ebbs and flows of Haitian politics with nuance and complexity in one short semester? I set out to begin with the books.  What are the essentials?  Moreover, how do I approach teaching such a range of material knowing that this would probably be the first and only class on Haiti my students may take?

I set out to begin with the books.  What are the essentials?  The French department class appears to be a bit more straightforward due to its literary focus.  The interdisciplinary approach to literature as I see it necessitates examining history along side other fields such as anthropology and sociology so I was determined to use other sources such as historical documents, films and music.  Since the title of my course is Haiti Chérie I let my students listen to the original version of the song during the second week.  Doing so allowed me to give them a taste of “sound studies” as a new field in African diasporic studies, encouraging them to listen to these novels for their rhythms, sonorities and musicality rather than only for the words. I also gave them an excerpt of l’Acte d’independence to expose them to work from that formative historic time period.

Certain books from the literary canon like Jacques Roumain’s Gouverneurs de la Rosée and Jacques Stephen Alexis’ Compère Général Soleil were among the first I placed on the syllabus.  I also wanted to be sure to introduce them to important literary movements such as La Ronde, indigenisme and spiralisme. The Roumain novel helped to cover indigenisme, but I was at a loss for which to include for the latter.  Despite my abiding desire to include something by Frankétienne ultimately I decided that some of his work might be too challenging for my students at this level.  I decided to limit my discussions of these movements to lecture notes that would provide the students with an overview of what they entailed. 

I am also deeply committed to teaching contemporary authors, understanding that, as Barbara Christian once put it in “The Race for Theory,” writing disappears unless we read it and talk about it.   For contemporary Haitian authors I had on my original list Evelyne Trouillot, Gary Victor, Lyonel Trouillot, and Kettly Mars. Trouillot’s La chambre interdite could allow me to be more inclusive at the level of genre since it is a book of short stories.  I taught La chambre… two years ago in a survey of francophone literature and know how well Trouillot’s range of topics connected with students. Pairing Mars’ Saisons sauvages with Marie Vieux-Chauvet’s Colère would give me two for one, allowing me to explore the role of intertextuality as well as the category of “roman de la dictature.”

Another area to cover is Haitian writers living in the diaspora. I began with the Canadians—Marie-Célie Agnant, Dany Laffériere, Gérard Étienne,  JJ Dominique.  Marie-Célie Agnant’s La dot de Sara was particularly compelling  for how it addresses the themes of “ici” and “là-bas” and cross generational understandings of Haitian identity.  Reading Louis-Philippe Dalembert, and Fabienne Pasquet could broaden our discussion to authors who did not live in francophone countries, introducing us to the contested notion of the francophone category to begin with. I even considered for a brief moment teaching Edwidge Danticat in translation by using Le cri de l’oiseau rouge but that desire was only fleeting as I attempted to whittle down the list.  

Then of course there was the elephant in the room, given the demographics at my university, the majority of my students will have had little to no exposure to Haiti, Haitian culture and literature;  at the same time I could expect to have several Haitian born and Haitian-American students at the very least.  How do I teach about the earthquake? To this end I added a few pieces from the collection of Haiti parmi les vivants.  This book would certainly offer my students an indigenous source of information about the earthquake to measure against all of the outside information they had surely been exposed to.

With a semester made up of only 12 weeks and a limit for how much reading I can assign in a week (a mere 100 pages!) I was in a real quandary about how to divide my syllabus since I needed to pare it down to only five books.  In the end I chose the following:

1.  Jacques-Stephen Alexis, Compère Général Soleil (1955)

2.  Kettly Mars, Saisons Sauvages (2010)

3.  Fabienne Pasquet, L’Ombre de Baudelaire (1999)

4.  Jacques Roumain, Gouverneurs de la Rosée (1944)

5.  Lyonel Trouillot, Bicentennaire (2004)

The list, while not perfect managed to combine canonical authors with others my students certainly may not have heard of, classic novels with more contemporary ones, contemporary and diasporic writers. In the end some of these choices had to be made vulgarly, for example I opted for Trouillot’s Bicentennaire over Victor’s Le diable dans un thé à la citronnelle purely based on the length and number of weeks in the semester. Likewise, I did not include a Haitian-Canadian author only because La dot de Sara was on back order at the school bookstore, leaving me with Pasquet  alone to represent the diaspora.  However I still hope to at the very least include a story from Agnant’s Le silence comme le sang or a piece by Lafferiere. In   terms of poetry I decided to limit myself to the complete works of Rene Depestre, René Philoctète's  Poèmes des îles qui marchent and the anthology Brassage! A Trilingual Anthology of Haitian Poetry by Women.  The other required texts are:  

Poetry:

René Dépestre, Rage de vivre : œuvres poétiques complètes

Me voici 

            Poésie et révolution 

L’âge de Papa Doc 

Alleluia pour les femmes jardins

René Philoctète, Poèmes des îles qui marchent [excerpts]

Brassage : Une anthologie poétique de femmes haïtiennes  [excerpts]

            Mon pays, Marie-Thérèse Colimon-Hall

            Filles des iles, filles des Antilles, Lyssa Laraque-Piquion

Que vive Haiti, Mona Salgado

Films :  

1.     L’homme sur les quais/ Man by the Shore, Raoul Peck (1994

2.    The Agronomist, Jonathan Demme (2004)

3.   The Price of Sugar (2007)

4.   Poto Mitan: Haitian Women, the Pillar of Society (2008) by Marc Schuller

As I think back to what I learned about Haiti as an undergraduate and graduate student I remember the frequent revision of the classics such as CLR James’ The Black Jacobins and Jacques Roumain’s Les Gouverneurs de la rosée.  In fact both books were the token book by a Haitian author for at least two classes that I took in my academic career.  Teaching a class with an exclusive focus on Haitian authors allowed me the luxury of including more than merely the one text, but the challenge I encountered was how to choose from such a rich list of authors and manage to cover the range of themes, movements, historical events, time periods, and political moments that make up Haitian literature. 

RMJC

Remember to check out the book page!

This is a friendly reminder to check out our book page from time to time. Our latest review is courtesy of Nicole Brissac. You can read the first couple of paragraphs here, go to the book page for the complete review. Merci, Nicole!

This just in: La mémoire aux abois is on the short list for the Prix Carbet des Lycéens for 2011!

Evelyne Trouillot, La mémoire aux abois, Hoëbeke, (Etonnants voyageurs), 2010, 185 p.
Plus que de dialogues, il s’agit de deux monologues, deux paroles qui se croisent autour d’une même histoire, autour de souvenirs forts liés à Quisquéya.

Deux polices de caractère qui caractérisent les deux personnages fixent la frontière entre deux univers que tout oppose : celui d’une veuve de dictateur qui se meurt, exposée aux regards, tout en étant cachée par la direction de l’hospice qui l’abrite. Curieux et ironique destin !!! L’italique couché, comme cette femme fauchée par l’âge, narre à la 3ème personne les souvenirs d’Odile Doréval. Cette écriture tout en créant une mise à distance, un effet d’objectivité provoque chez le lecteur agacement, ressentiment mais aussi curieusement attachement quand la veuve évoque son enfance et sa volonté farouche de s’en sortir par le haut. L’autre monde est celui d’une jeune quisquéyenne qui ne cesse de raviver des faits douloureux et tragiques que lui a relatés Marie-Carmelle, sa mère. Evénements qui l’ont pétrie, qui continuent à la façonner voire à déterminer son être. Infirmière, elle a pour patiente la « gardienne de la révolution » dont le mari despote a décimé sa famille. Elle est pleine d’une haine contenue perçue par la veuve « Qu’elle la trouvait agaçante, cette fille qui s’occupait d’elle en la fusillant du regard » En son for intérieur, elle déplore : « …de la voir, de m’en occuper m’empêche de dormir » et se remémore les récits de sa mère : « …toutes tes histoires des Doréval reviennent me remplir la tête ». La police de caractère droite qui la symbolise, plus classique, plus normée pour un roman, raconte à la première personne les affres et souffrances de la jeune femme. Ce parti pris d’écriture entraîne, implique et saisit le lecteur qui s’identifie à ce « je » au point d’en prendre le parti, d’en épouser le point de vue. C’est en effet, là, le roman d’une double postulation, d’une double focalisation qui nous rend Quisquéya plus vraie et son histoire plus complexe. Les deux oppositions reconstruisent l’Histoire en rendant présente par des soliloques leurs histoires passées tout en refaisant vivre leurs fantômes intimes.

Représenter Haïti: entre fiction et réalité

La question de représentation haïtienne est d’actualité ces derniers temps. Wyclef Jean voudrait avoir le droit de représenter Haïti au plus haut niveau – même sans tenir compte des prescrits légaux du pays. La semaine dernière, Sarodj Bertin à participé à la phase finale du concours Miss Universe à Las Vegas aux Etats-Unis. Le problème est qu’il n’y a pas eu de concours Miss Haiti, mais plutôt une sélection à laquelle a participé Jean Bertin, le père de la « gagnante ». Donc, Sarodj Bertin, elle aussi, a choisi de représenter le pays, sans tenir compte des principes de base de l’éthique.

Les questions de légitimité dans le cadre d’une compétition spécifique sont assez faciles à résoudre. Pour être éligible à la présidence de la république, Jean doit avoir vécu au moins cinq ans dans le pays et Bertin doit avoir participé à un concours et non à une sélection pour être légitime comme Miss Haïti.

Là où le problème devient plus difficile est quand il ne s’agit plus de concours ni d’élections, mais de la vie de tous les jours. Qui a le droit de parler pour les Haïtiens ? Au nom des Haïtiens ? Et qui désigne ces représentants ?

En dépit de ce que les médias étrangers voudraient nous faire croire, tous les Haïtiens ne se ressemblent pas. Déterminer « l’opinion haïtienne » est une opération aussi délicate que de vouloir déterminer l’opinion américaine ou française, d’autant plus que dans le cas d’Haïti, on n’utilise presque jamais les statistiques.

De même qu’on ne fait pas appel aux statistiques pour affirmer qu’il n’y a pas de classe moyenne en Haïti. Dans quelle catégorie ranger les professeurs et médecins et fonctionnaires et agents de police ? Seraient-ils tous riches ? Tous pauvres ? Mystère.

Les différentes discussions soulevées par les cas Wyclef Jean et Sarodj Bertin montrent l’urgence d’analyser les critères selon lesquels on rejette ou confirme l’identité haïtienne de chacun : son phénotype, les langues parlées, le niveau de langage, sa classe socioéconomique, son niveau d’éducation, son lieu de naissance, son lieu de résidence, le passeport qu’il détient.

En insistant à ce que les Haïtiens correspondent tous à une seule image, on nie la grande diversité de la population haïtienne. Si pour être authentique, un Haïtien doit être pauvre et illettré, il n’y a aucune raison de changer l’état actuel de la majorité de la population. Trouver des solutions à la misère impliquerait la destruction de l’identité haïtienne. Un tel raisonnement est certes absurde. Il faudrait donc des réflexions sérieuses autour de l’identité haïtienne et de ses différentes composantes. Il ne s'agit pas de nier que Wyclef Jean et Sarodj Bertin sont des Haïtiens authentiques, mais de dire qu’en tant que tels, ils devraient montrer un peu plus de respect pour les institutions du pays et sa population.

NM

Haiti on My Mind, Review

 Haiti on My Mind:  Stories by Haitian American Teens is a recent collection of essays by youth of Haitian descent edited by Dana Vincent.  The book was published by Youth Communication, a non-profit youth journalism program that publishes teen stories in books, magazines and other venues.  When I received a message about the book from a colleague, I was intrigued by the premise and immediately ordered it, eager to see youth perspective documented in essay form.

The foreword is written by Edwidge Danticat who herself began writing stories as a youth and had the opportunity to participate in the Youth Communication program. Danticat immediately acknowledges the Haitian issue at the forefront of our minds as she describes traveling to Haiti for the first time after the earthquake.  She writes about observing children of all ages that ‘these children, in many ways, are the symbol of Haiti that is to come.  We can either shield and protect them from a very difficult start or we can turn away and let their stories and voices fade…The young people of Youth Communication have decided not to let these stories fade or die…Haiti is on the mind of these young talented writers at this moment just as it has been on the mind of many others.  However, even before this disaster, as these essays poignantly show, Haiti was already deep in the minds, and hearts, of the teen writers at Youth Communication.”  (7) This is perhaps the strongest point of the book, that it reveals how teenagers—some recent immigrants, some the children of immigrants—conceptualize, imagine, and long for Haiti and how these thoughts translate in their daily lives.  

Just as the editor Vincent does through a game of word association in her introduction, the writers share “what comes to mind when you hear the words Haiti or Haitians” (9).  Few of us will not find the list familiar, “boat people, political instability, illegal aliens, refugees, poorest country in the…and [now] earthquake” (9).  Throughout the book different writers express their own troubling encounters with different variations of these stereotypes.  It is a reductive litany that we are all too familiar with given the dominant negative representations that saturate the media.  The voices of Haiti on My Mind engage these stereotypes directly and in many cases manage to move beyond them. 

For example, in “I May Not Look Haitian, But….” Marsha Dupiton recounts her uncomfortable experience with classmates who had reduced our culture to physical characteristics with which she did not identify.  The story describes Dupiton’s struggle from being embarrassed about her Haitian identity to transforming into a self-assured and self-loving young woman with great pride in her cultural heritage.  For Marsha the change was gradual, a major catalyst on her journey was the poetry of Prosper Sylvain Jr., who in “I Don’t Look Haitian”  the author’s imagined interlocutor  is someone who tells him that he does not look Haitian, to which Sylvain replies with a historical and cultural lesson that goes beyond the glare of media stereotypes.  He writes, “I apologize if there is more to me than voodoo dolls,
and I apologize if there is more to my country than slums, poverty and hunger, and I apologize if my poetry makes you wonder if I am really Haitian, product of years of miscegenation. 
I apologize if your idea and concept of me
is not what I have proven to be.”  By citing Sylvain’s poem and explaining its impact on her life, Dupiton displays the power of creative work to impact youth identity, just as the essays of Haiti on My Mind will surely impact the generation after her. 

Sabrina Rencher details a similar trajectory as Dupiton, chronicling her journey into self-love and self-acceptance after many desperate attempts to fit in with those around her.  For her the transition from Haiti to the United States involves changes on how her own aesthetics are perceived.  She explains “I’m originally from Haiti, there I felt gorgeous.  I felt as if I didn’t have to do anything to fit in with people at school” at the very beginning to introduce the sharp contrast with how she struggled to receive affirmation from her peers in the United States (99).  The first piece by Cassandra Charles, “Tomorrow is Promised to No One,” is actually the only essay with the earthquake of 2010 as its thematic focus, and is the first essay of the book. Charles’ heart-wrenching story is about learning that her cousin had died in the earthquake and her continued struggle with that grief. 

While many of the stories in the collection deal with the challenges of being a teenager, being an immigrant or child of immigrants, being cross-cultural, or multilingual, some of them simply narrate mundane aspects of life.  Among these we find a story about a boy falling in love as a child, and another of a girl who loses a precious pair of earrings that her mother had given her.  Another such story by Claude Fravien takes on the complexity of parent-child relationships across the cultural divide. As Fravien shares some of the conflicts he faced in dealing with his own parents, whether it was their restricted ideas about how he should dress or their stereotypical opinion about African Americans, he explains that his predicament is not unique.  “So far I have never met one Haitian teenager who thinks of his parents as friends,” although he does clarify the generalization by writing “I am not trying to say that all Haitian parents are like mine”(91). As such, the stories offer a range of experience and attempt to cover Haitian youth experience in its complexity.  

This book is ideal for middle and high school students, whether or not they are of Haitian descent.  It is especially effective as a tool for teaching and reflection since the end of each chapter contains a “Think About it” section with detailed questions directly related to the essay but that delve deeper into the issues addressed.  The penultimate essay, “Haiti’s Part in America’s History” by Cassandra Worrell reviews the intersections of Haitian and U.S. history, reframing that history by beginning,  “Except for the United States, Haiti is the oldest republic in the Western hempishere,” in my opinion a welcome change from the other superlative adjective in the Western Hemisphere more commonly invoked (124).  The final piece is a review essay of Edwidge Danticat’s memoir Brother, I’m Dying written by Kaela Bezard.  The book also contains a timeline of Haitian history that helps to contextualize some of the time periods referred to.  The purpose of Haiti on My Mind is largely educational.  Part of that education is more traditional as in the detailed timeline of Haitian history and section about vodou.  In the latter section, for example the authors distinguish between the term “voodoo” which is used throughout the book, the academic term “vodou” or “vodun,” and the way the religion is referred to as “serving the spirits”  (138). The deeper value of this book as an educational tool can be found in how it corrects popular misconceptions about Haitian culture and uses the voice of teens to do so. 

To me, the stories are especially compelling because they came from an age group that is often neglected in the sense that teenagers too old to be children and too young to be adults, can be overlooked.  Earlier this summer, the International Labour Organization reported that global youth unemployment is at an all time high. Programs such Youth Communication in New York, and A Long Walk Home’s Girl/Friends in Chicago harness the energy and the talents of young people through the use of the arts.  I could not help but think of the large number of unemployed teenagers in Haiti and wonder about the kinds of stories they could tell if given the opportunity as the writers on Haiti on My Mind had been given. Having worked with this age group through youth enrichment groups like AFAB’s (The Association of Haitian Women of Boston) Ayiti demen, I have been struck by the rawness and emotional realness of the experiences they share.  Haiti on My Mind captures this raw and real essence without any pretense.  It is an important collection in which youth not only educate others about Haiti, but also empower those of their generation to tell their own stories for themselves.  

RMJC