From Dessalines to Duvalier

From Dessalines to Duvalier
Author: David Nicholls
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Total Pages: 412
Release: 1996
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780813522401

"Rich in subject matter and eminently readable, this book is also a fine work of scholarship. The more than 1,200 footnotes are models of clarity and relevance; the bibliography and index seem scrupulously accurate. . . While each generation must rewrite its own history, as Nicholls remarks, no book on Haiti for a long time to come will properly be able to ignore the analysis he here provides." --Ethnic and Racial Studies "Step by step, Nicholls] guides us through the various historical time periods of Haitian political and national development, illuminating each one of them by a cogent and learned discussion of the main ideas and ideologies that accompanied them." --The Political Quarterly "Probably the best book written about Haitian history after its independence . . . a thorough, thoughtful, extremely well-researched work." --Handbook of Latin American Studies In this lively, provocative, and well-documented history, David Nicholls discusses the impact of "color" on political and social alliances during almost two hundred years of Haitian history. While consciousness of racial identity has been a powerful factor which, from the earliest days, has united Haitians in a determination to preserve their national independence, color has been a divisive factor, leading to the erosion of the stability of that independence. Nicholls grounds this sophisticated analysis in great historical detail and engaging, witty prose. Students and general readers alike will gain much from this insightful and informative history of Haiti. A new preface to this edition covers the last ten years in Haitiain history. David Nicholls is a major authority on Haiti, and was in the country as a newspaper correspondent during the 1987 election disaster. His other books include Haiti in the Caribbean Context: Ethnicity; The Pluralist State: and Deity and Domination.

We Dream Together

We Dream Together
Author: Anne Eller
Publisher: Duke University Press
Total Pages: 245
Release: 2016-11-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 0822373769

In We Dream Together Anne Eller breaks with dominant narratives of conflict between the Dominican Republic and Haiti by tracing the complicated history of Dominican emancipation and independence between 1822 and 1865. Eller moves beyond the small body of writing by Dominican elites that often narrates Dominican nationhood to craft inclusive, popular histories of identity, community, and freedom, summoning sources that range from trial records and consul reports to poetry and song. Rethinking Dominican relationships with their communities, the national project, and the greater Caribbean, Eller shows how popular anticolonial resistance was anchored in a rich and complex political culture. Haitians and Dominicans fostered a common commitment to Caribbean freedom, the abolition of slavery, and popular democracy, often well beyond the reach of the state. By showing how the island's political roots are deeply entwined, and by contextualizing this history within the wider Atlantic world, Eller demonstrates the centrality of Dominican anticolonial struggles for understanding independence and emancipation throughout the Caribbean and the Americas.

The Haitian Revolution

The Haitian Revolution
Author: Toussaint L'Ouverture
Publisher: Verso Books
Total Pages: 177
Release: 2019-11-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 1788736575

Toussaint L’Ouverture was the leader of the Haitian Revolution in the late eighteenth century, in which slaves rebelled against their masters and established the first black republic. In this collection of his writings and speeches, former Haitian politician Jean-Bertrand Aristide demonstrates L’Ouverture’s profound contribution to the struggle for equality.

Haiti: The Aftershocks of History

Haiti: The Aftershocks of History
Author: Laurent Dubois
Publisher: Metropolitan Books
Total Pages: 448
Release: 2012-01-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 0805095624

A passionate and insightful account by a leading historian of Haiti that traces the sources of the country's devastating present back to its turbulent and traumatic history Even before the 2010 earthquake destroyed much of the country, Haiti was known as a benighted place of poverty and corruption. Maligned and misunderstood, the nation has long been blamed by many for its own wretchedness. But as acclaimed historian Laurent Dubois makes clear, Haiti's troubled present can only be understood by examining its complex past. The country's difficulties are inextricably rooted in its founding revolution—the only successful slave revolt in the history of the world; the hostility that this rebellion generated among the colonial powers surrounding the island nation; and the intense struggle within Haiti itself to define its newfound freedom and realize its promise. Dubois vividly depicts the isolation and impoverishment that followed the 1804 uprising. He details how the crushing indemnity imposed by the former French rulers initiated a devastating cycle of debt, while frequent interventions by the United States—including a twenty-year military occupation—further undermined Haiti's independence. At the same time, Dubois shows, the internal debates about what Haiti should do with its hard-won liberty alienated the nation's leaders from the broader population, setting the stage for enduring political conflict. Yet as Dubois demonstrates, the Haitian people have never given up on their struggle for true democracy, creating a powerful culture insistent on autonomy and equality for all. Revealing what lies behind the familiar moniker of "the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere," this indispensable book illuminates the foundations on which a new Haiti might yet emerge.

Culture and Customs of Haiti

Culture and Customs of Haiti
Author: J. Michael Dash
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 197
Release: 2000-10-30
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1567507395

Culture and Customs of Haiti begins with an overview of the mountainous island that seemed forbidding to European colonizers. Historical periods, including French colonization, U.S. occupation in the early 20th century, Independence and the Duvaliers' reigns, until today, are reviewed and provide the framework for the volume. A chapter on the people and society details the pride of the black state that managed the only successful slave revolution in history. The extremes of society from the elite to the peasantry and slum dwellers are depicted, along with Haitians in diaspora. Religion in Haiti, with the strong amalgamation of Roman Catholicism and vaudou, a West African import, is then explained. A Social Customs chapter notes the joy that is found in such an economically depressed culture. The media and literature and language chapters necessarily unfold in the context of Haiti's political history. A section on writing in Creole is especially intriguing. Finally, chapters on the performing arts and visual arts evoke the energy and color of the people in such forms as vaudou jazz and dance, contemporary rara rock, and the folkloric influence on Haitian painting. A chronology and glossary supplement the text.

The Haitian Declaration of Independence

The Haitian Declaration of Independence
Author: Julia Gaffield
Publisher: University of Virginia Press
Total Pages: 389
Release: 2016-01-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 0813937884

While the Age of Revolution has long been associated with the French and American Revolutions, increasing attention is being paid to the Haitian Revolution as the third great event in the making of the modern world. A product of the only successful slave revolution in history, Haiti’s Declaration of Independence in 1804 stands at a major turning point in the trajectory of social, economic, and political relations in the modern world. This declaration created the second independent country in the Americas and certified a new genre of political writing. Despite Haiti’s global significance, however, scholars are only now beginning to understand the context, content, and implications of the Haitian Declaration of Independence. This collection represents the first in-depth, interdisciplinary, and integrated analysis by American, British, and Haitian scholars of the creation and dissemination of the document, its content and reception, and its legacy. Throughout, the contributors use newly discovered archival materials and innovative research methods to reframe the importance of Haiti within the Age of Revolution and to reinterpret the declaration as a founding document of the nineteenth-century Atlantic World. The authors offer new research about the key figures involved in the writing and styling of the document, its publication and dissemination, the significance of the declaration in the creation of a new nation-state, and its implications for neighboring islands. The contributors also use diverse sources to understand the lasting impact of the declaration on the country more broadly, its annual celebration and importance in the formation of a national identity, and its memory and celebration in Haitian Vodou song and ceremony. Taken together, these essays offer a clearer and more thorough understanding of the intricacies and complexities of the world’s second declaration of independence to create a lasting nation-state.

Racialized Visions

Racialized Visions
Author: Vanessa K. Valdés
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 356
Release: 2020-12-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1438481055

As a Francophone nation, Haiti is seldom studied in conjunction with its Spanish-speaking Caribbean neighbors. Racialized Visions challenges the notion that linguistic difference has kept the populations of these countries apart, instead highlighting ongoing exchanges between their writers, artists, and thinkers. Centering Haiti in this conversation also makes explicit the role that race—and, more specifically, anti-blackness—has played both in the region and in academic studies of it. Following the Revolution and Independence in 1804, Haiti was conflated with blackness. Spanish colonial powers used racist representations of Haiti to threaten their holdings in the Atlantic Ocean. In the years since, white elites in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico upheld Haiti as a symbol of barbarism and savagery. Racialized Visions powerfully refutes this symbolism. Across twelve essays, contributors demonstrate how cultural producers in these countries have resignified Haiti to mean liberation. An introduction and conclusion by the editor, Vanessa K. Valdés, as well as foreword by Myriam J. A. Chancy, provide valuable historical context and an overview of Afro-Latinx studies and its futures.

Contemporary Caribbean Cultures and Societies in a Global Context

Contemporary Caribbean Cultures and Societies in a Global Context
Author: Franklin W. Knight
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2006-05-18
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0807876909

The Caribbean ranks among the earliest and most completely globalized regions in the world. From the first moment Europeans set foot on the islands to the present, products, people, and ideas have made their way back and forth between the region and other parts of the globe with unequal but inexorable force. An inventory of some of these unprecedented multidirectional exchanges, this volume provides a measure of, as well as a model for, new scholarship on globalization in the region. Ten essays by leading scholars in the field of Caribbean studies identify and illuminate important social and cultural aspects of the region as it seeks to maintain its own identity against the unrelenting pressures of globalization. These essays examine cultural phenomena in their creolized forms--from sports and religion to music and drink--as well as the Caribbean manifestations of more universal trends--from racial inequality and feminist activism to indebtedness and economic uncertainty. Throughout, the volume points to the contending forces of homogeneity and differentiation that define globalization and highlights the growing agency of the Caribbean peoples in the modern world. Contributors: Antonio Benitez-Rojo (1931-2004) Alex Dupuy, Wesleyan University Juan Flores, City University of New York Graduate Center Jorge L. Giovannetti, University of Puerto Rico Aline Helg, University of Geneva Franklin W. Knight, The Johns Hopkins University Anthony P. Maingot, Florida International University Teresita Martinez-Vergne, Macalester College Helen McBain, Economic Commission for Latin America & the Caribbean, Trinidad Frances Negron-Muntaner, Columbia University Valentina Peguero, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Raquel Romberg, Temple University

A Concise History of the Caribbean

A Concise History of the Caribbean
Author: B. W. Higman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 479
Release: 2021-05-27
Genre: History
ISBN: 1108480985

A compelling account of Caribbean history from colonization to slavery and revolution, through the tumult of hurricanes and climate change.