Haiti and the Americas

Perspectives that shatter the stereotypes and expand understanding of a complex island nation

Essays by Matthew Casey, Myriam J. A. Chancy, Bethany Aery Clerico, J. Michael Dash, Christopher Garland, Sibylle Fischer, Jeff Karem, David P. Kilroy, Nadève Ménard, and Lindsay Twa

Haiti has long played an important role in global perception of the western hemisphere, but ideas about Haiti often appear paradoxical. Is it a land of tyranny and oppression or a beacon of freedom as site of the world's only successful slave revolution? A bastion of devilish practices or a devoutly religious island? Does its status as the second independent nation in the hemisphere give it special lessons to teach about postcolonialism, or is its main lesson one of failure?

Haiti and the Americas brings together an interdisciplinary group of essays to examine the influence of Haiti throughout the hemisphere, to contextualize the ways that Haiti has been represented over time, and to look at Haiti's own cultural expressions in order to think about alternative ways of imagining its culture and history.

Thinking about Haiti requires breaking through a thick layer of stereotypes. Haiti is often represented as the region's nadir of poverty, of political dysfunction, and of savagery. Contemporary media coverage fits very easily into the narrative of Haiti as a dependent nation, unable to govern or even fend for itself, a site of lawlessness that is in need of more powerful neighbors to take control. Essayists in Haiti and the Americas present a fuller picture, developing approaches that can account for the complexity of Haitian history and culture.

Carla Calargé, Boca Raton, Florida, is assistant professor of French and Francophone studies at Florida Atlantic University. Her work has appeared in French Forum, French Review, and Présence Francophone, among others. Raphael Dalleo, Delray Beach, Florida, is associate professor of English at Florida Atlantic University. He is author of Caribbean Literature and the Public Sphere: From the Plantation to the Postcolonial and coauthor of The Latino/a Canon and the Emergence of Post-Sixties Literature. Luis Duno-Gottberg, Houston, Texas, is associate professor of Caribbean studies and film at Rice University. He is the author of Solventar las diferencias: La ideología del mestizaje en Cuba and Albert Camus, Naturaleza: Patria y Exilio. Clevis Headley, Delray Beach, Florida, is associate professor of philosophy at Florida Atlantic University. He is the coeditor of Shifting the Geography of Reason: Gender, Science and Religion.