Transnational Perspectives in Black Studies: Haitian Literature and Culture from the 19th Century, the Contemporary, to the Diaspora [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

College Bulletin 2022-2023

BLST 041. Transnational Perspectives in Black Studies: Haitian Literature and Culture from the 19th Century, the Contemporary, to the Diaspora

In viewing literature as a part of the archival landscape, we will map the socio-political currents of Saint-Domingue on the way to 'becoming' post-revolutionary Haiti through its literary and cultural production both within and outside of its borders. Haitian literature interlaced with the socio-political shifts of the island-nation republic has origins in the country's grand marronage away from French imperialism. Moving from colonialism, independence, to Haiti's current impasse at the hand of neocolonialism, we will analyze the works of Antoine Dupré, Oswald Durand, Massillon Coicou, Jean-Price Mars, Jacques Roumain, and René Depestre. Regarding the diaspora, we will explore Haitian literature from a transnational perspective through the works of Dany Laferrière, Marie Vieux-Chauvet, Edwidge Danticat, and conclude with selections from contemporary Haitian author Frankétienne and his "spiralist" oeuvre. What has been the "price of the ticket" for Haiti asserting itself as the first black republic in the Western Hemisphere? How can we use the Haitian Revolution (the first iteration of the "Black Lives Matter" movement) as a pedagogical moment for current and future black freedom struggle?
1 credit.
Eligible for GLBL-paired
Spring 2023. Smith.
Catalog chapter: Black Studies
Department website: Black Studies

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