Nigerian and Ghanaian Highlife Mix

Enjoy this lovely mix of classic highlife from Nigeria and Ghana. Included are some of my favorite highlife artists, such as Rex Lawson and Victor Uwaifo. For more highlife or other West African music, check out my Youtube playlists here or here.

Breakfast of Champions

"I am going to make a wild guess now: I think that the end of the Civil War in my country frustrated the white people in the North, who won it, in a way which has never been acknowledged before. Their descendants inherited that frustration, I think, without ever knowing what it was. The victors in that war were cheated out of the most desirable spoils of that war, which were human slaves."

Kurt Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions is a postmodern metafictional narrative in which Vonnegut becomes a character, breaking the fourth wall. Again, intertextuality within the world he constructs in his novels continues here, as Midland City, Ohio is also the setting of Deadeye Dick and characters from other novels appear in this book, such as Kilgore Trout, the science fiction writer. Besides connections with his other novels, all of the characters in Breakfast of Champions are connected in interesting ways by name, family history, past sins (which cast long shadows), race, and the horrific society surrounding the robots. In addition to satirizing just about everything and writing in a characteristically succinct, humorous, and brief style with excessive symbols and non sequiturs. Like in his many other novels, his anti-war stance, disdain for racism and the class system, and interest in science fiction motivate much of the work. His own mother's suicide, his childhood with a black domestic who raised him, as well as his experiences in WWII shape this novel in many ways. 

Although not science fiction, by using the fictional science fiction writer Kilgore Trout, Vonnegut is able to explore other worlds, human existence, and the senselessness of the world through those lens. He alludes to Trout's numerous writings, writes against conventional notions of the novel, breathes life into everyday objects and people, and manages to somehow capture the absurd state of race relations in the novel as it relates to technology, history, gender, and class relations. Vonnegut satirizes war, capitalism, greed, corporate responsibility, white supremacy, sexism, the notion of free will, religion, slavery, and even colonialism. Indeed, one can see where his interest in Haiti could arise from his anti-racist, anti-colonial sentiments as expressed in this work.

Below are some of my favorite quotations from the text. Enjoy!

"The teachers told the children that this was when their continent was discovered by human beings. Actually, millions of human beings were already living full and imaginative lives on the continent in 1492. That was simply the year in which sea pirates began to cheat and rob and kill them."

'Kilgore Trout became a pioneer in the field of mental health. He advanced his theories disguised as science-fiction. He died in 1981, almost twenty years after he made Dwayne Hoover so sick."

"We are healthy only to the extent that our ideas are humane."

"Charm was a scheme for making strangers like and trust a person immediately, no matter what the charmer had in mind."

"Ideas on Earth were badges of friendship or enmity. Their content did not matter. Friends agreed with friends, in order to express enmity."

"His high school was named after a slave owner who was also one of the world's greatest theoreticians on the subject of human liberty."

"The black people would not put up with this. They went on talking English every which way. They refused to read books they couldn't understand--on the grounds they couldn't understand them. They would ask such impudent questions as, "Whuffo I want to read no "Tale of Two Cities? Whuffo?"

"It didn't matter much what Dwayne said. It hadn't mattered much for years. It didn't matter much what most people in Midland City said out loud, except when they were talking about money or structures or travel or machinery--or other measurable things. Every person had a clearly defined part to play--as a black person, a female high school drop-out, a Pontiac dealer, a gynecologist, a gas-conversion burner installer. If a person stopped living up to expectations, because of bad chemicals or one thing or another, everybody went on imagining that the person was living up to expectations anyway."

"He was a graduate of West Point, a military academy which turned young men into homicidal maniacs for use in war."

"The reindeer problem was essentially this: Nobody white had much use for black people anymore--except for the gangsters who sold the black people used cars and dope and furniture. Still, the reindeer went on reproducing. There were these useless, big black animals everywhere, and a lot of them had very bad dispositions. They were given small amounts of money every month, so they wouldn't have to steal. There was talk of giving them very cheap dope, too--to keep them listless and cheerful, and uninterested in reproduction."

"The nickname for Bunny's neighborhood was Skid Row. Every American town of any size had a neighborhood with the same nickname: Skid Row. It was a place where people who didn't have any friends or relatives or property or usefulness or ambition were supposed to go."

"I put the most decorated veteran in Midland City on the other end. He had a penis eight hundred miles long and two hundred and ten miles in diameter, but practically all of it was in the fourth dimension. He got his medals in the war in Viet Nam. He had also fought yellow robots who ran on rice."

"Like everybody else in the cocktail lounge, he was softening his brain with alcohol. This was a substance produced by a tiny creature called yeast. Yeast organisms ate sugar and excreted alcohol. They killed themselves by destroying their own environment with yeast shit."

"It is hard to adapt to chaos, but it can be done. I am living proof of that: It can be done."

"And then I had come suddenly to pity them, for I understood how innocent and natural it was for them to behave so abominably, and with such abominable results: They were doing their best to live like people invented in story books. This was the reason Americans shot each other so often: It was a convenient literary device for ending short stories and books."

"As for myself: I had come to the conclusion that there was nothing sacred about myself or about any human being, that we were all machines, doomed to collide and collide and collide. For want of anything better to do, we became fans of collisions. Sometimes I wrote well about collisions, which meant I was a writing machine in good repair. Sometimes I wrote badley, which meant I was a writing machine in bad repair. I no more harbored sacredness than did a Pontiac, a mousetrap, or a South Bend Lathe."

"Barrytron would be absolutely sick when it learned what a polluter it had become. Throughout its history, it had attempted to be a perfect model of corporate good citizenship, no matter what it cost."

"Dwayne Hoover's stepmother wasn't the only white woman who was a terrible sport about doing work like that. My own mother was that way, too, and so was my sister, may she rest in peace. They both flatly refused to do Nigger work.

The white men wouldn't do it either, of course. They called it women's work, and women called it Nigger work."

"It seems to me that really truthful American novels would have the heroes and heroines alike looking for mothers instead. This needn't be embarrassing. It's simply true. A mother is much more useful. I wouldn't feel particularly good if I found another father. Neither would Dwayne Hoover. Neither Would Kilgore Trout."

"Here was why there were so many foreign doctors on the hospital staff, incidentally: The country didn't produce nearly enough doctors for all the sick people it had, but it had an awful lot of money. So it bought doctors from other countries which didn't have much money."

"Both men, incidentally, were descendants of the Emperor Charlemagne. Anybody with any European blood in him was a descendant of the Emperor Charlemagne."

Jean-Pierre Boyer

Read more about this 1825 portrait of Jean-Pierre Boyer here. This is my first time coming across this particular image, though it does bear a resemblance to another portrait of the Haitian president.

Slaughterhouse Five

"So it goes."

After meeting a German a few years ago whose family survived Dresden, Slaughterhouse Five has been on my list of novels to read for quite some time. This person's great-grandfather and grandparent witnessed the firebombing of Dresden, experienced the senselessness, and destruction as an entire city was reduced to ashes. They had lost family like so many. In addition, the metafictional aspects of the story remind me of Ishmael Reed's Mumbo Jumbo, one of my favorite books.

Vonnegut inserting himself into the story, the intertextuality with specific characters, books, alien races, photographs, and themes in his body of work is an impressive example of his ability to weave together people and themes in elaborate worlds. This is certainly one of the most interesting and creative works to tackle WWII, really all wars, in its grotesque, brutality. If any story merits the use of science fiction, certainly a bit of fantasy and freedom are required. Undoubtedly, the comparison to the Children's Crusade was warranted.

Like Cat's Cradle, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, and Deadeye Dick, there are similar themes about human existence and war. But Slaughterhouse Five, like Reed's Mumbo Jumbo, takes it up a notch: Vonnegut uses pictures within the text as well as an overarching metanarrative with himself as narrator. Anyway, below are some of my favorite quotes that highlight the novel's themes, its black humor, and general darkness.

"Even then I was supposedly writing a book about Dresden. It wasn't a famous air raid back then in America. Not many Americans knew how much worse it had been than Hiroshima, for instance. I didn't know that, either. There hadn't been much publicity."

"The nicest veterans in Schenectady, I thought, the kindest and funniest ones, the ones who hated war the most, were the ones who'd really fought."

"So then I understood. It was war that made her so angry. She didn't want her babies or anybody else's babies killed in wars. And she thoughts wars were partly encouraged by books and movies."

"People aren't supposed to look back. I'm certainly not going to do it anymore."

"Like so many Americans, she was trying to construct a life that made sense from things she found in gift shops."

"He had a dirty picture of a woman attempting sexual intercourse with a Shetland pony. He had made Billy Pilgrim admire that picture several times." 

"The British had no way of knowing it, but the candles and the soap were made from the fat of rendered Jews and Gypsies and fairies and communists, and other enemies of the State."

"Rosewater was twice as smart as BIlly, but he and Billy were dealing with similar crises in similar ways. They had both found life meaningless, partly because of what they had seen in war. Rosewater, for instance, had shot a fourteen-year-old fireman, mistaking him for a German soldier. So it goes. And Billy had seen the greatest massacre in European history, which was the fire-bombing of Dresden. So it goes."

"So they were trying to re-invent themselves and their universe. Science fiction was a big help."

"That was I. That was me. That was the author of this book."

"Many novelties have come from America. The most startling of these, a thing without precedent, is a mass of undignified poor. They do not love one another because they do not love themselves. Once this is understood, the disagreeable behavior of American enlisted men in German prisons ceases to be a mystery."

"Rumfoord was thinking in a military manner: that an inconvenient person, one whose death he wished for very much, for practical reasons, was suffering from a repulsive disease."

Merengue for Trujillo

An unfortunately lovely piece of propaganda for Trujillo. The importance of music in Caribbean societies and how it pertains to power cannot be overstated.

God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater

"Thus was the savage and stupid and entirely inappropriate and unnecessary and humorless American class system created. Honest, industrious, peaceful citizens were classed as bloodsuckers, if they asked to be paid a living wage. And they saw that praise was reserved henceforth for those who devised means of getting paid enormously for committing crimes against which no laws had been passed. Thus the American dream turned belly up, turned green, bobbed to the scummy surface of cupidity unlimited, filled with gas, went bang in the noonday sun."

Kurt Vonnegut's God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater remains as relevant today on the question of class relations. Through his satirical look at the American elite, such as the Rosewaters and their ilk in Rhoe Island, one is reminded of the class war rhetoric and anti-poor beliefs of the Mitt Romneys of the world. Or even the way conservatives and even some moderate Democrats disparage the less fortunate, espouse the 'free enterprise,' or defend corporations. Taking it to absurd levels for the purpose of satire, Vonnegut even has the poor thanking the wealthy for the ocean, the moon. 

If this book was relevant to the changing times of the 1960s, an age of civil rights activism, sexual liberation, Cold War fears, cultural and ideological warfare, not much has changed in US discourse regarding poverty. We still blame the poor for their condition, while praising the 1 percent, defending capitalism, and refusing to dismantle the ways in which we have created 'excess' or 'useless' people trapped in poverty. Perhaps we can learn something from Eliot Rosewater after all on uncritical love and kindness toward others? 

More amazingly, Vonnegut's world is full of intertextuality. He alludes to characters, themes, pictures (the woman and the Shetland pony), and similar themes throughout his oeuvre, particularly on human nature, the meaning of existence, and man's inhumanity to man. Though not science fiction, this novel valiantly defends both the literary merit and universal message of science fiction as a concern for the future of humanity. In this case, it seems like a socialist message, but one that can be construed as Christian or religious too, though Vonnegut warns us not to construe any coincidental parallels. Like Deadeye Dick, the question of identity and roots is omnipresent here. Several characters, whether Rosewaters or not, are influenced by their roots or family tree in interesting ways that intersect with ironic or humorous consequences. 

Ultimately, both liberals, or leftists, and conservatives misunderstand the wretched of the earth, who, in this novel, are centered on the poor of Rosewater County, Indiana, who are romanticized by Eliot and criminalized by Eliot's father, Senator Rosewater. Nonetheless, here are some favorited quotations from the text highlighting the main themes:

"And he was witless enough, too, to imagine that Trout's books were very dirty books, since they were sold for such high prices to such queer people in such a place. He didn't understand that what Trout had in common with pornography wasn't sex but fantasies of an impossibly hospitable world."

 "I'm going to love these discarded Americans, even though they're useless and unattractive. That is going to be my work of art.

"The therapist, after a deeply upsetting investigation of normality at this time and place, was bound to conclude that a normal person, functioning well on the upper levels of a prosperous, industrialized society, can hardly hear his conscience at all."

"He would argue that the people he was trying to help were the same sorts of people who, in generations past, had cleared the forests, drained the swamps, built the bridges, people whose sons formed the backbone of the infantry in time of war--and so on. The people who leaned on Eliot regularly were a lot weaker than that--and dumber, too. When it came time for their sons to go into the Armed Forces, for instance, the sons were generally rejected as being mentally, morally, and physically undesirable."

"God damn it, you've got to be kind."

"Lila Buntline pedalled her bicycle through the muffled beauty of Pisquontuit's Utopian lanes. Every house she passed was a very expensive dream come true. The owners of the houses did not have to work at all. Neither would their children have to work, nor want for a thing, unless somebody revolted. Nobody seemed about to."

"I have since thanked her for the ocean, the moon, the stars in the sky, and the United States Constitution."

Henri Christophe, Part 2

The follow up to Kreyolicious's first video special on Henri Christophe is a useful overview of Christophe's rule. Check it out. 

White Zombie (1932)

Watch White Zombie, a film from 1932 during US Occupation of Haiti (check here for a version with superior sound). Although it is a horror film, it is not frightening in the least. It seems to draw from Seabrook's book and the presence of Haiti in the US cultural imagination during the military Occupation, whcih means it's full of condescending, racist, and inaccurate observations. For obvious reasons, the main characters are all white, the "natives" and "Voodoo" are insultingly portrayed, and last, but certainly not least, the film chooses to omit the presence of US Marines in Haiti. 

This film reminds me of tales my Haitian grandmother shared about white people from the US or elsewhere coming to Haiti long ago. In those stories told to me as a child, white people come to Haiti as missionaries or seeking "occult" knowledge, and ended up seeing supernatural things, usually along the lines of this film. My grandmother told me those stories with a sense of humor, which, perhaps, might be necessary when viewing this film. Nonetheless, it bears the distinction of being the first zombie film in a genre that would follow the same rubic for decades to come, even if Haiti and "Voodoo" were eventually forgotten in most zombie films. 

Haiti in Cat's Cradle

"Pay no attention to Caesar. Caesar doesn't have the slightest idea of what's really going on."

Kurt Vonnegut's Cat Cradle is one of his satirical novels partly influenced by Haiti. Set in the fictional Caribbean republic of San Lorenzo, the island's dictator is "Papa" Monzano (named after Papa Doc Duvalier). "Papa" Monzano lives in castle built by an ex-slave emperor, Tum-bumwa, and the castle has never been attacked, much like Haiti's illustrious Citadel. In addition, the impoverished island where natives speak an English dialect has been the target of various Western powers. Vonnegut even satirizes the US businessmen Crosby whose reason for visiting San Lorenzo is to start a bike manufacturing factory, similar to foreign corporations who go to Haiti as a source of cheap labor. "Papa" Monzano is staunchly anti-Communist, and San Lorenzo even declared war against the Axis powers during WWII, again, like Haiti. Of course, San Lorenzo is perhaps better understood as a conglomeration of the entire Caribbean, but the Haitian influence is perhaps strongest.

"Papa" Monzano, the sickly dictator who, despite publicly criminalizing Bokononism, practices it, has adopted the daughter of a Finnish architect, Mona, the beautiful mulatto. Mona, revered by the people of the island and renowned for her alluring looks, can be seen as an Erzulie symbol of feminine spirituality's highest form who, as she tells the narrator, John, loves everyone in the Bokononist sense of boka-maru. Though Bokonon's religion is, according to himself, lies, one sees in how Mona relates to nearly everyone a genuine sense of love, perhaps inculcated during her youth when Bokonon tutored her and Castle's son.

This Caribbean island's propagator of myth, Bokonon, an old Negro from Tobago, who lives in the jungle, gave meaning to the people of San Lorenzo through religious lies while his friend, McCabe, ruled as a despot organizing the people against Bokonon. Oddly, everyone in the island is a Bokononist, driving the conflict in the novel and the absurdity of religion and science. Instead of finding a way to preach the 'truth' and uplift the impoverished people of San Lorenzo, preaching lies (fomas) through Bokononism has given an epic meaning to the lives of the people. Similarly, science also plays a similar role as "magic" that can also mislead and destroy, as one can see in Felix Hoenikker and his children's use of ice-nine (or the atomic bomb, which Felix helped develop). Human nature, faith, and science are all at fault here in this apolcalyptic world created during the height of the Cold War.

To a certain extent, the religion founded by Bokonon is loosely based on Vodou in Haiti (a stigmatized religion that, at times, was illegal). Of course, Haiti under Duvalier did not penalize practicing Vodou nor did it adopt the anti-Vodou rhetoric employed by "Papa" Monzano. This is about where comparisons between Vodou and Bokononism should end, unless one wishes to comment on religion generally. The Christian priest, Humana, also offers an interesting creolized take on Christianity that is reminiscent of Haitian Vodou, but rejected during the death rites of "Papa" Monzano.

Besides appearing as an important influence in Vonnegut's idea of the apocalypse and end of humanity (which makes sense, for what other region of the world has witnessed so much tragedy and terror as the Caribbean, the first site of genocide in the Americas?), Haiti and the Caribbean as a whole are forerunners in the creation of modernity, where the excesses of capitalism, religion, and science have fueled human suffering on a grand scale.

Les Léopards

Some lovey kadans from the Antilles with delightful saxphone. 

Henri Christophe

Check out Kreyolicious's short video on Henri Christophe. This is much better than the previous videos in the series and features superior narration. This is a useful introduction to a complex and important figure in Haitian history. 

Deadeye Dick

"Bernard Ketchum, our resident shyster here at the Grand Hotel Oloffson, says that Haitian refugees should follow the precedent set by white people, and simply discover Florida or Virginia or Massachusetts or whatever. They could come ashore, and start converting people to voodooism."

Kurt Vonnegut's Deadeye Dick is an enjoyable satire in which Rudy Waltz and his world in Midland City, Ohio  also includes numerous references to the Cold War, social norms, gender, family, art, and Haiti. In fact, there is a great book review by a Haitianist here. Haitian Vodou, the Hotel Oloffson, and the use of Haiti as a symbol for New York but also as an alternative to Europe and the US figures prominently here. Similarly, the influence of African-Americans is omnipresent in this small Ohio city (segregated, racist, and all the Waltz family servants are black), as well as the source of the 'peephole' analogy for existence Rudy picks up from an African-American woman incarcerated for attacking a racist white man. 

I think Haiti's significance and deeper symbolic meaning beyond standing for New York City is also present in what, at times, read as a critique against American civilization. So, although the novel certainly takes up the notion that life is meaningless, the novel's use of Haiti and the present tense in the Creole (Vonnegut bends truth and fiction in various ways for this novel, and one case involved a claim that Haitian Creole only uses the present tense) suggests that very point, that past and future are tied to the present in the sense of a meaningless existence, but also critical of US hegemony and the violence of whites. Thus, on the issue of race, Vonnegut's progressive views satirize Nazi racial theories, white supremacy, and even play on the farmers's conspiracy theory regarding the neutron bomb as being a plot by the Ku Klux Klan to restore slavery!

All in all, a very interesting and engaging read. Haitian 'voodooism,' conjuring up the ghost of Fairchild, wealthy heiresses, the death of small towns in America, etc. are all part of this exceedingly strange novel that, though haunting at times, is humorous. I intend to read Cat's Cradle tomorrow, which also contains clear evidence of Haitian influences in the Caribbean San Lorenzo headed by a President named "Papa" and the Bokonism which bears an uncanny resemblance to the Haitian boko.

Elio Villafranca's Caribbean Tinge

Watch this fascinating video with Cuban jazz pianist Elio Villafranca. Villafranca discusses his origins, his Cuban upbringing, and the 'Caribbean tinge' that is part of jazz's history. Instead of calling it 'Spanish tinge' like Jelly Roll Morton, Villafranca assertively reclaims jazz's broader pan-Caribbean origins. For more, check out "Caribbean Tinge" from Villafranca's band.

Urban Life in the Caribbean: A Study of a Haitian Urban Community

Michel Laguerre analyzes the low-income Belair neighborhood of Port-au-Prince based on field research in the mid-1970s. Looking at Haitian urban communities in the midst of the Duvalier dictatorship in a Caribbean primate city that can also be generalized through dependency theory for other 'Third World' primate cities, Laguerre's work is relevant to broader Caribbean Urban Studies or History. Moreover, Belair is the oldest neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, stronghold of the urban proletariat since the 19th century, but divided into two separate communities: 1. Lower Belair full of middle-class homes, full of shops, streetlights, and institutions and 2. Upper Belair, consisting of poor, shack housing, mostly treeless, fritay social events on Friday nights, open Vodou practice, lakou family formations, borlette lottery numbers.

Laguerre's work brings to life the lively albeit marginalized population of Upper Belair. They can be seen as part of a localized dependency theory within the context of the primate city of Port-au-Prince. Or, to paraphrase Laguerre, Upper Belair suffers from an internal structural dependency on the Haitian elite and the Haitian state. Removed to the periphery of socio-economic status or social mobility, the retailers and laborers of Upper Belair depend on wealthier wholesalers in Lower Belair or other middle-class and elite neighborhoods of the city. Even the numbers game played by residents of Upper Belair is placed in a dependent relationship upon wealthier owners, often of Arab descent. Fortunately, the community pooled resources together through the sangue, a system of rotating credit that facilitated access to outside capital or loans.

In terms of political power, Belair is also lacking. Instead, the dreaded tonton makout represent the state and dominate the neighborhood politically and socially (many a makout were also Vodou priests with sway and other sources of power in the area). The author also explains how Vodou was central to Duvalierism in Belair because it was through Vodou that many lakous and families were oriented, which meant using the houngan as a makout and neighborhood spy reinforced the authority of the state. Laguerre also suggests that those representing Duvalier in Belair had an incentive to not start new projects or innovative programs because a rise of their popularity in the neighborhood could be interpreted as a threat or attempt to make Duvalier look bad.

In terms of job prospects, most men were unemployed, a few toiled as skilled workers or artisans, and some found factory jobs outside the neighborhood, but this only perpetuates their dependency since the forms of employment available to residents were often low income to begin with. The rural lakou also survived rural to urban migration in Belair, becoming a dispersed urban family structure. But infiltration of the lakou through Vodou priests, local officials, and the broader dependency of the community on the rest of the city weakened any attempts to overthrow the existing order. The genius of Duvalierism was its ability to infiltrate nearly every aspect of Haitian society, and in slums like Upper Belair, that included Vodou, which stood at the center for many families and community functions.

Through the lens of dependency theory, one can clearly see how Upper Belair is symptomatic of broader patterns of Haitian, Caribbean, and 'Third World' dependency and underdevelopment. As in the previous review I wrote for The Military and Society in Haiti, a fascinating project to continue Laguerre's research in Belair would be of interest for post-1986. Without Duvalier, how has that 'liberated' political discourse and action in the neighborhood? Are there any new ways in which areas like Belair of Port-au-Prince are, presumably, still on the periphery? From personal experience in Port-au-Prince, it seems importers and wholesalers still pull the strings while the neighborhood retailers and consumers pay more with less means.

The Military and Society in Haiti

“This book is a structural and hermeneutic analysis of civil-military relations in Haiti as canvassed through the magnifying lenses of a social anthropologist. My interest in studying this aspect of the security system in Haiti began to develop after the collapse of the Duvalier dynasty, when I reached the conclusion that one cannot understand the behavior of the Haitian political system without paying attention to the military. After all, it is an empirical fact that the majority of Haitian presidential regimes have been headed by generals. This observation leads us to study the military not simply as bureaucracy but also as government.”

Laguerre's analysis of the role of the military in Haitian society is rooted in an equilibrium theory of civil-military relations wherein the stability of  a political system capable of preventing military intervention is the result of 3 sets of balanced relationships, premised on 3 relationships: between military and civil society, between the military and civil government, and between the civil society and civilian government. Grounding his approach in this equilibrium theory, Laguerre's structural analysis is encompassing of the dynamics of civil and military society in Haiti. 

In order to examine the exchange between the military and civil society in Haiti as an interstate system, Laguerre studies the historical evolution of the military in Haiti, which, as he illustrates, was never powerful enough to act on its own without civil society (just as distinctions between civil and military rule were often blurred or unclear). Indeed, Laguerre discusses numerous examples of the overlap in this interstate system of Haiti, such as Masonic groups, military officials holding power in civil society and vice versa, family ties, businesses, and professions.

Due to social segmentation along class, color, and regional lines, the interstate system exhibited some of the weaknesses of the Haitian state apparatus that allowed factions from the military and/or civil society to capitalize on or spark political instability. Furthermore, as a result of the Haitian Revolution, this military state system emerged as the earliest political model, which evolved into a series of military dictators who ruled in Port-au-Prince but used lower ranking military leaders to administer the rest of the country, a process that contributed to regional competition and coups.

Thus, the various coups that characterized Haiti from 1843-1915, or perhaps, the political instability throughout its history, can be seen as rooted in the failure of a balance between military and civil society, civil society and civilian goverment, and civil society and civilian government. Indeed, Mimi Sheller has made similar arguments about the problems of the Haitian state system from the Revolution to now: the failure of the civil society and civilian government to subordinate the military appartus to civilian interests. Nothing serves to demonstrate this better than directly from Laguerre describing the 19th century military in Haiti on page 18:

The central argument is that because the army served both as the government and a bureaucratic institution of the state and because of the militarization of civil society, the coup d’etat was the outcome of an alliance between regional military units and segments of the civilian population under their aegis. The coup d’etat came about during a crisis period when the government was loosing its support from at least a regional military unit and a segment of the general civilian population; Therefore civilian support is seen as an important factor for the success of a coup d’etat.

Changes wrought by US Occupation eroded some of the militarization of civil government and strengthened political centralization of the military and government in Port-au-Prince (US Occupation also professionalized the military, profoundly transforming it from the largely unprofessional 19th century Haitian army). This played a role in the weakening of regional demarcations that contributed to instability and the frequency of coup d'etats. Laguerre argues that the rise of civilian militias under Duvalier further counterbalanced the supremacy of the military, but Baby Doc's changes in Duvalierism brought the military/state dynamic further into the center, thereby paving the way for the military to eventually have the power to stage another coup in 1986.

Laguerre's book adequately and with great detail eludicates the motivations and structural inadequecies that fueled political instability and the lack of democratization in Haiti. The conflict over the 'spoils' of the presidency, the willingness of civil Haitian elites and power-brokers to form coalitions with certain military leaders for power, the high rates of coups and rebellions, weaker military centralization and professionalization encouraged corruption, and the need to maintain and protect Haitian sovereignty in the first place (though the Haitian military was for more engaged in attacks on Haiti rather than external enemies) combined to prevent Haitian democratization and development. Foreign businesses and legations backing coups, and civil elites willing to side with various factions of the military also contributed to the predicament of cyclic coups and regional conflicts that characterized Haiti before 1915. Laguerre describes the military/civil relationship as being altered by Occupation, but the basic systemic problems remained in place or worsened as centralization in Port-au-Prince and the reconstituted Haitian army (Garde) were more organized, but no less corrupt as the institution took on a bureaucratic form.

This is not to suggest the military could not assume a 'guardian' relationship with civil society, and the 1940s and 1950s saw just that as broad-based military-civil coalitions unseated Lescot and propped up successors. According to Laguerre, Papa Doc depoliticized the military by attaining supremacy over it, and through his paramilitary organization, was able to draw in military and civilian society. By 1986, the military-civil dynamic reverted to a stronger military, which is partly analyzed by Laguerre for the late '80s. One would love to see read Laguerre's opinions on what followed in the 1990s with Raoul Cedras, the elimination of Haiti's army, and conditions on the ground today as Martelly has voiced a wish to revive the Haitian army. An interesting follow-up to Laguerre's work on Haiti from Aristide to Martelly would be enlightening since former military officials and paramilitary groups have clearly engaged in human rights abuses and violence for political ends. The same dynamic continues as descendants of the Haitian military with civil class and political allies continue to subordinate the development of democratization.

Other interesting aspects of the text abound. Laguerre even discusses the role of Vodou in the Haitian military (as a source of power, divine providence and legitimacy for military leaders such as Merisier Jeannis, Hyppolite, and Henri Christophe). Specific praetorian guards, military specialization, military academies, the institutionalization of corruption and abuse, and how the militarized governance fostered endemic instability are convincingly explained. One can see how Firmin's goals in reforming Haiti's politics failed in the face of increasing instability and economic decline, and how even he was forced to take a military title for his unsucessful attempts to become President. 

Georges Woke Up Laughing: Long-Distance Nationalism and the Search for Home

Georges Woke Up Laughing: Long-Distance Nationalism and the Search for Home by Georges Eugene Fouron and Nina Glick Schiller is an interesting exploration of Haitian-American identities and long-distance nationalism. The co-authored text uses the Fouron family as a springboard for discussion of concepts pertaining to immigration, nationalism, race, culture, family and kinship ties in a transnational context. In addition to using Fouron's nuclear and extended family, Schiller's own experience as a Jewish American descendant offers an interesting comparative perspective based on Jewish assimilation in the US, cultural ties to their European origins, or Zionist sentiments. In one sense, Jewish Americans are similar to Black immigrants, such as Haitians, based on their 'long-distance nationalism' as well as a shared degree of exclusion from mainstream white America. Fouron and Schiller also have light-hearted, tender moments of their own family histories, particularly Fouron and his extended family network in Les Cayes and the Haitian capital. Anyone searching for an intimate look at Haitian-American identities through the lens of long-distance nationalism that binds Haitians of the Diaspora with those in the island will not be disappointed.

Toussaint Louverture: A Biography

"All that the negroes lack is a leader courageous enough to carry them to vengeance and carnage. Where is he, this great man, that nature owes to its vexed, oppressed, tormented children? Where is he? He will appear, do not doubt it. He will show himself and will raise the sacred banner of liberty. This venerable leader will gather around him his comrades in misfortune. More impetuous than the torrents, they will leave everywhere ineffaceable traces of their just anger."
― Abbé Raynal 

Madison Smartt Bell has written a very accessible but detailed biography of Toussaint Louverture. Inclusive of Toussaint Louverture's origins, the broader story of the Haitian Revolution, its context, and the diplomatic and military engagements this book is perfect for initiates in the study of Saint Domingue/Haiti. In addition to being useful as an introductory, this text also taught myself a few things, too (such as Moyse being the adopted nephew of Toussaint, and possibly a former slave owned by Toussaint). The specific way in which Toussaint Louverture fell for Leclerc's trap, his time imprisoned in the cold Jura Mountains, and Bell's conjecture pertaining to Toussaint's thought processes, diplomacy, economic interests, etc. from 1791 to 1803 are informative. What was strange was the author's somewhat ambivalent stance on the question of a royalist conspiracy behind the 1791 slave revolt, especially because Bell acknowledges how unlikely and insane the the idea was (but he does allude to instances where Toussaint, Rigaud, and other significant players in the tale of the Haitian Revolution orchestrated coups or revolts that only they could crush for power plays and manipulation).

Furthermore, Bell might be stretching the truth by describing Toussaint as a Vodouisant. He refers to Toussaint's quasi-Vodou references to spirits in his writings, the fact that Toussaint wore a red head-band or headress symbolizing Ogou Feraille, and one white writer (who described Toussaint in racist terms through her father, who worked with the 'Black General') who mentions an incident that might be trance or spirit possession. There is no incontrovertible evidence Toussaint practiced Vodou, although I suppose there is nothing to prove conclusively he did not, either (after all, devout Catholics like Toussaint were and are known to also practice Vodou in Haiti). Regardless, it is pure speculation on the part of the author that Toussaint practiced Vodou, and sought to use both the 'left hand' and 'right hand' to achieve a balance spiritually and politically.

Another flaw was a consistent reductionist model applied to conflicts that emerged between free 'coloreds' and blacks, free 'coloreds' and whites, and whites vs. 'blacks.' For instance, when discussing the conflict between Toussaint Louverture and Rigaud, Bell recognizes that mulattoes served under Toussaint just as blacks fought for Rigaud, yet the fighting is still reduced to a black vs. mulatto/color war. I am not sure if this is a result of an attempt to simplify the vicissitudes of the Haitian Revolution, but it contradicts some of the nuances and social complexities of Saint Dominguan society and the revolutionary period Toussaint Louverture shaped.

Ultimately, Toussaint Louverture's complexity, contradictions, and greater meaning and symbolism for world history can be gleamed from solely a cursory read of this work. Not only full of information and specificity for the various phases of the Haitian Revolution, Bell's biography examines the origin stories for Toussaint Louverture, his experiences as a slave and wealthy free black, the color nuances, conflicts between civil and military leadership in the course of the Haitian Revolution, the role of the slave and ex-slave masses, and the future of racial harmony and an end to racial discrimination, 200 years before its time. Although I have a few quibbles, Toussaint Louverture: A Biography is a worthwhile portrait of the 'Black General' who guaranteed the liberty of Saint Domingue. For more detailed, academic writings on Toussaint Louverture, certainly read anything from Laurent Dubois, Carolyn Fick, and CLR James. 

Thérèse Françoise Bonne Boyer

Thérèse Françoise Boyer, sister of Haitian president Jean-Pierre Boyer. I have not found much information about her, but according to a Haitian genealogy website, she died in exile in Jamaica, where she presumably went with her brother and his entourage after he 1843 coup that unseated the dictator. Amazing photos of Haiti's history can be found from the Facebook album, " Physionomie de St. Domingue et d'Haiti, à travers le temps" that has made the rounds on the site. 

The Unknown Maroon

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The famous Neg Mawon by Albert Mangonès photographed in 1970. LaGrace Benson has written a worthy tribute to this important Haitian architect and sculptor, as did Kreyolicious. 

Freedom's Mirror: Cuba and Haiti in the Age of Revolution

Ada Ferrer's Freedom's Mirror: Cuba and Haiti in the Age of Revolution is a welcome addition to the growing scholarly work on the Haitian Revolution's impact in the Caribbean. Moreover, it proves decisively the link between the rise of independent Haiti and 19th century Cuba's transformation into a center of slavery and sugar production. Ferrer's informative text included intensive coverage of certain episodes in the Haitian Revolution I was not familiar with, such as the role of Cubans in the Spanish forces that were, for a time, allied with the rebel slaves in the north of Saint Domingue. By focusing on the writings and experiences of Cubans in that time, Ferrer speaks directly to how Cuba, while facing black revolt in the nearby colony, was determined to cultivate the sugar-slavery complex that required black slavery. In addition, the rise of marronage and slave resistance in eastern Cuba in the aftermath of the Haitian Revolution and rapid increases in slave imports was also of interest, as well as the influence of important planters and intellectuals in 19th century Cuba (mainly Francisco de Arango y Parreño). In the end, Ferrer's work furthers the recent contribution from Matthew J. Smith on the importance of inter-Caribbean historical relations and exchange, one that has often been just as momentous or significant in the history of the Caribbean as the actions of the Western powers.

Haitian Aid Fraud

An interesting discussion with Jake Johnston on some of the problems with foreign aid and relief efforts 5 years after the earthquake. For those interested in just discussion on that subject, watch this link. Johnston does an excellent job demolishing some of the myths about foreign aid and NGOs working in Haiti.

God Loves Haiti

"And picking apart the nation's colorful, sorrowful, and thrilling history is all Haitians do. It's a sport, the fucking national pastime. History is all we have to take pride in, since our greatest achievement occurred in 1804 and we haven't contributed fuck-all to humanity in the intervening two centuries save a few good books and paintings."

Just finished Dimitry Elias Léger's God Loves Haiti, an addictive novel worth reading that imagines post-earthquake Haiti through Dantean lens. It's also part of a flourishing literary output by Haitian-American writers, such as Roxane Gay's acclaimed An Untamed State. While the Kindle version seems to have some errors, this short novel can be read in a day, which may be one of its weaknesses. It also struck me as strange that Alain did not notify his parents after surviving the earthquake, and how they could not know he was alive despite him appearing on television for his leadership role in the Place Pigeon refugee camp (appearing with 'Steve,' called Hollywood by Alain, who is based on Sean Penn). Furthermore, the former president based on Aristide lacked any real relevance to this tale, so I am not sure why his presence was included in the novel.

However, the novel's characters are likable and the perhaps not so subtle commentary on Preval, Aristide the international community, and the response to the horrendous goudou-goudou are necessary to counter the horrific views of many abroad, such as the infamous Pat Robertson. Indeed, Monsignor Dorélien believes that Haitians are among God's chosen people, that the earthquake that destroyed their world was a test like those of Biblical times. Léger also has a way of praising Haiti and the people without romanticizing its troubled history. For instance, he writes about how beautiful Port-au-Prince is as Alain's car is flying with him in tow above the city during the earthquake: 

From the sky, strangely, Port-au-Prince looked uncommonly beautiful. He hadn't visited Paris yet, but surely Paris couldn't be as beautiful as his hometown, this jewel of the Caribbean, this diamond in the rough, when viewed from the driver's seat of a car launched two hundred meters above sea level. Awesome. Natasha, he thought, I have got to show her this.

Indeed, one of the more memorable scenes in the novel is the President's vision of himself and all preceding Haitian heads of state at the gates of Heaven, making their case to Saint Peter. Dessalines and Duvalier have some interesting exchanges with Saint Peter in that scene. Likewise, the author does an excellent job capturing the city of Port-au-Prince and the scenes during and after the earthquake. It was depressing but light reading that breathed life into some of Port-au-Prince's landmarks (the National Cathedral assumes great importance for Natasha, and the novel's final scene) and Haitian history. In truth, one should see Port-au-Prince as more than the setting for this love triangle amid such suffering, but as a character whose shapes, contours, and architecture affect the lives of the President, Alain, and Natasha. Life in the tent camps, a love story, Haiti's relationship with the Dominican Republic, death, imperialism, and the significance of history in Haiti as a 'national pastime' all emerge as important themes that shape the novel. 

Impressively, Legér manages to create humor in the most tragic and unexpected places, such as the President's trip to the UN for a meeting with the real powers (the US, France, and other powers on the UN Security Council) who orchestrate the relief effort and pull the strings on the Haitian political system. In the end, people of all walks of life are thrown together as a result of the last thing Haitians expected to turn on them, the earth, and the results are seen in the collective mourning, grave digging teams, tent organizations and their leaders, and ultimate triumph of love and solidarity in the face of insurmountable obstacles, which provides the opportunities for redemption for the President, Alain, and Natasha.

René Depestre with Mao

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René Depestre with Mao Zedong in 1961. As Haitian History on Tumblr states, Depestre is a former Communist,now living in France. Though I have only read Festival of the Greasy Pole, the more famous Hadriana dans Tous mes Rêves has been praised and summarized for me by a young reader from Jacmel. For more information, read the original source of this photo, "La France et Haiti."

Yvon Louissaint et les Antillais

Some amazing Haitian compas to counteract a cold day. Try to stay warm. 

Les Kombass Play Haitian Music

"Loulou" is a beautiful Haitian meringue from the French Antilles. Featuring the legendary Henri Debs and Kombass, one can only expect high quality work. Debs would later make a name for himself as a producer of zouk music after playing in bands in the 1950s and 1960s. For more of their music, listen to their lively (and jazzy) biguine, "A Mon Ami Al Lirvat" I highly recommend reading Zouk: Music World in the West Indies by Jocelyn Guilbaut for more information.

Merengue From Cape Verde

An interesting merengue from a Cape Verdean legend, Luis Morais. The song alludes to an earlier relationship between music of the French Antilles and Cape Verde given the French Creole title which shares the same name with a song from Remy Mondey. Because of the popularity of zouk in Cape Verde, and zouk's origins in Haitian compas, which itself has links to Dominican merengue, one can see roots and routes going all directions in the music of the Black Atlantic.

Faces and Places

A jazz classic from Ornette Coleman. This live recording from the Golden Circle in Stockholm is one of Coleman's best, featuring David Izenon and Charles Moffett. Coleman also takes up the violin and trumpet on this concert, with interesting results. What I love about Coleman is how despite his free jazz styles, one can detect his roots in blues and bop. 

Jazz des Jeunes Happy New Year

The immortal Jazz des Jeunes wish us a Happy New Year! Found this lovely gem floating around on Twitter, and had to share it here, as well. Bonne année!

Watts Towers

I was recently in Los Angeles, and had to visit the Watts Towers. Here are a few photos of the Towers and the surrounding area.

From Columbus to Castro: The History of the Caribbean 1492-1969

From Columbus to Castro: The History of the Caribbean 1492-1969 by Eric Williams may be one of the most comprehensive general histories of the Caribbean ensconced in the school of cliometrics. Although I have yet to read Capitalism and Slavery, the magnum opus of the author, From Columbus to Castro is similarly focused on economic history, data illustrated in various tables, and figures. Combining an economic perspective with one of social and political history, Williams successfully weaves together the story of the Caribbean region from 1492 to 1969 in 500 pages without losing sight of the common themes, histories, and experiences that unite the Caribbean. Spanish conquest, piracy, colonialism, slavery, emancipation, the Haitian Revolution, the 'sugar revolution,' conflict beetween European powers, US imperialism, the road to independence in the British Caribbean, and the Cuban Revolution all receive adequate mention and analysis in a way that tends to emphasize the agency of subaltern actors and the social relations in the broader context of European colonialism. Williams goes to great lengths to demonstrate the importance of trade, contraband, mercantilism, and free trade as shifts in relations within the region and a product of and contributor to the growth of capitalism. I won't go into the intense scholarly debate on Eric Williams's approach to the question of British emancipation, but surely Williams deserves broader recognition for initiating the scholarly discussion on the links between capitalism and slavery.