Nick Stone's Mr. Clarinet

Crime fiction writer Nick Stone, son of a Haitian mother and Scottish historian, Norman Stone, has written quite the thriller. Mr. Clarinet at its best moments is as suspenseful and engaging as Walter Mosley's writings, meaning that it's impossible to put down. Nonetheless, I am quite disappointed that a writer of Haitian descent, who has spent years in his mother's home, would write a novel full of so many stereotypes, concocted tales of superstition, rumors and savagery. Nick Stone obviously knows Haiti well enough to write about a missing child case without delving so deep into the occult and completely made up claims regarding Haitian history, but hey, that's what sells. Write a book about Haiti, throw in zombies, black magic, child sacrifice, 'voodoo,' and exceptional violence.

At the novel's conclusion, the occult is revealed to not have the role one thinks, and the novel plays on the 'superstition.' The protagonist grows on the reader, too, although only because the mystery at the heart of the novel compels the reader to finish. I originally intended to read the next Max Mingus thriller, which is about the past investigation into Boukman in Miami, but I think I have read enough tales about child sacrifice by Haitians.

Samba for Friday

Enjoy this beautiful samba for Friday evening. Criolo's "Fermento pra Massa" is one of the best of the contemporary Brazilian music I have listened to lately.

Anatomy of Resistance: Anti-Colonialism in Guyana, 1823-1966

Watch this interesting interview with scholar Maurice Perry, author of Anatomy of Resistance: Anti-Colonialism in Guyana, 1823-1966. His book is an ambitious project on an important Caribbean nation often overlooked, tracing the resistance to colonialism and slavery from the 19th century to decolonisation.

Maison Altieri

Learn about the famous Altieri house in Cap-Haitien. The Altieri were a business family of Corsicans who ran the largest department store in Cap-Haitien. The architectural history of Cap-Haitien is full of interesting buildings such as the maison Altieri.

Stokely Carmichael

Enjoy this special Carib Nation episode on Stokely Carmichael, an important figure in the history of the Civil Rights Movement in the US, Pan-Africanism, Black Power, the international Black Left, and a Caribbean-American from Trinidad! It's excellent to not forget Carmichael's immigrant roots and Caribbean influences in his politics and outlook.

Francis Johnson and Haiti

Source

How many people are aware that famed African-American composer and bandleader, Francis Johnson, was an avid believer in Haiti? Like many free blacks of the North, he seems to have looked favorably on Haitian independence. So much so, in fact, that he composed "Recognition March of the Independence of Hayti" after France finally recognized their former colony's independent status. Unfortunately, I have not come across any recordings of this song, but its an interesting case of historical links between Haiti and African-Americans.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

As a fan of Blade Runner, I had to read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? I like it a lot, even though its quite different from the Blade Runner film. Philip K. Dick has a way of engaging the reader with dense symbolism, foreshadowing, suspense, and a truly horrific dystopic future. And, naturally, the deeper philosophical questions about what it means to be human, and what are the differences between the already blurred line between android and human. Last but certainly not least, Rachel is actually more interesting in this novel than the film, and Iran, Deckard's wife, is a positive influence on empathy for Deckard.

I think it's interesting as well how the novel strengthens all those aforementioned points by highlighting the 'special,' Isidore (which reminded me of the masses in Vonnegut's Player Piano, and also the classic story, Flower For Algernon just because we have a sympathetic mentally disabled character), the Sisyphean religion, Mercerism (which reminded me of Camus's take on the myth of Sisyphus through existentialist lens), slavery and colonialism (it's quite overt and more detailed in the novel what's going on with the corporations manufacturing androids, human colonization off-planet) and exploring the question of empathy in the human experience.

Given the catastrophic aftermath of World War Terminus, the highly unequal, depopulated world devoid of most animal life, and the disturbing tendency of some bounty hunters (Phil Resch, namely) to enjoy killing androids, who are organic entities and becoming more human with each new model, one must say that humanness should be conceptually extended to recognize humanoid robots capable of expressing true feeling for others. Much like the issue of slavery in the not too long ago American past, there is an economic motive for the corporations producing android slaves for colonial expansion, and that requires dehumanization and exploitation.

I could rant excessively about this novel, so I'll stop here. Due to its medium and the time it was written in, this book still holds up quite well. Its exploration of the condition of 'specials' and the dystopic society on an Earth decimated by fall-out and dust was also informative, since it provided another way of looking at the lack of empathy among so-called humans. The use of Penfield mood organs and Mercerism fusion to get humans to feel empathy is also pertinent to the question of how technology can help humanity.

Yoyo

This is a beautiful rendition of Haitian meringue, "Yoyo" with a full orchestra. I could do without the English words thrown in, but I love the orchestra. Of course, I still prefer Raoul Guillaume's version. 

Yon Ti Secret

Danielle Thermidor's "Yon Ti Secret" has been stuck in my mind this week. It's a very 'Latin' sounding song with an older meringue aesthetic I adore.

Kurt Vonnegut's Player Piano

“Don't you see, Doctor?" said Lasher. "The machines are to practically everbody what the white men were to the Indians. People are finding that, because of the way the machines are changing the world, more and more of their old values don't apply any more. People have no choice but to become second-rate machines themselves, or wards of the machines.” 

I finally finished Vonnegut's first novel, Player Piano. It is far more conventional than Vonnegut's later works, and lacking some of his characteristic writing. It does, however, have an influence on his later novels through the fictional city of Ilium, New York. Vonnegut also explores similar themes regarding technology, war, religion, and human nature through satire and absurdity in this fully automated society, dominated by engineers and managers. 

While the premise of the plot is quite common in dystopic science fiction (Player Piano reminds me of Brave New World), Vonnegut's future America is still relevant to our present and stands out because of some of his nascent penchant for subplots and dark humor. The chapters about the visiting Shah and Halyward were particularly amusing, since readers are allowed to see the horrors of American society automated and ruled by engineers. Indeed, these chapters were the most reminiscent of Vonnegut's future novels.

Those expecting some of the out there Vonnegut might be disappointed, but Player Piano features many of the same ideas, places, and themes pervasive in his work. Where it was weaker, in my opinion, is in the length of the story, which I think could be whittled down. Nevertheless, once halfway through the novel, things pick up and I could not help but think of his later novels, The Sirens of Titan, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater and Cat's Cradle, which explore similar themes regarding technology, war, religion, and America's class system. 

Player Piano is a complex, nuanced novel, one cannot help but think Vonnegut's ultimate aim here is to defend a 'middle way' between being fully dependent on machines and ensuring human life has purpose, or work to provide meaning to life. Also reflecting on the meaning of human existence, Vonnegut pursues this theme more impressively in Sirens of Titan.

Pictures of Port-au-Prince

A few weeks ago a Haitian academic emailed some fascinating pictures from CIDIHCA archives around. These two images are taken from there, and happen to be my favorites. The former, erected for the 1949 Bicentennial of Port-au-Prince, is interesting proof of how various Haitian governments have invested in or beautified Haitian cities. While the Exposition may have been, ultimately, unwise given the economic difficulties of the era, projects like these certainly made for nicer-looking cities!

Although I am not sure of the date for the second picture, it looks like something from the early 1900s. These street scenes of Caribbean cities over a century ago have always fascinated me. For aesthetic reasons, Port-au-Prince in wood looks much better than the concrete hovels all over the area today. 

Kindred

Octavia Butler's Kindred has been a fascinating neo-slave narrative that fits in quite well with my recent viewing of 12 Years A Slave. Matter of fact, Kindred is ripe for a film adaptation with its strong female protagonist and unique take on the slave narrative tradition. This book appeals to those in African American literature, speculative fiction, and historical fiction. The timelessness of the film and its specific take on the black women slave experience, as well as its portrait of domestic or house slaves is noteworthy. While being a believable portrayal of the antebellum South, the use of science fiction elements gives Butler more flexibility here, something impossible from historical slave narratives.

12 Years A Slave

12 Years A Slave was an interesting film, particularly in the treatment of gender, race, class (differing classes of whites appear in the film) and "free" status among African Americans (African-Americans in the North were hardly "free" given the rampant racism they encountered, as well as the numerous examples of re-enslavement).

The white mistress is shown in stereotypical ways, yes, but she has tremendous power on the plantation, something backed historically by scholars like Thavolia Glymph. Similarly of interest is the Black woman living like a mistress because of her relationship with the slaveholder, exemplifying how the enslaved are capable of buying into the system that oppresses them. The nuances of color are probably ignored here, but antebellum Louisiana certainly had its fair share of that dynamic that is unfortunately omitted in this film.

What I would've liked to see more of from this otherwise beautifully made and frightening project (with stunning visuals and music) is the multitude of ways in which the enslaved resisted. Sure, we see Solomon fight back against a white man, and acts of emotional resistance (and what might have been an attempt to runaway by Solomon). But one might get the impression from this film that the only way slaves could escape is by finding a benevolent or good-hearted white man to deliver a letter to the North. What about the runaways, who were everywhere in Louisiana during this time?

I suppose you can't fix 'everything' from Northrup's slave narrative into a film, but this is a fine attempt. Moreover, we see how slavery is literally embodied in the experiences of Patsey and Solomon, who bring to life how the enslaved conceived of their Hellish world. I'm still waiting on that Danny Glover film on the Haitian Revolution!

Jacmel, 1899-1906

Source

Check out some photographs of what Jacmel looked like circa 1899-1906. The photos seem to be part of a postcard series from a German. Here is another one of Jacmel below:

Jacmel has charm, and many beautiful buildings and surrounding area. For more photos of Jacmel, the Digital Library of the Caribbean has several, as well as the Blue Book of Hayti, an important source for photographs and descriptions of various Haitian towns from 1919-1920.  

Paulette

A Haitian classic in a majestic performance from Roger Colas and Orchestre Septentrional. "Paulette" is a beautiful song.

Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution

After recently rereading Black Jacobins, it is quite clear how James influenced Dubois's Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution. Both are committed to the Haitian Revolution as a moment of global historical importance (Dubois proclaims it as part of all of our heritage as a moment of human rights), both writers have sympathetic voices, and Dubois inherits a perspective on Caribbean slavery as embedded in European colonialism's capitalist system, thereby supporting the French economy and employment of millions of continental French. 

Where the two differ drastically lies in Dubois's attention to African influences behind the Haitian Revolution. Don't get me wrong, James does acknowledge the role of Vodou, but otherwise uses the language of his time to describe the majority-African population of Saint Domingue as "uncultured." Dubois's narrative is a product of this age, and his revisionist approach examines African political, military, religious, and social influences on population of African descent, as well as the role of women. This, ultimately, paints a fuller picture of Saint Domingue and the nuances of the Haitian Revolution while avoiding reductionist understandings of race. 

Dubois's narrative is also accessible to the average reader, and takes advantage of the recent new literature relevant to the Haitian Revolution and slavery. He also cites and demonstrates an avid interest in alternative sources beyond the archives, alluding to Vodou music and oral traditions as a historical source. Further exemplifying his difference from the Toussaint Louverture-centered narrative of James, Dubois admirably balances the contributions and conflicts of all social groups. Problematic in his analysis, however, is how Dubois avoids discussing real alternatives to the plantation system, nor does he give justice to Leclerc's ruse capturing Louverture. 

While very critical of Louverture, Rigaud, Sonthonax, Dessalines and Polverel (though he did allow room for estate councils and considerable flexibility for the emancipated) for the labor system they maintained on the cultivators, it is unsure and poorly defined what the peasant subsistence alternative will look like and could have operated, despite the coverage on the Moise rebellion. Alas, Dubois does address this issue in future work on Haiti after independence, but we're still left unsure as to why and how Louverture fell. Furthermore, while Dubois does an excellent job decentering the Haitian Revolution from the North by integrating all three provinces, one wishes for more in depth analysis of Rigaud's administration and what happened in the East. 

In conjunction, Avengers of the New World and Black Jacobins provide essential reading on the Haitian Revolution. The former tackles some of the weaknesses of the latter, while the latter informs the systemic criticisms of colonialism, a class analysis, and ardent democratic impulse of the former. Both are flawed texts in their own ways, of course, but Jacobins, through its focus on the 'great man' figure of Louverture, brings to the table important questions on how revolutions unfold. Moreover, he opines on the reasons for Louverture's capture and the failure of his leadership to motivate his base, who, for a lack of better terms, are left as undefined mass of black laborers, albeit very modern, in the text. Nonetheless, when read together, both are potent texts on the relevance of the Haitian Revolution to the question of freedom today. 

Cap Haitien Photos

Cap-Haitien ca. 1957

For anyone interested in historical photographs of Cap-Haitien, check out Laurent Quevilly's website for his book on Baron de Vastey. His site also includes contemporary photographs of historic Cap-Haitien and its residents.

The Black Jacobins and the Long Haitian Revolution

Watch an interesting presentation on the Haitian Revolution and The Black Jacobins by Caribbean scholar Anthony Bogues. He discusses influences on the writing of the seminal text, and the role of French Revolution and Marxist historiography.

Some More Skah Shah

Enjoy some classic compas from Skah Shah. In addition to "Caroline," I have enjoyed "Sentiment." This band always excels with a compas sound that is not shy about its 'Latin' influences.

Viva Ayiti

Some enjoyable Haitian music from Mario de Volcy in one of the early Haitian music videos. "Viva Ayiti" seems to capture the optimism and hope for a better Haiti after Baby Doc. 

The Black Jacobins

"But if, to re-establish slavery in San Domingo, this was done, then I declare to you it would be to attempt the impossible: we have known how to face dangers to obtain our liberty, we shall know how to brave death to maintain it."

CLR James has written the seminal English language text on the Haitian Revolution. After re-reading it for the third time, it becomes clearer how influential his analysis and prose of the text was to understanding Toussaint Louverture. The Black Jacobins places the Haitian Revolution in the broader history of revolution, compares it with the French and Russian Revolutions, notes parallels between Saint Domingue and colonial Africa (predicting decolonization), and still manages to put together social and class analysis within a broader critique of slavery, capitalism, and colonialism.

His influence on the work of Eric Williams is conspicuous in how the author links the merchant bourgeoisie of France to the slave trade and the ulterior motives of British abolition of the same trade. James's second edition of the work includes an appendix with a brief analysis of the Caribbean after the Haitian Revolution to the Cuban Revolution, thereby placing the 'Black Jacobins' into the larger picture of Caribbean history and struggle, too.

Of course, The Black Jacobins has its flaws, too. It is a product of its time and the particular colonial British West Indian education of James, who occasionally refers to the black masses of Saint Domingue as lacking in culture, and the like. Considering the original publication in the 1930s, and the type of education and knowledge accessible to Caribbean scholars regarding Africa, it is no surprise James does not really delve deeper into African influences and cultures in Saint Domingue beyond Vodou.

His treatment of the Haitian Revolution is most certainly centered on Toussaint Louverture and the military leadership of the blacks, as well as how Enlightenment ideology and the French Revolution shaped the political beliefs and ideals of the 'Black Jacobins.' James's portrayal of Toussaint is complex and certainly one of the more significant influences on how Madison Smartt Bell approaches the historical figure in a biography I reviewed here.

Unfortunately, Dessalines is not given the equal attention, nor are his motives and interests as clear, so James reduces Dessalines to a 'soldier' who did what was necessary to consolidate independence. Rigaud, Sonthonax, Leclerc, the early slave uprising of 1791, Toussaint receive far more coverage and more nuance than Dessalines, who James even refers to as 'barbarian.'

While one could take issue with his overt political bias and sometimes unnecessary wit, James manages to dismiss with thorough research many white supremacist takes on the Haitian Revolution. For instance, many European and North American scholars saw the blacks of Saint Domingue as unusually violent and savage in their reprisals against French colonists, but it was truly inherent violence and barbarism of colonists and the French forces that exceeded the responses of the oppressed. James also elucidates how white Americans and British influenced the massacres of the remaining whites in Haiti after independence, blaming the business interests of the two nations in wanting to prevent a strong French presence.

On the color and race question, James, coming from a Marxist perspective, sees the latter as subsidiary to the former. And while, at times, alluding to racism among the three groups in Saint Domingue, James is careful to note class distinctions and status among blacks, mulattoes, and whites that complicate easy assumptions about race relations. At times I felt as if James was stretching the truth to refer to the working masses of France as having abolitionist sympathies, given how weak the abolitionist movement in France was, say, compared to Britain. However, James complicates easy assumptions about Toussaint Louverture's conflict with Rigaud, preferring not to blame color as some lazy analysis might.

Overall, James has written a timeless study of the Haitian Revolution. His political bias notwithstanding, James persuasively links capitalism, slavery, and colonialism in a compelling narrative that explains the who, where, when, and why of Toussaint Louverture. While new sources have come to light that challenge some of the assertions of the author (Bell suggests Louverture had been free several years by 1791, and was a successful free black who owned a few slaves) and scholars know they must study the African dimensions of the Haitian Revolution and the role of subaltern agency.

Below are a few favorite quotes from the text:

"Men make their own history, and the black Jacobins of San Domingo were to make history which would alter the fate of millions of men and shift the economic currents of three continents" (25).

"But he accomplished what he did because, superbly gifted, he incarnated the determination of his people never, never to be slaves again" (198). 

"General Hédouville does not know that at Jamaica there are in the mountains blacks who have forced the English to make treaties with them? Well, I am black like them, I know how to make war, and besides I have advantages that they didn't have; for I can count on assistance and protection" (221).

"The cruelties of property and privilege are always more ferocious than the revenges of poverty and oppression" (88).

"The struggle of classes ends either in the reconstruction of society or in the common ruin of the contending classes" (128).

"The rich are only defeated when running for their lives" (78).

CLR James with Studs Terkel (1970)

Source

Listen to an important interview with CLR James on Terkel's radio program in Chicago. The two discuss Black Jacobins, Haiti, the Haitian Revolution, and the conspicuous presence of West Indians in the Black struggle.

Ada Ferrer on The Public Archive

Read this important interview with Cuban-American historian Ada Ferrer on her latest book, Freedom's Mirror. Anyone interested in how the Haitian Revolution impacted 19th century Cuba must read Ferrer.

Birth of Ghana

Ghana is the name we wish to proclaim!

Enjoy this Caribbean calypsonian's tribute to Ghanaian independence from 1957. Kitchener clearly held Kwame Nkrumah in high esteem, and Ghanaian independence was celebrated throughout the African diaspora.

Radio Haïti-Inter

Radio Haiti has been digitized! For all those interested in Jean Dominique, Haitian culture, politics, and history, one can even stream or download old shows. Included among the current recordings available on the site are an interview with Jean Price Mars, speeches from the Duvaliers, political and news commentary, and poetry readings of the works of Carl Brouard. Enjoy!

The Sirens of Titan

"If the questions don't make sense, neither will the answers."

Vonneget's The Sirens of Titan is the first Vonnegut novel I ever read. I read it for a high school science fiction course several years ago and, at the time, did not care for Vonnegut. I was perhaps too young and put off by the dense, philosophical debates contained in the novel. All I recall from the high school period was the plot and how confused this novel left me. It was also my first and only Vonnegut novel until last month, so I was unaccustomed and unfamiliar with Vonnegut's style, humor, and themes.

Now, after returning to The Sirens of Titan multiple years later, I have a greater appreciation for this novel, which is far more entrenched in the genre of science fiction than other works of Vonnegut. Vonnegut manages to comment on human existence, the purpose of said existence, religion, science, free will, family, and war. These aforementioned themes appear in several of Vonnegut's works. War, for example, in the inevitably doomed Martian invasion plotted by Rumfoord, was ultimately planned at great profits and sacrifice to bring about a "Brotherhood of Man." Organized religion, military conflict, exploitation of others, our favorite aliens (Tralfamadorians, machines from another galaxy), and just about anything you might expect Vonnegut to satirize humorously happens here.

Ultimately, my take on the novel is one of a compatibilist understanding of human existence and the purpose of life. There is more than one purpose of life hinted at by the text, and even when one accepts the proposition that all of human history on Earth has been orchestrated by Tralfamadorians and, more recently, Winston Niles Rumfoord (himself also a 'tool' being used by somebody), there is still highly personalized ways in which humans carry out their 'fate.' There seems to be a willingness on the part of Vonnegut to allow for more than one meaning of life, and even the Tralfamadorian machines were created by someone else, and, in the case of Salo, achieve human-like qualities of a highly personalized way of completing their destiny. Perhaps that is the arguably the main thrust of the work, that there may be some sort of God or Creator, someone who likes us above, but we still have agency in this world, regardless of the various religions we create to explain the why of our existence.

Below are some of my favorite quotations from the text, particularly those pertaining to the purpose of life.

"The moral: Money, position, health, handsomeness, and talent aren't everything."

"All persons, places, and events in this book are real. Certain speeches and thoughts are necessarily constructions by the author. No names have been changed to protect the innocent, since God Almighty protects the innocent as a matter of Heavenly routine."

"These unhappy agents found what had already been found in abundance on Earth--a nightmare of meaningless without end. The bounties of space, of infinite outwardness, were three: empty heroics, low comedy, and pointless death."

"If Rumfoord accused the Martians of breeding people as though people were no better than farm animals, he was accusing the Martians of doing no more than his own class had done. The strength of his class depended to some extent on sound money management--but depended to a much larger extent on marriages based cynically on the sorts of children likely to be produced."

"At the hospital they had said the most important rule of all was this one: Always obey a direct order without a moment's hesitation."

"When I ran my space ship into the chrono-synclastic infundibulum, it came to me in a flash that everything that ever has been always will be, and everything that ever will be always has been."

"It was literature in its finest sense, since it made Unk courageous, watchful, and secretly free. It had made him his own hero in very trying times."

"His ship was powered, and the Martian war effort was powered, by a phenomenon known as UWTB, or the Universal Will to Become. UWTB is what makes universes out of nothingness,--that makes nothingness insist on becoming somethingness."

"But Boaz had decided that he needed a buddy far more than he needed a means of making people do exactly what he wanted them to do. During the night, he had become very unsure of what he wanted people to do, anyway."

"I was a victim of a series of accidents, as are we all."

"The concessionaires knew all to well about Rumfoord's penchant for realism. When Rumfoord staged a passion play,  he used nothing but real people in real hells.

"As a machine, he had to do what he was supposed to do."

"The worst thing that could possibly happen to anybody," she said, "would be to not be used for anything by anybody."

 "It took us that long to realize that a purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved."

Joe Gaetjens, Football, and Haiti

Read about  Joe Gaetjens in this short but informative piece from Africa's a Country. It is always important and informative to be reminded of the role sports and other forms of popular culture in Haitian history, society, and politics. Also, my uncle was a footballer back in the day, so it's very reminiscent of some personal connections.

The Caribbean Spirits (CaribNation)

Watch CaribNation's interview with Ian Williams on the importance of Caribbean rum. Williams wrote a social history of Caribbean rum and its importance in the US War of Independence.

Emperor Jones (1933)

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Watch Paul Robeson in Emperor Jones, a play loosely inspired by Henri Christophe. The film is nothing special, but certainly worth watching because of Robeson's talent. The jazz is also worth checking out for those interested in such things. The Public Archive has written more about Robeson's relationship with Haiti here while Charles Forsdick and Christian Høgsbjerg have written extensively about an important Russian filmmaker's unfinished project about the Haitian Revolution that included like-minded leftist Robeson.