Myriam Chancy on Haiti and Latin America

Chancy is on point in describing the general approach in Latin American Studies to Haiti, which is one of exclusion or neglect (despite a shared history with the Dominican Republic). Based on my engagement of Latin American Studies in university, Haiti was almost always ignored or superficially included in "Latin America." Like Chancy says, in the realm of political science, Haiti could be lumped with "Latin America," often focusing on its negritude as a cause for its extreme poverty. Intriguingly, Chancy is part Dominican herself and interested in the DR's literature and history. She actually believes Dominican identity is weakened (yet economically stronger) than Haitian identity ideologically, something perhaps a little too much. What I find interesting is a pattern she observes in Dominican-American letters of increasing curiosity and acceptance of Haiti versus that of older generations of Dominican writers and their virulent anti-Haitian sentiment. Indeed, one can find evidence of that in Junot Diaz, for instance, but I wish Chancy gave some examples of other writers who are more willing to accept Dominican blackness (besides Silvio Torres-Saillant).