Thursday, June 5, 2014
Reevaluating Haitian History
Check out this interesting interview on Haitian history featuring Alyssa Sepinwall. If I remember correctly, she is the sister of one of my favorite TV critics, Alan Sepinwall. Nothing too shocking here, but worth checking out for a clear, relatively unbiased interpretation of Haitian history that does not follow media stereotypes.
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Hi Yves, Alan's big sister here. :) I'm glad you found the interview and found it interesting. I did the interview right after the earthquake and felt very frustrated that more people did not understand what had produced the conditions in which Haiti found itself; CNN's superficial coverage really irked me. I ended up creating a new class at my university on Haitian history, and then published my book Haitian History: New Perspectives (Routledge, 2012). It didn't get the same attention as Alan's book on television history :), but I think you might enjoy it as well. In addition to a selection of 15 of what I consider the best recent essays on Haiti, from colonialism to after the earthquake, I have overviews of the state of Haitian history, and long bibliographies of for further reading, which many readers have found valuable. Happy blogging, and thanks for mentioning the interview.
ReplyDeleteAlyssa Sepinwall (who should be writing but found your blog instead :))
Thank you so much for taking the time to comment, Professor Sepinwall. I have come across your Haitian History: New Perspectives and read some of the essays, but must go back and complete it soon. And thank you and your brother for being great writers!
DeleteHello Yves, I'll pass your comment onto my mother - she and my late father deserve much of the credit for being early readers of our drafts! You might be interested in a review I did of a French miniseries on Toussaint Louverture (http://h-france.net/fffh/maybe-missed/happy-as-a-slave-the-toussaint-louverture-miniseries/). Alan's and my worlds overlap sometimes: as he has been writing more about television history, I've been doing more historical film criticism! As you'll see, I did not like the miniseries very much. But there needs to be a good film on the Haitian Revolution!
ReplyDeleteAlyssa
Thank you, I enjoyed reading your review. You are right, from talking to French people I've met in the US and Africa, they seem to have forgotten all about the Haitian Revolution and Haiti. Please, share my blog around if you think it's worthy. Also, could you comment on the relationship between the Abbe Gregoire and Toussaint Louverture? Oswald Durand, who has appeared on this blog in the past, asked that question of me before, but obviously I am not as prepared as you to delve into that question.
DeleteThanks!
Hello Yves,
DeleteToussaint and Grégoire were in contact, but there is much less information on their relationship than on Grégoire's relationships with later Haitian leaders like Christophe and Boyer (which I talk about in my Abbé Grégoire book, ch. 8). Toussaint did invite Grégoire to send like-minded Catholic priests to Saint-Domingue, and Grégoire spent some time thinking about how to revive the Church in Saint-Domingue. But the one priest he sent there (Guillaume Mauviel) had a falling out with Toussaint and eventually left the island. I mention this briefly in my book but Ruth Necheles' biography of Grégoire has a bit more detail.
Happy blogging! I'll have to check out the songs you mentioned.
Alyssa
Thank you! I recall reading about the falling out between Mauviel and Toussaint in your book. Unfortunately, I didn't have much of a chance to read it in depth because I was in the middle of exams at the time, but I'll have to return to it soon. If possible, could I interview you about Haitian history one of these days?
Delete