Thinking of Haiti

Although most "Haitian Studies" monographs coming out of US academia seems utterly irrelevant and detached from the harsh realities of Haiti today (particularly at this abysmal current moment), Stieber's Haiti's Paper Wars is probably the best work on Haiti (in English) in recent years. For some inexplicable reason, many North America-based scholars prefer to write about an alternative island nation called Haiti, one bearing little resemblance to the state everyone else knows by that name. To them, writing about Haiti is really about expressing their ideas and hopes of anti-colonialism, race, and alterity. It often has little if anything to do with Haiti or Haitian people, which we suspect to be one of the reasons for the irrelevance of most "Haitian Studies" academic writing. Fortunately, by centering Haitian literary and political thought, Haiti's Paper Wars engages with about 150 years of Haitian discourse on paths for Haiti's future. Everything from Dessalines and Madiou to de Catalogne and Louis Mercier is analyzed to contextualize Haiti's textual "war" of ideas within the grand narrative of Haitian history. This approach is refreshing for demonstrating what one can do with Haitian publications and texts and for not seeking to understand post-1804 Haiti solely through the lens of French neocolonialism or US imperialism. The Western powers undoubtedly played a role in Haiti's past misery and discord, but the problems of Haiti are mostly the result of Haitians themselves. Stieber's study demonstrates this through the ideological battles and disagreements among Haitians themselves since 1804, or really 1791. As a Haitian we have discussed this book with likes to say, Haitians never stopped fighting after 1804. 

Her dichotomy of a Dessalinean "empire of liberty" versus a pro-Enlightenment, pro-liberal republican tradition of the South does aptly describe the contrary political orientations of Haitian leaders for the last 2 centuries. The "imperial" tradition of Dessalines was inherited by Christophe, Soulouque, Janvier, and even 20th century intellectuals influenced by French Maurrasisme and Haitian integral nationalism. The other tradition, on the other hand, stems from the first republic, southern political, historical and literary writings, and a civilizationist discourse of leaders such as Geffrard, who suppressed Vodou. Stieber's amply documented sources generally support this binary along regional, ideological, and political lines as northerners like Christophe channeled the Dessalinean tradition and 20th century literary figures developed the peasant story and Cap-Haitien-based intellectual circles. Soulouque's self-declared empire also followed the Dessalinean critique of the modern West while intellectuals such as Janvier participated in the critique of liberal republicanism's failure to incorporate the peasantry.

Those following in the southern tradition of liberal republicanism were likewise very active through Haiti's early print culture. Milscent, Dumesle, La Concorde, Ardouin's geographical text, the school associated with the Nau in the 1830s, Bergeaud's allegorical novel, Faubert's play, and the Liberals of the later 19th century all represent instances of this southern, pro-Enlightenment tradition. Firmin's interests in economic reform, civilian government, and enfranchisement of citizens form another example of this tradition. One could also add more figures associated with the Liberals or 20th century intellectuals such as Edmond Paul or even colonial-era writers died before Haitian independence. The idea of Haiti as the "first black Republic" implicitly favors the southern, pro-Enlightenment liberal narrative as it overlooks or denies the imperial or monarchical governments in the island nation's political past.

Where things become particularly dicey and difficult to corroborate is the perhaps fulsome praise of the Dessalinean critique. When one reads the works of honest Haitian intellectuals unafraid to expose the generally horrific track record of all governments since 1804, it becomes difficult to see how the "empire of liberty" or those following in its tradition really differed from their southern counterparts. They disagreed on what form the government should take yet neither side ever did much for the rural masses or sought to include them in the political process. Perhaps early in Haitian independence the idea of monarchical governments made sense, considering the huge African-born population, but over time one would think any Western observer of Haitian history would want to see Haiti at least develop a basic liberal democracy that gives a voice to the poor majority and builds government stability. The terrifying reality is that neither tradition has accomplished much for the Haitian people and it is difficult to see how anyone favoring a more egalitarian, just Haiti would think the Dessalinean or bankrupt southern model offer much of value to the future of the nation. 

A reading of Trouillot, Dupuy, Fatton, and other Haitian scholars reveals this quite clearly: despotic presidential monarchism, state against nation, underdevelopment, politics of the belly, and the horrific scars of Duvalierism or creole fascism. The "empire of liberty" envisioned by Dessalines was understandable in light of the brutal history of Saint-Domingue and the context of Haiti in the early 19th century, but what it actually would have looked like or established is unknown. Certainly the examples of its followers are a cause for caution. Christophe built an economically strong state but the project withered while Soulouque, who may have been a patron of the arts who embraced new technology like the daguerreotype, nonetheless continued in the tradition of corruption. The darker 20th century manifestations are even more worrisome. It seems to us that enlightenment liberalism of the type espoused by the republican tradition and the Dessalinean tradition are morally bankrupt models which have driven Haiti to its current abyss. We do not have any solid alternatives, but clearly these two ideological currents, plus Haitian underdevelopment, foreign meddling, and the occasional assertion of the color question, have turned Haiti into the poster child for a failed state. At least Haiti's Paper Wars offers a novel approach to this dilemma that does not center the color question or Haitian cultural alterity as the primary factors in the multifaceted crises of the our troubled island. We would have liked to see a little more analysis of the years between the the Liberal and National parties and the US Occupation but undoubtedly one of the more interesting books on Haiti in some time.