Whilst randomly searching for something on Thomas Madiou, we came across what looks like a Youtube channel dedicated to the history of Haiti. Despite the reliance on what appears to be AI-generated images, this channel could potentially grow into something. Their video on Thomas Madiou and Beaubrun Ardouin does a decent job introducing these two central figures in the development of Haitian historical writing. We are definitely on Team Madiou, appreciating his larger scale and use of oral historical methods. As for Ardouin, we were probably too strongly influenced by the negative depiction of him as a political figure in Michel-Rolph Trouillot's analysis promoting the state against nation paradigm. Nicholls and his focus on the "color question" also tarnished Ardouin for writing history as the so-called "mulatto legend," which was not entirely fair or accurate. At the end of the day, however, both Madiou and Ardouin were elitists and guilty of their own biases, omissions, or mistakes. But both produced invaluable works, even if Madiou was likely the better historian.
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