“The English Language DOES NOT Humanize the Haitian People”

The American academic world produces some of the most arrogant and selfish academics and thinkers in the world. Because most American scholars and historians write and publish in the English language the same history or story that’s already been published by Haitian/African/Caribbean writers who write in French or Spanish, they give more intellectual value to their own work simply because it is written in English, and it is not because they are assessed as quality scholarship or good research. I call this attitude “intellectual imperialism” relating to the politics of the American Empire in the world to undermine the intellectual and literary productions of writers and historians in the Global South or developing world. Haiti, because of its complex history with the United States and the West, as well as with American and Western academics and writers, is a primary victim of this intellectual climate.

1. Some of them (American academics) do not even bother to cite, for example, Haitian writers who have written on the same issue 50 years ago before they were even born or received an American doctoral (research) degree. C’mon, good people: you cannot just pretend that Haitian historians and writers did not exist in the 18th century, or nobody in Haiti wrote about Haitian national history or Haitian intellectual history from 18thto 20th century, for example.
2. Haitian historians, writers, and scholars have been marginalized in their own discipline (s) of study, especially those who write in French about Haitian national history and Haitian political history.
3. Not because one writes in English for an English-speaking (or American) audience means that individual has to deliberately disengage with a body of scholarship produced in a different language. It is intellectual dishonesty not to give credit or acknowledge intellectual predecessors. For example, you do not give Haitian studies legitimacy because it is done in the English language by American writers, nor do you humanize the Haitian people because you write in English about Haiti and the Haitian experience. Here, I am not referring to Haitian-born writers or those of Haitian descent who write or produce in English. This is not my point here!
4. Unfortunately, in the American academia, producing academic works in the English language does come with academic entitlement or pedigree; nonetheless, I have to state that English as a language does not make one naturally more intelligent than others who write in a different language. I know this is a popular attitude among Americans, even among some American academics that speaking or writing in English is connected with high civilization or culture, intelligence, and fame. By contrast, I also understand writing in English comes with a great deal of academic privileges and reputation because the English language has now become more connected with the politics and expansion of the United States as the world’s most powerful country and empire today. Interestingly, this is a colonial practice in American academia. Such attitude needs to go, what we call decolonization or decolonial practice (See Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, “Decolonising the Mind,” 1986)
5. Nobody expects American academics to be fluent (In fact, some of you are fluent in other languages) in French, Spanish, Kreyòl, Swahili, Swahili, Yoruba, Igbo, Fula, or another language than your native tongue: English. At least, if you are going to work or specialize on a non-English speaking country as a scholar or academic specialist, it is important to try to “read in translation” or even to “cite in translation.” Or you can seek the help of an expert. DO NOT JUST IGNORE THE NATIVE WRITERS and THEIR INTELLECUTAL PRODUCTIONS!
6. Interestingly, American academics do not express this same attitude toward, for example, French, German, or English writers or historians. This is a rare tradition if they are writing about the history and experience of any of the countries in the West: Germany, France, Italy, England, Spain, Switzerland, etc. Haiti and Haitian writers, for example, continue to be victims of this tradition.
   How to move forward and change this BAD academic practice in America’s intellectual or academic landscape. I want to use Haiti, as an example. Haitian writers and historians have written prolifically and produced good works about some of the key issues in Haitian national history:
   · The Haitian Revolution
   · Haiti’s colonial history/Slavery and colonization in Haiti
   · Haitian resistance to slavery and Western imperialism
   · France’s economic exploitation of Haiti (the indemnity/the debt)
   · The 1843 revolution
   · American military occupation and invasion in Haiti (1915-1934)
   · The rise of Haitian radicalism and Marxism in the 20thcentury
   · The rise of Feminist movement in Haiti
   · Haiti’s popular culture
   · The foreign relations between Haiti, the United States, and the West
   · The Duvalier regime
   · The Aristide phenomenon and the 2nd American military invasion in Haiti
   · Haitian Vodou
   · Haitian anthropology and ethnology
   · The politics of NGOS in Haiti
   · Haiti’s economic development and dependency
   · Haiti’s public health system
   · Haiti’s education system
   · Haiti’s environmental issue
   Below, I highlight some of the major Haitian writers and thinkers to get acquainted with their writings, especially those published in the French language. For each historical period, I list 30 to 45 well-known writers and thinkers.

A. The 19th century

1. Louis Félix Mathurin (“Boisrond-Tonnerre”
2. Pompée Valentin Vastey (“Baron de Vastey”)
3. Hérard Dumesle
4. Joseph Saint Remy
5. Anténor Firmin
6. Beaubrun Ardouin
7. Coriolan Ardouin
8. Celigny Ardouin
9. B. Lepinasse
10. Antone Dupre
11. Jean-Baptiste Romane
12. J. Leger
13. Démesvar Delorme
14. Bénito Sylvain
15. Louis-Joseph Janvier
16. F.É. Dubois
17. Thomas Madiou
18. Frederic Marcelin
19. Hannibal Price
20. Pauléus Sannon
21. Etzer Vilaire
22. Justin Lhérisson
23. Juste Chanlatte
24. Jules Solime Milscent
25. Massillon Coicou
26. Ignace Nau
27. Emeric Bergeaud
28. P. Lochard
29. Oswald Durand
30. Antoine Innocent

B. The 20th century

1. Marie Vieux-Chauvet
2. Duracine Vaval
3. Dantès Bellegarde
4. François Duvalier
5. Paulette Poujol-Oriol
6. Marie-Thérèse Colimon-Hall
7. Jean Price-Mars
8. Jacques Roumain
9. Jacques Stephen Alexis
10. René Depestre
11. Alfred Auguste Nemours
12. Horace Pauleus Sannon
13. Henock Trouillot
14. Michel-Rolph Trouillot
15. Ernst Trouillot
16. Jean Fouchard
17. Gérard Mentor Laurent
18. Madeleine Sylvain-Bouchereau
19. Suzanne Comhaire-Sylvain
20. Pradel Pompilus
21. Laennec Hurbon
22. Fernand Hibbert
23. Jean-Baptiste Cineas
24. Philippe Thoby-Marcalin
25. Pierre Thoby-Marcalin
26. J. C. Dorsainvil
27. Leon Laleau
28. Catts Pressoir
29. Louis Borno
30. Roger Gaillard
31. Normil Sylvain
32. Cleante Valcin
33. Suzy Castor
34. Roussan Camille
35. Edris Saint-Amand
36. Ida Salomon Faubert
37. Jacques Stephen Alexis
38. Franketienne
39. Jean Cassimir
40. Morisseau-Leroy
41. Ghislain Gouraige
42. Edwidge Danticat
43. Dany Laferrière
44. Jean F. Brière
45. Carl Brouard
46. Georges Sylvain
47. Felix Morisseaux
48. George Anglande
49. Christophe Philippe-Charles
50. Anthony Phelps
51. René Philoctète
52. Laroche Maximilien
53. Enock Trouillot
54. Georges Corvington
55. Gergard Barthemy
56. Roger Dorsainvil
57. Leslie F. Manigat
58. Catts Pressoir
59. Roger Gaillard
60. Timoléon C. Brutus
61. Damase Pierre-Louis

C. Late 20th century and early 21st century

1. Patrick Bellegarde-Smith
2. Danny Laferriere
3. Georges Castera
4. Benoit Joachim
5. Louis Philippe Dalenbert
6. Evelyn Trouillot
7. Josaphat Robert Large
8. Marie-Celie Agnant
9. Yanick Lahens
10. Jessica Fievre
11. Felix Morisseaux
12. Kettly Mars
13. Lyonel Trouillot
14. Odette Roy Fombrun
15. Roussan Camille
16. Jean-Bertrand Aristide
17. Lemete Zephyr
18. Robert Fatton
19. Alex Dupuy
20. . Edwidge Danticat
21. Michel S. Laguerre
22. Myriam J. A. Chancy
23. Patrick Bellegarde-Smith
24. Laennec Hurbon
25. Louis-Philippe Dalembert
26. Gary Victor
27. Michel Hector

*** Of course, I am missing other influential thinkers in my list and may have repeated some writers twice. I wrote this post in response to a series of important articles published in the New York Times (“The Ransom: 6 Takeaways About Haiti’s Reparations to France”; “The Ransom: A Look Under the Hood”; Investigating Haiti’s ‘Double Debt”; “The Root of Haiti’s Misery: Reparations to Enslavers”). Please do not misunderstand the intent of my post! As an academic, I clearly understand academic scholarship is a teamwork that engages the labor of other scholars, for which I am thankful. I also understand academics or scholars depend on previous works done by others to further their own contribution in the field of study or advance knowledge in a particular discipline–hopefully toward the common good and human flourishing in the world. In other words, no one works in isolation, and no one can claim intellectual monopoly when it comes to academic studies, research, and epistemology. Yet we must not ignore those who are writing on the margins and work predominantly from the context of a developing country in the Global South. Their work matters! Their ideas are worth citing (in English)! Their contribution is worth acknowledging in public.

There are actually existing “traditions,” a reference to the way of thinking, intellectual practices, and of perceiving and interpreting the Haitian world and other worlds in Haitian history, and those traditions encompass various worldviews, and fields of study and different areas in the human and Haitian experience, including literary, historical, political, philosophical, religious, and ideological traditions. It is my idea of the “Haitian canon.” In the same way, throughout the Haitian history, since its birth in 1804, there existed movements, such as labor, feminist, economic, human rights, political movements that have shaped the human experience in Haiti. Haitian writers and historians have documented their own histories and stories, experiences and living conditions, and such (literary) receipts could be traced to the country’s first piece of writing: Haiti’s Declaration of Independence (1 January 1804). In other words, Haitian writers have not been silenced about the Haitian experience in the world.

——

“Nou Vle Lapè”/”We Want Peace”

I appreciate the series of well-researched and provocative articles produced by the New York Times about France’s historic gross economic injustice done to Haiti. My questions are the following:

1. What would this mean for more than 75% of Haitians who live in abject poverty today?
2. How would the data help change the current inhumane political climate in Haiti, characterized by popular violence, street kidnapping, and popular fear ?
3. How would this information help transform Haiti’s economic dependency on the developed world and the World Bank?

***I am just inviting public intellectuals and writers to connect scholarship with praxis, academic writing with activism–toward the common good and human flourishing in the Haitian society. After all, what the Haitian people need at this critical moment in Haitian history is the opportunity to live in safety, sleep in peace, and having not to worry that their school children will come back home safely without being kidnapped or shot in the streets.