Best haitian & caribbean history books according to redditors

Although this is not surprising given the US's history of perpetually intervening in Haitian affairs, it doesn't make it any less disgusting. Haitians are still being punished for rebelling against their European "masters" ("How dare they!") in 1791.

For those interested in Haitian history and politics, Peter Hallward has a really good [book] (http://www.amazon.com/Damming-Flood-Haiti-Politics-Containment/dp/1844674665/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395857301&sr=8-1&keywords=hallward) showing how the US has clamped down on any attempt by progressive Haitian governments (Aristide) to alleviate poverty and empower the poor.

1. Yes, light skinned people can serve their ancestors, the Lwa, and Bondye. I'm a light-skinned, Aryan-looking houngan. The Lwa call people to their service for their own reasons. There's nothing wrong with wanting to know more. Asking questions is how we learn.
   
   
2. Getting solid, trustworthy information on Vodou can be hard, especially with all the scams out there. I'm going to recommend three books for you, but I'm also going to note that real learning happens by attending ceremonies. Even if you have to travel to do so. I'll tell you a little about each book as well.
   
   Mama Lola, by Karen McCarthy Brown. The author was an academic who studied Vodou in Brooklyn and became very close with the titular mambo. The book is both academic and accessible, observational and multigenerational narrative.
   
   Haitian Vodou by Mambo Chita Tann. Written by a practicing mambo this is an excellent place to start. The book covers much of the history of Haiti rather than focusing strictly on the lwa and their immediate appeal (although it covers them too). It contextualizes both the culture and practice of Vodou within Haitian society and history.
   
   Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti, by Maya Deren. Deren travelled to Haiti in the mid 20th century to study and film Haitian dance. Which, of course, brought her to Vodou ceremonies. Deren later initiated. While it's an older book, Deren's perspective as an artist rather than an academic is original, and interesting.
   
   Everything else aside, remember that various correspondences and so on vary from house to house and lineage to lineage. Don't let what's in print interfere with any guidance you get if you choose to join a house. When it comes to books vs your house it's like Vegas. The house always wins!
   
   Good luck if you choose to pursue this. Learn what you can and take your time.

"Damming the Flood" Peter Hallward.
The best book on the topic of Lavelas and US interventionism in Haiti.
http://www.amazon.com/Damming-Flood-Politics-Containment-Updated/dp/1844674665

"Debunked."

http://i.imgur.com/Hsqr04i.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/XB3PEwX.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/lFNX15a.jpg

Source

Well I mean, you could start here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_United_States_military_operations

Check out the horrible things we've done to Haiti. http://www.amazon.com/The-Uses-Haiti-Paul-Farmer/dp/1567513441

Was your humanitarian cruise in Haiti by chance? I'm reading the book The Big Truck that went by and he talks a bit about the US 'occupation' humanitarian mission post earthquake and how soldiers where not told when they would be done with the humanitarian mission. He cites letters to families that show their doubt in the mission itself.

Good book so far. Highly recommended. I'd say getting into aid is a lot like getting into the military. You have all these idealistic thoughts about serving for a greater good... and then you realize the entire industry is totally whacked. I think it's changing though. Slowly but surely.

I understand getting special treatment. I know you can only get into the USOs in airports if you're in uniform. Those are like Delta Sky Clubs. I'm a member of the Sky Clubs and they honestly make air travel way more tolerable. You're treated like a king! Free drinks free food. Not too bad. And the way I see it, I never have to pay for a drink in an airport (granted, I paid upfront for those drinks) but I will drink wayyy more drinks than the member fee.

Plus the networking that goes on in those places is great. I'd imagine the USOs would be similar. A good place to relax sit down and meet other members of the military who may totally agree with you.

TL;DR. Read The Big Truck that went by. Uniformed military may just be like me and trying to get perks of USOs/Delta Sky Club to relax a bit.

In addition to this, the liberal movements began to pick up speed as events like the revolt of the French colony of Saint-Domingue (Modern Haiti) from 1791-1804 began to become more common, and more successful. Saint-Domingue was the first successful slave revolt in the Atlantic world, and while part of the reason for this was the weakening of France so soon after the French Revolution, one of the main causes was the liberalization of thought on the subject, leading to new social mores and subsequently new laws. France granted citizenship rights to wealthy free men of color in 1791 - mostly men who had created their own plantations after buying their way out of slavery - but this law was not recognized by the colonial plantation owners. This led to a large increase in tensions between slaves and plantation owners which culminated in the uprising/revolt. The slaves dominated the ensuing fighting, and caused both an enormous political and economic scandal, as well as a serious black mark on the newly formed French Republic. The pressure and the danger of copycats caused even such a man as Robespierre to abolish slavery in France and all its colonies on the 4th of February, 1794. The ideals of the French Revolution certainly played a role, and were cited as a primary reason for accepting the slaves demands by several prominent thinkers - Guillaume Raynal (a contemporary of Diderot) actually predicted the slave revolt in Haiti in 1780, and he was not the only one who saw the rising tensions before or after.

There is some support for the theory that the Haitian revolt also galvanized the American plantation owners into harsher measures to avoid similar revolts on their own soil, and that this disconnect with the French revolutionary ideology caused a growth in racial divides in the U.S. which contributed to the American Revolution more than half a century later.

For more information you can check The Impact of the Haitian Revolution in the Atlantic World

This is mostly a thought on Atlantic slavery, there were huge slave trades in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia for centuries during and before the Atlantic Slave Trade got going in earnest. Up to a million Africans and Europeans were captured and sent east for use as slave labor and as galley slaves by Barbary Corsairs, or others operating on behalf of the Ottoman Empire starting in the 1300's and still existent all the way up to the dawn of the 20th Century. It's just a lot less commonly discussed, especially popularly.

For information on that aspect of the slave trade, try [The African Diaspora in the Mediterranean Lands of Islam] (http://www.amazon.com/African-Diaspora-Mediterranean-Princeton-Series/dp/1558762752)

Hope this helps!

The Uses of Haiti by Dr Paul Farmer

I would highly recommend a book by Maya Deren called Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti. Deren was, among other things, an experimental filmmaker, and she spent many years in Haiti living among the people there, observing and engaging in various voudoun rituals and dances.

It is by no means a comprehensive study of the religion, but Deren offers a unique perspective on the subject because she is an artist. Rather than the withdrawn aloofness that plagues so much academic and anthropological writing, Deren actually participates in the dances and rituals. So she is able to give a firsthand, experiential-based account of the religion, not just a vague interpretation.

She originally went to Haiti with the intent of studying the dance forms of the ritual. It is written in a more lyrical and poetic style, and some of the things she discusses intersect a lot with aesthetics, philosophy, and metaphysical issues. But for anyone interested in voudoun religion, this is considered a seminal work.

This is her unfinished film of the same name on YouTube, which documents her time spent in Haiti, and the dances they performed. It will be a nice addition should you decide to read the book. Enjoy! Deren was a fascinating woman. :)

Edit: grammar

I second Black Jacobins and Avengers of the New World.

I use Jeremy Popkin's and David Geggus' books as my texts when teaching the Haitian Revolution to my 10th graders: http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1405198214.html

https://www.amazon.com/Haitian-Revolution-Documentary-History/dp/0872208656

This book is pretty good: http://www.amazon.com/Haiti-Aftershocks-History-Laurent-Dubois/dp/0805093354

Also, books on colonization in general would also be helpful to understand typical post-colonial issues. Albert Memmi's "The Colonizer and the Colonized" is excellent for this. Frantz Fanon's "Black Skin, White Masks" is another canonical text for post-colonial stuff.

>20 page paper

>(This Tuesday)

Uh. You seem to be in one dilly of a pickle. I'll skip chastising you, since I'm sure the guilt you feel is punishment enough. Anyway. Glancing through what I have on hand (related to colonialism, anyway), you could try burning through something like this or this. Both are very short, but full of names and dates, stuff to get you started at the very least. I'd be surprised if your campus library didn't have them. They've got some saucy bits about religion in there, as well.

Google scholar can also be useful in a pinch. Perhaps you could try searching through that with relevant search terms, if not your own college's online databases. Clear your schedule for the weekend, get cracking.

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.in

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

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Kushner describes it as a "city", but with no power, water grid, sewage system or stormwater management,[1] it's more of a squatter camp with roads than a city.

They want to build infrastructure, but since nobody owns the land they're squatting on, there's no way to raise money via land taxes. The technocrat answer to that would be individual septic tanks and solar panels, but because there's no land ownership and no law enforcement, you'd have to be nuts to invest any serious money in building a house, because a gang would just take it from you. Classic development trap.

Jonathan Katz talked about Corail/Cannan in The Big Truck That Went By, and he wasn't a fan. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009OZN6GM/ Published in 2013, but it doesn't sound like much has changed.

1: Port-au-Prince gets about twice as much rain as Seattle per year, and is routinely hit by hurricanes. If you don't manage the stormwater, it washes your house downhill. Sewage systems have also become important, since UN peacekeepers brought cholera with them after the earthquake.

Hello. Thanks for the interest. If I remember correctly the term "racial cleansing" was used in Facing Racial Revolution.

I've also posted this on r/askhistorians and you can find a linked discussion in there that happened 2 years ago, if you are interested in reading on the subject.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/d03kv7/haitian_independence_and_the_genocidemassacre_of/

I've read some Edwige Danticut, pretty amazing Haitian author. Fiction, though, so I don't know if that's what you're looking for. Krik? Krak! was particularly good.

Also, this looks pretty good in terms of non-fiction.

Democracy does need stability and education, but you should know that the UN mission was brought in to Haiti as a response to the rebellion that occurred after the twice democratically elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide (elected in 1990 and 2000, here's the electoral data) was removed in a coup d'état (by rebels who carried US arms and had links to certain figures among the Haitian elite, linked to the Duvalierists) in 2004, and flown to the Central African Republic on an unmarked US airplane; the CAR has no diplomatic ties with Haiti, and Aristide's release was negotiated after a few tense days by Randall Robinson (he documents the negotiation in this book), US congresswoman Maxine Waters, and others. Amy Goodman from Democracy Now! went with them (see Democracy Now archives for coverage). When Aristide returned to the Carribean, the US state department threated any nation that accepted him with sanctions. As a result, he spent 7 years in South Africa in exile, and returned just a few weeks ago.

The thing is, the UN mission has not only brought cholera to Haiti, but was also used to carry out political assassinations (NSFL) in the uprising following the coup in 2004. This article also goes into the political assassination aspect a little as well.

It's a very very complex situation with a lot of messy history. Weirdly, the US is very close to Haiti, but there seems to be almost no coverage in US media of the culture, the issues, the history of US-Haiti relations.

So I actually encourage you to look a little more deeply into your assumptions about what the international community is doing in Haiti, and look into the history a little more.