- Hardcover: 362 pages
- Publisher: University of California Press (Jan 30 1996)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0520089006
- ISBN-13: 978-0520089006
- Product Dimensions: 24.1 x 15.9 x 3.2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 853 g
- See Complete Table of Contents
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
Book Description
In Haiti, History, and the Gods, Joan Dayan charts the cultural imagination of Haiti not only by reconstructing the island's history but by highlighting ambiguities and complexities that have been ignored. She investigates the confrontational space in which Haiti is created and recreated in fiction and fact, text and ritual, discourse and practice. Dayan's ambitious project is a research tour de force that gives human dimensions to this eighteenth-century French colony and provides a template for understanding the Haiti of today.
In examining the complex social fabric of French Saint-Domingue, which in 1804 became Haiti, Dayan uncovers a silenced, submerged past. Instead of relying on familiar sources to reconstruct Haitian history, she uses a startling diversity of voices that have previously been unheard. Many of the materials recovered here--overlooked or repressed historical texts, legal documents, religious works, secret memoirs, letters, and literary fictions--have never been translated into English. Others, such as Marie Vieux Chauvet's radical novel of vodou, Fonds des Nègres, are seldom used as historical sources.
Dayan also argues provocatively for the consideration of both vodou rituals and narrative fiction as repositories of history. Her scholarship is enriched by the insights she has gleaned from conversations and experiences during her many trips to Haiti over the past twenty years. Taken together, the material presented in Haiti, History, and the Gods not only restores a lost chapter of Haitian history but suggests necessary revisions to the accepted histories of the New World.
In examining the complex social fabric of French Saint-Domingue, which in 1804 became Haiti, Dayan uncovers a silenced, submerged past. Instead of relying on familiar sources to reconstruct Haitian history, she uses a startling diversity of voices that have previously been unheard. Many of the materials recovered here--overlooked or repressed historical texts, legal documents, religious works, secret memoirs, letters, and literary fictions--have never been translated into English. Others, such as Marie Vieux Chauvet's radical novel of vodou, Fonds des Nègres, are seldom used as historical sources.
Dayan also argues provocatively for the consideration of both vodou rituals and narrative fiction as repositories of history. Her scholarship is enriched by the insights she has gleaned from conversations and experiences during her many trips to Haiti over the past twenty years. Taken together, the material presented in Haiti, History, and the Gods not only restores a lost chapter of Haitian history but suggests necessary revisions to the accepted histories of the New World.
From the Inside Flap
"By viewing Revolutionary-era Haiti through the lenses of gender and sexuality, Joan Dayan breathes life into an important slice of history."--Karen McCarthy Brown, author of Mama Lola
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence
"Rid us of these gilded Africans, and we shall have nothing more to wish," Napoleon Bonaparte wrote to his brother-in-law General Victor-Emmanuel Leclerc in 1892. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
"Rid us of these gilded Africans, and we shall have nothing more to wish," Napoleon Bonaparte wrote to his brother-in-law General Victor-Emmanuel Leclerc in 1892. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.ca
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Classic on the Haitian Revolution, Oct 1 2010
By Haiti lover - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Haiti, History, and the Gods (Paperback)
Here is an essential book on the Haitian Revolution. Its big claim to fame is its use of non-traditional sources (like Vodou foklore) to retrace Haiti's history. Some passages may be of interest solely to graduate students in history (literary analysis, postmodernist 'reading between the lines'), but others are very readable. The part on Mary Hassal, a US witness of the Leclerc expedition, is particularly interesting.
5.0 out of 5 stars
satisfactory, Oct 1 2010
By CloakedOne - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Haiti, History, and the Gods (Paperback)
Upon receiving the item, it was in the best possible condition that I could hope for. The book is informative, thought-provoking, and overall a major benefit to my assignment.
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > History > Americas > Caribbean & West Indies > Haiti
- Books > History > Americas > Central America
- Books > History > Historical Study > Historiography
- Books > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > Criticism & Theory
- Books > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > United States
- Books > Literature & Fiction > United States > History & Criticism
- Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Mythology
- Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Anthropology > Cultural
- Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Folklore & Mythology
- Books > Religion & Spirituality
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
