Taking Haiti : military occupation and the culture of U.S. imperialism, 1915-1940 / Mary A. Renda.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Renda, Mary A.

Series:

Gender & American culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Relations.

Armed Forces.

History.

Haiti--History--American occupation, 1915-1934.

Haiti.

Haiti--History--1934-1986.

United States--Armed Forces--Haiti--History.

United States.

Haiti--Relations--United States.

United States--Relations--Haiti.

Physical Description:

xvi, 414 pages : illustrations, map ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, [2001]

Summary:

The U.S. invasion of Haiti in July 1915 marked the start of a military occupation that lasted for nineteen years -- and fed an American fascination with Haiti that flourished even longer. Exploring the cultural dimensions of U.S. contact with Haiti during the occupation and its aftermath, Mary Renda shows that what Americans thought and wrote about Haiti during those years contributed in crucial and unexpected ways to an emerging culture of U.S. imperialism.

At the heart of this emerging culture, Renda argues, was American paternalism, which saw Haitians as wards of the United States. She explores the ways in which diverse Americans -- including activists, intellectuals, artists, missionaries, marines, and politicians -- responded to paternalist constructs, shaping new versions of American culture along the way. Her analysis draws on a rich record of U.S. discourses on Haiti, including the writings of policymakers; the diaries, letters, songs, and memoirs of marines stationed in Haiti; and literary works by such writers as Eugene O'Neill, James Weldon Johnson, Langston Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston.

Pathbreaking and provocative, Taking Haiti illuminates the complex interplay between culture and acts of violence in the making of the American empire.

Contents:

Part I. Occupation

Chapter 2. Haiti and the Marines 39

Chapter 3. Paternalism 89

Chapter 4. Moral Breakdown 131

Part II. Aftermath

Chapter 5. Haiti's Appeal 185

Chapter 6. Mapping Memory and Desire 229

Chapter 7. Race, Revolution, and National Identity 261.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [365]-390) and index.

ISBN:

0807826286

0807849383

OCLC:

45172675