Haïti-Haitii? : philosophical reflections for mental decolonization / by Jean-Bertrand Aristide ; translated by Mildred Aristide.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Aristide, Jean-Bertrand.

Contributor:

Aristide, Mildred, 1962-

Language:

Creoles and Pidgins, French-based (Other)

English

Subjects (All):

Haiti--Poetry.

Haiti.

Haiti--Literary collections.

Genre:

Literary collections.

Poetry.

Literature.

Physical Description:

vi, 89 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Boulder, Colo. : Paradigm Publishers, [2011]

Language Note:

In Kreyol, with English translations.

Summary:

In Haïti-Haitii?, Jean-Bertrand Aristide combines the artistry of Swahili with the poetic incisiveness of his native Kreyol to produce an eloquent, resounding negation to colonialism and slavery, as well as an emphatic affirmation of freedom, liberty, equality, and fraternity.

Aristide writes in poetry, prose, proverbs, and aphorisms to tell the epic story of the life and freedom-affirming spirit of Haiti, the world's first independent black republic. He chronicles slavery through a recitation of the brutality of the colonizers and the often mundane and trivial ways in which they attempted to dehumanize Haitians, positioning the reader in the place of the human beings who were at the receiving end of such inhumanity. Aristide eloquently illustrates how Haitians' 300-year journey to freedom was illuminated by the African philosophy of Ubuntu, a world view that embodies human solidarity, respect, dignity, justice, liberty, and love. In this philosophy, Africans found an unmatched strength to resist slavery. Today, he writes, it is this same philosophy that can empower a new generation of Africans worldwide to resist neocolonialism. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part One

Introduction 9

After 206 years of independence 14

Reflections 23

Victims and butchers 23

Operation kidnapping 24

The Black Code 27

Reflections: Articles of the Black Code 27

Tribulations and tribulations 27

The weapon of religion 28

There is religion and there is religion 29

Religion of cadavers or Catholicism? 31

Religion as bait 32

Hypocritical Sunday 33

A small bandage for a metastatic cancer 34

Paradise for men, hell for women 35

A trap in hell 36

For the white colonist every person is not a human being 37

A picometer vs. a master 38

It is a crime. Period 38

Different kinds of scissors 39

Sham baptism, sham recompense 40

Neither weapons nor big sticks, but 40

Divide to subjugate 42

Poetry 42

10 cent fine! 43

Bitter as wormwood 43

Sugar cane spoils twins 44

Control 45

And? And nothing! 46

Legitimate self-defense 47

Sugar cane is our blood 48

Learn to understand 49

The skin of our backs, backsides, breasts, bodies 50

Stop telling lies! 51

Illness 52

Tell me about that brother! 53

What, you think that I don't see! 54

That day! Ahh! 56

If anyone is to be branded 59

The scissors of legitimate self-defense 60

Slaves are furniture! 62

Mental slave (No. 1) 63

Mental slave (No. 2) 66

Kasumba ya kikoloni or mental slave (No. 3) 67

Part Two

Kama Haiti? 73.

Notes:

A collection of poetry, prose, proverbs, and aphorisms.

ISBN:

9781612050539

1612050530

9781612050546

1612050549

OCLC:

714715771