Robert Berrouet Oriol By Robert Berrouët-Oriol
Linguist-terminologist
Montreal, March 22, 2024
Established at Randolph, a town in Norfolk County in the state of MassachusettsTHEJEBCA Editions published in 2023 the book by Jean-Robert Placide, “ Haitian Creole ”, which bears the subtitle “ Creole movement SocieteKoukouyyonnewindigenism in evolution “.Jean-Robert Placide was previously co-editor of the work of GRAHN, « Linguistic management for Peruvian development: two official languages and the valorization of Creole » / « Linguistic planning for the development of the Haitian people: equitable, differentiated bilingualism »(Presses Internationales Polytechniques, Montréal, 2012). The announcement of the publication of this work appears in the GRAHN Bulletin (volume 2, number 2, August 2012), but it was noted that from 2012 to 2024 the language subcommittee of the GRAHN, who developed the book, did not report any work following its publication and also did not communicate on its hypothetical distribution in Haiti and overseas…
The book ” Haitian Creole » by Jean-Robert Placide must be read with attention and the ideas it conveys, on the registers of history and ideology, deserve to be submitted to an objective critical evaluation and to public debate. The criterion of Objectivity, in the depths of an epistemological approach, must however not obstruct that of the bias towards historical truth. The evaluation of Jean-Robert Placide’s book must also question the Creole semantic field of the terms “ayisyanite” and “Kreyolite” in connection with the notions that we call in French “Haitianity” and “Créolité” which are not always unanimous among researchers. We can already be surprised that an author, Jean-Robert Placide, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, returns and still lingers on the outdated and ritualized debate on “Haitian identity”, as it was surprising that a renowned Haitian academic, Jean Casimir, teaching at the State University of Haiti, also recently confined the Haitian linguistic question in a sort of “ racialist/indigenist bubble » inherited from indigenism and Duvalierist noirism… On the registers of history and ideology, it will be necessary to highlight the sources ofthe conceptual amalgam which pairs – in an identitarian and Manichaeist narrative – apparently distinct notions: “ayisyanite” + “kreyolite” + “nouvoendijenis” + “dwalenguistik”. (On identitarianism, see the book by the Martinican linguist Jean Bernabé, “ The identitarian drift »,L’Harmattan, 2016); see also YaschaMounk, “ The identity trap: when an idea becomes an ideology », Éditions de l’Observatoire, 2023; see also Philippe Corcuff, “ From identitarian confinements to a policy of open identity in an ultraconservative and confusionist context » (MAUSS review 2022/1, no. 59.)
« Haitian Creole » by Jean-Robert Placide includes 8 “Parts”, preceded by a double introductory statement, “Kout je sou Ayisyaniteakkreyolite” by Yvon Lamour (page 11), and “Alapapòt” written by Jean-Robert Placide (page 13). Each of the 8 “Parts” bears in capital letters the generic title “SOSYETE KOUKOUY: YON NOUVO ENDIJENIS AN EVOLISYON”, which suggests that the narrative device deployed by the author consists of a “procedural plea” whose main function is to invite the reader to note (1) that SosyeteKoukouy does indeed exist even though its alleged “works” have been neither noticed nor promoted by creolistics over the last forty years; (2) that SosyeteKoukouy is the bearer of a “new evolving indigenism”, which establishes revisited indigenism, 21st century version, as a major paradigm linked to “linguistic planning for the development of the Haitian people” The “procedural and existential plea” by means of which the author attempts to demonstrate the historicity of the SosyeteKoukouy and the foundations of its cultural and linguistic vision is followed, on pages 211 to 218, by a very incomplete and disparate “Bibliyografi » – we will come back to this.
The back cover of “ Haitian Creole “, the source of the pen of Yvon Lamour, he is also a member of the Haitian Creole Academy, intends to circumscribe the main objective of the book and states as follows: “Haisianiteak Creole is based on the logic of the development of the literature and culture of Creole, as well as the linguistics of Creolephones who are present throughout the country, in all fields . The Placide approach brings many answers to many questions that thinkers and decision-makers continue to pose on various aspects of the country’s linguistic policy. The national cause together with the phenomenon of the lungs of the population that “the” in the potato leaf has come to rest in these pages again.
“Alapapòt”, a sort of “Preface” signed by Jean-Robert Placide (page 13), is particularly interesting for its obvious vacuity: at the opening of the book, the author did not attempt to define the key concepts of his argument , which, on an epistemological level, could have shed light on his approach and contributed to its necessary credibility. By reading “Alapapòt”, the reader therefore does not know what consists of what is presented as basic notions in the author’s work. : “ayisyanite”, “kreyolite”, “langnasyonal” (notion remaining absent from the 1987 Constitution), “literatiendijènkreyòl”, ansyenkreyolizay”, “nouvokreyolizay”, “pansekreyolizay”, “panse endijènkreyòl”, “ayisyanitekreyòl”. It should be noted that in “Alapapòt” Jean-Robert Placide also does not define the key notion of his thought, “nouvoendijenis”, which he adventurously attributes to Ernst Mirville with mention of the year 1965, without even identifying the document in which, according to Jean-Robert Placide, Ernst Mirville supposedly developed the so-called “nouvoendijenis”… in 1965. Moreover, in the “Bibliyografi” of the book (pages 211 to 218), we find no trace of a any publication by Ernst Mirville where he would have developed, in 1965, the so-called “nouvoendijenis”… In our study published in Haiti in Le National of July 21, 2022 and entitled “ Essay on typology of Creole lexicography from 1958 to 2022 “, we have identified a major publication by Ernst Mirville that Jean-Robert Placide ignores in his “Bibliyografi”, ” Elements of bilingual lexicography: Creole-French lexicon » (by Ernst Mirville, BiltinInstitilingistikapliké, 1979). Jean-Robert Placide, in his “Alapapòt”, also pairs his “nouvokreyolizay” and the “dwalengwistikkreyòlpèpayisyen an” without specifying what he means by “dwalengwistikkreyòl” and also, on the register of jurilinguistics, without referring to studies prominent, notably“ The Creole expression of law: a path to reducing the legal divide in Haiti » by the jurist Alain Guillaume (French Revue de LinguisticsApplique 2011/1, vol. XVI), or even the “ Advocacy for linguistic rights in Haiti / Pledwaye pou dwalengwistikannAyiti » by Robert Berrouët-Oriol (Éditions Zémès, Port-au-Prince, and Éditions du Cidihca, 2018). Furthermore, in his “Alapapòt”, Jean-Robert Placide mentions an “oryantasyonayisyanis” which he attributes to Jean Price-Mars in an unidentified document and which he claims to be dated 1959. But the only work by Jean Price- Mars cited by Placide in his bibliography is “ Thus spoke the uncle “published at the Imprimerie de Compiègne in 1928, later published in New York in “Parapsychology Foundation” in 1954 and republished in Montreal by Mémoire d’encrier in 2020. Jean Price-Mars’ book appeared during the 1950s and in which he addresses the Haitian literary field is entitled “ From Santo Domingo to Haiti, essay on culture, arts and literature », Paris: Présence Africaine, 1957. This book is also not part of Jean-Robert Placide’s bibliography.
Even though we find no trace of any publication by Ernst Mirville where he would have developed, in 1965, the so-called “nouvoendijenis”, while Jean-Robert Placide mentions an “oryantasyonayisyanis” which he attributes to Jean Price -March in an unidentified document which he claims to be dated 1959, a fundamental question must be asked: in his eagerness to “legitimize” his approach and to expose the theses contained in his book, would the author have committed a “forgery” by inventing pseudo documentary references which he fraudulently attributes to two big names, Ernst Mirville and Jean Price-Mars? To adequately answer this question which concerns ethics, we invite the reader, on the one hand , to be consulted on the famous island to island site the file of Jean Price-Mars : the alleged 1959 document does not appear there… And, on the other hand, we invite the reader to assess the theoretical contribution of Ernst Mirville addressed by Rodney Saint-Éloi in his master’s thesis entitled ” Emergence of Creole poetics in Haiti » (Laval University, January 1999). Among the great qualities of this dissertation, the author presents and studies the articles published by Ernst Mirville on different aspects of Creole writing, among others in its relationship with “oraliture” ( see the article by Ernst Mirville cited by Rodney Saint-Éloi, “ Kreyòl nan oraliti (Creole in Haitian speaking). Followed by an interview with Pierre-Raymond Dumas »(journal Conjunction no. 161-162, March-June 1984). At no time does Rodney Saint-Éloi support the false assertion according to which Ernst Mirville developed, in 1965, the so-called “nouvoendijenis” attributed to him by Jean-Robert Placide…
Jean-Robert Placide’s book includes a “Bibliyografi” whose characteristics it is important to examine in advance because it sheds light on the remarkable documentary and analytical inadequacies which result, in the author, in the narrative of an essentially circular thought and turned towards a “procedural advocacy »: promote SosyeteKoukouy, lead a plea “pou yonkiltipopilèakyonliteratikreyòl, an kreyòl, pou pèpkreyòl” and, through Creole literature, institute “YON NOUVO ENDIJENIS AN EVOLISYON”. This triple plea, accompanied by considerations on the “linguistic rights” not defined in any way in the introduction to the work, cannot, however, eliminate the observation that the bibliography of “ Haitian Creole »is very disparate and very incomplete. This allows the formulation of the hypothesis that Jean-Robert Placide deals with a subject – “creolity”, not to be confused with the notion of “creolization” –, which he did not take the trouble to investigate, nor to understand nor to ‘truly assimilate…(NOTE / On the notions of “creolity”, “creolization”, “negritude”, etc., see “ Creolity, creolitude and creolophony in the Caribbean -Contribution ofPraise of Creoleness », communication presented by the Haitian linguist Renauld Govain at the international interdisciplinary conference area “Raphaël Confiant: before and afterPraise of Creoleness (1989) »October 26-28, 2021 – University of the Antilles – Martinique; see also Jean Bernabé, “ From negritude to creolity: elements for a comparative approach », revue French studies, 28(2-3), 1992 ; Jean Benoist, « Creolization: local or global? », revue Archipelia no. 3-4, 2012; Marie-Christine Hazaël-Massieux and Didier de Robillard, (eds.), “ Language contacts, culture contacts, creolization – Mixtures offered to Robert Chaudenson on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday”, L’Harmattan, 1997; Marie-Christine Hazaël-Massieux, “ The avatars of Creole literature », revue Our Bookstore, issue 127, July-September 1996; Ralph Ludwig, The orality of Creole languages – “aggregation” and “integration” », in Ralph Ludwig (dir.), « French Creoles between oral and written », Tübingen, Gunter NarrVerlag, 1989; Michelle Edwige, Jeanne Martineau, « Creolization: beyond a concept, a perpetual identity construction », Concepts and knowledge, March 23, 2022.)
The hypothesis that we evoke here will be exemplified further by the analysis of the content of the work, and it is also verified by the poverty of its bibliography amputated of the analytical data relating to creolity and contained in 15 Leading Books and Articles That the Author Clearly Didn’t Consultnotably : (1) Édouard Glissant, “ The imagination of languages – Interviews with Lise Gauvin (1991-2009) », Paris: Gallimard, 2010; (2)Édouard Glissant, « When the Walls Fall – Outlaw National Identity? » (with Patrick Chamoiseau), Paris, Galaade, 2007; (3)Raphaël Confident, “ Creoleness against identity confinement », published in Multitudes 2005/3, number 22; (4)Jean Bernabé, “ From negritude to creolity: elements for a comparative approach », French Studies, vol. 28, nos 2-3, fall–winter 1992; (5)Max-AugusteDufrenot,« Criticism of Creolity », Éditions Désormeaux, 2001;(6)AdelaideGregório Fins, « Creolity and voice of resistance in Édouard Glissant / For an identity-relation within the framework of the Whole World”, published in Carnets, 13| 2018. The bibliography is also missing an imposing documentary repository assembled by Sylvie Glissant, Loïc Céry, Hugues Azérad, Dominique Aurélia, Laura Carvigan-Cassin (dir.), (7)« Édouard Glissant and The West Indian Discourse : the source and the delta », Proceedings of the international conference in three sessions organized by the Institut du Tout-Monde in 2019, Paris (FMSH – Maison de l’Amérique latine) April 25-28, 2019, University of Cambridge (MagdaleneCollege) June 15, 2019, University of Antilles (Martinique, Guadeloupe) November 5-6, 2019. Paris, Éditions de l’Institut du Tout-Monde, coll. “Research”, 2020.
Is there a “ Haitian Creole » ? Has Haiti developed a coherent thought dealing, in the conceptual space of total synonymy, with the couple? Haitianness » + « Creole ” ?The couple ” Haitianness » + « Creole » he characterizes, essentially, what several authors call the “ Haitian identity » ? It is therefore necessary to “track” throughout the chapters of the book the notions evoked by the author, in particular “ayisyanite”, “kreyolite”, “langnasyonal” (notion absent from the 1987 Constitution), “literatiendijènkreyòl”, ansyenkreyolizay », “nouvokreyolizay”, “panse kreyolizay”, “panse endijènkreyòl”, “ayisyanitekreyòl”. It is useful to recall that the theme of “Haitian Creoleness” has previously been addressed by several researchers of whom Jean-Robert Placide is completely unaware: as a result, their diverse analytical contributions are entirely absent from his reflection and do not appear in his bibliography. more than the seven titles that we have just identified, these include (8) « Creolization: scope and limits of a concept » by Carlo A. Célius published in Sélim Abou & Katia Haddad, eds, “Universalization and differentiation of cultural models” – Montreal, AUPELF-UREF/Beirut, Université Saint-Joseph, 1999; of(9)« Considerations on the expression of “Creole identity” based on the case of Haiti », published in Carlo A. Célius, ed., « Creole situations. Practices and representations », Quebec, Nota Bene, 2006; of (10) « Bossality, negritude and creolity» by Raphaël Confiant published in the magazine Passerelles 21, 2000; (11)« Negritude, whiteness, creolitude and bossalitude» by Maximilien Laroche published in L’Année francophone international 11/2002. For his part, the historian Jean Casimir addressed(12)« The particularities of Haitian Creoleness ” In ” Haiti and its Creoleness » dated August 29, 2005 (subsequently published in Worlds &KnowledgesOtherwise, fall 2008). Jean Casimir is also the author of (13)« The language of the whites is not understood by them » published in Haiti on February 10, 2023 on the Ayibopost website. We challenged his racialist vision in our article “ Jean Casimir or the excesses of a racialist vision of the Haitian linguistic problem », Médiapart, Paris, March 23, 2023, article followed by “On the need to question racialist ideology and historical revisionism in Haiti », Médiapart, Paris, June 26, 2023. Finally, Jean-Robert Placide’s remarks do not take into account one of the most extensive studies devoted to “creolity” and which was developed by the Haitian Rafael Lucas, lecturer at the University of Bordeaux, (14)« The ambiguous adventure of a certain Creoleness », magazine Mondes francophones, October 18, 2006. Jean-Robert Placide also ignores the analytical contribution of René Depestre contained in (15) « The adventures of Creole» appeared in « Writing the “night word – The new West Indian literature » (collective, short stories, poems and poetic reflections collected and introduced by Ralph Ludwig, Paris, Gallimard, 1999). On the register of the very heavy documentary gaps in the book ” Haitian Creole “, we noted that Jean-Robert Placide did not take the measure of a basic methodological principle: to develop a credible demonstration located beyond an iterative ” declaratory litany “, it would also have been necessary to inventory leading works devoted to ” Haitianness » and submit this notion to a critical reading. In addition to 15 documentary references that we have just cited, table 1 presents the listing of 6 other documentary references which the author ignores.
TABLEAU 1 – Documentary references relating to “Ayisyanite” completely absent from the book by Jean-Robert Placide
Author(s)TitrePublisher and year of publication 1. Roger GaillardConference on Creole-Christianity[[format audio]Radio Haiti Archive, 1,2,3 – Duke University, 19732. Jean DominiqueMaldioc and transistor necklace: a quest for HaitiannessCojunction Review, vol. 129, May 19763. Peggy Raffy-Hideux (dir.)Contemporary Haitian realism: narrative and social consciousness Ed. Champion & Slatkine, 20134. Joseph Délide Genesis of Haitian cultural nationalismAfrican studies notebooks vol. 60, 237(1), School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences, Paris, 20205. Lewis AmpiduClorméusOn the influence of the discourse ofHaitianness on the main religions in HaitiArchives de sciences sociales des religions 2020/1 (no 197)5. Bénédique PaulHaitianness: institutions and identity ÉditionsBénédique Paul, 20096. Corinne Mencé-Caster[Analyse de l’étude de Stéphanie Mélyon-Reinette : «Haïtiens à New York City : entre Amérique noire et Amérique multiculturelle»]Manioc – Digital Library of the Caribbean, 2000 As we have just exemplified, the book “ Haitian Creole » carries serious documentary gaps. This authorizes the observation that the author developed his work(1) inignorance of 21 leading documentary sources and (2) thatit deals with a problem –« Haitian Creole »–, that he has not studied in its historical breadth and that he has not truly assimilated, in their complexity, the two notions that he places at the center of his remarks… This explains one of the major characteristics of the book’s narrative device: the subject is of the order of“iterativedeclaratory litany”,it does not proceed from an analytical demonstration. In this regard, it is crucial to note that it is not enough to line up the terms “ayisyanite”, “kreyolite”, “langnasyonal”, “literatiendijènkreyòl”, ansyenkreyolizay”, “nouvokreyolizay”, etc. to produce an analytical statement capable of winning the support of the reader… This article demonstrates this by “tracking” throughout the chapters of the book all the notions mentioned by the author, in particular “panse endijènkreyòl”, “ayisyanitekreyòl”. It will be a question of establishing whether these notions are defined by the author and whether they contribute to clarifying and structuring what he presents as a “demonstration”.
The 8 “Parts” of the book “ Haitian Creole », from page 15 to page 210, recordthe repetitive parade of a vocabulary dominated by identity centered onindigenism. Thus, “nou se sitwayenendijènayisyen”, “yonnasyonendijèn” (p. 16); “senmafòidantitènasyonalnou” (p. 17); “yonendijenispolitik” (p. 18). The author – who does not hesitate to knit a blatant contradiction into a single sentence – is certainly the only Haitian “historian” to “konsidereCreole discourseThe brave Jean-Jacques Dessalines made the war withspeech writingIt was edited by Boisrond Tonnerre, aspremyedokim anliterèfondate (…)kiesprimestream of political indigenous thoughtHaiti, even if the wording of the Proclamation was written in French” (p. 19, 20). Le ” wrong writing » (see above) committed by Jean-Robert Placide by inventing pseudo documentary references which he fraudulently attributes to Ernst Mirville and Jean Price-Mars finds here its counterpart, the ” false in speaking » backed by a stubborn legend two centuries old: the “ Creole discourse “attributed to Jean-Jacques Dessalines, of whom no historian has an authenticated written transcription, would therefore be the basis and would serve as “proof” legitimizing on a historical level the existence of the presumed ” stream of political indigenous thoughtAyiti a.”Such historical fabrication constitutes one of the centerpieces of the ideological delirium of the jugglers of magical thinking elevated to the rank of ” indigenous political thought “. Contrary to the legend peddled for two centuries about the ” Creole discourse » attributed to Jean-Jacques Dessalines, historians have amply authenticated documents attesting that the French colonial power, anxious to preserve its prerogatives, had produced in the Creole language “Proclamations” intended for the majority Creole speakers in the colony of Saint-Domingue. It is thus with the “ Proclamation of Commissioner Sonthonaxen Creole language »(National Archives – AD-XX-C-69-A.jpg) presented as follows: “IN NAME THE REPUBLIC” – “PROCLAMATION” – “We Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, Civil Commissioner of the Republic, that French Nation saw in this country to put order & tranquility everywhere. This “Proclamation” includes several application directives, among others: “Proclamation has it printed & posted everywhere. We order any military commander to provide assistance for the action executed”. ” is the following mention: “At the Cape, August 29, 1793, year two of the French Republic.Sonthonax. & below it is written: By the Civil Commissioner of the Republic. GAULT, Deputy Secretary of the Civil Commission. IN CAP-FRANÇAIS, from the Printing Works of P. Gatineau, at the Carénage, near the Intermediate Commission”. The hypothesis according to which the leader of the insurgents of the Revolutionary Army, Dessalines, a monolingual Creole speaker, would have addressed his troops in Creole on the 1is January 1804 is entirely plausible. But no historical document confirms this hypothesis even though the Act of Independence of 1is January 1804, written in French by Boisrond Tonnerre, is an authentic document and constitutes the first official document of the young Republic of Haiti. It was translated into Creole by the linguist Jacques Pierre (Journal of HaitianStudies, vol. 17, no. 2, 2011).
It will be noted, with regard to the term “endijèn” appearing from the author’s pen on page 16 in the expression “yonnasyonendijèn”, that the very notion of “native” is subject to controversy among many anthropologists, ethnologists and historians – something that Jean-Robert Placide clearly ignores. Thus, Jean Casimir, in his article of August 29, 2005 cited above, “ The particularities of Haitian Creoleness » appeared in « Haiti and its Creoleness », maintains that “The rebel army on its way to the victory of 1804 (…) calls itself, as a last resort, the indigenous army, and the name stays with him, without anyone noticing that this body does not have anynative “. For her part, the ethnologist Sophie Gergaud, in an article dated March 2016, “ On the use of the terms “indigenous” and “indigenous” “, notes that “In the French language, “indigenous” having often been used by colonists to designate the inhabitants of places considered inferior, the term has become tinged with time of a negative connotation. Little by little, “indigenous” became the equivalent of barbarian or savage, designating uncivilized individuals. Hanse and Blampain, in the New dictionary of difficulties of the French language, write: “Indigenous. Tends to be replaced by indigenous since decolonization. “, therefore explicitly linking this term, for French history, to colonization.” For their part, ImedMelliti and AbdelhamidHénia, (Research Institute on the Contemporary Maghreb, Diraset Laboratory, University of Tunis), in the study “ Indigenous anthropology », explain that “From its invention, the category “indigenous” is a category much less scholarly than political. “It is colonization that makes the natives,” writes René Gallissot. Without being quite “primitives”, these natives are supposed to be of a different species which retains traits of exoticism and savagery visible in the culture and modes of social organization. The specificity of the indigenous category is that it comes from the colonial border: the indigenous are so to the extent that they are precisely, and at the same time, subjects of the colonial empires. As R. Gallissot shows, the genealogy of the word indigenous is complex and comes from a legalization of an initially naturalist category, ultimately giving rise to a legal class that is itself naturalizing and naturalized.
According to Jean-Robert Placide, there would therefore exist in Haiti a “ indigenous nation » («indigenous nation»),des « indigenous Haitian citizens “(“indigenous citizen”), a ” political indigenism » (“yonendijenispolitik”) and even a “ current of indigenous political thought », « stream of political indigenous thoughtAyiti a», indigenism. On this register, we must not lose sight of the fact that the Duvalierian variant of indigenism was openly “theorized” by Lorimer Denis and François Duvalier – we will come back to this. But Jean-Robert Placide proved incapable of providing – from page 15 to page 210 of his book – the slightest documented notional light on these key terms, although placed at the center of his argument; nor does it provide documentary references dealing with these terms specifically and from a historical perspective. It is not attested that the terms “ indigenous », « indigenous citizens » et « indigenous » are in common use among Creole speakers and they do not appear in the very lacunary “ Caribbean Creole Dictionary » by Jocelyne Trouillot (Éditions CUC Université Caraïbe, 2003), nor in the “ A brief glossary of Haitian Creole » by Emmanuel Védrine (EW VedrinePublications, 1995). Vilsen Creole Dictionary » by Maud Heurtelou and FéquièreVilsaint (EducaVision, 1994) defines the term “ indigenous » : « Literary and philosophical movement that takes inspiration from what is happening in the country ». For this part, the rigorous « HaitianCreole-EnglishBilingualDictionnary » by Albert Valdman (Creole Institute, Indiana University, 2007) thus defines the terms “ indigenous »:« n.native, aboriginal» et « indigenous »: « adj.indigenous, nativve. mouvmanendijenis/ movementaffirmingvalidity of Haitian culture”. With regard to the regional French of Haiti, the terms “ indigenism » et « indigenist » do not appear in the remarkable “ Haitian schoolboy’s dictionary »(Éditions Hachette/ÉDITHA, 1996) developed by the Haitian lexicographer André Vilaire Chery and his team in collaboration with the Faculty of Applied Linguistics of the State University of Haiti.
As you read the book “ Haitian Creole “, the serious absence of scientific rigor which characterizes it has been confirmed: on the one hand the author has revealed himself incapable of providing the slightest documented notional light on the concepts nevertheless placed at the center of his remarks, and, on the other On the other hand, Jean-Robert Placide, as we exemplified above, built his narrative device on a “ wrong writing » by inventing pseudo documentary references which he fraudulently attributes to Ernst Mirville and Jean Price-Mars, thus reinforcing the “ false in speaking » which we also highlighted.
The heavy lack of scientific rigor which characterizes the book “ Haitian Creole » pairs consistently with repetitive parade of a vocabulary dominated by identity centered on theindigenismand this, in the identitarian vision of Jean-Robert Placide, is based on a partial and partial conception of what several authors call “ Haitian indigenism ».
« Indigenism is a school of thought condemning the cultural Bovaryism of a Western-trained elite, totally dedicated to distinguishing itself and opposing as much as possible the masses of the so-called superstitious and ignorant countryside. Indigenism, which emerged in the 1930s, was inspired by the work of Justin Chrysostome Dorsainvil, Arthur Holly and especially the early writings of Jean Price-Mars. Its objective is to revalorize national (popular) culture, strongly marked by voodoo. In this sense, indigenism differs from negritude which aimed to revalorize the race and all black cultures. As Michel-RolphTrouillot pointed out, the scope of blackness, as a political ideology linked solely to state power relations, was essentially limited to urban space; while indigenism tended towards a national space, negritude sought to deploy on a global scale where the distinction of races takes place” (Sauveur Pierre-Étienne, « The Haitian enigma: It isfailure of the modern state in Haiti »Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 2007).–(The book by Michel-RolphTrouillot to which Sauveur Pierre-Étienne refers is entitled “ The historical roots of the Duvalierian state » published in 1986 by Éditions Henri Deschamps.)
It should be remembered that “Haitian indigenism appeared in the context of the American occupation (1915-1934) and is closely linked to the publication of the indigenous review, published in 1927. This project was directed by Émile Roumer, and Carl Brouard, future director of the Griots, was one of the collaborators. It is an attempt to renew Haitian thought and art through a return to what would be specific to Haiti. This need is, of course, caused by the presence of the Americans on the island, but it follows a movement that began a few years earlier. Indeed, the authors of the magazine La nouvelle Rondefounded in 1925, already spoke of the need to recognize and revalorize the Haitian “essence” in order to build a true national literary tradition” (Victoria Famin, Université Lumière Lyon 2: “ The Griotsbetween indigenism and negritude », Review of comparative literature 2017/4 (no. 364).Regarding the magazine “Les Griots », Victoria Famin, in the same article, recalls that “ The Griots was founded in 1938 under the direction of Carl Brouard. Lorimer Denis and François Duvalier share the position of editor-in-chief, the secretary general being Clément Magloire fils. If this review aims to be plural in terms of the subjects covered, it is clearly marked by the desire to transmit the results of in-depth reflection on the problems that affect Haitian society in its quest for an identity and a place in the world. . »(…) “The Griots and Negritude” – “The main reference which seems to guide the approach of the Griots is the indigenism of Jean Price-Mars. The author of “ Thus spoke the uncle ” is considered not only as one of the founders of Haitian indigenism but also as the “father of Négritude”, in the words of Léopold Sédar Senghor”.
The relationships between The Griots, indigenism, negritude et blackness were discussed by Sterlin Ulysses in the article “ The problem of returning to Africa in the quest for authentic art: Haitian indigenism ” In Africanities (special issue, March 2023): “Under the impetus of indigenism, another review, even more radical, was created; it is The Griots, whose leaders are François Duvalier, future President of the Republic, Lorimer Denis, Carl Brouard and Magloire Saint-Aude. With this review, the demands will not only be cultural and artistic, they will be political and social. Thus we are witnessing the emergence of a social and political blackness whose mission is to thwart the mulatto class. The political triumph of blackism and the dictatorship which followed will decide a large part of the writers of the 50s and 60s to take the opposite view of indigenist theories, accused of having endorsed what some call ” the black drift “. In reaction to this drift, harmful to the entire nation, novelists and poets will therefore attempt to create a more intimate or even intimate art which strives to overcome racial and nationalist issues, by opting for a new and universal humanism in the Haitian literature. This humanism will look for other means to express itself; the language will take over the subject. This largely explains the failure of Négritude in Haitian literature, most of whose categories were taken up by the proponents of noirism. This situation will force a large number of intellectuals into exile and will give rise to Haitian literature written outside the country, that of the so-called diaspora.”
On the register of proven historical facts, the poet, playwright, essayist and specialist in the work of Georges Castera, Jean DurosiersDesrivières, teaches us with loftiness that “The review The Griots (1938-1940) will seal this movement which will sink into the drift of identity discoursewith what avant-garde Haitian intellectuals call “colorism» or “blackness » advocated by Dr François Duvalier, one of the founders of this journal » (see the text by Jean DurosiersDesrivières, « Brief exploration of Creole language literature in Haiti,
from its beginnings to its affirmation », communication delivered at the Théâtre L’Echangeur, in Bagnolet (Paris region), on December 2, 2011; subsequently published on the Potomitan website).
In this communication with a broad analytical spectrum – which Jean-Robert Placide ignores as he ignores a large number of leading studies which address the subjects on which he discusses in his book –, Jean Durosiers Desrivières very pertinently recalls that “It is at the during the indigenist period [cf. l’occupation américaine de 1915-1934]that will be born The Drama of the Earth (1933), a work by Jean-Baptiste Cinéas which inaugurates the so-called peasant novel: a new genre which will be reinforced by the masterpiece of Jacques Roumain, Dew Governors (1944) and other later works. The year 1960 marks the publication of the magazine Literary Haiti et the break withIndigenism. Around the novelist Marie-Chauvet Vieux (the author of Love, Anger and Madness – 1968), the writers of Literary Haiti and many others, influenced by the surrealism that they transformed and by local models like Roumain and Jacques Stephen Alexis, writers and followers of Marxism, Magloire Saint-Aude and René Bélance, poets of great dazzlingness, influenced, said -I, by these, the writers ofLiterary Haiti will produce works of another aesthetic fiber. This was followed by the “spiralist” movement launched in 1968 by René Philoctète, Frankétienne and Jean-Claude Fignolé. Then we emerge on various paths with numerous works of poets, novelists, playwrights and essayists who edify the richness, complexity, modernity and originality of contemporary Haitian literature. Haitian writers, migrants or residents in Haiti, are now legion and explore multiple avenues and multiple paths.” Jean Durosiers Desrivières continues his analytical investigation by specifying that “The third strong moment in the history of Haitian literature in the Creole language is inaugurated in two consecutive years, with two authors and two distinct, highly significant works. In 1975, Frankétienne published in Port-au-Prince the first strongly Haitian novel, written in the Creole language, Dézafi (which he translates into French as The Pangs of a Challenge in 1979); this novel allows the already exuberant and excessive author that Frankétienne is to inventory an incalculable number of Creole words and expressions pushed to the margins by collective memory; it also allows him to invent and propose an anthology of new words to describe parts of our realities. In 1976, Georges Castera published outside Haiti, a book which brings together several collections of poems in Creole and which is entitled Cumberland (Combined); we find at the end of the work two theoretical and political texts, “Anèks 1” and “Anèks 2”, written entirely in Creole; these two texts bear witness to a poet who is at once critical, polemicist and defender of the Creole language in the Haitian social formation.
Among the various lessons recorded in this text by Jean DurosiersDesrivières, we will remember that the development of literature in the Creole language did not borrow the narrow path of a kind ofidentity essensialismfocused on l’indigenism,l’«Haitianness » and the “Creole »–contrary to the identitarian ideas instilled from page to page in the book « Haitian Creole If it is proven that this book includes some fair remarks on Creole-speaking literature – example: “ For the recognition of the Creole literature », page 44–, the critical reading that we present from different angles in this article confirms that the author did not know how to extricate himself fromidentity unsensialism focused on l’indigenismand even less of a confused one« ethnic nationalism »and produce an analytical framework that is credible, documented and capable of gaining the support of the reader. This « ethnic nationalism » is summoned by Jean-Robert Placide, notably on page 32, as an identity standard : “On the basis of three important identity elements” nationality (Haitian), langetni an (religionist), andterritoryetni an (peyiAyiti).” The same” ethnic nationalism ”, which is at the heart of the blackist-fascist thought of the dictator François Duvalieris based on the heterogeneous assembly of fanciful views which emerge from the ideology and the instrumentalization of a presumed ” ethnicity ».Ce « ethnic nationalism » thus attempts to give credence to the pre-scientific idea that there would be a “ ethnic nationality » Haitian and a « ethnic language » Haitian present on the « territory of the ethnic group » Haitian, Haiti…
It should be remembered that theindigenism has been the subject of leading criticism, among others from the pen of the historian Roger Gaillard, author of “ Haitian indigenism and its avatars/The indigenist school: place in Haitian history and literature» (Conjunction magazine no. 197, 1993, p. 9-26). In this article, Roger Gaillard examines the conditions for the appearance, development and decline ofindigenism. « Indigenism: appearance (1924) – It was after 1915 that indigenism appeared. Its champions are young people, who belong to the declining national oligarchy. The one that “ super class »white traders have been ousted from import-export; the one that the occupier will expel from the high administration, and, out of an insolent concern for leveling, will relegate to the very bottom with the “ masse »already enslaved. (…) In 1971, on the death of his father, power fell to Jean-Claude Duvalier, who was at the same time enthroned president for life of the republic. In the context of relative ideological tolerance that he is then forced to grant, there is a resurgence of indigenismand griots, with the concept, launched by one of our most ardent journalists, of “ Haitianness ». The fund of previous schools is preserved: continue to build the Haitian identity, to build the “ mens »Haitian on its three traditional pillars: veneration for voodoo, sanctification of black skin, revalorization and development of Creole. Very quickly this program became controversial, giving itself, in order of importance, three cultural enemies: the Christianity of the bishops, the intellectual and moral values of the mulatto elite, the French language. (…)It is in this context[thatofthepublicationin1928of“[celuidelaparutionen1928de«Thus spoke the uncle » by Jean Price-Mars]which appeared in July 1927, written and edited by these young bourgeois people and by a few friends of modest means, “ The Indigenous Review “The literary radicalism of this inaugural delivery provokes mockery and enthusiasm.” Evoking the “dispersion” of indigenism in the section of his article entitled “Indigenism, the dispersion (1934-1947)”, Roger Gaillard attributes this decline, in the context of the end of the American occupation in 1934, to the The influence of the protest ideas of the young Haitian left, particularly under the influence of Jacques Roumain. Roger Gaillard’s article ends at thread of two other sections, the “Failed graft of negritude (1947-1971)” and “The new humanist song (1986 to today)”.
Teacher-researcher and lecturer at the University of Bordeaux, Rafaël Lucas is the author of a highly analytical article, “ The aesthetics of degradation in Haitian literature » published in the Revue deliterature comparatif 2002/2 (no 302). It provides very relevant insight into the pairing of indigenism to the characteristics of “ ethnic nationalism » which, under the pen of Jean-Robert Placide (page 32), is linked to the triptych “ nationality (Haitian), langetni an (religionist), andterritoryetni an (payiAyiti) ». Can « conservatismeethnologisant » by François Duvalier, which Rafaël Lucas evokes, still permeates Haitian society which, from 1986 to today, has still not made its deduvalierizationand this largely explains the survival of several variants of “ ethnic nationalism ”, including the nickname “neoindigenism in evolution » that Jean-Robert Placide promotes. The deduvalierizationof Haiti not having until today been truly implemented in the public space, in the judicial system and in the national educational system, we are witnessing the continuation and political and systemic recycling of racialist-identitarian discourses in the Haitian social body, and these racialist discourses are closely linked to the subculture of impunity in Haiti.
Thus, Rafael Lucas teaches us that “(…) one of the tendencies ofindigenism led to an ethnologizing conservatism which would occupy the entire national space in the form of an obscurantist dictatorship essentially characterized by its dynamic of destructuring. (…) The system developed by a Papa Doc/Big Brother has imposed its influence on all areas of activity and representation: the social, the political, the economic, the mythical and the imaginary. With regard precisely to the imagination, François Duvalier ended up investing the field of the symbolic by manipulating the entire system of references linked to the history of Haiti, to the productions of popular folklore and to all forms of anthropological markers. The manipulation was based on a well-structured set of media dramaturgy, political liturgy and trumpeting phraseology. The Duvalierist strategy of mental domestication and colonization includes the attempt to divert religious investment, through the institution of a Catechism of the revolutionwhose perversion ends up canceling itself out, at this precise point in the alchemy of meaning where the excess of duplicity and underestimation of others is transmuted into pathetic ridicule and naivety: “ Our Doc who is at the National Palace, may your name be blessed by present and future generations, may your will be done in Port-au-Prince and in the provinces. Give us our new Haiti today, never forgive the offenses of the stateless people who drool over our homeland every day ».
The central thesis cobbled together and defended by Jean-Robert Placide (page 32 et seq.) is presented without the slightest analysis attesting to the anthropological and historical foundations of a so-called “ ethnic nationality » Haitian and a nickname « ethnic language » Haitian present on the « territory of the ethnic group » Haitian, Haiti. On a historical and ideological level, this central thesis is directly linked to blackness, the racialist-fascist indigenism of François Duvalier.
Secured in the depths of “noirism”, the racialist-fascist thought of François Duvalierwas studied by Virginie Belony in her remarkable doctoral thesis in history defended on February 13, 2023 at the University of Montreal and entitled “ All [n’] was not so negative as that: the contested memories of Duvalierism within the Haitian diaspora of Montreal, 1964-2014″. The historian specifies, in chapter 3 and on page 37 of her thesis, that “ The reasoning noiristewas at the heart of Duvalierist thought. Based on biological differences between Africans and Europeans, [François Duvalier] advocated “black government for black people.” » [La pensée duvaliériste] was also characterized by its conflicting relationship with liberalism. On this subject, historian Matthew Smit (2009) notes that “ blackness was a strong anti-liberal component including the implementation of an authoritarian and exclusive state. » (« Le blackness had a strong anti-liberal component, notably the establishment of an authoritarian and exclusive state. » [Traduction: RBO] A little further on in her analysis, Virginie Belony explains that “If the texts which inspired[thebookbyFrançoisDuvalier“[lelivredeFrançoisDuvalier«The problem of classes throughout the history of Haiti », Imprimerie de l’Etat, 1959, Éditions Fardin, 1965]do not necessarily demonstrate a rigorous intellectual effort or even a concern for nuances, their importance as propaganda tools promulgating an essentialist, racialist vision (not to say racist) and simplistic history of Haiti is not derisory.”Virginie Belony further specifies, in chapter 2 of her doctoral thesis, that the Duvalierist ideologist Gérard Daumec evokes a “raciological factor » to Haitian culture in his work “ Guide to Essential Works by Dr François Duvalier » (Imprimerie Henri Deschamps, September 22, 1967). — NOTE / The strongly connoted use of the term “ We were » dans l’expression « thought movement indigenous Haitian Guinean » (p. 21 of the book by Jean-Robert Placide) is not accidental. He expresses, on the register of indigenist/racialist vocabularythe confinement of members of the national community in a univocal ethno-essentialist vision of Haitian identity: “we Guy from Guinea », « new se pititGinen “. Haitian identity is thus circumscribed and referred to a clear ancestral lineage predominantly racial, to a territory, Guinea, one of the places where the colonial system had organized the deportation of African slaves to the West Indies. The significance of the terms “ nanGinen», « dirty», « Africa Guinea », « SèvisGinen » in Vodou and more broadly in Haitian popular culture is variously attested, but we must not lose sight of the fact that unequivocal ethno-essentialist vision identifiable in the indigenist/racialist vocabulary simultaneously evacuates the other historical components of Haitian identity. It would be interesting to explore, in connection with the study of the lexical field of the term “ Guinea guy “, that of the term ” Congolese » also common in Haitian Creole. The sociologist Franklin Midy, in his study “ The Congos in Santo Domingo – From the imaginary to the real » (revue Ethnologies, volume 28, number 1, 2006), reminds us that “The captives of northern Africa had in common the fact that their nations had been subjected to the Moors and Islamized (Moreau de Saint-Méry, 1958, I: 49). These nations each spoke a different language, but Wolof, widely spread in the region, served as a liaison language.(…) The peoples of the Gold Coast and the Slave Coast (Ghana, Upper Volta, Togo, Dahomey, western Nigeria) supplied, after those from the coasts of Congo and Angola, the greatest number of captives to the plantations of Santo Domingo.
We must take every measure that the “ ethnic nationalism » which, under the pen of Jean-Robert Placide (page 32), is linked to the triptych “ nationality (Haitian), langetni an (religionist), andterritoryetni an (peyiAyiti)”, in direct connection with what we call in Haiti “ the question of color “. Thus, on page 65 of her remarkable doctoral thesis, Virginie Belony notes with great relevance, about “ The American occupation and the question of color: from indigenism to blackness “, that “While the “mulatto” elite was rightly or wrongly accused of facilitating American exploitation of Haiti, many tried to make sense of what, in fact, represented a stoppage of more than 111 years of independent national life. Responses to the occupation were varied. [Micheline] Labelle notes that after the crushing of popular uprisings in 1920, the response to the occupation was primarily through intellectual explorations. The indigenous movement was undoubtedly one of the most prolific both in terms of the extent of the efforts he produced (literary journals, research centers and others) and in terms of his impact on the scholarly life of the country. The interwar period gave rise to several movements demanding an African identity and reassessing the sites of knowledge production. Haitian indigenism is therefore part of a push on an international scale, which nevertheless proves to be well anchored in realities specific to the Caribbean island. Indeed, indigenism was intended to be a nationalist response to the American occupation, but also a literary and cultural effort claiming the African roots of Haiti. Inspired by the work of the Haitian doctor and ethnologist Jean-Price Mars who, in addition to criticizing the bankruptcy of the Haitian elite, reproached it for its “collective bovaryism” and its refusal to see in its entirety, indigenism proposed an innovative and attractive project for Haitian youth wishing to get rid of the Eurocentrism which had marked generations previous ones. According to many, it was this clumsy willingness to copy Europe that provided fertile ground for an American offensive in Haiti. The unity of the country depended on a union between different sectors of society through recognition full of a common culture. Voodoo, until now considered with apprehension and perceived as the most barbaric form of African superstitions, now became a respected and even adored field of investigation as it was associated with the peasant guardians of “authentic” Haitian culture. This interest in authenticity punctuated by the humiliating presence of the Americans was to give rise among some to a desire to create a political movement in the image of indigenism.” Finally, at the time of writing, we have not been able to view the full article by theologian/historian DavidNicholls titled “ Embryo-Politics in Haiti - Government and Opposition » , 6:1 (1971). In this text DavidNicholls explores the various forms of nationalism that emerged in Haiti during the American occupation (1915-1934). He evokes figures such as that of the intellectual Jean Magloire who, in the 1930s, glorified fascist thinkers and leaders, notably Mussolini and Hitler, in the name of nationalism. According to David Nicholls, Jean Magloire subsequently held a ministerial position in the government of François Duvalier (1957-1971). Other sources confirm that Jean Magloire, like the Maurassian Gérard de Catalogne, a great admirer of Marshal Pétain and close collaborator of François Duvalier, also actively participated in the dissemination of fascist ideas in Haiti and particularly among the Duvalierists.
We will also note that the question ofblackness, at the heart of the ideological system of the Griots, has been addressed by several authors. The political scientist Sauveur Pierre-Étienne worked on this in« The Haitian enigma: It isfailure of the modern state in Haiti »Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 2007 (cdon’t miss 6 / The crisis of 1946:«Resurgence of the Haitian neopatrimonial state and total dysfunction of post-occupation state institutions “. He explains that “Among the writers of the Griots group who worked to make known the centrality of voodoo in the life of the country while denouncing the efforts of the Roman Catholic Church aimed at imposing an alienating European culture on Haitians, we naturally found the three D: François Duvalier, Lorimer Denis and Louis Diaquoi. Their writings were at the base of the radicalization of blackism, of its racist impulses. Unlike Haitian writers like Louis Joseph Janvier, Anténor Firmin and Hannibal Price who had sought to refute Gobineau’s hypotheses, in order to find the scientific foundations of the equality of human races, Duvalier and his comrades from the Griots group affirmed the existence of an African (mystical) psychology, specific, biologically determined, different from Western (rational) psychology. Due to their physical characteristics, the majority of Haitians would be the genetically privileged repository. The very great influence of “occult forces”, notably that of voodoo in Haiti, would highlight the existence of elements other than “Gallo-Latin” in the mentality or the “collective personality” of Haitians, establishing proof of the preponderance of the African factor. It is in an article published in 1936[“HowisthestateoftheBlackdifferentfromthatoftheWhite?”[«Enquoil’étatduNoirsedifférencie-t-ildeceluiduBlanc?»The NouvellisteDecember 30, 1935-January 3, 1936]which Duvalier allowed to appear very clearlythe ideological filiation of blackness : “Count de Gobineau established certain principles which remain. He categorized the human family into three types: White, Black and Mongolian. And each of them with their specific characters: Black representing passion, sensitivity; Yellow, practical sense; White, reason of divine origin. (…) The racism of the Griots constituted the very essence of noirism and it is in it that we must seek and find the political objective and strategy of these ideologues. They intended to reduce the entire political debate of their time to a simple Manichean vision, an opposition between Blacks and Mulattoes, a confrontation between “good Blacks” and “bad Mulattoes”, arouse the passions of the masses by seeking to invalidate all others. currents of ideas likely to exert a certain influence on certain segments of society, notably Marxism (…).
Two studies are particularly enlightening for better appreciating and situating the body of ideas tinkered with and defended by Jean-Robert Placide inthe ideological and political systemof a so-called “ ethnic nationality » Haitian and a nickname « ethnic language » Haitian present on the « territory of the ethnic group » Haitian, Haiti, and its conceptual links withblackness et the racialist-fascist indigenism of François Duvalier. It is on the one hand the conceptual exploration of the ideological filiation of blackness and indigenismcarried out by Micheline Labelle in an article of great analytical amplitude, The operating force of color ideology in 1946 “. This article appeared in the work edited under the direction of the political scientist and essayist Frantz Voltaire, “Black power in Haiti. The explosion of 1946 »(Montreal: V&R Éditeurs et Éditions du CIDIHCA, 1988). On the other hand, it concerns the doctoral work of Rodady Gustave, “ From indigenism to noirism: the exaltation of African roots and its influence on Haitian institutions from 1915 to 1957 “(doctoral thesis, Grenoble Alpes University, in joint supervision with’State University of Haiti, 2019). — (On with morrismesee also “ François Duvalier, the terrible theorist of blackism », docu-web by the philosopher and political scientist Guy Férolus, Haiti site Inter, December 4, 2020; see also D. Rogers, University of the West Indies, “ On the origin of color prejudice in Haiti », in Outre-Mers – Revue d’histoire, 90 (340-341), 2003; BrigidEnchill, “ Colorism and blackness in the Haitian context » /Amour by Marie Vieux-Chauvet, published in Mouvances francophones, volume 6, number 1, 2021.)
It is attested that the themes of indigenism, “national identity”, “nationalism”, “patriotism” etc. are present in the history of ideas in Haiti and that Haitian literature bears witness to this on several registers. and at different times. The dominance of contemporary Creole literature focused on questions of identity is far from being established and no reference study, since the co-officialization of Creole and French in the 1987 Constitution, attests that “the Ayisyanite » and “kreyolite” would be the dominant distinctive poles of a Creole literature allegedly characterized by “yonnouvoendijenis an evolisyon”. In the written press published in recent years in Haiti and in the academic publications that we consulted before writing this article, we found no trace of the notions such as they are called by Jean-Robert Placide, of “ayisyanite “, “kreyolite”, “yonnasyonendijèn”, “sitwayenendijènayisyen”, “yonendijenispolitik” and “yonkouran panse politikendijènAyiti”. In the written press published in recent years in Haiti, we found only one occurrence of the term “ Haitianness » in an article entitled “ KalbasAyiti launches the sixth edition of “Twenty of Haitianness »(Le National, August 4, 2022). And it is rather in a high-end cultural magazine, Conjunction, published by the French Institute of Haiti, that we listed a delivery (no. 197, 1993) including several articles are dedicated to indigenism.
The book ” Haitian Creole » pleads at length, throughout its pages, for the recognition and consolidation of a strong and diversified Creole literature – which is right in principle – but it is attested that this fair principle has been repeatedly misused and exploited by various ” creolist ideologues », including by Jean-Robert Placide, with the aim of justifying and legitimizing, on the ideological and political levels, “yonapatenansnasyonalayisyenepi yo lote nanpatrimwanliterèendijènlokalayiti” (page 33 of the book). Thus, for Jean-Robert Placide, it is essentially a Creole literature entirely circumscribed in “yonnouvoendijenis an evolisyon” whose function is to promote “ayisyanite”, “kreyolite”, “yonnasyonendijèn”,[yon] « movement of thought indigenous Haitian Guinean », “yonendijenispolitik” and “yonkouran panse politikendijènAyiti”. It will not escape the reader that the scriptural confinement and ideological instrumentalization of the “patriotic mission” thus devolved to Creole literature completely evacuate the free choices of literary creators and, in the same myopic movement, evacuate the attested fact that literature Contemporary Haitian literature is written in four languages, French, Creole, English and Spanish. In the narrow prison cell of the ideological instrumentalization of Creole literature, it is no longer “the echo of the beats of the world” (Depestre), it only becomes a “militant” stooge in the exclusive service of a “cause”, a “mission”… Several other parts of the book “Haitian Creole / «Creole movement SocieteKoukouyyonnewindigenism in evolution » deserve critical reading, particularly (1)”One conception: “The Literary Realist” (p. 42); (2) “An ideology, language, data, and geography” (p. 56);(3)“Yonnuvoendijeniskreyòl: Mouvmankreyòlayisyen (1965-1969) (p. 63), etc. These other aspects could then be the subject of a separate text. As for the eighth part of the book,”Dualinguistics: a linguistic management policy in favor of Creole, silvouple!” »(pages 191 to 201), which includes 14 chapters, it will be necessary in the future to devote a feature article to it.
