Nèg Mawon Podcast

[Konesans Series - Ep. #54] Kreyol & the Translator's Craft. A Brief Chat with Dr Nadève Ménard

What is the Role of Music in Haitian Culture? Ethnomusicologist Dr. Rebecca Dirksen provides some answers. Don't forget to check out her book to get a fuller treatment of what she disccusses briefly here in Konesans: "After the Dance, the Drums Are Heavy. Carnival, Politics, and Musical Engagement in Haiti."

Dr. Fatton connects the popular Haitian term "Tout moun se moun" within the context of the Aristide era.

In this episode, Anthropologist Dr. Pierre Minn takes a deep dive into examining the work of Haitian health professionals in humanitarian aid encounters. Did you know that Haiti is the target of an overwhelming number of internationally funded health projects? While religious institutions sponsor a number of these initiatives, many are implemented within the secular framework of global health. Dr....

In this week's Konesans, I asked Yale's Haitian historian Dr. Marlene Daut the following question: Are We in the Golden Age of Haitian Studies?

In this week's Konesans, Dr. Greg Beckett, a noted anthropologist, tackles the following question: how much of our African culture did Haitians retain?

Listen as Dr. Robert Fatton discusses a revealing slice of what it means to be a Haitian elite.

In Fragments of Bone, thirteen essayists discuss African religions as forms of resistance and survival in the face of Western cultural hegemony and imperialism. The collection presents scholars working outside of the Western tradition with backgrounds in a variety of disciplines, genders, and nationalities. These experts draw on research, fieldwork, personal interviews, and spiritual introspe...

Haitian seasonal migration to Cuba is central to narratives about race, national development, and US imperialism in the early twentieth-century Caribbean. Filling a major gap in the literature, this innovative study reconstructs Haitian guestworkers' lived experiences as they moved among the rural and urban areas of Haiti, and the sugar plantations, coffee farms, and cities of eastern Cuba. ...

This episode is compelling and thought-provoking, The Sexual Politics of Empire examines LGBTQI life in contemporary Haiti against the backdrop of American imperialism and intervention. Evangelical Christians and members of the global LGBTQI human rights movement have vied for influence in Haiti since the 2010 earthquake. Each side accuses the other of serving foreign interests. Yet each proposes...

Part 2 picks up the story during the reign of Boyer. Listen as Dr. Alexander illuminates the ways in which some Black Americans became disillusioned with the policies and decisions made by the Boyer administration. Haitian independence influenced Black thought and action in the United States. Other Black activists in the United States continued to embrace a common identity with Haiti’s people, for...

The emergence of Haiti as a sovereign Black nation lit a beacon of hope for Black people throughout the African diaspora. Listen as Dr. Leslie M. Alexander reveals the untold story of how free and enslaved Black people in the United States defended the young Caribbean nation from forces intent on maintaining slavery and white supremacy.  She focuses on Haiti’s place in the history of Black in...

A wide ranging discussion with one of my favorite scholars, Dr. Nadève Ménard. [A sprinkle of Kreyol; the rest in English. ] We cover The Haiti Reader and a separate essay (post-2010 earthquake) she wrote to her daughter, "My Dearest Dear Ana". While Haiti established the second independent nation in the Western Hemisphere and was the first black country to gain independence from European col...

Within the context of Haiti, the word crisis has very specific meaning for Dr. Greg Beckett. As you'll him articulate, this is not just another book about crisis in Haiti. This book is about what it feels like to live and die with a crisis that never seems to end. It is about the experience of living amid the ruins of ecological devastation, economic collapse, political upheaval, violence, and hum...

Within the context of Haiti, the word crisis has very specific meaning for Dr. Greg Beckett. As you'll him articulate, this is not just another book about crisis in Haiti. This book is about what it feels like to live and die with a crisis that never seems to end. It is about the experience of living amid the ruins of ecological devastation, economic collapse, political upheaval, violence, and hum...

Within the context of Haiti, the word crisis has very specific meaning for Dr. Greg Beckett. As you'll him articulate, this is not just another book about crisis in Haiti. This book is about what it feels like to live and die with a crisis that never seems to end. It is about the experience of living amid the ruins of ecological devastation, economic collapse, political upheaval, violence, and hum...

This is the story of freedom, of choices black women made to anchor their humanity,to retain control over their bodies, selves, loved ones, and their futures. The story of freedom is ambiguous, but often begins with intimate acts steeped in power. Listen as Dr Johnson discusses the peculiar oppressions faced by African women and women of African descent. And it pivots on the self-conscious choices...

A PDF version of this book is available for free in open access via the OAPEN Library platform (www. oapen. org). Historically and contemporarily, politically and literarily, Haiti has long been relegated to the margins of the so-called 'New World.' Marked by exceptionalism, the voices of some of its most important writers have consequently been muted by the geopolitical realities of the nation's...

DESCRIPTION In this 3 part chat with Dr. Fatton, you won't hear me asking questions. Fatton is the kind of guest that you just hand him the mic and let him do his thang. It's a master class in polisci 101. Grab pen & pencil. Fatton drops some key terms we all should know and internalize. The collapse of the Duvalier dictatorship in 1986 gave rise to optimism among Haitians in all walks of life...

Sandra Wisner is a senior staff lawyer with the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH), a U.S. human rights organization, working in partnership with the Haiti-based public interest law firm the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) [Garment Industry] At first glance, the garment workers’ protests sweeping Haiti appear to be the result of a grossly inadequate minimum wage. But lis...

*Manoumba Records label granted permission to include excerpt of "Dèpi tanbou frape" track by Boulo Valcourt I love foundational work like this! A richly ethnographic and compelling read, After the Dance, the Drums Are Heavy is a study of carnival, politics, and the musical engagement of ordinary citizens and celebrity musicians in contemporary Haiti. The book explores how the self-declared presid...

In this second episode of the series (2/2), Dr. Vincent Joos explores the failed international reconstruction of Port-au-Prince after the devastating 2010 earthquake. He describes the failures of international aid in Haiti while ihe analyzes examples of Haitian-based reconstruction and economic practices. By interrogating the relationship between indigenous uses of the cityscape and the urbanizati...

In this series of episodes (1/2), Dr. Vincent Joos explores the failed international reconstruction of Port-au-Prince after the devastating 2010 earthquake. He describes the failures of international aid in Haiti while he analyzes examples of Haitian-based reconstruction and economic practices.  By interrogating the relationship between indigenous uses of the cityscape and the urbanization of the...

In Island Futures Mimi Sheller delves into the ecological crises and reconstruction challenges affecting the entire Caribbean region during a time of climate catastrophe. Drawing on fieldwork on postearthquake reconstruction in Haiti, flooding on the Haitian-Dominican border, and recent hurricanes, Sheller shows how ecological vulnerability and the quest for a "just recovery" in the Caribbean emer...

In Island Futures Mimi Sheller delves into the ecological crises and reconstruction challenges affecting the entire Caribbean region during a time of climate catastrophe. Drawing on fieldwork on postearthquake reconstruction in Haiti, flooding on the Haitian-Dominican border, and recent hurricanes, Sheller shows how ecological vulnerability and the quest for a "just recovery" in the Caribbean emer...