“The transnational turn in Haitian studies and the hemispheric turn in American studies come together in this groundbreaking interdisciplinary collection, which situates Haiti as a ‘crossroads’ of the Americas…Haiti and the Americas spotlights the multiple ways that scholars are working at the intersection of transnational Haitian and hemispheric American studies, as well as the rich insights that become possible at these geographic, temporal, and disciplinary crossroads. I came away from the collection with a more faceted understanding of these histories and texts, with new questions, and with the hope and expectation that Haiti and the Americas will generate many sequels.”
–Kate Ramsey in Journal of Haitian Studies. Read the full review.
“Haiti and the Americas constitutes an essential contribution to the burgeoning field of Haitian studies. A series of original, provocative, and richly documented studies notably advance our understanding of the actuality of Haiti throughout the Americas since 1804. From Bolivar and the Cuban revolutionary struggles to pan-Africanism, Harlem, Price-Mars’ proto-Negritude and Cité Soleil today, the volume ranged widely beyond the conceit of Haiti as unthinkable void, to richly score its overdeterminant place in the construction of black Atlantic modernity.”
–Nick Nesbitt, professor of French and Italian at Princeton University
“This collection of rich and diverse essays is an important addition to the growing body of work on Haiti. Recognizing simultaneously the importance of and the need to go beyond the revolution, the essays unearth and re-explore connections between Haiti and its hemispheric neighbors, so that the effect is to situate Haiti at its rightful place–at the very center of the story of the Americas.”
–Martin Munro, Winthrop-King Professor of French and Francophone Studies at Florida State University
“This superb collection showcases exciting new work by leading scholars. Haiti, these essays show, has long been shaped by–and in turn shaped–other societies throughout the Americas.”
–Laurent Dubois, professor of Romance Studies and History at Duke University
“A provocative, richly-documented, and original collection, Haiti and the Americas makes an important contribution to scholarly debates on Atlantic history. Together, the essays reclaim Haiti’s central role in this past and sound a clarion call for new, polyphonic re-imagining of hemispheric routes. The challenge is set and it is now up to us to respond to it.”
–Kasia Mika in Callaloo. Read the full review.
“Haiti and the Americas delves into familiar stereotypes of Haiti, contextualises their historical development and offers rich critical narratives by way of redress...A major theme in this collection is how writers and artists (such as Charles Chesnutt, Aaron Douglas, Alexander King, Leth) resort to stereotyping (for example Primitivism, Ghetto narratives) and silencing in their representations of Haiti and Haitians…The essays in Haiti and the Americas offer powerful correctives to such lacunae.”
–Joanna Collins in Wasafiri. Read the full review.
“Haiti and the Americas is a well-written collection of essays that stimulates and enlightens our understanding of Haiti’s cultural influence on the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries. Many of us who study Haiti are aware of the rich body of research on the Haitian Revolution. What the scholars have done in this book is to position the Haitian Revolution as a backdrop to explore new avenues of research not only in history, but also in literature and cultural studies. Pivotal to this project is the premise underscored in the introduction that Haiti is ‘a crossroads of the Americas’ where ‘art history, film studies, literary analysis, and political theory’ intersect (3). The essays in this collection take us through a beautiful and well-documented encounter of Haitian cultural crossroads.”
–Iliana Rosales-Figueroa in the Cincinnati Romance Review. Read the full review.
“This collection of essays should prove a useful resource for specialists and non-specialists alike. The book covers important aspects of Haitian history and the interactions of Haiti with other societies of the Caribbean, the Americas, and the larger Atlantic world. The essays gracefully combine this large-scope approach with detailed insight into the lived experiences of men and women who inhabited Haiti, visited the country, or were influenced by its history. From this book we learn much about the dynamic and complicated processes that link Haiti and Cuba, Anténor Firmin and Booker T. Washington, and the Caribbean with the rest of the Americas and Europe.”
–Edgardo Pérez Morales in Register of the Kentucky Historical Society. Read the full review.
“Invite[s] reflections on a question that permeates but transcends this valuable text: when and how does Haiti ‘enter the conversation,’ scholarly and otherwise? The contributors ponder various iterations of this query in their look at Haiti’s exclusions, omissions, and misrepresentations. The essays offer new research or engage familiar questions with fresh insights, moving from the nineteenth through the twenty-first century and calling on a variety of disciplines.”
–Yveline Alexis in New West Indian Guide. Read the full review.
“Using a variety of conceptual frameworks and methodological lenses, each essay provides a fresh, unbiased rearticulation of many taken-for-granted assumptions regarding Haiti and its contributions to discourses of freedom in the Western hemisphere. One strength of the book is that each of the selected essays work in concert with one another while enabling each author to use their text to articulate their individual points of view…Overall, Haiti and the Americas is a balanced, research based collection of essays articulating the narratives of Haiti from its historical past to its present and future…Scholars interested in Diasporic Literature, Cultural Studies, Education, Haitian History, and Black Atlantic Studies may find Haiti and the Americas a useful pre-primer.”
–Tammie Jackson on Haiti Then and Now. Read the full review.
“Contesting, revising, and reclaiming Haiti’s representations in the imaginary of the “New World,” this thought-provoking collection looks at Haiti as a vital crossroads in the Americas…Highly recommended. HHH Upper-division undergraduates through researchers/faculty.”
–Ivette Wilson in Choice Reviews.