Après avoir vu le film presenté au jourd’hui, j’ai été fascinée avec comment la radio influence la culture et la politique d’une société. Ici, on ne pense guère à l’importance de cette forme de médias, car c’est plus facile d’obtenir les nouvelles. Quand je pense à la radio, je pense à la conduite dans une voiture, et on met la radio pour se divertir. Mais pour un pays comme l’Haïti, l’importance (et la controverse) est plus grand. Pendant la classe, on a vu son importance politique. Comment fonctionne-t-elle pour des catastrophes naturelles ? Voici un clip qui répond à cette question :

Lyonel Trouillot is one of Haiti’s best known contemporary writers. He comes from a remarkable family: his brother, Michel Rolph Trouillot, is a brilliant and well-known anthropologist, while his sister Evelyn is also a well-known novelist in Haiti. He stands out in his generation of writers because he has never gone into exile, unlike many others, writing consistently from within Haiti and about events in the country. (Another writer who has a similar trajectory is Franketienne, who has written novels in Haitian Creole as well as French). Trouillot also has a regular radio program, and has written poetry and lyrics for popular songs. He also write for several newspapers in Haiti. A list of all his his works is available here.

The two novels by Lyonel Trouillot we will be reading (Children of Heroes for the English section, and Bicentenaire for the French section) are both short, dramatic portraits of life and Haiti. But both are also very complex in their construction, seeking to represent both a particular historical moment and the broader weight of the past in a short text. Bicentenaire dwells more directly on the question of how a novel should and can represent a certain event, and indeed opens with an interesting meditation on the relationship between a particular historical event — the student demonstrations against Aristide in 2004 — and his novel. In Children of Heroes, the past of the Haitian Revolution is present in the statues of heroes in downtown Port-au-Prince, but the novel centers on an act of violence resistance in the present by two children. (You can read a review of the English translation of Children of Heroes here).

We’ll be discussing Trouillot’s approach during lecture on Tuesday. In preparation for that, here are a few videos that can give you a sense of his work. All are in French, since he has rarely given interview in English. As you watch the first two videos, you can also think about (and perhaps critique) the ways in which the the French press presents the novels as well; and you can think about and try to characterize Trouillot’s political position on foreign aid — a topic taken up in other posts on the blog — when you watch the third video.

Here is a short video in which he discusses Bicentenaire.

Here is a short video discussing his book “Children of Heroes,” which includes him reading an excerpt.

And here is an intervention he made regarding post-earthquake reconstruction in Haiti.

In preparation for our discussion on Thursday, please share some of your reactions to the novels and/or these videos in the comments section. If you find other materials of interest about Trouillot, please share them as well. Please post your comments by 5 p.m. on Wednesday.

Should Creole replace French in Haitian classrooms? While French culture plays a pivotal role in defining contemporary Haiti, only a small percentage of Haitians can speak proper French; however, Haitian administrators continue to push for schools to teach entirely in French. Administrators deem Creole unfit for classrooms, and identify French as the most effective language for Haiti’s future workers.

Proponents for French based schooling argue that the benefits of bilingualism, such as improved job opportunities, outweigh the difficulties Haitian students face while mastering the language. On the other side, many Haitians who disapprove of the language requirement in schools argue that children learn most effectively when taught in their vernacular. Opponents of a strictly French curriculum push for a bilingual approach to teaching (where students are taught French, but instructed in Creole until they become proficient in the former).

To me, the most productive teaching method is a bilingual curriculum that focuses on Creole and slowly incorporates French as students advance into secondary school. This eases the language transition for students and maintains an appreciation for the native Creole. Haiti’s language controversy is a clear example of France’s deeply rooted presence in this ex-colony. The fact that a number of administrators see French as the language of success for Haitians over Creole reveals the cultural capital of Frenchess in Haiti. The question remains, how can Haiti increase its cultural capital so that Creole can one day be deemed a language of success?

L’article que j’ai trouvé décrit les vies des femmes haïtiennes, oubliée de l’aide humanitaire ; l’article se parle d’un rapport publié par l’organisation Human Rights Watch hier (le 30 août 2011) mais le rapport se réfère au tremblement de terre en Haïti en janvier 2010. Selon cet article, plus de 300 000 femmes en Haïti ne bénéficient pas des efforts humanitaires et vivent dans des conditions caractérisées par la pauvreté extrême ; en fait, un grand problème là-bas est le niveau haut de grossesses non-désirées, accompagné par beaucoup de promiscuité et la manque d’accès à l’aide médicale. Malgré que cette situation se passe en Haïti et pas en France elle-même, je trouve l’article intéressant et pertinent à ce que nous discuterons, car l’histoire d’Haïti est beaucoup liée à celle de la France. En plus, j’ai étudié les vies des femmes musulmanes qui vivent en France et les obstacles qu’elles font face, mais l’article montre les autres difficultés affrontés par un grand nombre des femmes dans une autre partie du monde francophone.