The Execidemi - Is It a Shift in Hatian Culture?

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

There's a shift, i think, in hatian cultural history. If you think of the nineteen sixties or seventies, hatian cultural history is centred in hadi. And that seems to end in the nineteen eighties. Then hade was designated by the c d c. As patients were labelled a hiriscop for aen n we were the only ones designated by nationality. It was patientsm acs, harrowing attics and homosexuals. And so that killed, really, that designation killed the tourism industry and paty. But later, mun much d no demonstrations, after a lot of research, it was corrected. But it really killed whatever terism inthe...

Edwidge Danticat left Haiti when she was 12, she says, but Haiti never left her. At 14 she began writing stories about the people and culture she loved, and now is an internationally acclaimed novelist and short story writer as well a MacArthur Genius Fellow. Rather than holding herself out as an expert or sociologist on Haiti, she seeks to treat her characters and culture with nuance and show the beauty and complexity of the place she calls home.

She joined Tyler to discuss the reasons Haitian identity and culture will likely persist in America, the vibrant Haitian art scenes, why Haiti has the best food in the Caribbean, how radio is remaining central to Haitian politics, why teaching in Creole would improve Haitian schools, what’s special about the painted tap-taps, how tourism influenced Haitian art, working with Jonathan Demme, how the CDC destroyed the Haitian tourism industry, her perspective on the Black Lives Matter movement, why she writes better at night, the hard lessons of Haiti’s political history, and more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.

Recorded September 18th, 2020 Other ways to connect

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram
Follow Tyler on Twitter
Email us: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu
Subscribe at our newsletter page to have the latest Conversations with Tyler news sent straight to your inbox.