inauguration, in the prose of its diaspora UN Johari Gautier Carmona Posted on Wednesday May 11 2011, 11:57 pm
In full year of african descendents and after the commemoration of the tragic earthquake in Haiti, rescue a magical reading describes the life and customs in the beautiful island. The novel "Echoes of the Caribbean, about to be reissued by the publisher Lumen, is one of the reference books to come to this place. The author, Micheline Dusseck, resident in Spain, recognized speaker, explains some of the most interesting aspects of their country.
How did this incredible story of Echoes of the Caribbean? What motivated you to write? Micheline Dusseck: I've always attracted literature. I started writing poetry at age 14 and at 19 wrote a play based on the time of slavery, which was quite successful. Writing about Haiti is a way to combat prejudice and to present my country because upon arriving here in Spain, I found a very different concept of the Caribbean. I also realized that the English today are not like the settlers because they are not all "Nicolas Ovando. Are capable of altruism, generosity. Haitians are not as they paint and ideas about Haiti are usually limited to preconceived ideas.
The book contains very picturesque scenes of Haiti. For example, in the beginning explain that "it was customary to bring spring water to fill the large jar in each occupied housing." Are these scenes memories of your childhood? Micheline Dusseck: Yes These are memories of my childhood. These are scenes I've experienced it firsthand. Wonderful pages of my past. When we went to the field had no water and had to go to get water to the spring. These scenes are also seen in the capital. People need to take stock of water. In a few houses, get it as easy as turning a tap.
The mother figure is very important in this novel. Almost all women included in this story are from a very early age and pass by thousands of suffering. Furthermore, they share with their daughters about feelings of great complicity and affection, perhaps due to male domination and aggression. Do you think they are the ones that support the Haitian? Micheline Dusseck: Haiti is a country dominated matriarchy for several reasons, as a legacy of the colonial era and African roots following, polygamy, although not officially, is still practical. Getting married is an expense that is not within reach of ordinary people. The machismo and the lack of equality between the sexes in the labor market conducive to cohabitation as many women need, to lack of work, someone to keep it. As Consequently, there are many single mothers and single women carrying just the weight of your household, that is after all essentially say the same society. It also continues to dominate the man in the administration and command posts.
described in the novel the importance given to the choice of a name when a baby is born because it can influence an entire lifetime. That part of mysticism that you describe in the novel and gives a magical point in history seems to have a major influence on daily life. Micheline Dusseck: The choice of name is very important, Haiti and Spain. My mother chose my own advice of her grandmother, devoted to San Miguel. But there are also people looking for names in the dictionaries. Depending on the time. Mysticism is very influential and has much to do with the beliefs that brought slaves from Africa.
On more than one occasion, the work presents funeral scenes which show the proximity of death, both figuratively and in a real way. You can see some family rituals organized to facilitate the rest of the deceased or even butterflies that announce the imminent death of a close. Sometimes it seems that death is a central element of life. Is this how you conceive? Micheline Dusseck: Living here in Spain, the distance and time do you have another perspective of Haitian traditions but I think the funeral scenes in the novel reflect well Haitian customs of honoring the dead, to assess their messages and be seen in a dream to own, to call their souls to communicate through them to the afterlife. In villages and towns, the painted tombs of different colors and are well cared for at the roadside in front of the homes of relatives of those buried there. I remember my aunt's house where we spent the summer there was a grave in our garden which was our table when we were guests of the city and the setting for the plays of my adolescence. Indeed, in the village, connecting with family does not end with death.
Separate chapters describe scenes in which traditional medicine can be used to cure anything. His presence seems to be anchored in every detail of daily life. Micheline Dusseck: An evidence-based medicine that passes from generation to generation by word of mouth. In fact, science uses plants, roots, leaves, animals for the active ingredients of many drugs such as aloe vera, caffeine, oils etc.
speak in the first part of the U.S. invasion and expropriation Haitian peasants (which took place in 1908). Is it a particularly painful moment of Haitian history? Do you think this event is still in the collective memory? Micheline Dusseck: I think that has had a major influence in our history that first great American invasion, although the U.S. has always been controlling the puppet presidents who have succeeded at the head of this small Caribbean nation. No doubt there was a before and after the invasion because it generated significant changes.
While political stability could be observed during this period, however from the point of view, made Haiti a satellite country of their finances and, ultimately, a parasite de las ayudas del mundo occidental. Además, reavivó el racismo aupando en la administración y el gobierno la minoría mulata. Creó un cuerpo de policía represivo.
Lo positivo de aquella ocupación fue la reacción de la clase intelectual contraria a ella. Poetas y novelistas se desconectaron de la literatura de la madre patria y crearon una escuela indigenista más representativa de su país, su pueblo y su cultura afroamericana. Las obras más importantes de la escuela indigenista consideran los problemas de los campesinos y la clase media. Sus representantes más notorios son Dr Price Mars, Jacques Stephen Alexis y Jacques Roumain.
Cuando los familiares que protagonizan esta novela se encuentran for the first time with white Americans, the pain of Haitian history and the memory of slavery again resurface. Do you think that Haiti's relations with the Western world are affected by the ghost of the slave trade? Micheline Dusseck: I think so. Both the English and the French have been the protagonists of the best pages of Haitian history. For them, the word meant colonization conquest but for us domination. Haitians are generally proud of their race because they know brave descendants of slaves who defeated their masters and forged a nation, a boldness that did not spare the Western world.
The mixture of races, by no means unnatural, but rather a renewal of the human gene, has created an elite in the country are not always in communion with the black majority of the Haitian people.
described in this book the great joy of the Haitian parties. The importance of music, the exuberance of some dancers, the love to laugh and enjoy. Is there anything better than these parties? Micheline Dusseck: I lived in my childhood and in recent years the Haitian carnival seemed the most animated. Also in my country there are festivals and pilgrimages that are as popular as the Dew. With voodoo has been introduced drums in church and some common rites of Catholicism have been transformed into real celebration. Voodoo is also a link in the villages. It was very important in the revolution and has always been social and cultural level.
Sometimes samples such as poverty and lack of opportunity becomes untenable. Most characters decide to emigrate and leave the U.S. or other Caribbean islands. Do you think immigration is the great escape for the Haitian people? Micheline Dusseck: At the individual level, migration may be the only way to escape a life of hardship but nationally, leaving the country without its citizens more valid for the benefit of rich countries, especially when those last foster the migration of a profile according to your needs.
Which of the women in this story represents you? Micheline Dusseck, I'd like to Simone because he has great determination, a lot of effort. She always looks up. His daughter Lamercie, however, is a victim. Erzulie [granddaughter] is very realistic. A woman is more modern today. Want your man to be for her, but know it's hard to be so. She can not accept being a plaything in the hands of others.
Are you still writing? Micheline
Dusseck: Yes, I'm writing. I have 8 text editor for which I seek. A historical novel of the time of Toussaint Louverture and another novel titled "Hey you?" Which speak of the street children and introduced the Haitian from another perspective. I am waiting for the reissue of "Echoes of the Caribbean." For me is the recognition of a work has been translated into other languages \u200b\u200blike German, Italian, Polish and Romanian. Like much in the university environment because it allows us to understand and analyze the Haitian society.
How do you see the future of your country with the newly elected President Michel Martelly? Micheline Dusseck: I'm worried but I have to give a vote of confidence as did the people tired of leaders with titles, lawyers, doctors, teachers, priests did not only disappoint. Perhaps his love for the peasants, says Michel Martelly represent motivates you to work for them. Michel Martelly
I hope people know surround valid. Right now, the country is broke and so I think that not only is the government that can lift the country. It is also the diaspora that has to act and the people of Haiti as a whole. International aid has not arrived yet. The country needs to wake up and join, as is happening in Arab countries. The people must work and sacrifice. The village is raising a country.
http://www.diariosigloxxi.com/texto-diario/mostrar/70806/haiti-en-la-prosa-de-su-diaspora
