HLAS annotation: The author draws upon archival texts of pre-revolutionary Haiti, Martinique, Guadeloupe, and their diasporic communities in France to provide a multidisciplinary analysis that historicizes the impact/influence of French colonial culture on current constructions of Caribbean gender, and argues that opaque strategies of crossing-dressing, mimicry, and masquerade reflected and enabled resistance to the racialized, gendered, and patriarchal classifications of bodies that characterized Enlightenment thought during the French transatlantic slave trade. [HLAS Contributor: Clifford E. Griffin]

HLAS annotation: New edition of a valuable survey of Haitian history that first appeared in 1979 (see HLAS 44:2491). Nicholls died in 1996, and changes to the original book appear to be limited to a new, 41-page preface that summarizes political events in the country from 1986-94. [HLAS Contributor: Anne Pérotin-Dumon]

HLAS annotation: Argues that Haiti in 1992 is to a large extent beset by the same problems as 10 or 15 years ago. The main changes have occurred in the political area, which has seen the fall of the Duvalier dynasty followed by a brief period of a democratically-elected president and his replacement by military rule. Essays focus on determinants of economic underdevelopment in Haiti, emphasizing the government's role in shaping some of the structures that keep Haiti in a state of poverty and underdevelopment. [HLAS Contributor: Ransford W. Palmer]

HLAS annotation: A historical study of the Vodou and Haitian law. Ramsey explores the ways that common Haitians negotiated power through religion while also clarifying the impulses and effects of anti-Vodou laws. By incorporating oral accounts into a critical reading of archival material, the study follows traditions such as those set by Jean Price-Mars, Carolyn E. Fick, and Joan Dayan. Ramsey moves in new directions by showing not simply a history from below, but rather a multilevel and still-relevant Haitian past. [HLAS Contributor: Dennis R. Hidalgo]

HLAS annotation: More than a biography of Toussaint, this work examines St. Domingue's broader politics, society and economy during final years of French colonial rule. Contains much statistical information indicating how coffee was challenging sugar's hegemony. A second edition was published in 1989 as Toussaint-Louverture: un révolutionnaire noir d'ancien régime. [HLAS contributor: Franklin W. Knight]

HLAS annotation: The product of a long and fruitful collaborative effort to think across the island of Hispaniola, this collection edited by Mayes and Jayaram offers selections in history, literary studies, anthropology, ethnomusicology, and cultural studies. The goals of the book - and its antecedent collective - include fostering and uniting scholarly endeavors across Hispaniola and among its diasporas/diasporas/diaspora, connecting with social activisms that "resist political exclusion, racism, anti-Haitian xenophobia, gender inequality, and discrimination based on sexuality," and creating "new narratives" that recognize and amplify the long, complicated, and ultimately positive relationships between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, but also between the island and the rest of the Caribbean. Twelve contributing chapters range in disciplinary and temporal focus, and cover topics as diverse as engaged scholarship and pedagogy, sex and tourism, literature, citizenship, and the politics of place and space. [HLAS Contributor: Elizabeth Manley]

HLAS annotation: This work is the result of a symposium where established academic Haitianists discussed various aspects of Haitian sovereignty (such as it is). Apart from several reviews of Haitian history, a few scholars tackle international affairs: Fattore introduces the idea of Haiti as an "outer periphery" (that is, lying beyond the core-periphery-semi-periphery) and therefore confronting issues. Another scholar, Pierre-Louis, addresses the failure of the UN and the US Department of State in their attempts to promote democracy in Haiti after 2010. Maguire details the problems encountered on both sides of the relationship as USAID (US Agency for International Development) sought to implement its aid schemes. Perhaps the most informative chapter for international relations specialists is Seitenfus' discussion of Brazil's juggling of a policy of nonintervention with the idea of termed "nonindifference," as well as Brazil's odd lack of support for a second term for President Aristide, which, it turns out, stemmed from the poor relations between Aristide and Haiti's sole representative to the socialist Latin American political community. [HLAS Contributor: Jacqueline Anne Braveboy-Wagner]