Abstract
The birth of Haiti in the nineteenth century after a successful war of liberation waged mainly by ex-slaves, was followed by a rapid separation between the aims of the masses and the goals of the élite. The rural population was dispersed, but tried to gain access to the land. This access was denied by the various aristocracies which dominated the political scene during most of Haiti’s independence period. In the end, a small and almost landless peasantry retained some use of the land. A strong hierarchical order emerged from an arrangement of social relations in which the urban élite, composed of various fragments — foreigners, a black and mulatto high class — exploited the rural producers, particularly through levies, marketing manoeuvres and usury.
Mais les nègres de ce pays ne sont pas conçus citoyens par ceux qui les gouvernent et les tuent.
Roger Dorsinville, Ils ont tué le vieux blanc, 1988
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Notes
B. Weinstein and A. Segal, Haiti: Political Failures, Cultural Successes (New York: Praeger, 1984).
C.A. Girault (ed.), Atlas d’Haïti (Talence, Gironde: CEGET-CNRS, 1985).
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© 1991 Colin Clarke
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Girault, C.A. (1991). Society and Politics in Haiti: the Divorce between the State and the Nation. In: Clarke, C. (eds) Society and Politics in the Caribbean. St Antony’s. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-11987-5_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-11987-5_9
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