Post colonialism can be seen as the aftermath of a colonised country gaining independence from a foreign power. For example, Haiti was under the influence of the French colony until the Haitian Revolution in 1791. They were successful and gained permanent independence as well as the abolishment of slavery. Although this event was considered as the "defining moment in the history of Africans in the New World", there are obvious effects that have remained (Haitian Revolution - Wikipedia).
Africans in Haiti were subjected to french education and military because of the french settlement. Due to this, there were many children with both white and black parents (mulatto descendants). After the Haitian struggle for individuality, you would expect equality; instead, you find mulatto descendants titled as the elite. What makes them better than their fellow kinsmen? The fact that they have European blood in them? Also, though of African descent, "nearly all of the 8.7 million [Haitian] residents [today] ... speak Creole and French" (The New York Times). Clearly, these are effects of the colonization of Haiti that happened many years ago.
Just last year, an earthquake with the magnitude of 7.0 hit near Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince. Many actions were done to help the catastrophe but there were also many critiques on this event. Being the poorest nation in the northern hemisphere without much modern technology, this country was still criticized for its "flimsy" homes (Article from 'The Takeaway'). Furthermore, because of what the critics have said, people are left with an "impression ...that these [Haitians] are just inherently poor savages who don’t know how to construct decent homes for themselves" (Alison Kilkenny's blog post). Today, a majority of people claim that everyone is equivalent to one another. So why are people mentioning the word savage when talking about these African descendants? Nonetheless, post colonialism is quite evident in countries such as Haiti, but as time passes, our goal is to rid the world of such biases and ultimately treat each other as equals.
Sites where I got the quotes above:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_Revolution
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/haiti/index.html
http://www.thetakeaway.org/2010/jan/13/earthquake-ravages-haiti/
I agree with your last statements. But on top of that, we always say the word "Africans." When we say that, we refer a continent of people in over fifty different countries. It seems too general.
ReplyDeleteTo get back on topic, Haiti is in a difficult situation. Even after gaining liberty, does it seem as if they'd taken a step back? I don't mean to sound rude or impolite, but perhaps it's due to the fact that they were once a colony. In other words, perhaps dependency became a habit.
Regardless, good job on this blog post! You utilized the internet well to acquire background information.
Thank you for the additional feedback Kaitlin! It does seem that Haiti has gone into the "dependence" stage again. Maybe they like the colonized ways now that they've tasted freedom? I have no idea, but this is a topic worth discussing :) Thanks again!
ReplyDelete