The First Haitian Intellectuals and the Construction of the National Historical Period, 1801–43

The first and biggest historical period conferring a singular and epic soul to the Haitian State that started to construct itself as a Nation began in 1801 with the promulgation of the Louverturienne Constitution and lasted until the end of the government of Jean-Pierre Boyer in 1843. Within the Haitian intellectual elite, the recourse to history and to poetry established was crucial to the elaboration of a cultural, political, and national identity for the Haitian State, one that was presented as the face of a civilized “nation.”

In this presentation, I submit the hypothesis that the origins of the founding myths of the Haitian State were designed as epic intellectual productions that were transmitted from generation to generation and thus formed a collective interpretation of Haitian history in this formative period. However, the narrative in both prose and in verse was related either to the ceremony of the Bois Caiman or to slavery. The heroes of the independence struggle are, indeed, a part of the poetic (re)construction of the confrontation between the slave colonists defended by the Napoleonic army and the revolting masses, led by the native Army. The victory of the slaves permanently abolished slavery at Saint-Domingue, which became the first Black Republic in the world and adopted the name of Haiti, meaning “Land of Freedom.”

This central literary theme formed the cultural, political, and national myth of Haiti as a land of freedom for all. How did this poeticized history feed early Haitian nationalism in an era of widespread Atlantic and Caribbean slavery? What were the pillars of this patriotism, and how did Haitian intellectuals position themselves in relation to it? These questions will structure the presentation.