Why Haiti Needs New Narratives

"Five years after Haiti's devastating earthquake, Gina Ulysse smashes clichés, defends Vodou, and reminds us of her homeland's complex history. Her compelling as-it-happened reports and analyses are crucial to our understanding and empathy for the republic and its people."—Katherine Spillar, executive editor, Ms. magazine

"Wesleyan anthropology professor Ulysse (Downtown Ladies) mixes memoir, commentary on her relationship with Haiti, and analysis of the dominant narrative surrounding the country in the wake of the 2010 earthquake. Readers interested in a broader and sympathetic perspective on Haiti will enjoy Ulysse's work toward jumpstarting a new narrative."—Publishers Weekly

"Ulysse's clear, powerful writing rips through the stereotypes to reveal a portrait of Haiti in politics and art that will change the way you think about that nation's culture, and your own."—Jonathan M. Katz, author of The Big Truck That Went By: How the World Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster

"Taking us through entangled and liberating possibilities, Gina Ulysse introduces us to Haiti, the kingdom of this world. Embedded in the interstices of words and of aesthetic sensibilities that summon the past into the present, the powerful promise of a people is revealed. Ashe."—Arlene Torres, coeditor of Blackness in Latin America and the Caribbean

"This compilation is the gut-felt testimony of an insider/outsider that resounds like a thunderclap in the desert. Trapped in the alienating context of sterile academia, a neoliberal political economy, populations displaced, shock therapy and general geopolitical shifts, the author uses the gift of polysemy to open horizons. Through thought, action, word, poetry, song . . . flow yet-unbounded prospects."—Rachel Beauvoir-Dominique, professor, Université d'État d'Haïti

"This is a beautifully written and profoundly important work of engaged anthropology. Gina Ulysse steps bravely into the public domain bringing a nuanced and sophisticated analysis of things Haitian to a large group of general readers as well as to a broad audience of scholars. Publication of this book marks a kind of 'coming of age' for anthropological bloggers and public anthropology."—Paul Stoller, author of Yaya's Story: The Quest for Well-Being in the World

"Wesleyan anthropology professor Ulysse (Downtown Ladies) mixes memoir, commentary on her relationship with Haiti, and analysis of the dominant narrative surrounding the country in the wake of the 2010 earthquake. Readers interested in a broader and sympathetic perspective on Haiti will enjoy Ulysse's work toward jumpstarting a new narrative."—Publishers Weekly

"In her trilingual (English, Kreyòl, French) collection of op-eds, essays, reviews and news articles (including pieces from Ms. and the Ms. blog), Ulysse rejects the colonial framework through which Haiti is often viewed and reasserts the validity of its sovereignty."—Ms. Magazine

"Ulysse's clear, powerful writing rips through the stereotypes to reveal a portrait of Haiti in politics and art that will change the way you think about that nation's culture, and your own."—Jonathan M. Katz, author of The Big Truck That Went By: How the World Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster

"This is a beautifully written and profoundly important work of engaged anthropology. Gina Ulysse steps bravely into the public domain bringing a nuanced and sophisticated analysis of things Haitian to a large group of general readers as well as to a broad audience of scholars. Publication of this book marks a kind of 'coming of age' for anthropological bloggers and public anthropology."—Paul Stoller, author of Yaya's Story: The Quest for Well-Being in the World

"This compilation is the gut-felt testimony of an insider/outsider that resounds like a thunderclap in the desert. Trapped in the alienating context of sterile academia, a neoliberal political economy, populations displaced, shock therapy and general geopolitical shifts, the author uses the gift of polysemy to open horizons. Through thought, action, word, poetry, song . . . flow yet-unbounded prospects."—Rachel Beauvoir-Dominique, professor, Université d'État d'Haïti

"Taking us through entangled and liberating possibilities, Gina Ulysse introduces us to Haiti, the kingdom of this world. Embedded in the interstices of words and of aesthetic sensibilities that summon the past into the present, the powerful promise of a people is revealed. Ashe."—Arlene Torres, coeditor of Blackness in Latin America and the Caribbean

"Five years after Haiti's devastating earthquake, Gina Ulysse smashes clichés, defends Vodou, and reminds us of her homeland's complex history. Her compelling as-it-happened reports and analyses are crucial to our understanding and empathy for the republic and its people."

—Katherine Spillar, executive editor, Ms. magazine