Source of African Centered Culture
ad·ap·ta·tion noun \ˌa-ˌdap-ˈtā-shən, -dəp-\ : something that is adapted; especially : a movie, book, play, etc., that is changed so that it can be
presented in another form
Literature- to- Film − a. fidelity to “spirit” of the book; fidelity to reader response − b. from reading to telling to speaking to showing
ap·pro·pri·a·tion
noun /əˌprōprēˈāSH(ə)n/ 1. the action of taking something for one's own use, typically without the owner's permission. "the appropriation of parish funds" 2. a sum of money or total of assets devoted to a special purpose.
Minstrel Shows Twerking
− Cultural Appropriation is the adoption of cultural elements of one culture for use by another culture
com·mod·if·ic·a·tion : the
process by which a product reaches a point in its development
where one brand has no features that differentiate it from other brands, and consumers buy on price alone
rec·la·ma·tion noun /rĕk′lə-mā′shən/ 1. The act or process of reclaiming. 2. A restoration, as to productivity, usefulness, or morality
− Restoring or reclaiming a culture or heritage that was lost
trans·la·tion noun /transˈlāSH(ə)n,tranzˈlāSH(ə)n/ :version in another language
− Iliad and Odyssey − Sacred Texts African oral traditions: − Epic of Son Jara
− Omeros
− The black aesthetic that we frequently refer to is oftentimes a set of
African derived cultural expressions that were preserved, nurtured and cultivated in Haitian soil. Haitian culture permeates the black ethos in literature, the visual and performance arts, but we are not fully aware of the Haitian tradition , as such, its definitions and its presence in the corpus of African-American and Caribbean
literature and art.
− negotiates and interprets the messages of the source of our culture
– the African motherland − message is national identity, ritual, reversal and rebellion.
− first stop Black Atlantic Slave Trade
− conducive to the retentions of African culture − cultural fusion of African traditions in European form
…of the African diaspora − author of the phenomenon of black self-governance
− American Colonization Society looked to Haiti government that assisted 8,000 blacks to emigrate to Haiti. before the end of the American Civil War. − Haitian government’s strategic intervention in aiding revolutions throughout the islands colonized by Europe.
…of the African diaspora
Festivals of independence founded in burning of cane fields TRINIDAD MID 19TH CENTURY
− Consul General 1889
− Speech at Chicago World Fair defends Haiti
− W. E. B. DuBois’ 1912 pageant, The Star of Ethiopia depicts
Toussaint L’Ouverture and the Hatian Revolution.
− In 1920 Garvey was successful in selling shares to Haiti for his
enterprise and a UNIA ship sailed to Haiti. − Theodore Roosevelt sent James Weldon Johnson to Haiti for three months. Johnson’s Haitian sojourn autobiography Along This Way and in The Crisis and Opportunity. While there, Johnson connected with Haitian author Georges Sylvain.
− 1920 expressionistic notions of Haitian’s ancestral legacy appeared
on broadway and later in film through such plays as Emperor Jones, written by the Pulitzer Prize winner and Nobel Laureate -- Eugene O’Neill. − It is acknowledged that O’Neill got the story from Roi Christophe, the legend of the Haitian king who could only be killed with a silver
bullet.
− U.S. Marines intervention into determining the government of Haiti
during this era. − The Emperor Jones – Opera and the Film in 1933 with Lawrence Tibbett, in black face but allowed blacks to dance. Helmsley Winfield’s choreography of witch doctor was based on Haitian
dance ritual.
− The use of the Dahomeyan crocodile symbol relates to the Royal
Dahomeyan guard that Roi Christophe historically and actually imported from Africa to serve as his palace guards. His actual suicide is the notion of primitive regression that O’Neill’s play portrays with the use of Jungian theory
− The francophone equivalent of the Harlem Renaissance began in
1931 with the Paris meeting of Romain, Cesair and Senghor. Cesaire coined the term Negritude. − This signaled the international influence of Haiti in the cultural arts and the quest for black national identity worldwide.
− In 1932 Langston Hughes traveled to Haiti and began a
collaboration with Jacques Romain that resulted in his translation of Masters of the Dew and a children’s book, Popo and Fofino that depicts the lifestyles of the Haitian folk. − Aime Cesaire explores the dynamics of the revolution in La Tragedie du Roi Christophe,1932. Trinidadian CLR James’ Black Jacobins
(1938)
St. Lucian author and Nobel Laureate, Derek Walcott’s Haitian Trilogy
has spent the past 40 + years grappling with the dramatic and literary production of the Haitian revolution: Henri Christophe: A Chronicle in Seven Scenes 1950; Drums and Colors 1961; and Haitian Earth 1968. Walcott finds the Haitian revolution fertile ground to explore the Caribbean imagination, its continuation and variation.
− The trips of Katherine Dunham, anthropologist, dancer and
choreographer and Zora Neale Hurston, author, producer and ethnographer contributed significantly to what we know of Haitian artistic influence
− Priestess of New Orleans Hoodoo
− Chronicled Haiti in Mules and Men − Wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God in Haiti
Source of African Centered Culture
Presented by: Dr. Leah Creque