In Free and French in the Caribbean, John Walsh studies the writings of Toussaint Louverture and Aime Cesaire to examine how they conceived of and narrated two defining events in the decolonializing of the French Caribbean: the revolution that freed the French colony of Saint-Domingue in 1803 and the departmentalization of Martinique and other French colonies in 1946. Walsh emphasizes the connections between these events and the distinct legacies of emancipation that emerged through the narratives of revolution and nationhood passed on to successive generations. Part one concerns Toussaint s grasp of the limits of French Republicanism and his repositioning of the doctrine of the rights of man over against national sovereignty. Part two focuses on Cesaire s reading of Toussaint as he confronted the issue of assimilation into the French Republic. By re-examining these figures in light of their multi-layered narratives, the book offers a deeper understanding of the historical and contemporary problem of "free and French" in the Caribbean."

An Open Access edition of this book is available on the Liverpool University Press website and through Knowledge Unlatched. Haitian writers have made profound contributions to debates about the converging paths of political and natural histories, yet their reflections on the legacies of colonialism, imperialism, and neoliberalism are often neglected in heated disputes about the future of human life on the planet. The 2010 earthquake only exacerbated this contradiction. Despite the fact that Haitian authors have long treated the connections between political violence, precariousness, and ecological degradation, in media coverage around the world, the earthquake would have suddenly exposed scandalous conditions on the ground in Haiti. This book argues that contemporary Haitian literature historicizes the political and environmental problems brought to the surface by the earthquake by building on texts of earlier generations, especially at the end of the Duvalier era and its aftermath. Informed by Haitian studies and models of postcolonial ecocriticism, the book conceives of literature as an "eco-archive," or a body of texts that depicts ecological change over time and its impact on social and environmental justice. Focusing equally on established and less well-known authors, the book contends that the eco-archive challenges future-oriented, universalizing narratives of the Anthropocene and the global refugee crisis with portrayals of different forms and paths of migration and refuge within Haiti and around the Americas.

An Open Access edition of this book is available on the Liverpool University Press website and through Knowledge Unlatched. Haitian writers have made profound contributions to debates about the converging paths of political and natural histories, yet their reflections on the legacies of colonialism, imperialism, and neoliberalism are often neglected in heated disputes about the future of human life on the planet. The 2010 earthquake only exacerbated this contradiction. Despite the fact that Haitian authors have long treated the connections between political violence, precariousness, and ecological degradation, in media coverage around the world, the earthquake would have suddenly exposed scandalous conditions on the ground in Haiti. This book argues that contemporary Haitian literature historicizes the political and environmental problems brought to the surface by the earthquake by building on texts of earlier generations, especially at the end of the Duvalier era and its aftermath. Informed by Haitian studies and models of postcolonial ecocriticism, the book conceives of literature as an "eco-archive," or a body of texts that depicts ecological change over time and its impact on social and environmental justice. Focusing equally on established and less well-known authors, the book contends that the eco-archive challenges future-oriented, universalizing narratives of the Anthropocene and the global refugee crisis with portrayals of different forms and paths of migration and refuge within Haiti and around the Americas.

In Free and French in the Caribbean, John Walsh studies the writings of Toussaint Louverture and Aime Cesaire to examine how they conceived of and narrated two defining events in the decolonializing of the French Caribbean: the revolution that freed the French colony of Saint-Domingue in 1803 and the departmentalization of Martinique and other French colonies in 1946. Walsh emphasizes the connections between these events and the distinct legacies of emancipation that emerged through the narratives of revolution and nationhood passed on to successive generations. Part one concerns Toussaint s grasp of the limits of French Republicanism and his repositioning of the doctrine of the rights of man over against national sovereignty. Part two focuses on Cesaire s reading of Toussaint as he confronted the issue of assimilation into the French Republic. By re-examining these figures in light of their multi-layered narratives, the book offers a deeper understanding of the historical and contemporary problem of "free and French" in the Caribbean."