VOODOO, TRAGEDY, DESIRE: HAITI’S EARTHQUAKE AND SPIVAK’S “AXIOMATICS OF IMPERIALISM”¹

1 I wish to thank Richard Haesly for his generous help with this essay.

Abstract

This essay examines Gayatri Spivak's concept of “the axiomatics of imperialism” in the context of the Haitian earthquake of 2010. It explores the problematic of offering aid to Haiti given that such benevolence lends support to the time-honored assumption that it is a benighted nation that cannot help itself, but remains in need of European and American sponsorship. The essay considers this problematic by first discussing an American-run, Christian orphanage in Haiti, “The Un-Orphanage,” whose admirable mission nevertheless stands at odds with the Haitian practice of voodoo. It then expounds on these themes of European “civilization” as opposed to Haitian “primitivism” through the lens of a short story, “The Harem,” by Ibi Aanu Zoboi (Zoboi, Ibi Aanu. “The Harem.” Haiti Noir. Ed. Edwidge Danticat. New York: Akashic Books, 2010. 139–154).

Keywords:

• Postcolonialism
• Axiomatics of Imperialism
• Enlightenment
• Primitivism
• Voodoo
• Foreign Aid

Notes

1 I wish to thank Richard Haesly for his generous help with this essay.

2 See, for instance, Said (1979); and Spivak (1999).

3 See Berman (1988).

4 For an authoritative account of Haitian history, see Bellegarde-Smith (1990).