Introduction: On History and Justice

This essay, an introduction to the special section on Caribbean historiography in this issue, reflects on Caribbean historiography’s role in the pursuit of redress for historic injustices by exploring what three recent landmark legal developments reveal about Haiti’s place in the Caribbean’s past, present, and future. From the vantage point of Haiti, the 2004 coup, the 2010 earthquake, and the exploitation of Haitians in the Dominican Republic demonstrate the important—yet politically, ethically, and legally fraught—role of Caribbean historians and the histories they produce in struggles for legal justice. At the same time, these three legal cases exemplify how forced labor and colonization practices remain lived realities, complicating efforts to translate historical analysis into legal redress.