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Preface and Acknowledgments I find it quite difficult to point to the genesis of this book project. The more I try to refresh my memory, the more I have the feeling that it has always been in some corner of my mind. I cannot help but remember watching carnival in the streets of Pointe-à-Pitre as a young child with my cherished grandmother . She loudly applauded every group until the Haitian band passed by, after which her mood completely changed for a short period. I remember being puzzled by her sudden, surprisingly negative, and almost violent reaction to the Haitian group. I had only noticed that they sounded a little different from the Guadeloupeans, but I did not bother to ask her any questions and I did not think about it any further. Some pieces of these childhood memories resurfaced from time to time as I encountered disturbingly similar prejudices against Haitians or other Caribbeans living in Guadeloupe. Over time I began to develop a deep interest in inter-Caribbean relations which probably inspired my subsequent professional choices. Meeting many years later with Cécile Accilien was without a doubt a decisive moment leading to the idea of this book. As we became friends, we held endless long-distance phone conversations on the relationship between our respective island societies : Haiti and Guadeloupe. These conversations directly led me to propose and chair a panel entitled “So Similar and Yet so Foreign: Haiti and Haitians in the Wider Caribbean” at the Latin American Studies Association meeting held in Puerto Rico in 2006. The panel was very successful and the audience appreciated the juxtaposition of very diverse interpretations of the Haitian experience in the Caribbean and the United States. The decision to create a book based on the model of the panel came out immediately. This project would never have come to fruition if I had not counted upon encouragement and generous help from a number of colleagues and friends. First, I would like to thank Kevin Yelvington for expressing from the outset his strong interest in this project and for recommending that I submit it to the University Press of Florida. Many thanks also to the outside reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions for improvement and to the editorial staff of the University Press of Florida. I am also indebted to Paul Brodwin who generously allowed me to reprint in this x / Preface and Acknowledgments collective volume his seminal work, “Marginality and Subjectivity in the Haitian Diaspora,” originally published in Anthropological Quarterly 76, no. 1 (2003). I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Odile Ferly, Cécile Accilien, Maud Laëthier, Pierre Minn, Sharon Clarke, Catherine Reinhardt, and Marc Lony for their willingness to be part of this adventure and for their hard work. I feel especially indebted to Catherine Reinhardt who co-wrote the introduction of the book and generously offered to translate into English Maud Laëthier’s article which was originally written in French. Reinhardt also put me in contact with Myrtha Désulmé. Désulmé, the president of the Haiti-Jamaica Society, not only allowed me to tell her family story but also provided me with much help and encouragement. Many thanks also to Colin Keavenney who took over the translation of Marc Lony’s article. Finally, I would like to thank Bill Haddad, chair of the History Department and Tom Klammer, dean of Humanities and Social Sciences at California State University Fullerton for allowing me to reside in the Caribbean for an extended period of time to pursue my research projects. ...

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