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8. Locality, Memory, and Zombification in The Man by the Shore
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Asdiscussedinchapter2,theuniquehistoricalandculturalprocesses that inform Caribbean diasporic identities have generated theory that advances a commitment to movements such as creolization, Antillanit é, and métissage, thus creating conceptual paradigms of hybridity specific to resident needs (Edwards 1994, 29). A certain amount of care, however, must be taken in extending such terms beyond the Caribbean to the black diaspora for, as Norval Edwards argues, “hybridity often becomes the third term in a binary racial schema” determined by existing power structures that tend to reinforce them rather than go beyond their limitations (29). In other words, Edwards is suggesting current theory move beyond homogenizing strategies of hybridity to analytical frameworks recognizing differences in patterns of creolized cultures based on the specificities of racial and historical contexts (29). Thus, theorists such as Edwards argue that, unlike concepts of creolization , Antillanité, and métissage, which conceive of Caribbean identities based on shared experiences, the historical specificities of Caribbean cultures create distinct experiences of hybridity that must be recognized . This is certainly not an easy task, given the multiplicity of experiences and cultures in the Caribbean: if there is one element that links creolization, Antillanité, and métissage, it is the notion of movement, eight Locality, Memory, and Zombification in The Man by the Shore Locality, Memory, and Zombification in The Man by the Shore 197 of variable geographies and histories that compete for voice within the auspices of Caribbean identities and realities. Shaped on a foundation of colonialism and slavery and then by subsequent migrations of different nations and cultures, the Caribbean experience remains one of shifting imperatives and influences. This is not to imply that the maps of experience generated by the Caribbean are completely divorced from the black diaspora. Instead, Edwards argues, the “politics of location” should become a theoretical nexus in which “(dis)location, (dis)placement, travel, and diaspora” function as modal tropes to extend current conceptions of diasporic experience beyond existing boundaries (1994, 31). Similarly, the Haitian novelist and theorist René Depestre suggests that traditions and cultures of all Caribbean peoples are created in a “mixed syncretic expression , in constant change” driven by “diverse conditions of social existence ” (1976, 65). For Depestre, identity in the Caribbean is multifaceted and inherently transnational in expression, combining fluid modes of European, Asian, African, and black experiences in ways that express the specifics of locale. Given this emphasis, the concepts of map and history merge to signify unique Caribbean experiences but also place those experiences within the context of global flows of thought and peoples. Ultimately, under this schema, one cannot define the first without reference to the second. As a case in point, the Caribbean nation of Haiti illustrates the subtle interplay of map and history by its unique standing among its neighbors. It is here that the only successful slave rebellion in the Americas took place, establishing Haiti as an independent nation in 1804. In turn lionized as a symbol of freedom and decried for the violence of some of its governments, Haiti is a contested space that continues to inspire contemporary black thinking and advance notions of black experience specific to Haitian cultural realities. Because of its status as the first black independent state, however, Haiti also offers a cultural footprint that is distinct among Caribbean states: in contrast to Martinique, where white Europeans continue to contribute directly to the syncretism of the cultural métissage, the persistence of European colonialism has been internalized in Haiti’s dominant black society and is thus encoded in subtle nuances of race. This underscores the complicated nature of slavery’s legacy in Haitian national identity and fore- [3.238.62.119] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 21:48 GMT) chapter 8 198 grounds difference as a factional divide between complex discourses of color. In many ways, the historical underpinnings of Haiti’s struggle for freedom offer an opportunity to explore slavery and its aftermath as a distinct product of modern industrialization in which African labor became the commodity that drove Europe’s industrial revolution (Beckles 1997, 779). Hilary Beckles, for example, suggests that the constant flow of imported agricultural labor into the Caribbean during and after slavery from countries as diverse as India, China, and Lebanon created a mixing of races and cultures still affecting these nations today (786). Thus, the West Indian, as “a futuristic individual, linked to all major civilizations,” is one of the first products of globalization in modern times and, as such, profoundly shaped the history of capitalist society (786, 785). As...