Haitian and Dominican E/migration and the (Re)construction of National Identity in the Poetry of the Third Generation

Nous allons vers un monde de nulle part. Cette marche forcée vers un monde uniforme a quelque chose de troublant. Ce qu'on pourrait appeller l'ethnicité de tel ou tel groupe ethnique est en train de s'effriter dans les Holiday Inn. . . . Nous allons inévitablement non seulement vers la mondialisation mais aussi vers un métissage general.

(We are moving toward a world that is not located anywhere. This enforced movement toward a uniform world is troubling. What one could call the ethnicity of such-or-such an ethnic group is being erased by our Holiday Inns. . . . Inevitably, we are moving not only toward globalization but also toward a homogenization of races.)

—Jean Métellus, Voix nègres

One constant and perhaps insidious source of tension in Caribbean history and politics is the conflict between "ethnic" and "national" forms of identity. As such, questions of identity are ever present among Caribbean nationals, since identity is constantly (re)negotiated. Haitian poet Jean Métellus's vision of a creeping globalization in a world where the fate of Haitian culture and identity hangs in the balance is perhaps as limiting as the harsh nationalism of the Indigenous school.¹ I propose that the geographical identity (the concept of being one nation) of both Haiti and the Dominican Republic (the island of Hispaniola) has long been shattered and a lacuna was created. The two nations now seem irreversibly separated in terms of culture and national sentiment. The fragmentation of Hispaniola emerges as a theme in some of the poetry examined in this article. Haitians, in particular, look at their history and contemplate how the Haitian landscape has changed since the island was divided, in 1844. For Dominican poets, however, there is normally no tracing back to the past, since the African presence in the country is culturally denied. As such, the notion of a (re)construction of national identity for Hispaniola (that is, of both nations), if indeed it is at all possible, is more the contemplation of a few Dominican poets and the assertion of some Haitian poets in an attempt to consider the historical injustice toward Haiti. This article seeks to explore and articulate the experience of blackness as represented in the present-day black poetry² of this island; that is, both Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

In the twentieth century, marked by the Haitian Revolution (1804) and the Cuban Revolution (1959), poetry across the Caribbean has sought to reflect the local realities and has been inspired by themes that center on local experiences. By this I mean issues such as the American occupation, the national sentiment it created, and the rise in Africanity and African ideology. At the same time, much Caribbean poetry has, of necessity, been a revolutionary poetry. Thus, the poetry of Afro-Dominicans³ in particular, as well as that of Haitians, deserves critical regard because of the distinct historical development of the two nations. Additionally, a great deal can be learned about the Dominican Republic and Haiti, their histories, and their ethnic dynamics by examining the ways in which specific images of ethnic, racial, regional, and national collectivities and communities, and of the various classes have been highlighted and by exploring the tensions between the twin nations as reflected in contemporary poetry. This article critically reads selected poems by a corpus of poets who represent the third generation of poets since the inception of the Négritude literary movement.⁴ The poets are the Haitians Jean Métellus and Lucien Lemoine, and the Dominicans Blas Jiménez, Aída Cartagena Portalatín, and Sherezade (Chiqui) Vicioso. Further, this article examines how these contemporary poets, through new ways of expression, reflect on issues that are of pressing concern to them. The poets explore key issues such as...