“Is Haiti (not) here?”: Silences, haggling, and shrapnelS in Haiti-Brazil dialogues

Abstract

This article analyzes losses and silences in contemporary literature from the Haiti-Brazil perspective. Despite sharing similar stories linked to European imperialism, colonization, African diaspora, enslavement, exploitation of natural riches such as sugar, and independentist insurgencies, the Caribbean island of Haiti and Brazil seem to know little of each one. Circulation of cultural goods is small and, at first glance, associated with negative views. Seen by Haiti, Brazil is limited to soccer and the violence of the national army in missions linked to the United Nations. Seen by Brazil, Haiti is limited to precarious immigrants, Caetano Veloso’s stigmatizing song, and the imaginary of underdevelopment and chronic poverty. We propose a trajectory on these crossed imaginaries and join the path of translation of Haitian literary works in Brazil. The publication in 2020 of the bilingual work Estilhaços, an anthology of contemporary Haitian poetry, can be interpreted as a new chapter in this story full of gaps and misunderstandings. An absence felt in Brazilian cultural imaginary, Haiti has the chance to be re-signified through the newly launched anthology, where a literary power emerges mirroring Brazil.