3 Review(s)

This collection of essays considers the means and extent ofHaiti's 'exceptionalization' - its perception in multiple arenas asdefinitively unique with respect not only to the countries of the NorthAtlantic, but also to the rest of the Americas. Painted as repulsive andattractive, abject and resilient, singular and exemplary, Haiti has long beenframed discursively by an extraordinary epistemological ambivalence. Thisnation has served at once as cautionary tale, model for humanitarian aid anddevelopment projects and point of origin for general theorising of theso-called Third World. What to make of this dialectic of exemplarity andalterity? How to pull apart this multivalent narrative in order to examine itsconstituent parts? Conscientiously gesturing to James Clifford's ThePredicament of Culture (1988), the contributors to The Haiti Exception workon the edge of multiple disciplines, notably that of anthropology, to take upthese and other such questions from a variety of methodological anddisciplinary perspectives, including Africana Studies, Anthrohistory, ArtHistory, Black Studies, Caribbean Studies, education, ethnology, JewishStudies, Literary Studies, Performance Studies and Urban Studies. Ascontributors revise and interrogate their respective praxes, they accept thechallenge of thinking about the particular stakes of and motivations for theirown commitment to Haiti.