Tittmann and the 'Tiger Car' : competing conceptions of modernity in Haiti, 1946-50

Authors

Sean Bloch, Florida International University

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

Master of Arts (MA)

Major/Program

History

First Advisor's Name

James Sweet

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Chair

Second Advisor's Name

William Walker

Third Advisor's Name

Terry Rey

Date of Defense

7-26-2003

Abstract

The purpose of this project was to address the lack of scholarship on mid-twentieth century Haitian history and illustrate its significance. It employs primary and secondary sources in shaping a Gramscian historical narrative. Ideas of "everyday resistance" and internal and external politics are also be of significance to this work. In mid-twentieth century Haiti, the black-nationalist rhetoric of noirisme became the dominant political ideology. Blackness was amorphous and its application to politics was dependent upon class. In proclaiming blackness the average Haitian was attacking the class schism that beleaguered the island. Yet for the elite noirismewas a conduit to modernity and a useful tool for muting the division between rich and poor. With the election of Dumarsais Estimé in 1946, dialogue between the U.S. government, the Haitian elite, and the masses, relative to definitions of modernity played out within the new political reality of noirisme.

Identifier

FI14051171

Comments

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Recommended Citation

Bloch, Sean, "Tittmann and the 'Tiger Car' : competing conceptions of modernity in Haiti, 1946-50" (2003). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1713.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1713