Looking for Other Worlds New World Studies Marlene L. Daut, Editor Looking for Other Worlds Black Feminism and Haitian Fiction Régine Michelle Jean- Charles University of Virginia Press Charlottesville and London University of Virginia Press © 2022 by the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America on acid- free paper First published 2022 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-i n- Publication Data Names: Jean-Charles, Régine Michelle, author. Title: Looking for other worlds : Black feminism and Haitian fiction / Régine Michelle Jean-Charles. Description: Charlottesville : University of Virginia Press, 2022. | Series: New World studies | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2022015978 (print) | LCCN 2022015979 (ebook) | ISBN 9780813948447 (hardcover ; acid-free paper) | ISBN 9780813948454 (paperback ; acid-free paper) | ISBN 9780813948461 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Haitian fiction—Women authors—History and criticism. | Haitian fiction—20th century—History and criticism. | Feminism and literature—Haiti. | LCGFT: Literary criticism. Classification: LCC PQ3944 .J43 2022 (print) | LCC PQ3944 (ebook) | DDC 843/.920992870899697294—dc23/eng/20220525 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022015978 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022015979 Cover art: Beny (Blessed), Tessa Mars. (© 2021; used by permission of the artist) For my students and mentees, especially those who are looking for other worlds. May you find them, may you imagine them, may you create them, may you build them. Écrire, pour moi, c’est prendre des engagements. C’est aussi prendre des positions. C’est pourquoi quand j’écris, je prends des positions. Je cherche d’autres univers . . . (To write, for me, is to make commitments. It also means taking positions. That’s why when I write, I take positions. I look for other worlds . . .) —Kettly Mars Black feminism has never only been about Black women, it’s never been this. It’s been about a more just world. And a planet that said if you listen to the insights of the least of these, which is us, that we can do something transformative. —Farah Jasmine Griffin Contents Acknowledgments xi Introduction: The Art of Haitian Feminism 1 1. Haitian Women’s Studies, Black Feminism, and Literary Ethics 11 2. Gran moun se moun: Aging and Intersectionality 59 3. The Ethical- Erotic: Sex and Intimacy 122 4. Geographies of Class Location: Class and Space 175 5. An Environmental Ethic: Land and Sea 237 Coda: A More Just and More Beautiful World 287 Notes 299 Bibliography 321 Index 343