As the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti is most often discussed in terms of its uncertain future. On Nov. 14 at a French studies workshop, "History and the Experience of Haiti," professors and students in the A.D. White House looked at Haiti in a different light -- its distinctive past and how its history relates to universal history -- the relationships of histories throughout the world.

"We put history through the thin eye of the needle of European past," said Susan Buck-Morss, the Jan Rock Zubrow '77 Professor in the Social Sciences at Cornell, who used Haiti to explore the connections of various religious and national histories. "The idea is simply to expand that. It's a practice of imagination."

"Haiti is a wonderful case for rethinking universal history," said Laurent Dubreuil, professor of Romance studies and comparative literature and director of French studies, who organized the workshop and said it was "a perfect opportunity to bridge several disciplines, notably political science, history and literature." He analyzed the topics of anachronism and postcolonialism, in part by comparing the work of Haitian scholar Demesvar Delorme in the 1870s with postcolonial theory.

At the end of the workshop, a panel discussion with Buck-Morss, Dubreuil, Gerard Aching, professor of Spanish, and moderator Natalie Melas, associate professor of comparative literature, all from Cornell, drew on audience questions. These included ways Haiti can preserve its past despite very limited national resources for museums or monuments; the role of nationalism in shaping the country's history; and the limitedness of Haiti's historical records.

"Part of the reason Haiti is so interesting to researchers is the imagination we have to use to put together the fragments of its history," said Aching.

In both her lecture and the subsequent panel discussion, Buck-Morss also referenced a particular artwork from an international project she took part in as a metaphor for how the history of Haiti relates to countries' histories around the world. Mexican artist Gustavo Artigas, she said, assembled two inner-city San Diego basketball teams and two inner-city Tijuana soccer teams to play their respective games on the same court at the same time. This, she said, represents an important way of thinking about universal history. The way the games played out simultaneously but with little interaction, she noted, represents how one can view the relationship of national histories, such as the history of Haiti with respect to the rest of the world's. Discussion also focused on the importance of studying the experience of Haiti. We have invested so much in understanding the past that we cannot move forward without it, said Buck-Morss, and it organizes our knowledge at the university.

"After the model of area studies and the postcolonial paradigm, we need to prepare the next step for scholarship," Dubreuil added. "For this endeavor, the historical and theoretical role of Haiti is exemplary."

The French Studies event was also sponsored by the Africana Studies and Research Center, the Institute for Comparative Modernities and the Society for the Humanities.

Lauren McHugh '10 is a writer intern at the Cornell Chronicle.