Haitians in Africa and Africa in Haiti: Suzanne Comhaire-Sylvain and Changing Views of Africa Among Haiti’s Elite

The people of Haiti have deep roots in Africa. The legacy of diverse African people groups is evident in the Kreyòl language, the Vodou religion, and in Haiti’s folklore and cultural practices. Yet for nearly a century after the country proclaimed its independence in 1804 there was virtually no direct contact between Haiti and Africa. The first known Haitian to travel to Africa did not set foot on the continent until 1897. As a result, while the day-to-day lives of Haiti’s masses were in many ways similar to those of their distant relatives in Africa, elite Haitians only had a vague understanding of the continent. While rural people preserved memories of the continent in their songs and folklore, elite Haitians tended to think about Africa and its people through the lens of a European worldview. Though at least five Haitians travelled to Africa between 1897 and 1935, they largely shared the biases of their class to the extent that they tended to support European colonialism on the continent, if only conditionally. In the middle of the XXth century, however, one Haitian woman helped revolutionize the Haitian elite perspectives of Africa. Throughout her decades-long career, Comhaire-Sylvain did numerous stints of fieldwork in Africa, meticulously documenting the cultural links between the continent and her homeland. This work helped elite Haitians come to terms with the rich and rooted culture of their poorer compatriots which they had long viewed as primitive and simplistic. Thus, Comhaire-Sylvain was able to reinforce the historic bonds between the first Black Republic and its ancestral continent and contribute to the restoration of a spiritual bridge that crossed the Atlantic.