In both Edwidge Danticat’s ‘Brother I’m Dying’ and Stephanie Black’s ‘Life and Debt’, the concept of the afterlives of slavery and colonialism are fundamental. In both, black countries that were previously colonized by a white European power. Danticat and Black shed light on how these people readjust to life after colonialism and slavery, but also the repercussions to the civilization after it has gained ‘independence’.
In ‘Brother I’m Dying’, Edwidge Danticat recounts a very personal story of her family’s struggles in the both politically challenged and poverty-ridden country of Haiti, but also the land of promise in the United States. Like many post-colonial countries, Haiti was in shambles trying to gain its footing as an independent nation. As a result, many people, Edwidge’s parents included, went to the United States trying to gain opportunities and stability that was not very possible in post-colonial Haiti. She tells a story of the pain, family devotion and government oppression she saw throughout her life. When she is four years old, her and her brother, Bob, are put into the care of her Uncle Joseph and Aunt Denise. Her mother had finally been allowed to join her father in New York but because of restrictive immigration rules, they are not able to bring their children with them to the US. Sadly, because of restrictive immigration rules, the young couple is unable to take their two small children with them. Joseph is the pastor of a small Baptist church. Him and Denise welcome many people in their home at any given time. Denise has food prepared and homemade liquor for political activists who are forced to bring their own chairs to crowded meetings in this welcoming home. When he was only in his mid-fifties, Joseph is diagnosed with throat cancer. He finds it difficult to preach to his congregation. Joseph travels to the United States to have his tumor removed since the doctors in Haiti cannot help him. This was another impact of the end to the colonial reign in Haiti, the medicine and technology was far behind that of other countries such as the United States, partly because of the political climate, since it did not breed much room for advancements while such violence were going on, but also because Haiti was in such an impoverished state that there was not much money to go to medical advancements. A radical surgery was necessary to remove the tumor, leaving Joseph dependent on an artificial voice box in order to speak. Young Edwidge becomes his interpreter. Eventually, Edwidge and Bob are able to join their parents in America. It is a very awkward transition, since neither know their biological parents nearly as well as they know their custodial parents. Edwidge’s parents also had two more children while in America, which makes matters more complicated. Their ability to have children while in America shows that they were doing well enough that they could support a family while there. They probably would not have had more children if they were still in Haiti since the environment was not stable enough. As the political climate becomes too radical and violent, Joseph finds that he is no longer safe in Haiti. “Then, as now, leaving often seemed like the only answer, especially if one was sick like my uncle or poor like my father, or desperate, like both” (Danticat, 54). He boards a plane to the United States, and even with having a valid entry visa, he is sent to a detention center. While being detained, Joseph receives very poor medical care and passes away while in custody. Both Edwidge and Mira are heavily affected by this death. Joseph tries to escape the life he has in Haiti but is unable to as a result of Haiti’s standing. After becoming an independent state, Haiti had so much violence, debt and poverty, its people could not even seek a better life in other countries since they were seen as an extension of Haiti.
In Stephanie Black’s ‘Life and Debt’, the same ideas of the repercussions of colonialism negatively impacted people's lives and the country as a whole. Black is able to show the juxtaposition between the white tourists and the black Jamaicans actually living there. The tourists’ vacations shows a counterpoint to the economic realities of the other half of Jamaica, a country suffering from a 30 year International Monetary Fund domination of their traditional self-sustaining, largely agricultural economy. This film was so substantial, because it put faces to the idea of ‘globalization’. The farmers and working people of Jamaica are on the front line of some of them, such as a group of three dreadlocked men sitting around a campfire telling the story of globalization in terms of biblical prophecy and anti-imperialist common sense. Stanley Fischer, the second in command at the International Monetary Fund, tries to justify the policies as beneficial for the Jamaicans, despite the sizeable evidence in the documentary to the contrary.
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There are many instances in the film that the lives of people are heavily impacted by colonialism and globalization. While the vacationers in Montego Bay assume that they are eating local cuisine, they are actually eating food that was imported from Miami. There are also a multitude of American food chains like McDonalds and Baskin-Robins, that set up shop in Jamaica in an effort to globalize. The Jamaicans, like many other foreign nations, look up to America so these restaurants are most likely stables of the community. We see one instance of twenty-year-old beef being shipped there for consumption in one of these chains and when the Jamaicans tell the corporation that the meat is inedible, they tell the Jamaicans to just send it back so they can ship it to Haiti.
Black also shows how many of the agricultural industries in Jamaica are competing with ones from other countries. The native dairy industry for example has been destroyed by the import of powdered milk from the US. The Jamaican economy also experienced a blow when it came to something called the ‘banana wars’. This was when the US and European Union had a rivalry over whether or not Dole, Chiquita and Del Monte would be allowed to crack a market that had been excluded to them. Great Britain allegedly had a long-standing trade agreement with Jamaica that favored their banana exports. This was seen as a way of compensating for the legacy of colonialism. This was probably the only place where Jamaican banana exports stood a chance, since they were more expensive to grow than in places like Honduras, where the American firms could rely on the cheap wages.
Both the book and the film do a very good job at showing the costs both to individuals and the country as a whole of colonialism. People’s livelihoods are destroyed by big corporations and international powers that try to take advantage of them. The book is able to implicate the US in producing Haiti as a space one is compelled to leave, by showing the gaze of opportunity in the United States as opposed to Haiti, or Jamaica. There appears to be a common misconception that America is the best place to be, a place where you can live better and support your family. But this American Dream is not always available to everyone, as shown by Joseph’s fate, but the political climate differs from that of Haiti so it becomes appealing. The film shows what happens to people if they stay where they are. It is extremely had to get out of a country like Jamaica or Haiti, and when people stay, they must compete with other countries to make a living wage or to sell their own products in their own neighborhood. The lives of people after colonialism are impacted negatively regardless if they stay or leave.
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