Entre la Pologne et Haïti: regards et ouvertures sur l’autre
Between Poland and Haiti: towards understanding the Other

Author(s): Józef Kwaterko
Subject(s): Theoretical Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Philology
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Poland; Haiti; Napoleon’s expedition; cultural creolization; Halka
Summary/Abstract: This paper is devoted to the historical and cross-cultural filiations between Poland and Haiti. I will start with the analysis of the historical context and I will focus on the historiography based on official reports and epistolary correspondence of the Polish soldiers sent by Napoleon Bonaparte to the French colony of Saint-Domingue (1802-1804) as well as on their perception of the need of freedom and national independence claimed by ancient slaves. Next, I will attempt to highlight some affinities between Polish and Haitian cultures such as the appropriation of the Polish Catholic virgin, transfigured into a voodoo goddess, the collaboration between a drama performer Jerzy Grotowski and Haitian naïve painters from the group Saint-Soleil or the film recording of the Polish romantic opera Halka in a small village of Cazale, inhabited by mulatto descendants of those Polish soldiers who remained in Haiti.

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