Language, Culture and Power: Haiti under the Duvaliers

The 1957 election of Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier as president of Haiti saw the emergence of a political machinery which attempted, with varying degrees of success, to exert greater influence over Haitian cultural - but specifically communication - practices. The almost thirty-year rule of Papa Doc and his son Jean Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, if among the most brutal periods in Haitian history, was also the longest stretch of uninterrupted government the country ever experienced. Papa Doc's way of governing Haiti placed indigenous cultural practices, including the use of language and religion, at the forefront of national politics. The younger Duvalier, on the other hand, saw very little importance in embracing folkways and was even less concerned with their use as political tools. Examines the link between politics and cultural practices under the two regimes. (Quotes from original text)