Nou pa gen vizibilite: Haitian Girlhood beyond the Logics of Visibility
The Black Scholar, 2020
In Why Haiti Needs New Narratives Gina Ulysse discusses how the logics of (in)visibility intersect with gender in paradoxical ways. “The world has watched Haiti’s most vulnerable women survive quake, flood, cholera and homelessness…yet those women still feel invisible. What will it take for them to be seen and heard? ‘Nou pa gen visibilite.’ We don’t have visibility, Mary-Kettley Jean said…Her words are ironic…” (53). Taking what Ulysse calls ironic as a point of departure, this essay examines how Haitian girls are seen and heard in post-earthquake texts. I argue that in response to narratives that deny the significance of girls’ subjugated knowledge, the visual and literary texts that I analyze offer stories of Haitian girlhood that center their experiences, amplify their voices, and complicate their subjectivities…
