Valérie Loichot - Water Graves: The Art of the Unritual in the Greater Caribbean

T HIS BOOK is the convergence of transnational flows, breaking waves, and thought gyres; of currents regular, unplanned, horizontal, downwelling, and upwelling; of surfs carrying debris, plankton, or memory; of surface tides and unfathomable undercurrents that shall remain unseen. It is the encounter of the minds and acts of colleagues, students, friends, and family members. Those whom my memory fails to recall at this moment are nonetheless crucial. douard Glissant would have called those who remain unnamed neutral relays: agents who act below the radar of the spectacular, who act in the continuous. I would like to thank my fellow soukougnans in work and spirit: Dominique Aurlia, Jacqueline Couti, Anny-Dominique Curtius, Gladys Francis, Ananya Jahanara Kabir, Fabienne Kanor, LnaBlou, and Myriam Mose. Yes, they can fly. My Emory colleagues energized me and enriched me from their multiple disciplines: Allison Adams, Kadji Amin, Carol Anderson, Deepika Bahri, Munia Bhaumik, Stefan Boettcher, Jericho Brown, Justin Burton, Vincent Bruyre, Chad Crdova, Catherine Dana, Susan Gagliardi, Robert Goddard, Elizabeth Goodstein, Walter Kalaidjian, Melanie Kowalski, Elissa Marder, Sarah McKee, Sean Meighoo, Alexander Mendes, Claire Nouvet, Jos Quiroga, Deboleena Roy, Liv Stutz, Ben Reiss, Donna Troka, Subha Xavier, Nathan Suhr-Sytsma, Kimberly Wallace Sanders, Dianne M. Stewart, Allen Tullos, Deborah Elise White, Cynthia Willett, and Michelle Wright, are among many. Fellow researchers, some of them dear friends, enriched this projects with ideas, insights, and book recommendations: My thanks to Ccile Accilien, Axel Arthron, Hugues Azrad, Andr Benham, Graldine Banar, Michelle Bloom, Yarimar Bonilla, Keith Cartwright, Tom Conley, Huey Copeland, Kara Malika Daniels, Juliette Eloi-Blaise, Emmanuel Bruno Jean-Franois, Annalee Davis, Babacar Mbaye Diop, John Drabinski, Brahim el Gabli, Fanny Glissant, Sylvie Glissant, Virginie Greene, Yanique Hume, Kipton Jensen, Deborah Jenson, Nicholas R. Jones, Eileen Julien, Lawrence Kritzman, Benaouda Lebdai, Alexandre Leupin, John Lowe, Anne Garland Mahler, Judith Misrahi-Barak, Emma Monroy, F. Nick Nesbitt, Manuel Norvat, Oana Panat, Adelaide Russo, Harilaos Stecopoulos, Wallis Tinnie, and Liran Razinsky. To my partner in laughter, travels, and words, Nama Hachad, and to my rock in friendship, Carolette Norwood.Lebdai, Alexandre Leupin, John Lowe, Anne Garland Mahler, Judith Misrahi-Barak, Emma Monroy, F. Nick Nesbitt, Manuel Norvat, Oana Panat, Adelaide Russo, Harilaos Stecopoulos, Wallis Tinnie, and Liran Razinsky. To my partner in laughter, travels, and words, Nama Hachad, and to my rock in friendship, Carolette Norwood.

We critics would be naught but empty shells without artists, poets, fiction writers, and curators. They give meaning to our work. Giscard Bouchotte, Edwidge Danticat, Patricia Donatien, douard Duval Carri, Jean-Joseph Cleur, Patrick Chamoiseau, Eugne Ebod, Gwladys Gambie, Epaul Julien, Ricardo Ozier-Lafontaine, Atadja Lewa, Pascale Monnin, M. NourbeSe Philip, Vanessa Selk, Jil Servant, Candy Tate, Henri Tauliaut, Jason deCaires Taylor, Dinizulu Gene Tinnie, Carol Thompson, Natasha Trethewey, Eric Waters, Tiphanie Yanique, Frantz Zphirin have offered conversations and insights either throughout the years or at one single yet crucial point. Martinican artist Victor Anicet holds an esteemed place in my heart. douard Glissants teachings in the 1990s continue to live with me. The galleries and artistic spaces that welcomed me made this book more complete: in Haiti, the Atis Rezistans of the Grand Rue in Port-au-Prince, the metal artists of Croix-des-Bouquets, and the Galerie Monnin; in Martinique, the Fondation Clment, the Habitation Saint-Etienne and the Anse Caffard Memorial; in Guadeloupe, the Mmorial ACTe; in the United States, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta; the NSU Art Museum in Fort Lauderdale; the Wolfsonian-FIU and the Little Haiti Cultural Center in Miami; the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama; and the Whitney Plantation on River Road, Louisiana. I am grateful to the Jack Shainman Gallery, the Sikkema Jenkins & Co. Gallery with the Collection of Marc and Lisa Mills; the Artists Rights Society (ARS); the NSU Art Museum; the High Museum; and Wesleyan University Press, who provided reproduction rights. With special thanks to archivists and collection managers Gabriela Gil, Laurie Kind, Monica Truong for their patience.

The undergraduate and doctoral students I taught while the book was in progress brought me invaluable feedback. Their backgrounds in literature, religion, philosophy, African American studies, women, gender, and sexuality studies, and environmental studies, among other fields, made this book interdisciplinarily rich. I particularly thank the members of the graduate seminars Water Graves I and Water Graves II, as well as Amanda Anderson, Franck Andrianarivo Rakotobe, Dr. Bronwyn Averett, Jane Battison, Brenton Boyd, Hugo Bujon, Natalie Catass, Ben Davis, Rubn Daz Vsquez, Marcelitte Failla, Joseph Fritsch, Hannah Griggs, Lauren Highsmith, Tiara J., Haylee Harrell, Taryn Jordan, Yazan Kamalulddin, Dr. Souad Kherbi, Hannah Hjerpe-Shroeder, Dr. Ania Kowalik, Dr. Stephanie Iasiello, Stephanie Larson, RaNiqua Lee, Mike Lehman, Judith Levy, Francisco Lopez, Dr. Guirdex Mass, Alexis Mayfield, Christopher Moller, Brendan Moore, Dr. Nicole Morris, Manuela Ossa, Suzanne Persard, Gloria Pham, Dr. Nicolas Rmy, Alicia Rodriguez, Carlie Rodriguez, Dr. Dominick Rolle, Dr. Erika Serrato, Dr. Angelica So, Dr. Eric Solomon, Dr. Marlo Starr, Dr. Marion Tricoire, Ninon Vessier, and Dr. Blair Watson.

I was lucky to deliver portions of the manuscript in progress as lectures at many venues. I am particularly grateful to audiences at, in chronological order: the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies and the Department of French of Italian at Indiana University, Bloomington; the Department of Romance Languages at SUNY, Binghamton; the Department of French Studies at Louisiana State University; Harvard Universitys Department of Romance Languages and Literatures; the Twentieth/Twenty-First French and Francophone Studies International Colloquium; Emorys Psychoanalytic Studies Program; Emorys Global and Postcolonial Studies Program; the Forty-First Caribbean Studies Association Conference in Port-au-Prince, Haiti; the Islands and Identities: Memory and Trauma in Comparative Perspectives conference and workshop at Georgia State University and LInstitut des Amriques; the Aesthetic Afterlives: Memory, Transfiguration and the Arts conference presented by the Department of Comparative Literature at Princeton University; the Department of French and Italian at Princeton University; the Mmorial ACTe in Guadeloupe; the international colloquium Edouard Glissant: LEclat et lobscur at the Universit des Antilles, Martinique, co-organized by Louisiana State University; the Tout-Monde Festival in Miami, cosponsored by Florida Atlantic University and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States; and the Department of Romance Languages at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.