Empowered Voices: Haitian Women in Academia

This study guide is designed to help you review the key concepts and themes discussed in the interview with Dr. Marlène Daut. The interview covers Dr. Daut’s personal journey in academia, her experiences with gatekeeping and self-promotion, her views on Haitian studies, and the dynamics of power within the university setting.

Key Themes and Concepts:

• Academic Journey and Aspirations: Dr. Daut’s initial desire to be a novelist, influenced by writers like Edwidge Danticat, and her eventual path to becoming a historian of literature focusing on Haiti.
• Gatekeeping in Academia and Publishing: The challenges Dr. Daut faced as a Black woman scholar in getting her work on Haitian literature and history recognized and published. This includes explicit rejections, microaggressions from peers, and institutional biases based on alma mater and advisor reputation.
• Self-Promotion and Visibility: Dr. Daut’s evolving understanding of self-promotion, the discomfort she initially felt with it, and the advice she received on how to make her work visible within and outside the academy.
• Defining Success: Dr. Daut’s personal definition of success, which prioritizes contributing to the conversation and getting her ideas out, rather than conforming to traditional academic metrics or seeking external validation.
• Haitian Studies: The marginalization of Haitian studies within the academy, the privileging of certain historical figures like Toussaint Louverture, and the need to convince others of the importance of studying Haiti and its figures.
• Power Dynamics and Representation: Dr. Daut’s observations on the power structures within academia, the challenges faced by Black women in achieving positions of power, and the subtle and overt ways they can be pushed out or disadvantaged.
• “Small P” vs. “Big P” Power: Dr. Daut’s perspective on power, suggesting that breaking down “big P” power structures is more important than achieving it, and highlighting the potential of “small P” power to challenge the status quo.
• Navigating Academic Life as a Black Woman: The unique obstacles and experiences faced by Black women in academia, including the scrutiny of personal choices (like having children before tenure) and the emotional labor of constantly pushing back against stereotypes and biases.
• The Impact of Mentorship and Networking: The importance of finding supportive advisors and building networks, both formal and informal, to navigate the challenges of academia.
• The Shifting Landscape of Academia: The increasing emphasis on public scholarship and the potential benefits and risks associated with engaging with broader audiences.
• Changes Brought by the Me Too Movement: The observed shift in dynamics between male professors and students, leading to more cautious interactions outside of formal academic settings.

Quiz

Answer the following questions in 2-3 sentences each.

1. What was Dr. Marlene Daut’s initial career aspiration before becoming a professor?
2. Describe one example of gatekeeping Dr. Daut experienced as a graduate student.
3. What did an editor tell Dr. Daut about the market for her book Tropics of Haiti?
4. How does Dr. Daut define personal success in her academic career?
5. Why does Dr. Daut believe studying figures other than Toussaint Louverture in Haitian history is important?
6. What was Dr. Daut’s initial feeling about engaging in self-promotion for her work?
7. According to Dr. Daut, what was one common piece of advice given to women in graduate school regarding family planning?
8. How has the Me Too movement impacted the dynamics between male professors and students, according to Dr. Daut?
9. What does Dr. Daut suggest focusing on instead of pursuing “big P” power within academia?
10. What does Dr. Daut recommend paying close attention to when reading the work of historians, especially those writing about marginalized groups?

Quiz Answer Key

1. Before becoming a professor, Dr. Marlène Daut initially wanted to be a writer, specifically a novelist, inspired by authors like Edwidge Danticat.
2. One example of gatekeeping Dr. Daut experienced was a white female graduate student throwing her printout about culture at her, implying it was somehow less important or tainted because it dealt with culture. Another example was white male graduate students bragging about not reading works by women or people of color on their exam lists and still passing.
3. An editor told Dr. Daut that there was “absolutely no market” for a book about the literature of the Haitian Revolution, suggesting it was too esoteric.
4. Dr. Daut defines personal success as contributing to the conversation, getting her ideas out, and publishing where she wants to publish, rather than conforming to traditional metrics or seeking external validation.
5. Dr. Daut believes it’s important to study other historical figures from Haiti beyond Toussaint Louverture because privileging only one figure can lead to the forgetting of other significant individuals who also lived extraordinarily influential lives.
6. Dr. Daut initially felt very awkward and uncomfortable engaging in self-promotion for her work due to being raised with messages about not boasting or being arrogant.
7. One common piece of advice given to women in graduate school, according to Dr. Daut, was to not have children until after achieving tenure.
8. According to Dr. Daut, the Me Too movement has changed the dynamics by making male professors more cautious about inviting students to outside events or interacting with them outside of the university setting.
9. Dr. Daut suggests focusing on using “small P” power to make it harder for people with “big P” power to get away with their actions, rather than primarily pursuing “big P” power itself.
10. Dr. Daut recommends paying close attention to the prefaces and forewords of historical works, as she believes they often reveal the author’s motivations and underlying perspectives about the figures or topics they are studying.

Essay Format Questions

1. Discuss the various forms of gatekeeping Dr. Marlène Daut encountered throughout her academic career, from her undergraduate studies to the publishing process. How did these experiences shape her approach to her work and her definition of success?
2. Analyze Dr. Daut’s perspective on self-promotion in academia. How did her understanding of it evolve, and what advice did she receive that helped her navigate this aspect of the profession? What are the potential benefits and drawbacks of self-promotion for scholars, particularly for Black women scholars?
3. Examine the challenges faced by Haitian studies within the American academy as described by Dr. Daut. What are the reasons for its marginalization, and how does the privileging of certain figures like Toussaint Louverture impact the field? What changes does Dr. Daut hope to see in how Haitian studies is positioned within universities?
4. Explore Dr. Daut’s views on power dynamics within academia, contrasting her ideas of “big P” and “small P” power. How does she believe scholars, particularly Black women, can navigate and potentially challenge existing power structures?
5. Reflect on the advice Dr. Daut would give to emerging Black women scholars today, particularly regarding balancing personal life and academic career, and navigating the obstacles they might face. How does her own experience inform this advice, and what does she see as the key to perseverance and success on one’s own terms?

Glossary of Key Terms

Me Too Movement: A social movement against sexual harassment and sexual assault, in which people publicize allegations of sex crimes committed by powerful men.

Academia: The academic world; the community of scholars and students in universities and colleges.

Creative Writing: A form of writing that goes beyond normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary tropes.

Historian of Literature: A scholar who studies the history of literature, including literary movements, genres, and the social and cultural contexts in which literature is produced and received.

Haitian Revolution: A successful anti-slavery and anti-colonial insurrection by self-liberated enslaved people against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, which culminated in the establishment of the independent state of Haiti.

Gatekeeping (in Academia/Publishing): The process by which individuals or institutions control access to knowledge, resources, opportunities, or recognition within a field. This can manifest in various ways, including biases in hiring, promotion, peer review, and publishing decisions.

Microaggressions: Brief, commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial, gender, sexual orientation, and religious slights and insults toward target persons or groups.

Edwidge Danticat: A Haitian-American writer known for her novels, short stories, and essays that explore themes of Haitian history, identity, and the immigrant experience.

Toussaint Louverture: A leader of the Haitian Revolution and the first governor of Haiti.

King Henry Christophe: A key leader of the Haitian Revolution and later the ruler of the Kingdom of Haiti.

Tropics of Haiti: Dr. Marlène Daut’s book examining representations of Haiti in literature from the 18th and 19th centuries.

Public Scholarship: Scholarly work that is shared with and accessible to broader audiences outside of traditional academic circles, often through popular media, public lectures, or online platforms.

Tenure: A status granted to a professor after a probationary period, providing permanent employment and protection from dismissal except for just cause.

Retention Package: An offer made by a university to a faculty member to encourage them to stay, usually in response to an offer from another institution.

Haitian Exceptionalism: A term coined by Michel-Rolph Trouillot to describe the tendency in some historical narratives to portray Haiti as fundamentally different or anomalous compared to other nations, often in ways that obscure its connections to broader historical processes.

Paratext: Material surrounding the main body of a book or text, such as prefaces, forewords, introductions, notes, and appendices, which can influence how the text is interpreted.