Radyo an Kreyòl: Decolonial Projects on Haitian Radio
Description
This dissertation explores how Haitian radio journalist activists shaped the battle for linguistic rights for Haitian Creole speakers in Haiti before, during, and after the fall of the Duvalier dictatorships. Specifically, it examines decolonial radio projects that targeted linguicism as an essential element of greater structural inequalities by using Haitian Creole as an intentional tool to foster a broad-based democratic movement in response to the egregious human rights violations perpetrated by François Duvalier, Jean-Claude Duvalier, and Raoul Cédras as well as by their officials and paramilitary organizations. As linguistic discrimination is only one element in intersectional, entangled webs of domination at local, regional, national, international, and transnational levels, I focus on radio activism that sought to inform the public on the interrelated nature of structures of oppression in order to provide the tools and knowledge necessary to seek great structural change. As the form of media most accessible to the Haitian public in the twentieth century, radio provided an ideal venue for activist journalism. This study examines the particular roles played by Catholic station Radyo Solèy, independent station Radio Haïti Inter under the direction of Jean Dominique, and community radio organization Sosyete Animasyon Kominikasyon Sosyal.