Jean Price-Mars (15 October 1876 – 1 March 1969) was a Haitian

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politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

, diplomat,

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, and

ethnographer Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...

.Île-en-île
Jean Price-Mars Price-Mars served as secretary of the Haitian legation in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

(1909) and as chargé d'affaires in

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(1915–1917), during the initial years of the

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occupation of Haiti. In 1922, Price-Mars completed medical studies which he had given up for lack of a scholarship. After withdrawing as a candidate for the presidency of Haiti in favor of Stenio Vincent in 1930, Price-Mars led Senate opposition to the new president; he was forced out of politics. In 1941, Price-Mars was again elected to the Senate. He was secretary of state for external relations in 1946 and, later, ambassador to the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

. In his eighties, he continued service as Haitian ambassador at the United Nations and ambassador to France.

''Négritude'' movement

Price-Mars championed ''

Négritude ''Négritude'' (from French "Nègre" and "-itude" to denote a condition that can be translated as "Blackness") is a framework of critique and literary theory, developed mainly by francophone intellectuals, writers, and politicians of the African ...

'' in Haiti through his writing, which "discovered" and embraced the

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n roots of Haitian society. Price-Mars was the first prominent defender of vodou as a full religion complete with "deities, a priesthood, a theology, and morality."
''Encyclopedia of U.S. Military Interventions in Latin America'' (Volume I). Santa Barbara, California. Alan McPherson, editor. (2013) He argued against the prevailing prejudice and ideology which favored European cultures from the colonial period and rejected non- white people, white, non-

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, elements of the cultures of the

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. His nationalism embraced a Haitian cultural identity as African through

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

. Price-Mars' attitude was inspired by the active resistance by Haitian peasants to the 1915 through 1934 United States occupation. He deplored the elite's abandonment of the tradition that had emphasized the nation's achieving independence from French

colonialism Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colony, colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose the ...

, but he took pride in the conduct of the poor. He attacked the elite for their "inability to promote the welfare of the Haitian masses."
''The Imagined Island: History, Identity, and Utopia in Hispaniola.'' Pedro L. San Miguel (2005) University of North Carolina Press.

Collective ''Bovarysme''

He coined the term ''collective bovarysme'' to describe the elite as identifying with their partial

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an ancestry while denouncing ties to their African legacy (in

Gustave Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , , ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. Highly influential, he has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flauber ...

's novel ''

Madame Bovary ''Madame Bovary'' (; ), originally published as ''Madame Bovary: Provincial Manners'' ( ), is a novel by French writer Gustave Flaubert, published in 1856. The eponymous character lives beyond her means in order to escape the banalities and emp ...

,'' Emma Bovary is anxious to escape from social conditions which define her, but which she deprecates). He noticed that the elite were composed almost exclusively of people of mixed ancestry, descended from former

free persons of color In the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, free people of color (French: ''gens de couleur libres''; Spanish: ''gente de color libre'') were primarily people of mixed African, European, and Native American descent who were not ...

, who embraced their "whiteness." Most Haitians were more exclusively African in descent. His disdain for the elites spread beyond their racial purity of ''"bovarysme"''. He believed they had unfair economic and political influence. He understood that their power base in the state system relied heavily on the taxation of crops, especially of

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, the chief export, grown by the peasants who had come to the country's defense when the elites had abandoned it to protect their own interests. He also attacked the elites' role in Haitian

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

. The elite believed they needed to civilize the masses. Price-Mars wrote frequently about educational programs. He examined the "intellectual tools" available in Haiti and challenged the elite to promote progress among the masses because of their advantage of position. He ultimately came to embrace Haiti's slavery history as the true source of the Haitian identity and culture. He admired the culture and religion developed among the slaves as their base for rebelling against the Europeans and building a Haitian nation. Collective bovarysme was also used to describe predominantly black Dominicans that denied their African roots in favor of their

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ancestry.
''Enciclopedia de Puerto Rico''. Un proyecto de la Fundación Puertorriqueña de las Humanidades y el National Endowment for the Humanities. During the Dominican War of Independence, Dominican Independence War, many pro-independence Dominicans looking to gain support from Europe and the United States did not see themselves as black. They viewed the conflict as a war between whites and blacks, or between the "civilized" and "barbaric".

Notable Works

*''La Vocation de l'elite'' (1919) *''Ainsi parla l'oncle'' (1928) Translated: ''So Spoke the Uncle'' (1983) *''La République d'Haïti et la République Dominicaine'' (1953) *''De Saint-Domingue à Haïti'' (1957)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Price-Mars, Jean 1876 births 1969 deaths Haitian nationalists Haitian non-fiction writers Haitian male writers Haitian diplomats Foreign Ministers of Haiti Haitian anthropologists Ambassadors of Haiti to the Dominican Republic Ambassadors of Haiti to France Permanent Representatives of Haiti to the United Nations Male non-fiction writers

''Négritude'' movement

Collective ''Bovarysme''

Notable Works

Further reading

References