Aesthetics of “Ex-centricity” and Considerations of “Poverty”

Kaiama L. Glover's Haiti Unbound fills a gap in understanding writing that took place in Haiti during Duvalierism, helping to open onto new(er) global narratives. In so doing, Glover contributes to the questioning of how and why poverty is fetishized. This review explores the Spiralist aesthetic's illustration of why Haiti fascinates a “Western” sensibility. Grosso modo, the review outlines the existing narratives of “Haiti” as revolving around the polarities of, on the one hand, its extreme “poverty” and, on the other, its reputation for tremendous artistic production: Is there a way to approach discourses about Haiti that explores how and why such extreme narratives continue to be produced?