UdyRENDEZ-VOUS WITH HOME - STUDY GUIDE - Roseneath Theatre
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udyRENDEZ-VOUS WITH HOME
STUDY GUIDE
Table of Contents
Black Theatre Workshop ............................................................................................................................. 3
Curriculum Connections……………………………………………….3
Rendez-vous with Home………………………………………………3 This study guide is meant to be
Production Team……………………………………………………….3 used as a starting point for
discussions and to encourage
The writer and performer………………………………………….4
students to get the most out of
The director……………………………………………………………….4 their theatre experience. You will
The percussionist……………………………………………………..5 find that some of the activities
The story…………….……………………………………………………..5 are for certain age groups. Feel
The History of Haiti……………………………………………………..6
free to adapt the activities to suit
your students. Teachers may use
Suggested Activities……………………………………………………8
this guide to enhance their
Haitian Creole……………………………………………………………10 students’ theatre experience of
Suggested Activities…………………………………………………11 Rendez-vous with Home to
Haitian Folklore…………………………………………………………12 deepen student understanding
about the play and the
Suggested Activities…………………………………………………13
production. The play is an
Vodou: A Haitian Way of Life…………………………………….14
introduction to various cultural
Suggested Activities…………………………………………………15 aspects of Haitian culture and
Famous Haitian Artists………………………………………………15 history, therefore, several
Suggested Activities…………………………………………………16 resources have been provided to
deepen students’ and teachers’
Haitians in Canada…………………………………………………….16
knowledge about the country.
Suggested Activities…………………………………………………17
Vocabulary ................................................................................................................................................. 17
Resources ................................................................................................................................................... 18
Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................... 19
Meet the Team .......................................................................................................................................... 20
Study Guide ● Rendez-vous with Home 2
Black theatre workshop
Black Theatre Workshop is Canada’s oldest Black theatre company. Our mission is to encourage and
promote the development of a Black and Canadian Theatre, rooted in a literature that reflects the
creative will of Black Canadian writers and artists, and the creative collaborations between Black and
other artists. Black Theatre Workshop aims to promote and produce Black theatre that educates,
entertains and delights its audiences. The company strives to create a greater cross-cultural
understanding by its presence and the intrinsic value of its work.
Curriculum connections
Rendez-vous with Home connects directly to many curriculum expectations.
THE ARTS
Competency 3 – Produces texts for personal
Drama – Analyzes a dramatic work; interprets and social purposes; extends repertoire of
the meaning of the work; shares their resources for producing texts; constructs
appreciation experience; makes critical and relationship between writer/producer, text and
aesthetic judgments. context; adapts a process to produce texts in
specific contexts.
LANGUAGE ARTS
SOCIAL STUDIES
Competency 1 – Uses language/talk to
communicate and to learn; communicating and Contemporary World – interprets a
learning in specific context. contemporary world problem; takes a position
Competency 2 – Reads and listens to written, on a contemporary world issue.
spoken and media texts; talks about own World Connections – Model activities and
response to a text; interprets the relationship processes of responsible citizenship.
between reader, text and context in light of
own response.
Rendez-vous with Home
By Djennie Laguerre
Production Team
Director: Dayane Ntibarikure Technical Director: Steve Schon
Performed by: Djennie Laguerre Stage Manager: Danielle Skene
Percussion: Karl-Henry Brézault
Study Guide ● Rendez-vous with Home 3
Djennie Laguerre, writer and performer:
Best known for her roles on stage and screen, Haitian-born actress
Djennie Laguerre immigrated to Canada at the age of 4 and has since
charmed audiences with her acting, dancing and storytelling skills.
She nurtured her gifts by attending De La Salle High School (Visual
arts and Theatre) and studying Theatre and French literature at the
University of Ottawa. What really affirmed her future as an actor and
storyteller was being accepted into the prestigious Stella Adler Acting
Conservatory in New York. During that time, Djennie explored her
craft by performing in small but popular theatre shows in Manhattan
and Harlem. But after September 11th, it’s in Toronto that Djennie’s
professional stage and screen acting career really took off. As a
bilingual, multifaceted artist, she was able to shine and expand her
acting opportunities.
Theatre credits include: *LES ZINSPIRÉS (Dora Nomination for Outstanding Ensemble) and *LES
ZINSPIRÉS Puissance Trois at Théâtre français de Toronto (Dora Nominations for Outstanding
Performance by an actress and for an Ensemble), Céleste in Espoir/Espwa, Toinette in Molière’s The
Imaginary Invalid, REZ SISTERS (Factory Theatre), Des fraises en janvier (Théâtre Français de Toronto),
Seventeen (Anonymous) Women (Infinitheatre), Les Contes Urbains De Toronto and GRIMGRIM
(Théâtre français de Toronto) and Cric, Crac (SummerWorks Festival). Film/TV credits include: Madame
Bonheur a French children’s show on Mini TFO/TVO, Flashpoint and Degrassi: The Next Generation.
Since the summer of 2008, Djennie has added playwright to her arc by writing and performing in her
own solo show Rendez-vous with Home and the French version, Rendez-vous Lakay, presented at the
following theatres and storytelling festivals: Le festival Le Loup de Lafontaine, Festival des Contes
Nomades at the NAC, Théâtre français de Toronto, Montréal, arts interculturels and SummerWorks
Festival. She is the recipient of the SummerWorks 2008 Spotlight Award for Rendez-vous with Home.
Djennie is also a member of the collective creation Les Héritières de Toto B. They wrote and performed
Espoir/Espwa in February 2016 at Théâtre français de Toronto.
Due to the success of the production Espoir/Espwa, the Théâtre français de Toronto is preparing a
national and international tour in the near future. Djennie presently is writing Rendez-vous with Home
Deux. The first time the storyteller brought her public to a funeral in Haiti; this time, the audience is
invited to a wedding in Haiti!
In addition to her busy schedule as an actress, Djennie’s been inspired by motherhood to tour schools
with her own style of Afro-Haitian storytelling. She is preparing with excitement her next School and
Library children tour with her show named “Madame Great Adventures!”(2017-18). Until then your
children can enjoy Djennie’s “joie de vivre” as Madame Bonheur/ Miss Happiness on MiniTFO’s
television and Youtube channels.
Study Guide ● Rendez-vous with Home 4
Dyanne Ntibarikure, director
Dayane Ntibarikure is a multifaceted bilingual artist who tells stories
with her voice, body, heart and soul. Not born but raised in
Montreal, this is also where she stumbled upon the performing arts
and decided to make it a lifelong love story. Acting, singing and
dancing have always been her main outlets of creativity so as a
director, she is constantly discovering ways to naturally integrate
movement and voice into her work. As an alumni of the Black
Theatre Workshop’s Artist Mentorship Program, Dayane is delighted
to be directing the company’s next school ‘’Rendez-vous with home’’
which will be presented in both French and English. She remains
forever grateful to her Black Theatre Workshop family, who allows
her to explore her obsession of human connection.
Karl-Henry Brézault , percussionist
Born in Montreal of haitian parents, drummer Karl-henry Brezault took on the mission to preserve and
share the richness of Haitian culture through it’s many traditional rhythms. Attracted by this mysterious
instrument since his childhood, he started playing seriously in 2005 and had the chance to learn with
master Haitian drummers such as Wikenson d’Haiti, Jean Rody Joseph and Ronald Nazaire. Karl is now
part of Montreal’s music scene as a member and cofounder of the Haitian traditionnal music group Rara
Soley and also as a member of Ayiti Percu, group that focuses on sharing the culture by offering
drumming workshops and classes to children.
The Story
Rendez-vous with Home is a woman’s bittersweet journey
to Haiti, the land of her ancestors, where she attends the
funeral of a father she barely knew in a country she’s not
very familiar with. In the process of this journey, she
comes to grips with who her absent father was and
discovers the warmth of family and land that she had
previously been unaware of. Told through storytelling,
song and dance, it is a voyage of discovery that reconnects
her to her roots. It’s also an immigrant tale of cultural
identity, both Canadian and Haitian.
Study Guide ● Rendez-vous with Home 5
THE HISTORY OF HAITI
“She goes from the Maroons, to the Boukman experience,
To the woman at the centre of the Bois Caïman
Who evoked the spirits of the dead Africans
To turn unarmed slaves into one powerful army led by
Toussaint l’Ouverture…”
-- Rendez-vous with Home
In Rendez-vous with Home, Djennie makes reference to a
speech her mother gives to her and her sister about Haiti’s
La perle des Antilles:
glorious history of rebellion against European powers.
Haiti is a complicated country haunted by a legacy of
slavery, environmental decimation and crushing corruption
from both inside and outside the country. But it also tells
the tale of an oppressed people who rose up against the
odds and who overthrew a powerful European power to
establish the first republic in the world to be led by black
people. That is what Djennie’s mother is so proudly
Haiti is often called the pearl of
referring too when she speaks of Maroons and Toussaint
the Caribbean. It was a
l’Ouverture.
marketing slogan developed in
the 1960s to attract tourism to
Haiti occupies the Western third of what is today known as
the county. However, economic
the island of Hispaniola sharing the other two thirds with
realities contradict that
the Dominican Republic.
description as one writer puts it:
Haiti was once a pearl of the
The earliest known people to live on the land that is now
Caribbean when it was first
known as Haiti were the Taino and the Ciboney, members
discovered by the Spanish,
of the Arawak people who lived in the Caribbean. The land
pristine, an ecological paradise
was called Quisqueya but also referred to as Ayiti by the
inhabited by the Taino, an
Taino. In the 15th century, these people numbered an
indigenous people. In essence,
estimated 100,000.
Haiti’s first catastrophe was
human, the arrival of European
On December 6th, 1492, Christopher Columbus arrived on
colonizers. Haiti’s story from
the island and named it La Isla Ispañola, later to become
there has been one challenge
referred to as Hispaniola. The Spaniards enslaved the Taino
after another, the least of which
and Ciboney people in order to mine the resources of the
were natural disasters.
island. Their working conditions were harsh. They also
succumbed to diseases spread by the Spaniards for which
they had never been exposed to and for which they had no immunity. The Spaniards began to import
slaves from Africa by the thousands to replenish their dwindling labour force. When the gold mines
were exhausted, the Spaniards moved on to other more lucrative colonies.
French and English buccaneers controlled the area until the 1660s when the French West Indies
Corporation took over. At the time, the population was only 5000 people, mostly African slaves with a
small white minority. Following the Treaty of Ryswijk of 1697, Hispaniola was divided with the Western
third going to the French. They named their share of Hispaniola Saint-Domingue.
Study Guide ● Rendez-vous with Home 6
By the 18th century, Saint-Domingue had become France’s
richest possession in the New World. It’s main exports were
sugar, coffee, cacao, indigo and cotton, all driven by unpaid, L’union fait la force!
forced slave labour.
Slaves were forced by French land owners to clear forests in
order to make room for sugar plantations unwittingly creating
soil erosion which destroyed the hillside gardens they relied
upon for subsistence food to supplement poor diets provided by
slave owners. Rivers dried up exacerbating soil erosion and
leading to drought conditions.
Slaves in Saint-Domingue were worked hard and were poorly fed
and cared for. The average lifespan of a slave was 21 years old.
By 1789, the population of Saint-Domingue had grown one
"L’union fait la force" translates
hundred fold to 556,000 of which 500,000 were slaves. 32, 000
into Unity is Strength. It is a
were European colonists. 24,000 were Affranchis, free mixed
rallying cry that evolved from
race people (part African, part European descent). The
Haiti’s fight for independence
Affranchis felt they were better than the dark-skinned African
from French colonial rule and
slaves yet were viewed in low esteem by white Europeans
that has continued to be used in
because they were not white. Life in Saint-Domingue was very
Haiti’s struggle against a harsh
hierarchical with whites placed above the Affranchis who were
economic world and internal
themselves placed above the slaves.
conflicts for justice and social
progress. The expression is part
Some slaves escaped the harsh conditions and fled into the
of Haiti’s coat of arms which
mountainous interior. They were called Maroons. Maroons,
appears on the current version
slaves and Affranchis found solace for their suffering in Vodou, a
of the Haitian flag in use since
religion that blended both African and Catholic beliefs.
1986.
The Haitian revolution ran from 1791 to 1804, ignited by the
harsh conditions endured by slaves; the continued racism the Affranchis faced; and the French
revolution which not only weakened French authority but also inspired all black people of Haiti to seek
their freedom and to be treated with equality. The spark was the Bois Caïman ceremony conducted in
1791 by Vodou priest Duffy Boukman, accompanied by a priestess, calling for the freedom for the slaves.
Toussaint Louverture became the leader
of the fight for Haitian Independence.
He took control of Haiti for a short time
period in which he emancipated the
slaves. The French, however, betrayed
him by agreeing to a settlement and,
instead, used the opportunity to capture
him and imprison him in France. He
died in prison in 1803. Nonetheless,
other black leaders rose to the occasion
and continued the fight until they were
victorious against the French in 1803.
The country declared independence on
Study Guide ● Rendez-vous with Home 7
January 1st, 1804, and was renamed Haiti after the original Taino name.
Suggested activities:
1. Have students review the timeline1 of Haiti’s history on the following page. The timeline only
goes up to 1994. Have the students work in groups to continue the timeline up to 2017. As a
class review each group’s findings. What are some critical events that have happened in Haiti in
recent history and how have they impacted the country's stability and development?
2. Students can explore the classifications between people in the 18th century, white and black,
that separated each group and enforced some of the stratification still present in Haitian
society. Are such classifications present in our society? How do they impact the way people
relate to each other today in Canada? What are some of the implications politically and socially
to maintaining such racial or income stratifications?
3. In groups, students can explore some of the people mentioned by Djennie’s mother and present
their findings to the class in a PowerPoint presentation.
a. Who are the Maroons?
b. Who is Papa Doc?
c. Who is Baby Doc?
4. Students, in groups or in pairs, can explore the contradictions of calling Haiti the pearl of the
Caribbean. Half the class can argue the case for calling Haiti the pearl of the Caribbean; the
other half can argue against.
5. Students, in groups or in pairs, can look at specific instances where unity was strength in certain
periods of Haitian history. When did the Haitian people rally together to overcome a challenge,
for example: colonialism, dictatorship, corruption, natural disaster. In other words, when did
“l’union fait la force” and succeed?
6. Research and discuss as a class why Toussaint Louverture would be called the Black Napoleon.
1
Teaching for Change, Teaching about Haiti, (NECA and EPICA, 4th edition, 1994), pg. 16.
Study Guide ● Rendez-vous with Home 8
Study Guide ● Rendez-vous with Home 9
HAITIAN CREOLE
“SAKPASSÉ cousines mwen se Fernand min ou ka rélé m’Fanfan.”
-- Rendez-vous with Home
Djennie Laguerre includes a few Haitian Creole
phrases in Rendez-vous with Home. But what Here is some Kreyòl text from Rendez-
exactly is Haitian Creole. Is it is just a different way vous with Home. Can you decipher what
of pronouncing French or is it a completely they mean?
different language?
Mwen pap fait on pas s’en pas wè Kor
Creole is the national language of Haiti. It is the
Papa’m e nou fin mette li sou tè.
language spoken by all Haitians living in Haiti and
many others who have emigrated abroad to Nou té toujour n’en Chœur li.
Canada and the United States. It is derived from
Domi en paix, frè’m.
the common French of the time with the influence
of African languages that the slaves spoke such as Mesie Jean sete on gran artist oui, mè li vin
Fon and Yoruba. on ingenieu pou Fè grand moun yo plèzi.
Leu pèyi etranje yo pa rekonèt diplom li. Li
When Africans were abducted from various regions vin on Ti-Jean fou, li vin on movè mari e on
of Western Africa and were brought to work on chofeu taxi frustre.
plantations in Haiti, they could not communicate
between each other in their various African
tongues. They used the common French language they learned from their slave masters. Over time,
from lack of instruction and contact with French people, the slave language evolved on its own to
become a language in its own right. 90% of Creole is derived from French words but most French
speakers can’t understand it because the two languages have evolved separately since. The grammar of
Creole is very different from French grammar today. In addition, many words in contemporary French
have changed and are different from the French language that was spoken in the colony in the 17th and
18th century.
Here is an example given by the Creole Institute at the University of Indiana:2
Creole: Ki jan ou rele?
English: What is your name?
Modern French: Comment vous appelez-vous?
Héler was the popular French form of Appeler. We don’t use héler in Standard French any more but
Creole still makes use of the word.
Creole French English
ki qui what
jan genre manner
ou vous you
rele Héler (appeler) to call
2
Albert Valdman, “Creole: The National Language of Haiti,” in Footsteps, 2(4), 36-39.
Study Guide ● Rendez-vous with Home 10Here is another example of how African languages may have contributed to the evolution of the Creole
language. In Ewe and Yoruba, the definite article (the) comes after the noun as opposed to French and
English where it comes before the noun.
English the house
Standard French la maison
Popular (old) French la maison là
Creole kay-la
Ewe afe a
Yoruba ife yen
Some fun with Creole
DYALÒG3
Sou wout Petyonvil
On the way to Pétionville (Sur la route à Pétionville)
LWI: Boujou, ti dam. Ki jan ou ye? Hello, ma’am. How are you?
MARI : M byen, wi. I’m fine.
LWI : Se pitit ou? Is that your child?
MARI : Wi se petit mwen. Yes, it’s my child.
LWI : Ki jan li rele? What’s his name?
MARI: Li rele Sadrak. His name is Sadrak.
LWI: M rele Lwi. E ou menm, ki jan ou rele? My name is Lwi. And you? What’s your
name?
MARI : M rele Mari. My name is Mari.
KESYON (Questions):
Ki moun k ap pale ak Mari? Lwi.
Ki jan madanm nan rele? Li rele Mari.
Ki jan msye a rele? Li rele Lwi.
Ki jan pitit la rele? Li rele Sadrak.
Suggested activities:
1. Have groups of student use the text above to translate into French and compare the French
words with the Creole equivalent.
2. What are some other Creole expressions that students heard in the play? Have them search to
find out the French equivalent of these expressions.
3
Valdman, Arthur, “Leson en,” in Ann pale kryòl, (The Creole Institute and Indiana University Press, 2012, pg. 1.
Study Guide ● Rendez-vous with Home 11HAITIAN FOLKLORE
“When I say Krick, you say Krack!”
-- Rendez-vous with Home
In West Africa, storytelling was a richly developed art. Villagers would gather around a fire at night to
hear one of their neighbours – perhaps an old woman or man – tell favourite tales. Many of these
involved animal characters, such as the spider Anansi. Stories often told a practical joke or trick, or
sought to explain how a certain thing began.
Africans transported to the Caribbean, including Haiti, brought their folk traditions with them. These
blended with elements of European folklore to become part of the cultural heritage of Caribbean
peoples.
Many Haitian folktales centre on two characters, Uncle Bouki and Ti Malice. Uncle Bouki is a laughable
bumpkin – foolish, boastful and greedy. Ti Malice is his opposite, a smart character full of tricks. These
same qualities are found combined in Anansi the spider, the hero of Caribbean folktales. In Haiti, they
are divided between the two characters of Uncle Bouki and Ti Malice.
Haiti’s oral tradition also includes many other types of stories, proverbs, riddles, songs and games.
Storytelling in Haiti is a performance art. The storyteller uses different voices for each character in the
story, and often sings a song as part of the narrative. 4
4 th
Reproduced from Teaching For Change, Teaching About Haiti, (NECA and EPICA, 4 edition, 1994), pg. 36-37.
Study Guide ● Rendez-vous with Home 12Study Guide ● Rendez-vous with Home 13
`
Suggested Activities:
1. Assign each student a folktale to memorize and tell the class in a storytelling style.
2. Each student can write a short, funny story to recount to the class.
Study Guide ● Rendez-vous with Home 14VODOU: A HAITIAN WAY OF LIFE
“In any other place or time we could handle a little darkness. But with a dead man in our hands, in an
underground morgue, in a country known for being ‘magically inclined’, every cliché and taboo we ever
heard about Haiti TOOK OVER OUR SENSES.”
-- Rendez-vous with Home
Scholars now call the African derived religion of Haiti
Vodou, which means “spirit” in the Fon language. Fon
people live in the West African country of Benin. During
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, many Fon,
along with Yoruba and Ibo people from neighbouring
Nigeria, Kongo people from Zaire and Angola in central
Africa, and other African ethnic groups, were forced into
slavery and sent to the French colony that would
become Haiti.
Although these people came from different cultures,
they shared many religious traditions. They all revered a
god who was the maker of all things. Because the
distance between this supreme god and humans was
great, Africans also honored spirits who were less
powerful than this god but more powerful than humans.
These spirits included ancestors of the living spirits,
spirits of twins, and other spiritual beings who Damballah La Flambeau by Haitian artist
represented forces of nature (i.e. the ocean, sky, sun, Hector Hyppolite. Damballah is the Sky
lightning and forests) or human emotions (i.e. love, Father and the primordial creator of all
anger, mercy, laughter and grief). life. He rules the mind, intellect, and
cosmic equilibrium. Damballah, as the
serpent spirit and "The Great Master",
In time, the slaves combined these common beliefs into
created the cosmos by using his 7,000
one religion. They called the Supreme Being Bondye coils to form the stars and the planets in
(from the Creole words for “good god” – “bon Dieu” in the heavens and to shape the hills and
French) and identified Bondye with the Christian creator. valleys on earth. By shedding the serpent
Since Bondye was far away, they called on ancestral and skin, Damballah created all the waters
twin spirits who lived nearby for supernatural help. on the earth.
Nonmortal spirits gathered together from many African Perrault, Alix. "Vodou and the Loas". The
Vodou Element.
religions are called Iwa. They are thought to be very
concerned with human welfare and are called upon to
solve problems. There are hundreds of lwa, but the most famous include the kind and fatherly snake
spirit Damballah; Ogun, a forceful military spirit; Erzuli, the queen of love and beauty; and Guede, a
gross trickster who lives in graveyards but also loves and cares for children.
Because the lwa are close to humans, they enjoy human hospitality. Therefore, during a Vodou
ceremony, the people may sacrifice a small farm animal, often a chicken or a goat, to them. Afterward,
the worshippers cook and eat the animal. To attract more divine attention, servants of the lwa draw
special emblems, called veve, on the floors of the hounfors (Vodou temples) and dance and sing their
favourite songs.
Study Guide ● Rendez-vous with Home 15The lwa communicate with their servants through a spiritual possession of their minds and bodies.
Spirit possession is common in many religions throughout the world, including the Pentecostal and
Holiness churches in the United States. In Haiti, it is said that the lwa ride their servants like horses and
sometimes are called divine horsemen. When a worshipper is being ridden, he or she speaks and acts
like the lwa… Afterward, the person who was possessed cannot remember the experience.
The Haitian revolution began in 1791 during a secret Vodou service when the slaves vowed to free
themselves. Ever since, Vodou has been a vital part of Haitian history. Pictures of Catholic saints are
painted on hounfor walls to represent the lwa. Catholic prayers and symbols are used in Vodou
ceremonies. Ceremonial costumes, rituals and designs are copied from the Free and Accepted Masons,
a secret fraternity. Through these “recyclings,” Vodou has helped African people to survive slavery and
to make sense of their lives in the “New World.” Vodou is a religion of tolerance. It has kept alive old
African beliefs and borrowed freely from European traditions.
Not everyone in Haiti practices Vodou. Some Haitians are opposed to the religion, and followers of
Vodou have often been persecuted by the government. But the new Haitian Constitution recognizes
Vodou as the inheritance of all Haitians, and there is a growing appreciation in the United States of the
influence of Vodou on its own culture. Vodou music has inspired American jazz and rock’n roll.
Paintings by Vodou artists such as Hector Hyppolite and Andre Pierre are now recognized as treasures of
world art. If we put aside our negative stereotypes about “voodoo,” we will see Vodou as an important
and exciting expression of African culture in the New World.5
Suggested Activities
1. Have teams of students research the following, identifying the role they play within Haitian
history and socio-economic discourse. The students can then present their findings to the class
in a multimedia presentation.
a. Boukman Experience
b. Bois Caïman
2. Students can research different lwas and seek out artwork about them and present them to the
class, explaining the significance of the lwa in Vodou and the artwork they selected to analyze.
3. Students can research a lwa and create a piece of artwork to depict the lwa they chose.
FAMOUS HAITIAN ARTISTS
“You see, your father… developed a painting style that mixes the Haitian naïve art technique to American
modern paintings.”
-- Rendez-vous with Home
Djennie Laguerre’s main character in the play travels to Haiti for her father’s funeral where she discovers
that, in life, he was a successful and accomplished artist. Haiti is home to many successful, renowned
artists who portray aspects of daily life in Haiti as well as images rooted in Vodou. The art is colourful,
thus naïve, but also complex in detail and rich with tradition. Here are some examples of Haitian art:
5 th
Reproduced from Teaching For Change, Teaching About Haiti, (NECA and EPICA, 4 edition, 1994), pg. 38.
Study Guide ● Rendez-vous with Home 16Yellow Loa by Levoy Exil
3 Loas by Prospere Pierre-Louis Untitled by Wilner Cadet
Suggested activities:
1. Students can in pairs research the different stages of the development of Haitian art and
present their findings to the class.
2. Students in pairs can identify specific Haitian artists and study their body of work and present
them to the class to discuss their meaning and styles.
3. Students can do a work of art from in the style of Haitian art, using naïve techniques and lots of
colours to see what they come up with.
4. Jean-Michel Basquiat is a great American artist whose father was of Haitian origin. Students can
research his body of work and compare and contrast it with that of Haitian cultural traditions of
Vodou and art.
HAITIANS IN CANADA
“It’s a bright, sunny afternoon in the Ottawa valley…”
-- Rendez-vous with Home
Rendez-vous with Home takes the audience on a journey to Haiti from the perspective of Djennie
Laguerre who is of Haitian descent. She is not alone in sharing both a Canadian as well as a Haitian
identity despite the fact that she has spent most of her life in Canada rather than Haiti. Like many
immigrants to Canada, we love our country but we still hold on to a little piece of where we come from.
Canada is home to over 137,000 people of Haitian origin. Many live in Québec and others in Ontario.
They are important members of our society contributing to all areas of our lives including the arts,
sports and both the private and public sectors.
Here are a few of our fellow Canadians of Haitian origin that you may have heard of:
Benz Antoine - actor Michäelle Jean – former broadcaster, former
Régine Chassagne - musician Governor General of Canada
Fabienne Colas – actor, entrepreneur Dominique Anglade – MPP and provincial
Dany Laferrière - author minister
Marie-Josée Lord – opera singer Georges Laraque – former NHL player
Emmanuel Dubourg - MP Bruny Surin – former track and field champion
Study Guide ● Rendez-vous with Home 17Suggested activities:
1. Students, in pairs, can be assigned one of the above individuals and find out who they are and
present their findings to the class
2. Are there other Haitian Canadians or Haitian Americans that students can uncover and tell the
class about?
3. Ask students to write a short story of an imagined or real journey back to the land of their
ancestors, even if it’s many generations back: a trip back to France, or England, or Jamaica, or
Peru, or up North….
4. Ask students to work in small groups to reflect on what it’s like to have two cultural identities.
Which identity impacts them the most in their daily life? How is this other cultural identity
reflected in their Canadian life? Within their family home, do they eat foods or speak a
language that is different from what they speak at school? Do they have cultural practices that
they still partake in that originated from another country? How does it feel to have that duality?
VOCABULARY
Affranchis – Free mixed-race people who lived in Haiti; part African, part European descent.
Bois Caïman – A vodou ceremony performed by a Jamaican vodou priest named Boukman and a
priestess on August 14, 1791, that is said to have ignited the Haitian revolution.
Boukman Experience – Also known as Boukman Eksperyans. A contemporary group in Haiti that
provides social commentary and shares their political views through music.
Buccaneers – French and English pirates who used the Western part of the island of Hispaniola as a base
of operation during the period of time when the Spanish had given up on control of that part of
Hispaniola and before the French crown took control of the region.
Diaspora – the movement, migration, or scattering (in some cases through force and/or violence) of a
people away from an established or ancestral homeland; people settled far from their ancestral
homelands.6
Duvalièristes – The name given to supporters of the political doctrine of former Haitian President
François Duvalier (from 1957 to 1971) and his son Jean-Claude (president from 1971 to 1986), a doctrine
founded largely on terror.7
Ezili - Haitian African spirit of love, beauty, jewelry, dancing, luxury, and flowers. Also sometimes
spelled at Erzulie.8
Hounfor – a Vodou temple.
6
From the Merriam-Webster Dictionary
7
Definition from Reverso Dictionary
8
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erzulie
Study Guide ● Rendez-vous with Home 18Kompa – Haiti's best known musical style. Kompa is sung in Creole and has a slower tempo than other
Caribbean music. It makes extensive use of tambours and the conga.9
Lwa – Nonmortal spirits that are derived from Haiti's Vodou religion and who are called upon to solve
spirits in the mortal world. Some of these lwa include Damballah, Ogun and Erzulie.
Maroons – Fugitive Haitian slaves who hid in small communities in the mountains to escape recapture.
Naïve Art - Also spelled naïf art; work of artists who lack or reject conventional expertise in the
representation or depiction of real objects.10
Plantains – Part of the banana family, the plantain is bigger and less sweet than a banana. It's green on
the outside and orange on the inside and needs to be cooked in order to be eaten.
Tonton Macoutes – a paramilitary force created by Papa Doc Duvalier to instill terror on the Haitian
population in order to maintain his power.
RESOURCES
National Geographic Kids (K-3) – Haiti:
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/explore/countries/haiti/#haiti-girls-running.jpg
Teaching for Change – Building Social Justice Starting in the Classroom:
http://www.teachingforchange.org/teacher-resources/haiti
- The organization has a booklet - Teaching about Haiti - last printed in 1994 available online:
http://www.teachingforchange.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/cchaiti.pdf
Teaching Tolerance - Poverty and Natural Disasters: Exploring the Connections (comparing the 1989 San
Francisco earthquake vs the 2010 Haitian earthquake and their impacts on local population):
http://www.tolerance.org/activity/poverty-and-natural-disasters-exploring-connections
The Guardian: The History of Haiti in Pictures, published online in 2011:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2011/jan/11/haiti
The Power of Education Foundation – Haiti lesson plans, elementary school to high school levels
(storybook, art, music, language, poverty): http://www.powerofeducationfoundation.org/raising-
awareness-and-lesson-plans.html
World Bank – Haiti: http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/haiti
9
http://www.afropedea.org/compa-kompa-music
10
https://www.britannica.com/art/naive-art
Study Guide ● Rendez-vous with Home 19BIBLIOGRAPHY
Denis, Watson Ph D. “Le principe de l’union fait la force.″
http://lenouvelliste.com/lenouvelliste/article/146714/Le-principe-de-lunion-fait-la-force. July 6, 2015.
Dorelus, Orso Antonio. “Un cliché historique: «Haïti, la perle des antilles.»
http://lenouvelliste.com/lenouvelliste/article/162670/Un-cliche-historique-Haiti-la-Perle-des-Antilles.
September 2, 2016.
Lawless, Robert and Macleaod, Murdo J. and Ferguson, James A. and Girault, Christian Antoine. “Haiti.”
Encyclopedia Britannica. Aug. 24, 1998, last updated Feb. 24, 2017.
https://www.britannica.com/place/Haiti. May 8, 2017.
Lionet, Christian. “La descente aux enfers de la perle des Antilles.”
http://www.liberation.fr/planete/2010/01/14/la-descente-aux-enfers-de-la-perle-des-antilles_604337.
January 14, 2010.
Shen, Kona. "History of Haiti." Brown University, Department of African Studies. Last updated October
27, 2015. http://library.brown.edu/haitihistory/2frt.html. May 15, 2017.
Teaching For Change. “Teaching About Haiti.” NECA and EPICA, 4th edition, 1994.
Valdman, Albert. “Ann pale kryòl.” The Creole Institute and Indiana University Press, 2012.
Valdman, Albert. “Creole: The National Language of Haiti.”
http://www.indiana.edu/~creole/creolenatllangofhaiti.html. May 8, 2017.
Study Guide ● Rendez-vous with Home 20MEET THE TEAM
STAFF BOARD OF GOVERNORS
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR PRESIDENT
Quincy Armorer Jacklin Webb
GENERAL MANAGER VICE PRESIDENT
Adele Benoit Dr. Clarence Bayne
ARTIST MENTORSHIP PROGRAM SECRETARY
COORDINATOR Dr. Horace Goddard
Warona Setshwaelo
TREASURER
OUTREACH AND MARKETING Phylicia Burke
COORDINATOR MEMBERS
Kym Dominique-Ferguson
Allison DaCosta
SCHOOL TOUR COORDINATOR Yvonne Greer
Christine Rodriguez
EVENTS COORDINATOR
Kancou Camera
3680 Jeanne-Mance – Suite #432
Montréal, QC, H2X 2K5
Tel: 514-932-1104
Fax: 514-932-6311
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