Tim tim? Bwa sech! Keskiya a kiskeya?

About the Book

Tim tim? Bwa sech! Sprang out of a deep nostalgia for the Haiti of yesteryears. Whether raised in a well-to-do or in a poor family, in Port-au-Prince or in the countryside, few Haitians growing up in the 1930–1970s could honestly claim to have never partaken directly or indirectly in nocturnal story-telling sessions. Where have the yesteryears now gone? With Keskiya a kiskeya?, on the one hand, I intend to revive and enrich the aforementioned cultural heritage. On the other, I wish to bring back into the Haitian consciousness the lives and evolution of the two main folk heroes, Bouki and Malis, who peopled our young imagination. These folktales are often used as pretexts to unveil our shortcomings and to display the ills that continue to plague our society. The malediction of our history and the damnation of our geography transpire throughout the tales. In a way, these embody my Zolaan “J’accuse!”

About the Author

Born in Port-au-Prince, Jacques-Raphaël Georges owes his primary and secondary education to the state of Haiti. Firstly, he was a pupil at L'Ecole Nationale des Casernes Dessalines, a school opened to dependents of members of the Haitian armed forces. Georges began his teaching career, at Centre d’etudes d’Haiti, as a Greek and Latin instructor, while studying at the Faculty of Ethnology, in Port-au-Prince, before emigrating into the United States. He served in the US Navy. Honorably discharged, he obtained a B.A. in French Studies, a Master in French Pedagogy and a Certificate in African and African-American Studies. Georges later crowned his accomplishments with a Ph.D. in French Studies in 1999, at the University of Connecticut. Presently he teaches French & francophone cultures at the University of New Hampshire, at Manchester. A defender of black cultures, Dr. Georges travelled extensively throughout Africa, and Latin America, given many conferences on the topic.