The Final Project requires all the course participants to work on the project, Visualizing Caribbean Literature. However, each student is required to do an individual digital humanities project that should be submitted as part of the larger Visualizing Caribbean Literature project.

This work is a Project Proposal of the individual work that I wish to complete and submit. For my Individual Project, I propose that I explore the theme of historical events in Haiti. In other words, I would like to focus on navigating the historical events of Haiti through the use of five literary works, all written by Caribbean or specifically Haitian authors. In navigating the pattern and theme of historical events that took place, I would also like to look at the sub themes which can be inclusive of religious culture amongst many others.

In addition, I have formulated two research questions that I would like to explore and answer through the Digital Humanities methods and tools. Firstly, I would like to explore and answer the question: What impact did the historical event have on Haiti? Secondly, how did the historical events mentioned in the books influence the current affairs and state of Haiti? I wish to explore the first research question by looking at how the historical event mentioned in the literary work had an impact on Haiti. This means that I would ultimately be looking at the type of impact that affected Haiti ultimately Haitians. For the second research question, the basis of this is that I am looking at the effects of the historical events on Haiti’s present political and or economic affairs.

In brainstorming my individual project, I recalled the work of Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat when I was doing spreadsheet data cleaning. I had loved the novel and enjoyed deciphering the messages and meanings portrayed in her book. She depicted the realism of Haiti through the eyes of a character and it was phenomenal in understanding Haiti along with this character’s growth. Using Breath, Eyes, Memory as an inspiration, I decided to look at Haiti and the historical events that took place but through the use of literary works. I also want to feature how Haiti’s freedom/independence came at a price which they are still paying today. That way, others can understand the country and its people more in depth.

All in all, I would like to do a Historical Treasure Hunt: Navigating the historical events of Haiti through the use of five literary works. For this story mapping, I have decided to utilize the Digital Humanities tools of Omeka and the plugin Neatline. Omeka is a software tool that enables one to create dynamic online exhibits that showcase collections of digital images, text and other multi-media formats on one site. Neatline is a plugin for Omeka that is a collection-management framework that is for creating interactive editions of visual materials like maps, paintings, photographs and any images.