Haitian and Okinawan Political Satire in the 1970s and 1980s

During the 1970s and 1980s, Haiti and Okinawa underwent significant political change. Haitians protested against Jean-Claude Duvalier, who was dictator at the time, forcing him out of the country, while control of Okinawa was handed over from America to Japan. During this period, one of the key ways in which Haitians and Okinawans were able to express themselves was through the medium of political satire, as it was a way for them to speak out against those that controlled them.

This thesis aims to comparatively analyse satirical works from these two rarely compared places, in order to see how Haitians and Okinawans performed their political agency as (post)-colonial subjects against intentional cultural misrepresentation. Through the analysis of four texts, two of them being plays and the other two being written, this thesis explores the portrayal of themes such as diaspora, sexuality, and the legacy of key historical moments, all in the context of the political landscape at the time. The developing use of language is also revealed within the political satire at the time, as both Haiti and Okinawa shifted from utilising non-native languages (French and Japanese respectively) to utilising their local languages instead (Haitian Creole and Okinawan respectively). The period that is focused on is not only the 1970s and 1980s, but also the period in which Haiti and Okinawa both underwent periods of American occupation, being 1915 to 1934, and 1945 to 1972 respectively. These periods of occupation deeply impacted not only the content of the political satire that Haiti and Okinawa produced, but also the way in which it was written, especially regarding thematic focuses. Ultimately this research has revealed that within Haiti and Okinawa, political satire was not solely a means of speaking up against political institutions. Political satire was also a way for citizens of each place to establish their identity on a global level, by satirizing, and thus counteracting, prevalent notions and stereotypes about their homelands.