ABSTRACT
The concept of the hinterland is derived from the rhetorical practices of valuing space and is formulated from the position of power relations. Only in relation to – and from the perspective of – an artificially established centre can space become a hinterland, something partially hidden but necessary for the maintenance of the centre. In this sense, it is always twofold, revealing itself through difference as a spatial Other. Hence, it is important to examine the methods and historical conditions of hinterland formation and to broaden our understanding of the concept by taking into account the intertwining of its spatial and temporal characteristics and the possibility of producing an intra-urban hinterland. The chapter discusses the Haitian hinterlands, especially those produced in Port-au-Prince, analyzing their fictional forms in two novels: Pays sans chapeau by Dany Laferrière (1996) and Douces déroutes by Yanick Lahens (2018). They are explored as heterotopias, spaces that simultaneously describe and subvert real places to create an illusion (revealing the illusory nature of reality) or to compensate for the real with a perfect Other. Through the analysis the complex dialectic of the hinterland is unravelled – while by definition partially reassuring of contemporary power relations, it can also subvert this power structure, or at least make it visible.
