"The Transplant Syndrome", to free the mind
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A signature sale will take place on September 12 at the Maison d'Haïti followed by a symposium from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Le Syndrome du Transplanté (The Transplant Syndrome) falls within the field of analytical anthropology and proposes a reexamination of the historical mechanisms and frameworks of the slave trade, colonization, and slavery through a multidisciplinary theoretical lens.
The author examines the formation of a transplanted subject — that is, one stripped of their original symbolic references and forced to reconstruct their identity in a hostile environment.
Drawing on recent advances in epigenetics, the text analyzes the intergenerational transmission of collective trauma and sheds light on the formation of psychosomatic clusters specific to Afro-descendant populations. These biological and psychological markers are articulated through a critical reading of postcolonial theories, memory studies, and psychoanalytic approaches to violence and splitting.
The work thus offers a robust conceptualization of the mechanisms of internalized domination, identity decentering, and the modes of subjectivation imposed in post-slavery societies.
Finally, it outlines the conditions for a genuine mental decolonization, understood as a process of cognitive, symbolic, and epistemic restructuring capable of producing a lasting reconfiguration of one's relationship to the self, to history, and to the world.
If you are looking for a work that clearly explains where our historical wounds come from and how they continue to shape our society today, this book is essential reading.
Through rigorous analysis, the author traces the origins of the slave trade, transplantation, and slavery, unveils the mechanisms of collective trauma, and above all proposes a path toward understanding, healing, and moving forward.
It is a book that makes you think. It is a book that challenges. It is a book that liberates.
Biography
Alin Louis Hall is a regular columnist for Haiti's leading daily newspaper, Le Nouvelliste. He has written extensively on slavery-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and on the psychopathologies affecting Afro-descendant populations.
He has also developed theories on transplantation syndrome and cognitive dissidence. A prolific author, he published in 2014 La Péninsule Républicaine, his first historical essay on the contribution of Haiti's southern peninsula to the first experience of self-determination among Afro-descendants on the American continent.
In 2021, he co-authored Plus de cinq cents ans d'Histoire (More Than Five Hundred Years of History) with several renowned writers and historians.
Born in Cap-Haïtien, he spent his childhood in the city of Les Cayes and his adolescence in Port-au-Prince.
A former portfolio manager, he has more than 25 years of experience in the finance, banking, and financial services sectors. He holds the CFP® (Certified Financial Planner) certification issued by the CFP Board of Standards, a Bachelor of Science in Finance with a specialization in economics from Nova Southeastern University, and a Master of Science in Finance from Florida Atlantic University.
He currently works as a credit risk analyst in Palm Beach County, where he resides.