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"Democratization Haiti."
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Democratic insecurities
Democratic Insecurities focuses on the ethics of military and humanitarian intervention in Haiti during and after Haiti's 1991 coup. In this remarkable ethnography of violence, Erica Caple James explores the traumas of Haitian victims whose experiences were denied by U.S. officials and recognized only selectively by other humanitarian providers. Using vivid first-person accounts from women survivors, James raises important new questions about humanitarian aid, structural violence, and political insecurity. She discusses the politics of postconflict assistance to Haiti and the challenges of promoting democracy, human rights, and justice in societies that experience chronic insecurity. Similarly, she finds that efforts to promote political development and psychosocial rehabilitation may fail because of competition, strife, and corruption among the individuals and institutions that implement such initiatives.
eBook
Reflections on Haitian Democracy
Twenty-five years have passed since Haiti’s first free and fair elections. In that time, democratization has been slow and there have been many setbacks. This article offers some observations regarding Haiti’s democratization journey by examining how the government introduced a massive industrial park that required the displacement of a large number of farmers. In a departure from historical practice, when faced with opposition, the government deployed its security forces sparingly. Also, the levels of transparency and civil society engagement were not terrible. Although it is insufficient and superficial, movement is in the right direction. In contrast, local government officials may have lost status and legitimacy during the process, which could hinder future democratization. Finally, the footprint of outsiders in this project was massive, confirming how profoundly Haiti’s democratization is transnationalized. This makes tracking its democratic development extremely challenging and yet necessary given the country is not alone in this predicament.
Han pasado veinticinco años desde las primeras elecciones libres y justas en Haití. Desde entonces, la democratización ha sido lenta y ha sufrido muchos contratiempos. Este artículo ofrece algunas observaciones con respecto al proceso de democratización en este momento. Al hacerlo, examina cómo el gobierno ha introducido un extenso parque industrial en el noreste del país, el que requirió el desplazamiento de un gran número de campesinos. Los resultados son mixtos. En una divergencia de la historia, cuando se enfrentó con la oposición, el gobierno envió sus fuerzas de seguridad con moderación. Por otra parte, los niveles de transparencia y el compromiso de la sociedad civil no eran pasables. Aunque puede resultar insuficiente y superficial, el proceso democrático parece ir avanzando en la dirección correcta. Por otro lado, puede ser que los oficiales del gobierno local hayan perdido posición y legitimidad durante el proceso, lo que puede impedir la democratización. Finalmente, el involucramiento de extranjeros en este proyecto era masivo, lo que confirma que la democratización de Haití es transnacional. Así, seguir el desarrollo democrático es algo extremadamente desafiante pero necesario ya que este país no está solo en esta situación.
Journal Article
BECOMING A FORCE IN THE ZONE
This article explores neighborhood organizing among young men in urban Haiti as a vernacular enactment of sovereignty that involves both a hedonistic and a gendered logic. Under conditions of democratization and global governance, the urban block, or base, has become a key site for building political community and creating connections to those in power. Central to base politics are public outings that engender power and respect for the organizers by demonstrating their force not through violence 2but through masculine social pleasures. This article elaborates three key outings—a street party, a soccer tournament, and a beach day—organized by neighbors and supported by state, NGO, and criminal actors. By focusing on hedonopolitics, rather than on the common tropes of violence and death, this article extends recent work on the embodiment of sovereign power, while also showing that masculine pleasure represents an underanalyzed yet important dimension of sovereignty.
Journal Article
Democratizing Knowledge
In four undergraduate arts-related courses taught by three faculty, undergraduate students learned how to edit Wikipedia to present authentic research to a public audience. The goal was to increase free and open access to information about women and minoritized individuals in the arts, while simultaneously facilitating the acquisition and practice of student information literacy, research, and writing skills. This article outlines the assignments for each class, summarizes the reflections of students regarding their perception of learning, and discusses the pedagogical strategies and impact of using Wikipedia editing as a research assignment. While each faculty had diverse parameters and outcomes for her respective assignment and course, overall the public nature of writing for Wikipedia and the demonstrated need for presenting the contributions of women art educators, women artists, and Haitian artists created a common motivation for students and faculty to work together as knowledge constructors.
Journal Article
Kreyòl anba Duvalier, 1957–1986
The Duvalier presidencies were a devastating chapter in the history of Haiti. There is, however, one aspect of Haitian society that went through unexpected progress in the midst of these despotic regimes. Haitian Creole has long been excluded from formal and written contexts, despite being the only language common to all Haitians. The debate over whether Creole should be used in formal contexts for the sake of the country’s development and democratization began in earnest at the start of the twentieth century but was far from being resolved when François Duvalier came to power in 1957. Surprisingly, perceptions of Creole changed drastically during the Duvalier era, so that by the time Jean-Claude Duvalier fell from power in 1986 the status of Creole had improved markedly, so much that it had become typical for Haitians to use the language, along with French, in virtually all contexts.
Journal Article
Unmaking the State in \Occupied\ Haiti
The democratic transition in Haiti (1986–present) has been forged alongside the proliferation of global governance interventions, from a series of UN peacekeeping missions to countless NGOs. Much of this activity has been pursued in the name of building state capacity. This article explores why residents in a Port-au-Prince neighborhood targeted by diverse governance projects perceive and experience \"statelessness.\" Taking the peacekeeping mission as an exemplar of global governance, it traces how the mission's social effects promote the perception of statelessness among residents because they confuse the locus of sovereign authority. These perceptions of statelessness are rooted not only in the weakness of the government of Haiti but also in the impotence that comes from a political field occupied by excessive, disordered forms of governance. The acknowledgment of statehood therefore depends on embodied displays of authorized force in which both those who govern and those who are governed acknowledge sovereign agency, power, and responsibility.
Journal Article
Haiti's Post-Earthquake Transformation: What of Agriculture and Rural Development?
This article examines post-earthquake aid to agriculture and food security in Haiti. It argues that the much-heralded increase in assistance to rural development is likely to fall short of expectations because it comes with a superficial rebranding of a not very useful approach. Macroeconomic policy content remains largely nonnegotiable, full trade liberalization is still favored, and a reliance on free market forces that tend to favor relatively well off, export-oriented farmers still lingers. Furthermore, conflicting approaches to addressing food insecurity highlight an already severe democratic deficit. It appears that the contours of agricultural and food security policy, and hence the destinies of rural Haitians, stand to be shaped from the outside yet again. While new aid resources may offer some modest relief, they hold out only limited opportunities for addressing the profound deprivations and disparities that afflict the rural hinterland.
Journal Article
Women's Activism in Latin America and the Caribbean
Women's Activism in Latin America and the Caribbeanbrings together a group of interdisciplinary scholars who analyze and document the diversity, vibrancy, and effectiveness of women's experiences and organizing in Latin America and the Caribbean during the past four decades. Most of the expressions of collective agency are analyzed in this book within the context of the neoliberal model of globalization that has seriously affected most Latin American and Caribbean women's lives in multiple ways. Contributors explore the emergence of the area's feminist movement, dictatorships of the 1970s, the Central American uprisings, the urban, grassroots organizing for better living conditions, and finally, the turn toward public policy and formal political involvement and the alternative globalization movement. Geared toward bridging cultural realities, this volume represents women's transformations, challenges, and hopes, while considering the analytical tools needed to dissect the realities, understand the alternatives, and promote gender democracy.
eBook