For an anthropological approach to denial: Social bonds, pathophobia, and the Duvalier regime in Haiti

Abstract

Denials of mass violence are usually fueled by ideological beliefs or ethnic enmity. I contend here that forms of denial that do not serve an ideology or a group are informed by traditional cultural repertoires. I focus on the memory of the brutal regime of François Duvalier (1957-1971) in Haiti to explore three intertwined anthropological phenomena. I first explore how kinship morality and social ethics determine what is socially acceptable to say today about this regime. That is, social obligations created by interpersonal relationships and kinship induce conformism, self-censorship, and eventually denial. Then my chapter examines a socially ingrained form of disassociation from suffering, which I call pathophobia. In order to distance themselves from victimhood, individuals who are not sympathetic with the Duvalier regime would behave in ways to evade having to recognize suffering. Finally, I study the animistic dimension of denial, which considers that the victim is wrong in essence. Victims are seen as responsible for generating the forces and conditions that led to their being victimized. In these three cases, denial takes the form of a moral discourse.