The (State) University of Haiti: Toward a Place‐Based Understanding of Kriz

Abstract

AbstractThis article examines the historical, structural, and embodied aspects of the 2016–2018 crisis at the Université d’État d'Haïti (State University of Haiti, UEH) to contextualize and disrupt a conventional notion of “Haitian perpetual crisis.” The article first discusses various approaches to the ongoing crises in Haiti. It specifically highlights Beckett's conceptualization of kriz (embodied crisis) and uses articulation and embodied spaces to forward a place‐based understanding of kriz. It next examines transnational processes, which articulate UEH as a “crisis factory” by constituting it as a state‐nonstate entity located in a yellow zone (meaning, a site of insecurity). The embodied space thus creates affective uncertainty for individuals. In the final section, the article uses a composite narrative to retell the story of the UEH crisis from 2016 to 2018. It also draws on fieldwork at three UEH faculties (schools) to trace kriz through the affective experiences and embodied practices of UEH students, professors, and administrators. This article argues that the UEH crisis was a manifestation of the so‐called crisis factory articulation that geographically situated bodies incorporated and reified through a habitus of improvisation. It concludes that this improvisation may also provide a way out of future crises—to the extent that improvisers can coalesce around a shared vision of the future that can drive systemic change.