Haitian Case Research Articles

Exploring Archaeological Sites and the Transformative Power of Local Practices of Heritage in the Caribbean: A Haitian Case

AbstractThis article combines ethnographic and anthropological research with archaeology to explore the significance of archaeological sites as historical elements and their continuous reinterpretation in Haiti. By examining the connection of people with traces of colonial plantations, caves, and Indigenous rock art, this study contextualizes archaeology and heritage within the current social context. The research reveals archaeological sites are characterized by contemporary traces of uses by individuals today. These traces are associated with stories tied to renegotiations of meaning to places, and their contestation, construction of belonging, and memories are among the elements that make sense of heritage-making. The study emphasizes the importance of place meaning and heritage, offering valuable perspectives for future archaeological investigations and contributing to broader discourses on material history in the Caribbean.

Development, Democracy and Ruptures

The objective of this article is to discuss the relationship between socioeconomic development and the execution of the United Nations peacekeeping missions during the 2000s. It focuses on Haiti’s case study, where the operation approved by the un Security Council was commanded by Brazil between 2004 to 2017. The research hypothesis raised by the research is that peacekeeping operations, although usually occurring during periods of democratic ruptures, contribute to the development of the target country. Methodologically, we employ World Bank indicators to examine if there is any relation between the periods of positive development, as indicated by variables such as gdp and per capita income, and the action of the international forces. The conclusion drawn from Haitian case study suggests that, it possible to infer that, in general, the establishment of peacekeeping operations tends to revert scenarios to reduce the quality of life, as evidenced by our analysis of the indicators.

After the Dance, the Drums Are Heavy: Carnival, Politics, and Musical Engagement in Haiti

After the Dance, the Drums Are Heavy: Carnival, Politics, and Musical Engagement in Haiti

Haiti and the Pitfalls of Sharing Police Powers

ABSTRACT This article examines the benefits and pitfalls of international policing in Haiti over the past quarter century. It shows the importance of the political foundations for joint policing arrangements. Haiti's experience illustrates that international personnel can provide useful stopgap policing services when the interests of national and international partners converge around public order crises. However, the Haitian case also shows how weak political commitment on one or both sides can lead to vague mandates, poor cooperation in the field, weak police accountability, and stalled domestic reforms. These problems have undermined the performance of international personnel and the Haitian National Police, eroding public trust in both. Ultimately, international intervention has failed to yield a capable, trusted, and apolitical Haitian police force or a notably stronger rule of law. Haiti thus offers a cautionary tale for international policing.

Humanitarian Planning and Localised Temporalities: The Haitian Case

AbstractThis article shows, based on the Haitian crises after 2010, that international organisations (IOs) as central actors of humanitarian governance in complex crises situations rely on sequenced time frames to manage the diversification and massification of relief actors. At the same time, crisis professionals struggle to correlate their lived temporalities with this preconstructed time model when the localised crisis shifts from an event to a permanent temporality. The article is, therefore, guided by the following question: How is time strategically used by IOs in humanitarian governance and what are the effects of conflicting localised temporalities? The article argues first that different types of temporalities were associated with different groups of aid actors after the 2010 earthquake. The prolongated humanitarian crisis resulted in the repetitive adaption of UN appeal and funding instruments. Second, I show that the UN used planning instruments based on the disaster management cycle. Based on its cyclical temporality, UN actors combined it with humanitarian project management tools to govern aid projects by formalising the negotiation between the long‐term aid programmes and the short‐term duration of projects. I finally show the synthesis of both forms of temporal aid governance to control the contradictions between localised and funding temporalities.

The Cost-Effectiveness of Existing and Hypothetical Iron Fortification Programs in Haiti

Abstract Objectives Our objectives were to estimate apparent intake of iron in Haiti, to assess the adequacy of iron intake among women of reproductive age (WRA), and to model the cost-effectiveness of fortifying alternative food vehicles for reducing inadequate intake. Methods We analyzed the most recent Haiti household food consumption data (2012 ECVMAS) to estimate adequacy of apparent iron intake from dietary sources (using the adult male equivalent method; assuming 10% absorption) and modeled the impacts of fortifying currently mandated (wheat flour, applying local data on current compliance) and hypothetical (bouillon and rice) food vehicles on reductions in the prevalence of inadequate iron intake (effective coverage). We built activity-based cost models to estimate large scale food fortification (LSFF) program establishment and management costs, based on key informant interviews and on published cost estimates from other settings adapted to fit the Haitian case. Results The prevalence of inadequate dietary intake of iron among WRA was 79% (100% among pregnant women). Iron-fortified wheat flour was the most cost-effective vehicle: $4.32 and $4.75 per WRA-year effectively covered at current (75% of flour fortified to the standard of 30 mg/kg) and target (90% fortified to the standard) fortification levels. Fortified wheat flour effectively covered 11–13% of non-pregnant WRA, but almost no pregnant women. Although bouillon was consumed by > 98% of households, low estimated iron absorption from fortified bouillon (2%) led to low effective coverage. Iron-fortified rice (90% fortified at 120 mg/kg) was predicted to effectively cover the largest number of WRA (reducing inadequate intake to ∼30%), but at a cost of $7.80 per WRA-year effectively covered. Conclusions Of the food vehicles modeled, wheat flour was the most cost-effective for reducing inadequate iron intake. Modeling iron fortification of individual and combinations of food vehicles showed that well-designed LSFF programs can contribute to improving iron status among non-pregnant women, but eliminating inadequate iron intake among all WRA will require complementary iron interventions. Funding Sources This work was supported by grants to UC Davis from the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and to Partners of the Americas from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The Housing Market Value Chain: An Integrated Approach for Mitigating Risk in Informal Residential Construction in Haiti

Access to dignified housing represents a critical challenge for many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Technical and economic constraints frequently lead homeowners in these countries toward incrementally-constructed homes, which are often proven deadly when exposed to seismic or meteorological hazards. This paper offers a holistic analysis of the informal residential construction industry contextualized in Léogâne, Haiti, the effective epicenter of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, and offers an implementation framework geared towards integrating the housing delivery process to accommodate more resilient typologies. First, the concept of the housing ecosystem is introduced, and a thorough analysis of the technical, economic, and political factors that constrain this ecosystem in Haiti is presented. The defining elements of the resulting residential construction industry are then discussed: An informal blend of Design-Build and Master Builder methods of project delivery for incrementally-constructed (and largely masonry) permanent homes. The housing ecosystem is then redefined as a seven-step housing market value chain, and interventions to further strengthen and integrate this value chain are presented for each of the seven steps. Interventions are grounded in analogous contexts and refactored specifically for the Haitian case study scenario through extensive co-creation with stakeholders in Haiti. Particular focus is given to the Léogâne Community Building Fund, a concept designed to democratize housing finance for low to middle-income groups. When implemented in an integrated fashion, risks across this housing market value chain are effectively mitigated to sustainably deliver dignified housing through a market-based approach suitable for Haiti and extensible to other LMICs.

Entrepreneurs’ Perception of Banks’ Social Responsibility: A Haitian Case Study

In developing countries, where there is limited public financial support for entrepreneurs, banks, among other financial institutions, should be the pillars in financing economic activity. To play this role, they need to enjoy good perception among entrepreneurs for several reasons, including the improvement of their market, respectability, and profitability. To achieve such objectives, banks adopt social responsibility strategies to influence public perception of banks’ behaviour. In Haiti, banks have invested in CSR and shown higher profitability and growth than the rest of the economy. In this context, how do entrepreneurs perceive Haitian banks’ social responsibility? To answer this question, we collect empirical data among entrepreneurs of all size. Among the main conclusions, we find that banks enjoy very bad perception among entrepreneurs, special concessions given by the Government and other international institutions to banks in Haiti are perceived as having not helped to increase the financial services for Haitian entrepreneurs.

Household water insecurity may influence common mental disorders directly and indirectly through multiple pathways: Evidence from Haiti

Living in poverty significantly elevates risk of common mental disorders, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly specified. The stress of coping with household food insecurity is posed as one fundamental driver. While much less tested, the stress of failing to meet household water needs may also matter. We test (a) a hypothesized direct influence of household water insecurity (as household access to water sources and quality/quantity of water available in the household) on anxiety and depression symptoms. We also test (b) if there are indirect (mediated) effects of these aspects of water insecurity on common mental disorder symptom levels via household food insecurity, and (c) via their association with sanitation insecurity (lack of toilet). Data were collected in Haiti in June–July 2016 from 4,055 geographically-sampled households representing three distinct low-resource communities, purposefully differentiated as urban, town, and rural. We confirm that household water insecurity exerts a direct, strong independent effect on anxiety and depression levels, even once food insecurity and household assets are taken into account. Additionally, household water insecurity appears to have an indirect effect on anxiety and depression levels through its influence on household food insecurity. In the rural community sample, there is also support for the proposition of additional influence of household water on anxiety through its association with lack of sanitation. This Haitian case supports theories posing a central, influential role for household water insecurity as a potential driver of common mental illness in low-resource households via direct and indirect (food insecurity, sanitation) pathways.

Second-Generation SSR or Unending Violence in Haiti?

In the literature on security sector reform (SSR), there is a debate between mainstream analysts of post-9/11 approaches, who argue that second-generation SSR (2GSSR) is emerging in some contexts, and post-colonial critics, who argue that despite discursive changes, Western-driven, securitized practices still dominate. This article bridges those views, building on Larzilliere’s (2016) idea that the diffusion of global power offers southern actors room for maneuver to construct alternatives to first-generation SSR. Grounding the debate in the Haitian case, the paper explores the mixed record of police and rule of law reform in that relatively permissive environment. It concludes that while some stakeholders have used Haiti’s margin for maneuver to advance 2GSSR, powerful actors are privileging narrow security goals in a political and socioeconomic context that greatly constrains the consolidation of a new approach. The article concludes by situating the uncertain gains that have been made in Haiti in comparative thinking about the uneven prospects for 2GSSR in diverse fragile and conflict-affected states (FCAS).

Who Holds the UN Responsible for its Human Rights Breaches? An Open Inquiry in the Haitian Case

The United Nations (“UN”) has been the strongest supporter of Human Rights since its invention. The term “human rights” appeared seven times in the UN’s founding Charter. In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (“UDHR”) reaffirmed that human rights obligations have become an inseparable part of international law. Since that time, the UN has “diligently” worked on promoting and protecting human rights through legal instruments and on ground activities. However, the UN engages in human rights breaches when it conducts on-ground activities through peacekeeping missions. The question in this paper is: who holds the UN accountable for its human rights breaches? This short paper aims to emphasize the importance of the question and provide a preliminary discussion of the factual matrix necessary to answer the question.

Destination management through organisational ambidexterity: Conceptualising Haitian enclaves

Tourism can help regenerate post-colonial, post-conflict and post-disaster destinations (PCCDs), and national governments and destination marketing organisations (DMOs) play a central role in this. They face the dilemma of either consolidating tourism situations with seemingly safe, known, predictable steps, or taking more ambitious risk-prone, less tried-and-tested and more uncertain approaches. This choice can be portrayed as the respective exploitative and explorative dimensions of strategic conceptual framework of organisational ambidexterity (OA). This regional spotlight provides a conceptual analysis using the lens of OA to examine these dynamics. It focuses on the specific case of Haiti, set within the context of the Caribbean region. A range of OA effects in relation to tourist enclaves is identified. In particular, the spotlight argues for less segregation and separation between tourist and local populations, along with a need for DMOs to espouse more exploitative-explorative postures. In terms of wider implications, it can be argued that other Caribbean economies might learn lessons from the discussion of the Haitian case.

Política migratória Brasileira e seus reflexos para os estados da UNASUL: Um estudo a partir do tratamento dado pelo Brasil ao caso dos haitianos

This paper aims to analyze how UNASUR Member States are affected by the Brazilian posture to not recognize the status of refugees to Haitian migrants after the earthquake that struck the country in 2010. Then, specific objectives are to analyze the arguments brought by Public Civil Action filed by federal prosecutors of State of Acre, In Brazil, in January 2012, comparatively with the interpretation by UNHCR brought about the concept of a refugee. The methodology used is the deductive method of analysis of the sources and investigative documentary, the method of procedure. The central hypothesis of the study focuses on is shown that new categories of refugees should address the role of international protection conferred by existing instruments, pointing in the Haitian case, the possibility of framing via environmental refuge or “refugees from hunger”. The conclusions are: a) The Brazilian position because data in terms of international security and increased international crimes and violence to bordering with Brazil Member States; b) b) If the Brazilian civil action succeeds, will encourage a rereading of the refuge in the American continent, strengthening regional integration on humanitarian grounds.

Migración haitiana en tránsito por Ecuador

El artículo presenta un análisis preliminar de la migración haitiana en tránsito por Ecuador. El objetivo del estudio es evaluar las distintas dimensiones del fenómeno de migración en tránsito y problematizar el concepto como una categoría de análisis. Primero, se expone el concepto de migración en tránsito poniendo de relieve los aspectos problemáticos del mismo. A continuación, se provee una descripción general de la migración haitiana, y se exploran los casos de Brasil como país de destino, y de Ecuador como país de tránsito. Finalmente, se plantean algunas interrogantes en torno a la dinámica compleja de la migración en tránsito en base al caso haitiano.

‘Savages in the midst’: revolutionary Haiti in international society (1791–1838)

In 1804, the former French colony of Saint-Domingue, now Haiti, became independent. The first modern state born of a successful slave revolt was then isolated diplomatically until well into the 19th century. Although the country occupied the minds of contemporary diplomats, colonial authorities, and intellectuals, and had a complicated relationship with the society of states, historical accounts of the expansion of international society into the Atlantic have largely ignored Haiti’s early independence. This can be attributed to the literature’s sparse consideration of colonialism, the institution of slavery, race, commerce, and abolitionism in the expansion process. The Haitian case reveals the advantages of incorporating all of these insights and offers a more nuanced and complicated picture of the encounter between Haiti and international society.

Application of humanitarian last mile distribution model

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to extend a routing model so that it may be applied to a real case study of material deliveries involved in a development operation, typical of regular humanitarian logistics, and to explore the impact of variations in available logistic assets. Design/methodology/approach – The introduced model is a conceptual evolution of the study recently presented. It concerns the resource allocation and vehicle routing decisions in the well-known Haitian case. Different scenarios are analyzed and a sensitivity analysis is provided. Constraints related to transportation resources in a complex environment, transportation vehicle capacities, and delivery time restrictions are here considered. Findings – This research shows how the logistic assets characteristics and their availability affect the distribution system performances, in terms of total distribution cost and shortages. Originality/value – The present work explores the last mile distribution problem by providing a case study to assist decision makers in making effective and efficient distribution across the last mile. The research focusses upon the distribution systems management coupled with material distribution modalities.

Language and Social Work: Are We Really Communicating Effectively?

Social workers pride themselves on knowing how to effectively communicate with their clients. From the beginning of our social work education, we develop a repertoire of skills, including relationship building, active listening, keen observation, and psychosocial assessment as well as cultural awareness and sensitivity. By the time we complete our education, we perceive ourselves to be prepared to communicate effectively with clients from a wide variety of backgrounds. However, due to forces of worldwide globalization, international networking, and global transmigration, the odds that a social worker will have clients who are multinational, multilingual and multicultural are exponentially greater, testing our abilities to interact meaningfully with these clients. Although social workers have clearly made great strides in the area of cultural competence in recent decades, we may have only scratched the surface of developing our skills in the area of effective linguistic communication with the populations that we serve. Although the exact number of languages found in the United States today is unknown, Ethnologue estimates the number to be 245 (Lewis, 2009). A U.S. Census report of Use in the United States: 2007 (Shin & Kominski, 2010) published around the same period, however, lists only 39 individual languages and language families (for example, groups of related languages). From a sample of 281 million people, 55.4 million (20 percent) used a non-English language at home. The largest segment of this population spoke Spanish (62 percent), and the remaining 38 percent used diverse languages, including, but not limited to, Portuguese, Korean, Greek, Serbo-Croation, Japanese, Navajo, Arabic, and Tagalog. In the past 30 years, the number of speakers of Russian, Persian, Armenian, and Vietnamese in the United States has more than doubled. Noticeably absent from the U.S. Census report was any mention of American Sign Language (ASL) or any other manual-visual language. Estimates of the number of users of ASL range from 100,000 to 15,000,000, although to date, there has been no systematic research on the prevalence of ASL use in U.S. homes (Mitchell, Young, Bachleda, & Karchmer, 2006). Incomplete though they are, these statistics underscore the complex reality of the U.S. contemporary language environment. Multilingualism poses both challenges and opportunities for practitioners to improve their strategies for assisting others in need. In recent decades, social workers have taken a greater interest in learning languages like Spanish, French, and German, but mastery of less commonly taught languages has eluded us. Nevertheless, social workers are adept at navigating linguistic divides. The following case examples illustrate some of the dilemmas confronted and solutions developed by social workers in a variety of practice situations. CASE EXAMPLES Case 1: Haitian Creole A large AIDS organization had an influx of Haitian clients who were HIV positive and needed assistance. Although the agency was located in a state with a large Haitian immigrant population, there were no case managers who understood the Haitian Creole language. A search for a qualified individual was quickly launched but took a year to complete. In the interim, interpreters, often English-speaking family members, were enlisted to assist in communicating with the clients as well as with organizations such as food pantries, hospitals, and transportation agencies that provided resources to the clients. Despite this assistance, it was not until an ethnically Haitian case manager fluent in Haitian Creole was hired that the AIDS organization was truly able to provide a full range of services that were linguistically unmediated by interpreters and fully protective of individual privacy to this subset of clients. Case 2: Cajun English Another instance that illustrates the communicative challenges we sometimes face as social workers occurred in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when evacuees were transported out of New Orleans to surrounding states. …

CONTESTED STATEHOOD AND STATE-BUILDING IN HAITI

This article bridges global and Haiti-specific debates on statehood, the political economy of state and state (de)formation, as well as the conceptualization andmeasurement of those phenomena. Drawing on data sets and secondary literatures from Haiti and beyond, it argues that despite the unique features of the extremely weak state in Haiti, that case can usefully be compared to the range of weak to fairly strong states in Latin America and the Caribbean. In the process, the article makes a case for considering degrees of sovereignty as an integral dimension of statehood in the region and elsewhere. It demonstrates the relevance of concepts used in other articles in this volume, such as ‘weakness by design’, in the Haitian case. The article ends by suggesting that it would be useful to look beyond neo-Weberian theories, for example by incorporating critical feminist analysis, to understand the different faces of state weakness and their social construction in the region.

Congregating by cassette

A single communications device has transformed interactions between members of widely dispersed transnational Haitian religious communities: the audiocassette recorder. Messages, hymns and prayers taped on them crisscross the sea between Haiti and its diaspora, engaging distantly separated co-religionists in sporadically sequenced, yet effectively intimate conversations and rituals. For both Vodouist and Catholic religious congregations, tape recordings in Haitian Creole effectively circumvent scriptural French and help cement transnational ties by creating vast transnational performative spaces. This article draws on ethnographic research in Haiti and Florida to describe and theorize the important role that audiocassettes have played, in the transnational Haitian case, in cementing `assembled groups' and recreating `certain mental states of those groups' in ways that Durkheim might not have imagined when developing his epic argument about the socially cohesive function and essence of religion, an argument from which we take our theoretical orientation.

Haitians in New York City: Transnationalism and Hometown Associations (review)

Francois Pierre-Louis Jr., Haitians in New York City: Transnationalism and Hometown Associations. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, March, 2006,160 pp. Haitians in New York City is an admirable effort to reveal dimensions of the Haitian immigrant experience in the United States that have yet to receive full scholarly attention. Building upon the pioneering work of Basch, Click Schiller, and Blanc (1994), Chierici (1991), Laguerre (1984), Miller (1984), Glick Schiller and Fouron (2001), Stepick (1998), and Stepick and Portes (1994)-works on the immigrant experience that highlight the challenges Haitians have faced to find political and economic security, and recognition as rights bearing subjects deserving of asylum in the U.S.-Pierre-Louis reveals the way that segments of a more established Haitian community have achieved a transnational lifestyle and identity that transcends the so-called boundaries of the state. The Haitian communities in the U.S., and in particular in New York, are gaining ground as viable political forces whose influence is growing both at home in Haiti, and at home (4) in the United States. Integral to Pierre-Louis's analysis are questions about the state itself as a political entity and the challenge that individuals' transnationalism poses to the power of either the sending or receiving state. It is crucial to note that Pierre-Louis is writing from the discipline of political science rather than anthropology. He also writes from his own experience as a Haitian immigrant to the United States who has successfully forged the path of transnational citizenship. Although his study does employ both qualitative and quantitative methods, it is not for the most part ethnography in the traditional sense that would employ life histories or extended exposes of individuals, or that would provide extended processual analyses of historic events (with the exception of the concluding chapter). Nor is it exactly a history. While the entity of study through which Pierre-Louis discusses these issues is the hometown association, what is presented is a meditation on Haitian history, politics, and the transformation of its diasporic citizenry from the late twentieth to early twenty-first centuries. Pierre-Louis's history of activism with the Haitian refugee population in the U.S. and his insider position as a member of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's first cabinet certainly provide much of the source material for the book's statements about the Haitian experience and the political and economic upheavals that Haiti continues to experience. Chapter one gives a short overview of how Mexican, Dominican, and Haitian immigrant associations flourish to different degrees according to the politics of their reception by the United States, as well as the extent to which immigrants are focused upon integration with their host country or to politics in the sending state. Indeed, sending states also vary in their capacity to support or partner with hometown associations. According to Pierre-Louis this difference correlates with the level of democracy and effective bureaucratization the sending state has achieved. He makes the crucial point in this chapter that not only do hometown associations act as political forces in the sending state, strengthening links between nongovernmental associations in Haiti and in the U.S., they are also crucial tools for maintaining and reinforcing the distinctiveness of the ethnic group. In the Haitian case asserting linguistic and cultural difference from other groups of African descent is a strategy to shield the community from the racial oppression historically targeted towards African Americans, a point to which Pierre-Louis returns throughout the book. They have increased from ten associations in the 1970s to forty plus organizations in the year 2000, an increase that may indicate as much about the Haitian community's need for support in New York City as it does about the increased possibility to act transnational in Haiti. …