Personal reactions of women to the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Discusses the psychic trauma of living in the Haiti's displacement camps after the earthquake regarding poor access to water, violence against women and instances of forced eviction.
This article analyzes the role of Haitian migration and Haitian transnational engagement in the past 20 years. Shows that dependency on Haitian migrants' economic flows into their country has historically not been met by public policy leveraging these flows and that under the current economic recovery period, opportunistic views aside, it is unrealistic to expect a strategy drastically different from that of the pre-earthquake period.
Proposes to examine the aftermath of the "Goudougoudou," as Haitians now call the earthquake of January 12, 2010, relating it to other events that have taxed Haitian resolve over the course of two centuries.
Argues that geography and geology sparked the Haitian earthquake, but the extent of the destruction was due to the massive failure of Haitian institutions, in particular the state, and international policy, which predated the earthquake.
Examines changing relations of accumulation taking shape in the garment export industry in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Draws upon a framework called "the coloniality of power" to consider the reworking of the social and spatial boundaries between hyper-exploited wage work and the people and places cast out from its relations.
Provides a brief background of Haiti's economic development over the last several decades, along with the status of women's rights and gender-differentiated socioeconomic outcomes. Analyzes how policy neglect of gender equity in Haiti has contributed to failed economic development and identifies ways that other developing countries have successfully incorporated a focus on gender equity in their development strategy, particularly in the face of natural disaster and financial crisis.
Argues that the historical boycott of Haiti's government in the 19th and 20th centuries by the international community, the constant internal struggle among the members of the elite for the control of state power, and the weakening of state structures through the creation of nongovernmental organizations have weakened the government's capacity to deal with major catastrophe and meet the needs of its citizens.
Finds that elimination of agricultural import tariffs hurts both agricultural and non-agricultural households, via adverse factor-market effects, but impacts vary substantially by workers' gender and country of origin. Females and Haitian immigrants tend to fare better than Dominican males, and there are ramifications for both market and non-market activities.
Makes reference to the sixth visit of Radio International Feminista (Feminist International Radio Endeavour, FIRE) on April 8-15, 2011 to highlight the development in Haiti since the 2010 earthquake. Particular focus is offered on the role of Haitian women and other citizens in providing first hand information on policies on international humanitarian aid, offer their inputs to international actions on women's groups and human rights, among others.
Discusses food aid organization Numana's community-based strategies for organizing food packaging events for Haiti and coordination of nongovernmental organizations for distributing emergency food. A feminist analysis of Numana's principles is compared to a culture-centered, community agency model.
Discusses donations made by the US to developing countries. Often companies in the US donate leftover or unwanted merchandise to developing countries, and regularly these are products that the poor in those countries need or can use. Shipping leftover inventory as a donation also hurts the local economies in remote and poorer areas.
An interview with Haitian physician Lise Marie Dejéan, executive director of Solidarite Fanm Ayisyen (SOFA) or the Solidarity with Haitian Women, who narrates the daily struggles, the difficulties faced by women's organizations, and government's slow recovery effort.
Discusses the January 2010 earthquake that struck in Haiti, focusing on the name of Goudougoudou which Haitians have given the natural disaster. Topics include the onomatopoeic nature of the name which resembles the destruction of buildings, the psychological impact the earthquake has had on Haitian women, and Haiti's efforts to relieve the psychological trauma of the event for children.
Haiti's election debacle of November 28 can be directly linked to the 1991 and 2004 coups. The political upheaval in both cases allowed the de facto president to unilaterally select members of the electoral council, bypassing constitutional provisions requiring popular representation. The result this time: the arbitrary banning of 14 political parties, including Haiti's largest and most representative, the Fanmi Lavalas party of ousted, exiled former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
160 p., Chronicles the history of slavery in Haiti through a recitation of the brutality of the colonisers and the often mundane and trivial ways in which they attempted to dehumanize Haitians. It seeks to illustrate how Haitians' 300-year journey to freedom was illuminated by the African philosophy of Ubuntu, a world view that embodies human solidarity, respect, dignity, justice, liberty, and love. In this philosophy, Africans found an unmatched strength to resist slavery.
This essay is framed around interpretations of Haiti's long history in order to demonstrate that there is neither curse nor punishment in Haiti's history; there is only intrigue, interest, and interference. The natural disasters whether earthquakes or hurricanes do not occur because of some rational targeting of the country but are the results of the arbitrariness of nature.
Considers the potential contribution of traditional construction techniques and materials to rebuilding in Port-au-Prince and other areas in Haiti that were devastated by the 2010 earthquake. Based on different examples of housing that collapsed or was damaged by the earthquake, it shows how traditional construction systems often demonstrated better resilience to earthquakes than buildings constructed with modern materials.
La Via Campesina asserts that sustainable, small-scale farming is more efficient at conserving and increasing biodiversity and forests than industrial agriculture.
A personal narrative of the author's experience of the January 2010 Haiti earthquake and the aftermath, focusing on the psychological impact of the destruction, the warnings by radio host Ingénieur Preptit who predicted the earthquake, and the lack of government leadership.
