Introduction

This introduction argues for the importance of asking “who owns Haiti” at this particular moment in time. By considering theoretical considerations of sovereignty, and the history of Haiti as a sovereign state, the chapter points out the many times that the Haitian sovereignty has been threatened and indeed seized by external actors. At the same time, the chapter argues for an analysis that considers not only the actors external to Haiti, but the myriad ways that sovereignty is continually asserted even in trying times.

Haitian Sovereignty

“Haitian Sovereignty” explores three intertwined legacies of the Haitian Revolution on political thought and practice in the country: the largely hostile reaction to it outside the country, the formation of new political institutions and structures, and, most importantly, the creation of a new set of cultural, social, and economic structures that Jean Casimir has called the “counter-plantation” system. This chapter identifies both the main currents and critical counter-currents within each of these legacies, calling attention to the aspects of the latter legacies that seem to be the most valuable and worth comprehending and nourishing in constructing new Haitian futures.

Street Sovereignty

“Street Sovereignty” details the workings of youth street gangs while illuminating both the grassroots potential and violent consequences of placing them at the center of Haiti’s multi-scale governance project. The fall of the Duvalier dictatorship in 1986 was supposed to commence a new era of democratic state building in Haiti. Yet the transition to a neoliberal democracy has instead yielded the retrenchment of government in everyday life. In line with austerity and deregulation protocols, the Haitian state has both downsized its public sector and outsourced state tasks and responsibilities to non-state actors. Few analyses have focused on how local subaltern groups have also intervened in the governance voids wrought by neoliberalism. In the poor districts of Port-au-Prince, the work of politics, governance, and development are largely brokered and mediated by youth street gangs called baz. Under conditions of electoral politics, weak government, and project-based development, baz have emerged as key players who negotiate and amalgamate relationships with global and national power structures in order to execute governance in their zones. Ultimately, the convoluted field of governance in Haiti has motivated widespread calls for a robust state apparatus that would administer services to the population without intermediaries or distinction.

Sovereignty and Soil

“Sovereignty and Soil” analyses how agricultural labor and the non-adoption of soil conservation strategies becomes a site of resistance to the impositions of foreign aid. Throughout Haiti’s agricultural and environmental history, foreign intervention has laid claim to the trees and crops of Haiti, and in doing so has threatened the very stuff of sovereignty: Haiti’s soil. Not only is it important to consider the history of agricultural extraction in Haiti, it is equally important to consider the efforts of international aid that ostensibly attempt to rectify such ills. This contemporary ethnographic research details how environmental aid projects have unsuccessfully attempted to use Haiti’s collective labor groups as a site for individualized wage labor incentives. The impositions of individualized wage labor are in stark contrast to the way that Haitian cooperative labor groups work for group rather than individual benefit. Ultimately, this article documents how long held agricultural practices are continuing assertions of rural solidarity.

Who Owns the Religion of Haiti?

“Who Owns the Religion of Haiti?” demonstrates how a futile religious ‘war’ has been waged in pursuit of control over elusive doctrinal boundaries and dubious doctrinal fidelity in a persistently fluid, plural religious landscape. Since 1860, the Vatican and French Catholic Church have waged crusades to conquer the cultural life of the nation and retake control of Haitian Catholicism. A century later, Protestant missionaries from the United States embarked on their own campaigns to accumulate converts in the Haitian countryside. During twentieth century ‘anti-superstition’ campaigns against vodou, and more recent post-earthquake iterations of anti-vodou campaigns, there has been a constant battle waged in Haiti over religion. Throughout, Haitians utilize diffuse, localized, and family-based features to provide a measure of immunity to the colonizing designs of religious crusaders.

Who Owns U.S. Aid to Haiti?

“Who Owns U.S. Aid to Haiti?” traces the decades-long failure of U.S. foreign aid to Haiti to alleviate poverty and achieve sustained and equitable development and economic growth. Specifically, the chapter examines the context of policies put in place in 2009 by the Obama administration. Those policies, aiming to improve the effectiveness of U.S. aid, and fine-tuned after the 2010 earthquake, placed an emphasis on responding to and aligning with local priorities and supporting local leadership. In contrast to such goals, the U.S. continued to bypass the governments of René Préval and Michel Martelly in favour of supporting U.S.-based NGOs and For-Profit Contractors (FPCs) in spite of policy pronouncements in support of Haitian priorities and leadership.

Haiti and the Limits of Sovereignty

“Haiti and the Limits of Sovereignty” contends that under the weight of an externally imposed neo-liberal regime, a quasi-permanent crisis of governability, and the devastating earthquake of January 2010, Haiti has tumbled into the “outer periphery.” The outer periphery is the zone of catastrophe of the world system, which is integrated into the margins of the global economy. Starved of direct foreign investments, and compelled to engage in ultra-cheap labor activities for exports, Haiti is at the farthest end of the global production process; it is trapped in the outer periphery. The chapter also contends that while domestic social forces have played a fundamental role in Haiti’s collapse, the nation’s fall is unintelligible without studying how it was precipitated by the world system. The patterns of imperial interventions that Haiti has endured over the years, especially in the aftermath of both the fall of the Duvalier regime and the quake, have limited its sovereignty to such an extent that the country has become a virtual “trusteeship.”

Conclusion

This concluding chapter considers concepts fundamental to the ‘idea’ of Haiti as rooted in the Haitian revolution and the subsequent evolution of the independent nation. The analysis emanates from a dialogue at the end of a May 2014 symposium on Haitian sovereignty conducted among all panellists. Perspectives of sovereignty and ownership described in the volume contemplate international relations not only on a larger scale, but on an interpersonal level as well. Specifically, concepts of ‘honor’ and ‘respect’ that are present in Haitian greetings are contrasted to the way in which the international community ‘uses’ Haiti. By considering issues of participation and the actually existing needs of Haiti and Haitians, it is argued that the logic of respecting Haiti and Haitians, and their sovereignty as a people and a nation, has often been either absent or under assault. Honor and respect of Haiti and its people, however, are critically necessary elements for their future well-being, now more than ever.

Brazilian and South American Political and Military Engagement in Haiti

“Brazilian and South American Political and Military Engagement in Haiti” analyses the multiple factors surrounding South American involvement in Haiti that eventually brought Brazil, in particular, out of a policy of ‘non-intervention’ and into full engagement in Haitian peacekeeping. By examining the interstate politics and the intricate dynamics in international left-wing organizations, this analysis unveils how Brazil came to lead the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), and how much of the South American left came to support Aristide’s ouster. Such a surprising political movement is examined in terms of disagreements between the São Paulo Forum and the Haitian political party, Famni Lavalas, founded and led by Jean-Bertrand Aristide. This analysis demonstrates the importance of understanding the complexities of regional politics and presents an astounding picture of how the South American left distanced itself from the Haitian left.

New Wine in Old Bottles

“New Wine in Old Bottles” examines the intersection of external political actors with the Haitian elite to understand how political outcomes are determined in Haiti. It analyzes the international intervention in Haiti’s 2010 presidential elections, when U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton travelled to Haiti in order to salvage an election that was deemed fraudulent and deceptive. Such an assessment was curious as the U.S. and the international community had spent over twenty-three million dollars to finance the process and oversaw the whole operation from voter registration to the counting of the ballots. The chapter argues that such actions were symptomatic of U.S. involvement during the period from 2004 to 2014, when the international community was no longer working behind the scenes in Haiti to impose a government, but rather worked overtly, often in conjunction with local elites, to impose its will.