This dissertation asks: how does intimate labour interact with the mobility and political subjectivities of Haitian migrant women and women of Haitian descent in the Dominican Republic (DR)? It answers this question in three specific ways. First, it explains the relationship between intimate labour and the spatial trajectories of women of Haitian ancestry who work as domestic workers. Second, it examines how the interaction between intimate labour and human mobility plays out in the Dominican border regime.

Peacekeeping missions have been marred by reports of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) against local community members. However, there is limited research on how SEA against women/girls versus men/boys is perceived in peacekeeping host societies. In 2017 we collected micro-narratives in Haiti and then conducted a thematic analysis to understand how peacekeeper-perpetrated SEA was perceived by local community members comparing SEA against women/girls versus SEA against men/boys.

In 2018, a global media scandal erupted, in which Oxfam, one of the largest and most respected international development non-government organizations, was accused of covering up incidents of its staff engaging sex workers in Haiti following the country’s devastating 2010 earthquake. The scandal sparked widespread public condemnation of the development and humanitarian sectors for their complicity in the sexual exploitation and abuse of Haitian sex workers.

This essay examines the ideas and activism of a woman calling herself Madame Parque, who traveled across the United States giving lectures to black and white audiences during the 1870s. Claiming to be a well-educated, multilingual, and mixed-race Haitian educator, Parque spoke at courthouses, black churches, and black schools throughout the United States, mocking racism and sexism and celebrating Afro-diasporic history and black identity.

This 2009 qualitative study investigated Haitian women's most pressing health needs, barriers to meeting those needs and proposed solutions, and how they thought the community and outside organizations should be involved in addressing their needs. The impetus for the study was to get community input into the development of a Family Health Centre in Leogane, Haiti. Individual interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with 52 adult women in six communities surrounding Leogane.

Across the world, suicidal behaviors are responsible for more than one million deaths each year. In Haiti, suicidal behaviors were found to be related to intimate partner violence (IPV) against women. This study was conducted after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and women were asked about IPV before and after that event. A sample of women between 18 and 44 years of age responded to a questionnaire about physical, psychological, or sexual abuse by an intimate or non-intimate partner.

Drawing from the lived experiences of Haitian women in Boston and Montreal, this study illustrates how ethnography can augment understandings of race and place in demography by complementing quantitative analyses, showing how race is constructed across place through daily micro-interactions.

This study describes the prevalence of abuse and mental health issues among a cohort of HIV-infected Haitian women living in the United States. We present data on 96 women, ages 19–73 years (M = 47.6, SD = 11.1), who were screened for mental health concerns between 2009 and 2012. Results demonstrated that 12.5% of the women reported a history of abuse. However, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) secondary to HIV was reported by approximately 34% of women. Depression and anxiety were also highly reported, with rates of 49% and 43%, respectively.

This report considers and informs on the real situation of women’s rights under the Convention of the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (“CEDAW”) focusing on particular issues in Haiti. The issues addressed are societal discrimination and widespread sexual violence against women, impunity for perpetrators of gender based violence and sex trafficking, exploitation of prostitution and sexual abuse by peacekeepers. The issues addressed in this report were chosen due to the specific focus and expertise of the organizations that drafted the report.

Childhood abuse has been linked to problematic drinking in adulthood. It is also documented that people living with HIV have higher rates of alcohol use than the general population. In Haiti, a total of 25% of women living with HIV have experienced childhood sexual abuse (CSA), which puts them at an increased risk for alcohol abuse. CSA has also been associated with anxiety disorders in adulthood. Therefore, it is critical to understand the relationship between CSA, anxiety, and alcohol use among women living with HIV.