Tous droits réservés. Republié avec l'autorisation du·de la détenteur·rice du droit d'auteur, Julien Sainvil.

While women in Haiti obtained important changes in discriminatory laws after the end of the Duvalier era, other issues remained unresolved. Haiti is amongst six countries in the Caribbean and Latin America that criminalize abortion. This does not prevent women from practicing abortion at very high risks: it is estimated that a third of the maternal deaths are due to abortions in the country. The January 2010 earthquake killed thousands of people and feminist leaders were also victims. How did feminist activists continue the work to legalize abortion after this event?

This study offersis an attempt to gain insight into how Haitian women perceive sexual violence and howto understand the various interlocking structures intersecting with the perpetration of sexual violence against women in Léogâne, Haiti. I conducted 9 semi-structured interviews with women using the Life Story approach, I surveyed 231 women, and used I used data from a 51 applicants for a scholarship for women who have experienced or are at risk of experiencing sexual violence.

The number of people affected by natural disasters is increasing. These natural disasters hinder long-term development, and have substantial impacts on the lives of those affected. While both women and men are affected by natural disasters, women tend to suffer disproportionately to their male counterparts. It is the structural inequalities women face that render them more vulnerable to natural disasters. Corresponding to the increase in disaster impacts is the number and size of humanitarian organizations in responding to affected populations.

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.

Le séisme du 12 janvier 2010 en Haïti a obligé la communauté internationale à se questionner sur les défis que pose une réponse humanitaire de cette envergure dans un pays fragilisé par les crises subséquentes. Les autorités haïtiennes ont rapidement été submergées par l'ampleur des besoins et la communauté internationale, avec le Bureau de coordination des affaires humanitaires (OCHA) en tête de file, est venue prêter main-forte à ces dernières.

This dissertation explores the obstacles to women’s participation in the planning and implementation of the relief and reconstruction efforts in the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Furthermore, following Molyneux (1985)’s distinction between practical gender interests and strategic gender interests, it examines the disaster management system’s ability to meet women’s practical and strategic needs. The answers to these research questions are sought drawing both on primary sources—collected through key informant interviews—and on a wide range of secondary sources.

Ce mémoire analyse la représentation, l’expression et la revendication des attaches identitaires ethniques et érotiques de lesbiennes d’origine haïtienne. Basée sur des entrevues semi-dirigées ainsi que sur les données d’une phase d’observation participante, cette recherche met en lumière comment la possession d’attaches socialement minorisées et stigmatisées n’empêche pas la construction d’une identité personnelle positive. La première partie du mémoire (Chapitres 1 à 4) est consacrée à une mise en situation théorique et pratique de la recherche.