This article argues that commercial practices, social relations, and moral obligations in downtown Port-au-Prince shape and are shaped by the vernacular buildings in which they take place. Women living in, and working from, shotgun houses—a structure with a small street facade that allows for both private and commercial life—use these houses to build moral economies woven around familial solidarity and egalitarian relations.

This article examines some of the reasons why measures to ensure protection from gender-based violence (GBV) and sexual exploitation and abuse, do not always take precedence for humanitarian actors during an emergency response, and what can be done to support organisations to integrate this aspect of protection into their humanitarian work.

Déployant une approche féministe intersectionnelle et institutionnaliste, cet article documente et analyse la constitution récente de mobilisations intersectionnelles de femmes handicapées en Haïti, c’est-à-dire de mobilisations qui viennent politiser des expériences vécues façonnées à la fois par le genre et le capacitisme comme systèmes imbriqués de la domination sociale.

In this chapter the author constructs an alternate way of teaching about Haitian womanhood which creates a more nuanced and developed understanding of the many lives Haitian women may lead. The Kreyol saying “fanm se poto mitan” is well known in Haiti to mean that women are the central pillar that uphold society, they are indispensable, strong and resilient. However, Jean-Charles argues that the poto mitan is a restrictive representation of Haitian women that expresses the burdens that they must take on as the unwavering pillar.

L’analyse de trois récits de vie de femmes haïtiennes émigrant en Martinique et ayant recours aux sexualités transactionnelles (ST) aide à comprendre le rôle de la sexualité dans les stratégies de « normalisation » administrative et sociale des femmes les plus précaires. Chacun des récits illustre un modèle de ST : la prostitution au sens strict, le mariage comme continuité du « plaçage » existant en Haïti et les ST impliquant un partenaire ressource (voire un multipartenariat sériel).

Research shows that in the Caribbean one-third of people living with HIV continue to engage in unprotected sexual practices. Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and HIV-related risk behaviors have been found to play a contributory role in HIV transmission. We aimed to analyze gender differences in the association between CSA and substance use and sexual risk behaviors among Haitians living with HIV. A total of 276 HIV-positive individuals participated in this study with 56% experiencing sexual abuse during childhood.

This chapter delves into the history of women in Haiti and the Caribbean through the African religious legends of the Vodoun goddess and spirit, Erzulie, describing their importance to Haitian culture and identity. The goddess takes many forms and meanings depending on which historical perspective she is representing, whether it be through the colonial lens, the catholic lens, the patriarchal lens or the feminist lens. It highlights the subversion of Western dualisms, gender distinction and colour division in these legends.

This article examines both the national context and the development of Haitian women’s organizations and struggles in the diaspora over the last forty years. It looks at their interconnectedness and their relations to structures of power at the level of the state and civil society. Three main sources of data inform the argument: secondary ethnographic and sociohistorical analyses, participant observation in Haiti and Haitian communities in North America, as well as informal group and individual interviews with Haitian women.

This chapter of Dictionary of Caribbean and Afro-Latin American Biography briefly covers the life of Myriam Merlet describing her academic career in Canada and Haiti during the years she lived under the Duvalier regime. It describes her research on the living conditions of Haitian women, highlighting her academic and activist accomplishments as well as the various feminist groups and people she collaborated with in her research and collective actions. (Summary by Mouka)

In this chapter of Higasida’s book, the author discusses Terry McMillan’s How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1996), a novel that shares themes of female rejuvenation with Rosa Guy’s novel The Sun, the Sea, a Touch of Wind (1995). The plot and different themes in the novel are explored against the political and social Haitian background and the centrality of American imperialism.