“The Crisis of Kinship: Queer Affiliations in the Sexual Economy of Slavery” reexamines the discourse of queer kinship in order to take up Sharon Holland's call that queer studies has yet to reckon with the institution of slavery. I consider how the crisis of the oedipal drama—namely, unknown parentage and incest—is foundational to the sexual economy of slavery. Rather than a taboo that finds heterosexual resolution, incest is a sexual construct of slavery that paradoxically enables the emergence of queer sexual and kinship affiliations.

Social scientists and physicians alike have long known that the socioeconomically disadvantaged have higher rates of disease than those not hampered by such constraints. But what are the mechanisms and processes that transform social factors into personal risk? How do forces as disparate as sexism, poverty, and political violence become embodied as individual pathology? These and related questions are key not only to medical anthropology but to social theory in general.

Healthcare is a basic right that must be protected. Although international policy and domestic law should be designed to protect human rights and equality, little attention has been given to the cumulative effect of the global healthcare system as evidenced in the domestic application of healthcare initiatives. This Note critically analyzes international treaties, domestic law, and HIV/AIDS-related initiatives in Haiti to evaluate the efficacy of the global healthcare system.

In January 2010, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake tore through the area surrounding Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince, destroying much of the city’s already fragile infrastructure. Over 222,570 people were killed and 300,572 injured. An additional 2.3 million—almost a quarter of the population— were displaced and now live in roughly 1,300 internally displaced person (IDP) camps. The camps are constructed mostly of tarpaulins, have limited public shower and toilet facilities, and lack adequate lighting and sanitation.

Exposure to lead is well known to have detrimental effects on the environment and human health, including almost every organ and system in the body. In Haiti, although leaded gasoline has been banned since 1998, lead is still present in the environment due to its persistence and bioaccumulative capacities. In addition to lead air emissions, urban groundwater resources are exposed to lead. The Haitian population is exposed to a widespread urban health problem that especially affects children and pregnant women who are more vulnerable.

Dans cet article, l'auteure examine la place du travail domestique dans la vie des femmes de la ville et de la campagne en Haïti en considérant l'articulation travail domestique-travail marchand, lorsque les deux types de production sont accomplis dans le même lieu et lorsqu'ils sont accomplis dans deux lieux différents. Le travail domestique est abordé sous les trois aspects suivants : les conditions concrètes de la procréation, la relation entre la forme des unions et les soins aux enfants et le travail ménager.

Vulnerability is a central concept in humanitarian aid. Discussions of vulnerability in disaster response literature and guidelines for humanitarian aid range from considerations of a universal human vulnerability, to more nuanced examinations of how particular characteristics render individuals more or less at risk. Despite its frequent use, there is a lack of clarity about how vulnerability is conceptualized and how it informs operational priorities in humanitarian assistance.

Much of the current scholarship, as well as international policy studies focusing on civil conflicts and armed violence, has primarily construed women as victims and men as perpetrators of violence. Although this prevalent interpretation certainly reflects conventional wisdom and tells part of a true war story, the remainder, which has been very much less publicized and addressed, also perceives women as participants in violence and men occasionally as victims.

Background: Haiti’s maternal mortality, stillbirth, and neonatal mortality rates are the highest in Latin America and the Caribbean. Despite inherent risks, the majority of women still deliver at home without supervision from a skilled birth attendant. The purpose of this study was to elucidate factors driving this decision.

Only in recent years has violence against women begun to receive international attention as both a public health and human rights concern. This article argues that the right to be free from sexual violence is a fundamental component of the right to health, and the need is particularly acute in post-disaster contexts. This article uses post-earthquake Haiti as a case study to illustrate conditions for women and girls who suffer daily threats of physical, emotional, economic, and social harm in ways that have no direct parallels for their mal counterparts.