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Introduction
Haiti is one of the least developed countries in the world and the least developed country in the Americas. Nevertheless it is one of the countries with the highest levels of nationalism as expressed by nationals both inside and outside of Haiti. Moreover, Haiti has received billions of dollars in aid from the international community throughout its modern history with very few tangible results in terms of improvements in the quality of life for the average Haitian.
There is a vast literature dealing with the many humanitarian crises faced by Haiti but few have dared tackle the cultural elements of development and how it applies to the country’s underdevelopment (Gouvea & Kassicieh, 2009). A lack of natural resources, the world economic system, racism, and a lack of foreign direct investment, inter alia, are some of the many explanations that have been proposed to explain the many development challenges faced by the country. Events from the early 1700s are continually invoked to explain away the failure of billions of dollars to make a dent in the country’s poverty (Goldberg, 2010). Nevertheless all of the previously mentioned explanations ignore some of the earliest studies dealing with the very important question of “Why do some countries industrialize before others?” (Feigenblatt, 2009).
Max Webber’s classical study of the “Protestant Work Ethic” explains the differences in terms of development between Southern and Northern Europe. The study is interesting because it focuses on sociological and cultural factors rather than the traditional factors of access to resources such as minerals and capital. Webber’s concern for culture and how it affects human capital was and still is controversial in some development circles (Hahm, 2006). Nevertheless the tradition of focusing on cultural factors survived with a focus on success stories rather than as an explanatory variable to explain failures. The best known exponent of this school of research is the one focusing on the role of Confucianism in the development of East Asia (Hahm, 2006).
The following sections explore the development paths of Haiti, South Korea, Singapore, and Guadeloupe since the 1960s with a focus on issues of nationalism, cultural identity, and sovereignty. A final section explores the Chinese experience of the Cultural Revolution and subsequent transition to a capitalist economy and Cambodia’s experience with foreign development assistant in the 1990s.
Development
Haiti, South Korea, Singapore, and Guadeloupe.
Haiti’s GDP per capita was 70.66 USD in 1960. Singapore’s GDP per capita in 1960 was a meager 428.06 USD, for South Korea it was 158.25USD, for Guadeloupe it is difficult to find data on the GDP in 1960 because it is part of France. The current GDP per capita of Guadeloupe, currently a French overseas province, is $24,479, for South Korea it is $27,490, and for Singapore it is $59,500. In terms of literacy rates, an indicator that usually correlates well with levels of development, Haiti’s literacy rate is 61.7%, it is 97.1% for Singapore, 97.9% for South Korea, and for Guadeloupe it is 90%.
The four examples were chosen because of the similarities they share in terms of history as well as other factors. All four examples were colonized by Europeans with the purpose of extracting value for the mother country through large scale agriculture (HSIN-HUANG, HSIAO, & WAN, 2007; Kim, Fidler, & Ganguly, 2009; Lee, 2000). Neither one of the four examples are settler societies, thus isolating that particular variable. With the possible exception of South Korea, the four case studies lack important natural resources; in the case of Singapore it even lacks its own sources of fresh water (Kim et al., 2009). Singapore was a British colony, while South Korea was a Japanese colony, and both Haiti and Guadeloupe were French colonies.
Singapore is considered to be the text-book example of successful development (Kim et al., 2009; Lee, 2000). A minor part of British Malaya, the region was mostly agricultural until the middle of the 20th century (Keong, 2006). Many of the inhabitants of the island were relocated workers from India and China who were brought there to work in the fields or to provide other related services (Shuib, Saludin, Feigenblatt, 2010). Contrary to the case of Malaysia, the leading politicians in Singapore did not want independence from Britain and actively requested Britain to delay independence as much as possible (Lee, 2000). There are several reasons for Singapore’s early aversion to independence. One reason is that Singaporeans feared becoming a minority in a Malay dominated Malaysia (Lee, 2000). Another reason was more pragmatic, membership in the British Empire provided access to trade opportunities and security. The father of the country, Lee Kuan Yew has explained the independence process and the early development of the island- nation in great deal in his memoirs (Lee, 2000). One element that stands out is that he wanted to keep the best lessons from the British and to add on local factors such as the work ethic of the Chinese community (Lee, 2000). Culture is central to Lee’s narrative, and he makes explicit mention of Confucianism as a core pillar of development. Singapore’s success story is well known so it will suffice to say that the descendants of coolies and street peddlers have built a modern city-state with a very high standard of living and with some of the best universities in the world (Lee, 2000). At the same time, Singapore is not a blind imitation of London but rather a blend of the rationalism of the British Empire and the stability and work ethic of Confucian ethics. Lee’s memoires emphasize the importance of sacrifice, resilience, and discipline in the development experience of Singapore.
South Korea was a Japanese colony and before that it was a tributary state of China (Akaha, 2009). In terms of economic development, South Korea was an agricultural producer until the late 20th century. In fact, the Japanese had promoted the migration of Japanese excess farmers to Korea in order to supply food for the empire. Several military rulers guided South Korea towards a neo-liberal line of development after gaining independence and democracy was introduced in the 1980s. It is important to note that South Korea has a Confucian tradition which was then followed by the importation of protestant Christianity after World War II. South Korea is known in Asia for its high productivity and demanding work schedules (Akaha, 2009). Global brands such as Hyundai and Samsung have gained international recognition. Every South Korean citizen has to serve two years of active military service after completing secondary school and school discipline is strict. Scholars have attributed South Korea’s development success to its unique blend of Confucian traditions and to the “protestant work ethic”.
Guadeloupe is a very interesting case of a French overseas province in the Caribbean (Wigman, 2021). The overseas province held a referendum in 2003 to decide the issue of autonomy and it was rejected by over 70 percent of voters (Wigman, 2021). Demographically, Guadeloupe’s population of just under half a million is mostly Afro-Caribbean and mixed. There is also a large Haitian minority living in the island. There are also Indian and Chinese minorities as well as whites. Historically, the experience of the Island was very similar to Haiti and to the other sugar producing islands. A focus on large sugar plantations and with a large proportion of slaves to supply the labor needed for this enterprise. Other important cash crops for Guadalupe were cocoa and coffee. In 1802 the island suffered several slave rebellions led by Louis Delgres who was defeated by the French army and who committed suicide with his followers (Wigman, 2021). After the abolition of slavery, workers were brought from Asia to alleviate the labor shortage. A small independence movement was defeated through the formal incorporation of Guadeluope as a French department and also though the development of tourism as a viable economic sector (Wigman, 2021). The result is that Guadeloupe has diversified its agricultural products, it is an important touristic destination, and it part of the European Union and thus benefits from having access to European markets. Guadeloupe has a GDP per capita of $24,479 and it attracts workers from Haiti because of the comparatively high wages and economic opportunities.
Haiti is the first country in the Caribbean to gain independence (Wigman, 2021). The path to independence was complicated and later generations have taken a selective view of history in order to manipulate the past to serve the political goals of the present (Wigman, 2021). Nevertheless there is no doubt that the French Revolution sparked the flame that would lead to the events eventually resulting in independence. Several minor slave rebellions and a colored militia established by free blacks eventually congealed in slave armies led by Toussaint Louverture. His role in the independence process is complicated as his main goal was the abolition of slavery rather than complete independence from France. After the French agreed to abolish slavery Louverture pled allegiance to France and fought against Spain and Britain. There was also an interesting period of war between Louverture’s forces and the free black forces of Andre Rigaud, who were fighting for independence. Louverture eventually prevailed against the separatists and declared himself Governor General for life. Napoleon Bonaparte did not like the political move made by Toussaint and therefore sent troops to subdue the island. Toussaint was eventually captured and taken to France where he died to tuberculosis. The campaign was very costly of the French mostly because of tropical diseases rather than from the battles themselves. Jean-Jacques Dessalines gained command of the revolutionary forces and led a guerrilla campaign against French forces. Partly as a result of the high death toll due to tropical diseases and the changed geostrategic situation of France, Napoleon decided to abandon the island and to sell its North American possessions. There is considerable historical controversy over the death toll of the struggle for independence. Nevertheless there is considerable evidence that almost 100,000 Europeans were killed including women and children. Terror was used as a weapon against the European settlers and virtually every structure in the island was destroyed in the process.
Dessalines was declared emperor shortly after independence. He initially promised to protect the lives of the white population but then changed his mind and ordered thousands of whites to be massacred. One of the most shocking episodes of this period of history was that Dessalines ordered even friendly whites, people who had supported the rebels, to be killed. Gender violence was also present as Dessalines ordered white women who agreed to marry non-white men to be spared. Moreover, the period was marked by mass emigration to neighboring islands and to the United States by the few surviving whites and also by blacks who resented the heavy handed plantation system installed by the Dessalines regime.
Dessalines was assassinated in 1806 and Haiti splintered into two states, a northern Kingdom led by Henri Cristophe and a Republic led by Alexandre Petion. The Kingdom had a semi feudal system of labor while the Republic was unstable and lacked a solid economic base. Henri Cristophe committed suicide and the Kingdom was eventually unified to the Republic. President Jean-Pierre Boyer was faced with an important crisis in 1825 as a result of King Charles X sending a fleet to retake Haiti. Boyer realized that Haiti had no chance of winning and therefore negotiated with France to pay an indemnity of 150 million francs in exchange of France finally recognizing the official independence of Haiti. It took Haiti until 1947 to finish paying the debt. The symbolism of the debt and of this particular incident is subject to interpretation and has been politicized by both sides. For the French, it was an issue of pride and also a way to somehow punish Haiti for the unwarranted murder of thousands of French families and for the destruction of private property. The agreement also eventually paved the way for more countries to recognize Haiti as a sovereign country. At the same time, the incident remains highly controversial and it is used as a way to explain away Haiti’s lack of economic development until our days.
Haiti controlled eastern Hispaniola during most of its early history. Nevertheless there was considerable tension between the Hispanic population in Eastern Hispaniola and the Haitian rulers. In 1844 Juan Pablo Duarte led Nationalist forces to take control of Santo Domingo. The Haitian government was not able to put down the rebellion and several Haitian Presidents attempted to take back control of the region with little success. Haiti’s history is marked by cycles of political centralization and then instability. Moreover, the relationship between Haiti and the Dominican Republic is fraught with tension and violence. Hispaniola, the island shared by the Haiti and the Dominican Republic is divided not only politically and economically but most importantly culturally (Wigman, 2021). One great example of the cultural difference between Haiti and the Dominican Republic is the very interesting episode when Pedro de Santa Ana requested Queen Isabel II of Spain to be annexed again, arguing that Spain and the Dominican Republic have the same traditions, customs, and religion (Wigman, 2021). This rapprochement with Spain foreshadows the close relationship that the Dominican Republic would eventually seek with the United States and with Spain in the 20th and 21st centuries. The highest honor bestowed by the Dominican Republic is the Order of Christopher Columbus and the country has a National Academy of Language which is affiliated with the Royal Academy of Language in Spain.
The Role of Culture in Haitian Underdevelopment: The High Cost of Nationalism.
As posited in the introduction to this paper, Haiti is known for its nationalism and for the pride of its nationals for their unique culture and language. Haitian Flag Day is a major event both inside Haiti as well as where the Diaspora can be found. A few brave voices have pointed out that Haiti has a culture of poverty (Goldberg, 2010). Jonah Goldberg posited that “the sad truth about Haiti isn’t simply that it is poor, but that it has a poverty culture” (Goldberg, 2010). Goldberg goes on to compare Haiti not to other countries but to their own Diaspora in the United States and Europe, and concludes that the problem is not just a lack of natural resources, past colonialism, or even the world economic system, but rather an issue of culture (Goldberg, 2010). Daniel Runde of Forbes makes a similar argument but with a focus on governance as an aspect of culture. Interestingly Runde mentions the fact that Haiti was the first Latin American country to achieve independence and that early success in that respect had a formative influence on its political culture (governance).
The present section explores a few unique characteristics of early Haitian history and posits possible hypotheses as to how they influenced cultural development. At the core of this journey of exploration through Haiti’s cultural development is the mixed blessing of a successful slave revolt leading to early independence. Certain historical events exert influence over many generations through the power of their symbolism and the lessons extrapolated from them (Hillel, 2009).
Haiti’s successful slave revolt and subsequent independence is a source of great pride for all Haitians (Wigman, 2021). As the first successful independence movement of Latin America, the events leading up to it, serve as a foundational myth for the formation of a Haitian nation. The word “nation” implies a common language, a common history, and a sense of belonging. Traumatic events in the history of a country are crystallized into shared understandings and serve as anchors for the development of a national narrative (Feigenblatt, 2011). One good example of this is the anchoring effect of the several captivities of the Jews for the development of a national identity in Israel. Another example is the importance of the Reconquista in Spain, or the French Revolution in France.
The lessons extrapolated from the foundational myth of Haiti focused on the idea of freedom and liberty from foreign interference. Slavery and what it represented was at the core of the national trauma. There is no doubt that slavery was an exploitative system but at the same time it is also clear that it created great wealth and that the French brought with them a lot more than just the “peculiar institution”. Thus, the conflation of the negative aspects of slavery with everything originating in Europe is fallacious. Moreover, the enshrinement of “freedom” as the central concept of a nation can have the negative externality of making governance and management more challenging (Kim et al., 2009). Freedom is a complex concept and simplistic understandings may mistake “freedom” with “anarchy” or with the absence of an overarching authority (Lee, 2000).
The collective memory of Haiti in terms of the challenges faced under the French and the subsequent marginalization by the international community, provided incentives for local leaders to emphasize the “founding trauma” as the expense of a more pragmatic approach to dealing with the outside world (Goldberg, 2010). Thus, the issue of governance is intricately linked to the founding myth rather than the core explanatory causal variable for Haiti’s current underdevelopment. A long series of dictators and leaders ruled through charismatic personalism in a vain attempt to recreate the “foundational struggle for liberation”.
An interesting parallel can be seen in the Maoist “Cultural Revolution” in which Mao attempted to institutionalize the early revolutionary fervor by attacking complacency and the bureaucracy. The results were horrific. Intellectuals were sent to work in the countryside, children humiliated and attacked their own parents, and as a result the entire country entered a period of uncertainty (Hahm, 2006). With the benefit of hindsight the Cultural Revolution was clearly a mistake but at the time to Mao and his supporters it seemed as a good idea. It was an attempt to re-enact the glorious revolution and thus improve morale. If the legitimacy of the Communist regime rested on the success and ideology of the revolution then it was necessary to re-enact the fervor of those symbolic anchoring events.
The case of the Cultural Revolution provides clues as to the challenged faced by Haiti when facing the memory and symbolism of its struggle for independence. China had also suffered from imperialism and from the many humiliating defeats against Western Powers. There was also an aspect of racism in terms of how Chinese were treated by the Great Powers in the 18th and 19th centuries. Thus, it was very tempting for the Chinese government to channel those memories of humiliation and defeat into a mythical struggle reaching its zenith in the Communist Revolution and the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (Zhu, 2011). Therefore the memory of the Revolution served the twofold purpose of fostering national cohesion and providing legitimacy for the government. The lessons extrapolated from the anchoring event of the Revolution resemble those of the Haitian revolution, such as freedom from oppression, expulsion of the foreigners, and self-determination.
The challenge for both the leadership of China in the post-Mao China and for the contemporary Haitian leadership is how to transcend the values of the revolution and to find new sources of legitimacy. China went through a difficult period national reckoning after the dead of Mao in which the leadership acknowledged that mistakes were made and that a new approach was needed, less ideological and more pragmatic. Deng Xiaoping is credited with steering China through this difficult period and with leaving behind the mantra of the revolution (HSIN-HUANG et al., 2007). Deng famously said “let some get rich first”. Explaining how some reforms were needed in order to bring about a market oriented economy. It was a very difficult transition culturally and socially because it implied an acceptance of mistakes made and a complete realignment of ideology (HSIN-HUANG et al., 2007). Deng and his group of reformers acknowledged that foreign capital and technology were needed in order for China’s economy to grow. Thus, Chinese had to swallow the bitter pill of having an influx of foreign managers leading hundreds of thousands of Chinese Moreover the change also included informing millions of Chinese that they had to increase their productivity and that Maoist ideology was to be replaced with Confucianism (Hahm, 2006). Thus, the promotion of independent thinking by the masses was replaced with Confucian piety and duty. This is a complete ideological turn and it took immense political will and top down guidance for the masses. The results of this challenging and painful process are obvious. China is now the second largest economy in the world. It is home to some of the best universities in the world and productivity has increased exponentially.
If we apply China’s solution to its anchoring-event trap to the case of Haiti we can come to the very uncomfortable solution that it needs to let go of some of the lessons learned during the revolution. First of all, there is a very obvious yet uncomfortable fact that Haiti needs the world more than the world needs Haiti. A painful yet important realization that even the Middle Kingdom (China) had to come to terms with. Moreover, many of the anchoring beliefs of the revolution are obsolete and counterproductive for the politico-economic realities of the 21st century. Haiti will have to go through some of the same stages that the PRC went through. This includes a moment of “mea culpa”.
The moment of “mea culpa” will have to be followed with a humble courting of foreign direct investment and an understanding that it will be necessary to learn about foreign technologies and ways of doing business. China was able to handle the transition from revolutionary fervor to pragmatic opening partly thanks to the re-activation of Confucianism as the guiding philosophy for the masses (Hahm, 2006). Haiti will have to find a similar substitute for the values of the revolution in order to achieve the necessary compliance from the general population. This will be a great challenge because without a philosophy or ideology to replace the counter-productive values of the revolution, it will be difficult to gain the support necessary to make the painful cultural changes necessary in order to increase productivity in Haiti. One possible candidate as an alternative is an increase in religiosity with a focus on obedience and duty.
Humanitarian Genocide: The Complex Legacy of Humanitarianism in Haiti.
The word genocide refers to the intentional destruction of a particular ethno-national group. Nevertheless the definition of the term is contested and many activists and politicians have proposed expanding the term to include unintentional attacks on an ethnic group. The dilution of the term has many advantages for activists because the term can help attract attention to a particular issue. Thus, the term has been applied to a wide range of issues such as the environment and to culture. Nevertheless, the process can be problematic as was seen in the parallel dilution of the term security (Kim et al., 2009). The securitization of a wide range of issues initially served to gain access to greater resources and gain a share of the public sphere but at the same time it eventually diluted the term to such a degree that it is difficult to know what qualifies as a security issue (Feigenblatt, 2010). If everything is “security” then nothing is “security”. Thus, the process of expanding the purview of the term “genocide” may bring short term advantages to activists seeking support for a particular cause but in the long term it will desensitize the public sphere to the term by making it ubiquitous. In the case of “genocide” the term has been abused by activists such as Greta Thurnberg who used it to describe the treatment of farmers by the government…(Zargar, 2021) It is ridiculous to claim that the Indian government has as its goal to violently destroy farmers, as the term would imply according to the definitions accepted by the United Nations. This is just one of many examples of how the term is stretched by activists in order to get the attention of the public. The challenge is not that activists with a very elementary education, such as Thurngberg, abuse the term but that scholars and the media endorse the endless expansion of the purview of academic terms such as security and genocide.
Even though many people view the expansion of the term as a way to bring needed attention to important causes and therefore see little harm in the process, there are some important negative externalities. One of the main problems is that it indirectly limits freedom of speech and it constraints the range of policy discussion possible. Haiti is a very good example of this. The country has received billions of dollars in humanitarian aid in the last few decades with very few concrete results (Goldberg, 2010). The United Nations and many non-profit organizations involved in the field of humanitarian aid and development have the expertise to provide short, mid, and long term strategic plans to help the country. Nevertheless, the emphasis in Haiti tends to be in the short-term amelioration of poverty without dealing with the core reasons for underdevelopment. The oversight is not due to lack of expertise in the international development and humanitarian community but rather the socio-political constraints brought about by the ideological narrowing of the range of acceptable discourse in the public sphere of the developed countries leading the international community. A great example of the difference in terms of the policy options discussed and the discourse of the international community in relation to humanitarian and development aid can be seen with a cursory comparison of Haiti and Cambodia in the 1990s. Cambodia suffered the ravages of war and the madness of the Khmer Rouge. Nevertheless the international community intervened with a broad range of humanitarian and development strategies to achieve long term stability and peace (Cock, 2010). The intervention included the governance of Cambodia by the United Nations for a period of time, the drafting of a new constitution by a panel of international experts, and the control over almost every aspect of the country by foreign experts for several years (McCargo, 2005). Moreover, the emphasis was on the re-education of the population, which included everything from basic health education to increased productivity in the workplace. Media commentaries from the period focused on how it was necessary to educate the population and to change the old habits of the Khmer Rouge period (Harris, 2010; Hinton, 2006; McCargo, 2005).
The same type of frank discussion regarding policy options for Haiti is not possible partly because of the domestic politics of the developed countries leading the international community. Evaluating the cultural traits of Haitians and how those values and norms foster or hamper development can be politically sensitive because of Haiti’s iconic status as the site of the first successful slave revolt in the Americas. Evaluating the productivity of the average Cambodian workers in the textile sector is a common exercise. Blaming low productivity on the bad habits of the collectivization movement in Cambodia is also very common. Nevertheless conducting a similar exercise in Haiti would open the scholar or practitioner to accusations of “racism”, “cultural imperialism”, “ethnocentrism”, “neo-liberal imperialism”, structural violence, etc, etc, etc…
The harm done to Haiti by limiting the range of possible discourse in the field of development and humanitarian aid is immense. If we accept the definition of the Nobel Prize winning economist of Amartya Sen, development is freedom and freedom is development. Moreover, for the many generations of Haitians who suffer from malnutrition, high crime rates, unemployment, and lack to a proper education, the esoteric academic debates over the structural violence of the early colonial period in the Americas and the role played by the Christopher Columbus in the so-called “genocide” of the native Americans pale in comparison to the very real needs to eat, avoid a violent death, and finding a job.
The superficial palliative care provided by the humanitarian community to Haiti ignores the gangrene and instead focuses on providing higher and higher doses of painkillers. How many generations in Haiti have been deprived of a fighting chance to reach their potential because of the ideological constraints imposed on the development and humanitarian community by a small group of activists and intellectuals operating from a safe distance in the “Global North”. The damage done to Haiti is obvious if we accept the assumption that billions of dollars in aid could have had better results in terms of economic development and human capital development. Moreover, with the benefit of the doubt in terms of intentions for both the humanitarian and development communities and the activists in the “Global North”, and following Thurnberg’s expanded definition of genocide, it would lead us to the conclusion that both the humanitarian community and the activists of the “Global North” are both guilty of Humanitarian Genocide in Haiti. Depriving a population of known solutions to their problems is nothing short of unethical and in the parlance of the progressive intellectual community a clear case of “structural violence”. A popular proverb in Latin America is that the road to hell is “paved with good intentions”.
Conclusions
As a result of the investigation, it is obtaining:
An applied anthropological perspective is adopted as a way to assess the role of cultural factors in interpreting the many challenges that international organizations face in terms of promoting sustainable development in Haiti.
Various development paradigms are explored and the case studies of Singapore, Guadeloupe, China, Cambodia and South Korea are used to provide alternative models of national development.
The paper concludes that Haitian nationalism and the cultural relativism of many intergovernmental and non-profit organizations dealing with Haiti have focused on superficial aspects of development at the expense of developing the human capital the country needs to escape poverty. trap of dependency and underdevelopment.
