When the Hands Are Many : Community Organization and Social Change in Rural Haiti

Acknowledgments ix List of Acronyms xi Introduction 1(17) ``Americans Don't Have Democracy!'' 4(3) Background and Approach 7(4) The Haitian ``Peasantry'' 11(2) Bamon and Tisous 13(3) Linguistic Issues 16(2) Persistent Legacies 18(27) Predatory Parasitism 19(3) Interventions from ``Across the Water'' 22(2) Risking Hope 24(2) New Legacies 26(13) Persistent Dissidence 39(6) Melodic Machetes 45(24) Rural Footpaths 46(1) Sociopolitical Poetics 46(6) Agricultural Work Parties 52(3) Mardi Gras and Rara Festivities 55(1) Gwoupman Peyizan Meetings 56(4) A Refugee Camp 60(2) Recording Studios 62(4) Reflections on the Chante Pwen-S 66(3) Hoes Striking in Unison: Cooperative Labor and Community Spirit 69(24) Taking Up the Hoe 71(1) Yonn Ede Lot: Sharing Labor and Resources as a Way of Life 72(8) Collective Agricultural Labor 80(2) ``The Strike of a Solitary Hope Makes No Music'' 82(1) The Konbit and the Kove 83(5) Rural Community Groups 88(5) The Atribisyon 93(11) ``One and the Same We'': Group Membership and Structure 94(2) An Anatomy of Atribisyon Labor 96(2) Feasting on History: The Rachot 98(4) Reflections on the Atribisyon 102(2) The Sosyete 104(37) Structure and Leadership 105(8) Case Studies of Bamon Sosyete-s 113(26) Reflections on the Sosyete 139(2) The Gwoupman Peyizan 141(34) The ``Shoulder-to-Shoulder'' GP of Lakay 142(6) Historical Precedents of the Gwoupman Peyizan 148(3) Consolidating a Movement 151(1) In the Grand'Anse 152(1) The Project for Social Change 153(4) Gwoupman Fanm Vanyan-s 157(14) Reflections on the Gwoupman Peyizan 171(4) Beyond ``Democracy'' and ``Development'' 175(26) Reconsidering Democracy and Development 176(2) Visualizing the Future 178(1) Elements of a Good Society 179(14) A Movement toward the Future 193(5) A Call for Undoing Ourselves 198(3) Notes 201(12) Bibliography 213(12) Index 225