A Dog's Life: Suffering Humanitarianism in Port‐au‐Prince, Haiti

Abstract

In the Bel Air neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, most residents are dependent on humanitarian and foreign assistance for food, services, aid, and jobs. Yet, some residents feel that the conditions under which such aid is provided actively blocks their ability to live a life they find meaningful. In this article, I explore how some Haitians theorize this humanitarian condition through the figure of the dog, an animal that exemplifies, for Haitians, the deep history of violence, dehumanization, and degradation associated with foreign rule. I then contrast this with how foreign aid workers invoke the figure of the dog to illustrate their compassionate care for suffering others. Drawing on research among Bel Air residents and foreign aid workers in the years after a devastating earthquake destroyed much of Port-au-Prince, I show how the figure of the dog is central both to Haitian critiques of humanitarian aid and to the international humanitarian imaginary that responds to forms of suffering it deems cruel. [humanitarianism, suffering slot, anthropology of ethics, compassion and cruelty, Haiti] RÉSUMÉ Dans le quartier Bel Air de Port-au-Prince, Haïti, la plupart des habitants dépendent de l'assistance humanitaire extérieure pour leurs besoins de nourriture, services, aides, et emplois. Certains résidents estiment pourtant que les conditions dans lesquelles cette assistance est fournie bloque activement leur capacitéà vivre une vie signifiante. Dans cet article, j'explore comment certains Haïtiens théorisent cette condition humanitaireà travers la figure du chien, un animal qui illustre, pour les Haïtiens, l'histoire profonde de la violence, la déshumanisation et la dégradation associéeà la dominationétrangère. Je contraste ensuite cet usage avec la faç on dont les travailleurs humanitairesétrangers invoquent la figure du chien afin d'illustrer leurs souci de compassion envers la souffrance des autres. M'appuyant sur une recherche entreprise parmi les résidents de Bel Air et les travailleurs humanitaireś etrangers dans les années qui ont suivi le tremblement de terre dévastateur ayant détruit une grande partie de Portau-Prince, je démontre la centralité de la figure du chienà la fois dans les critiques haïtiennes de l'aide humanitaire et dans l'imaginaire international humanitaire qui répondà des formes de souffrance qu'elle juge cruelles. [humanitaire, sujet souffrant, anthropologie de l'éthique, compassion et cruauté, Haïti]RESUMEN En el barrio de Bel Air de Puerto Príncipe, Haití, la mayoría de residentes dependen de la asistencia humanitaria y extranjera para alimentos, servicios, ayuda, y trabajos. Sin embargo, algunos residentes sienten que las condiciones bajo las cuales se provee tal ayuda activamente bloquea su habilidad de vivir una vida que encuentren significativa. En este artículo, exploro cómo algunos haitianos teorizan esta condición humanitaria a través de la figura del perro, un animal que ilustra, para los haitianos, la profunda historia de violencia, deshumanización, y degradación asociada con...

Time and Relational Possibility: Cultural Anthropology in 2017

“…These hunting parties—commissioned by desperate family members of addicts, carried out by recovering addicts whose performance of sincere salvation provided them access to this highest ranking job among those already incarcerated at the centers, and infused with the righteousness of saving lives—enact capture as care. In another example explored by Greg Beckett (), residents of a slum—especially older men—in Port‐au‐Prince, Haiti, experience the humanitarian aid that followed the 2010 earthquake as dehumanizing, which they expressed by saying that in the context of humanitarian aid, they are like dogs. Beckett draws on his interlocutors’ metaphor to produce “a theory of the politics and practice of humanitarian care” (36).…”

From the human to the planetary

“…Dogs evoke a strong association with colonial forms of violence and domination. The dogs brought to the Americas by Spanish colonists were trained to attack humans; one can call it a form of 'canine warfare' (Johnson 2009;Beckett 2017). In Haiti, the figure of the dog is tied to the unmaking of persons, both in the sense that they were trained to eat human flesh and in the sense of being reduced to a status below the human and animal, that is, to dog food (Beckett 2017).…”

“…The dogs brought to the Americas by Spanish colonists were trained to attack humans; one can call it a form of 'canine warfare' (Johnson 2009;Beckett 2017). In Haiti, the figure of the dog is tied to the unmaking of persons, both in the sense that they were trained to eat human flesh and in the sense of being reduced to a status below the human and animal, that is, to dog food (Beckett 2017). So, to care for the dogs in Haiti after the earthquake hit in 2010, one would also need to pay attention to the history that brought them there, and to care about the humans that they came into being in relation to and in tension with, and to care about their entangled human-nonhuman biologies, shaped by environments of slavery, rebellion, exploitation, and poverty.…”

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“…This hope, unfortunately, has not been fulfilled, as the international aid after the earthquake mostly followed the common logic of immediate relief, without a consistent plan to rebuild the country. Isolated intents to improve the quality of humanitarian aid did not, evidently, met the need for a comprehensive project to develop basic infrastructure and conditions for economic development, and the vicious circle of dependency on humanitarian aid in Haiti actually received a new boost after this tragic event (Zanotti 2010;Farmer 2012;Beckett 2017).…”