Let Them Eat Peanut Butter! Understanding Obstacles to Women's Embodied Sovereignty Through Peanut‐Based Agriculture and Aid in Haiti

Abstract

How did Haiti, where peanuts were once a staple crop often grown, traded, processed and shared by women, reach its contemporary food crisis, when some mothers must feed their children a diet of donated peanut-based nutritional supplements to keep them alive? Case studies of peanuts as food aid in Haiti reveal the ways neoliberalism and disaster capitalism stymie women's embodied sovereignty. This article uses the concept of embodied sovereignty to build on food sovereignty literature, enabling a sharper focus on the bodies that produce, process, feed and eat food, as well as the historical production of gendered food responsibilities, and the life-and-death stakes of sovereign power.

An Empirical Assessment of the Welfare Impacts of the Rising Global Price of Food: The Case of Haiti

“…However, the agricultural sector in Haiti faces several challenges, such as poor soil quality, limited irrigation, and deforestation, which have contributed to a decline in agricultural productivity. These challenges have made it difficult for Haiti to produce enough food to feed its population, leading to a heavy reliance on food imports (Wisner 2021, Jenkins 2022, Quellhorst et al 2020.…”