Democratic Insecurities: Violence, Trauma, and Intervention in Haiti (California Series in Public Anthropology)

by Erica Caple James

Democratic Insecurities focuses on the ethics of military and humanitarian intervention in Haiti during and after Haiti's 1991 coup. In this remarkable ethnography of violence, Erica Caple James explores the traumas of Haitian victims whose experiences were denied by U.S. officials and recognized only selectively by other humanitarian providers. Using vivid first-person accounts from women survivors, James raises important new questions about humanitarian aid, structural violence, and political insecurity. She discusses the politics of postconflict assistance to Haiti and the challenges of promoting democracy, human rights, and justice in societies that experience chronic insecurity. Similarly, she finds that efforts to promote political development and psychosocial rehabilitation may fail because of competition, strife, and corruption among the individuals and institutions that implement such initiatives.

Genres: Nonfiction, Anthropology

384 pages, Hardcover

First published May 14, 2010

Reviews

[Bree Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this ethnography multiple times throughout my undergraduate and graduate school education. It is difficult to pass through because of the graphic accounts of trauma, but poses essential questions for the social scientist interested in foreign aid, poverty, intervention, development studies etc.

My copy is heavily highlighted and notated. James is thorough and thoughtful in the way she presents information and theory. I used it a lot as a student and cited her in multiple essays.

I don’t recommend for people who are triggered by accounts of violence, particularly sexual violence.

[Zach · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is an academic anthropological study of rape victims among Haiti's political activists. It's very hard to read at times both due to the heavy subject matter and the density of academic theory packed in to the text. That said, James is very smart and gives a thorough, unflinching treatment of the dynamics at play in the international development/human rights sector. The book is insightful, compassionate, and challenging.

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

wonderful book. I taught it in Gender, Transnationalism and Human Rights. Ethnographically rich and interdisciplinary. Lots of food for thought. Students enjoyed it, though they were sometimes overwhelmed with all of the information. It really makes you think differently about the humanitarian aid apparatus.