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Uses of Haiti

The Uses of Haiti is one of the most authoritative books and stands to very influential considering the political history of the Haitians to date. Written in 1994, the book has gone beyond being a mere popular book about Haiti to becoming the most influential and authoritative content of many from the understanding of the Haitian history. Well documented and written by Professor Paul Farmer, the book far fetched the international community influences, especially the United States with their historical affairs in Haiti. Notably, the book describes some of the major social, political, economic, and historical events and circumstances in the Haiti, which makes the country to trace the bulk of its history from a biter background.

Paul Farmer exploits his literal, archeological, and rich historic skills and background to describe some of the uncomfortable truth of matters, particularly concerning the structural powers and doctrines that took place in Haiti and has also impacted the country even today. The political and the social changes in Haiti, considering the country’s current status make the book, The Uses of Haiti, very significant. With the intended purpose of the book of revealing the negative effects of the international community in Haiti’s growth, Farmer‘s book has emerged as one of the most relevant books in the Haitian past.

Paul Farmer, a professor of Medical Anthropology at Harvard medical school, a physician and an anthropologist, comprehensively analyses what actually happened to the health of the majority poor people in Haiti, especially since the 1930s coup. Being the founding director of Partners Health and being known for his medical services to the rural poor for over twenty five years, Farmer has proved his literal description of the real matters of truth as it happened, a fact that has made this book among the popular ones in Haitian history. Farmer’s green understanding of the Haitian people as well as the length of time he stayed in Haiti serving the medical needs of the majority poor Haitians are directly related with his rich historical facts about Haiti.

Farmer argues in this book, The Uses of Haiti, that Haiti has served the interest and purposes of the United States and the international community from the historical and political aspects. In this context therefore, in order to understand Haiti historically, politically, economically, and socially, it is very critical to understand the use which Haiti serves for the international forces (p 56-8). Moreover, one has to emphasize further than the dominant uses of Haiti by the international community like the United States as her major sources of history to the Haitian forces which shaped the country’s history too.

Ideally, many people have attached this book to politics more than history. However, from the historical background of the book, bringing up most of the historically well documented examples, the book makes more historical sense than political orientation. The most important aspect of the book is that it draws many events together; events which are clearly remembered as facts, to clearly analyze the current political situation in Haiti. Basically, even in major democracies in the world, the historic events in a country are well stored and embraced because they form the basis of socio-economic and political development in that country. Generally putting the United States and other influential international communities as the predominant players of the Haitian history, Farmer logically connects the current United States involvement in the political and social affairs of the Haiti.

In the same way, it is rather very limiting and illogical to exempt the Haitian people from their own history. Farmer’s assertions, especially concerning the United States as the major players of the Haitian history cannot be doubted. However, one can also argue that there were also some forces of the Haitian people that played some historic parts. In a more analytical sense, the United States were involved primarily in determining the major political and economic factors of Haiti in the past, yes, but they could not actually be determining the internal courses of the Haitian history in terms of policies, class, and the societal color as well as the basic characteristics of the society like culture and the events of the Haitian history (p78). Farmer’s lack of connection of the whole historic facts directly with the Haitian people, as the major players, becomes the course for critics as well as weakness.

The major events in Haiti, for instance the Petion and Boyer’s encouragement of subsistence agriculture, a decision which was overly marked with the Haitians agreeing with the decision, the 1804 to 1806 Dessalines to reinstate some versions o plantation system of agriculture (a form of slavery), and the 1806-1818 Christophe decree were some of the marked crucial historic moves made by Haitians which also impact Haitian history. In addition, the acquisition of the system of subsistence agriculture and small land holdings by the Haitian leaders until the 1940s was among the major decisions that had impacted Haiti until late. More than that, until 1990s, Haiti had conformed to a life of subsistence agriculture and peasantry. These forces generally marked crucial historical events, events before modernization, international trade, industrialization, and upward mobility of the Haitian people. The weaknesses of the book are however clearly shown by Farmer’s neglect of these forces which were instigated by the Haitian people themselves other the United States and the International community. I this case therefore, the United States and the International community involvement could not only be seen as of entirely exploitation of their political, economic, and social course, but could also be viewed from the positive alignment of economic and political development of Haiti.

Finally, what seemed as power sharing with the blacks in Haiti was a part of the negativity of the foreign inversion in Haiti. This seemed to prove right Farmers assertions that the tendency of history to make some people to the two extremes, totally good or evil. In a more practical sense, the power of the foreign inversion could make the racism aspects of the United States stewards to in weigh the color discrimination of the Haitian, especially in their own country (p67). This book served to open and remind many of the historical misfortunes of Haiti, not merely in the hands of the United States and the international community, but also in the hands of the Haitian leaders themselves.

The Uses of Haiti is therefore an important part of the Haitian historical relevance, with well documented materials. The book clearly brings out the outrageous and greedy inversion of Haiti by the International community lead by the United States to cause major historic backdrops of Haiti . Much of their influences are clearly seen in terms of the current political, social, cultural, as well the economic variations of the Haitians. Many people are poor and unhealthy.

Work cited

Farmer, P. The Uses of Haiti. Monroe, Me: Common Courage Press, 2006. Print.