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E-book
Author Smith, Jennie Marcelle

Title When the hands are many : community organization and social change in rural Haiti / Jennie Marcelle Smith
Published Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2001

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Description 1 online resource (xii, 229 pages) : illustrations, maps
Contents 1. Introduction. "Americans Don't Have Democracy!" Background and Approach. The Haitian "Peasantry" Bamon and Tisous. Linguistic Issues -- 2. Persistent Legacies. Predatory Parasitism. Interventions from "Across the Water" Risking Hope. New Legacies. Persistent Dissidence -- 3. Melodic Machetes. Rural Footpaths. Sociopolitical Poetics. Agricultural Work Parties. Mardi Gras and Rara Festivities. Gwoupman Peyizan Meetings. A Refugee Camp. Recording Studios. Reflections on the Chante Pwen-s -- 4. Hoes Striking in Unison: Cooperative Labor and Community Spirit. Taking Up the Hoe. Yonn Ede Lot. Sharing Labor and Resources as a Way of Life. Collective Agricultural Labor. "The Strike of a Solitary Hoe Makes No Music" The Konbit and the Kove
Summary In an ethnography that challenges standard approaches to understanding the poor and disempowered, Jennie M. Smith's descriptions of peasant activity change what constitutes a democratic society. Through their civil institutions and artistic expression, Haitian peasants, widely known as some of the world's most impoverished, politically disempowered, and illiterate citizens, debate the meanings of development, democracy, and the public good. Smith offers a historically grounded overview of how the Haitian state and certain foreign powers have sought to develop rural Haiti and relates how Haitian peasants have responded to such efforts through words and deeds. The author argues that songs called chante pwen serve as "melodic machetes," a tool with which the peasants make their voices heard in many social circumstances. When the Hands Are Many illustrates the philosophies, styles, and structures typical of social organization in rural Haiti with narrative portraits of peasant organizations engaged in agricultural work parties, business meetings, religious ceremonies, social service projects, song sessions, and other activities. Smith integrates these organizations' strengths into a new vision for social change and asks what must happen in Haiti and elsewhere to facilitate positive transformation in the world today
Analysis Chante pwen
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 213-223) and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Peasants -- Political activity -- Haiti -- Grand'Anse (Department)
Peasants -- Haiti -- Grand'Anse (Department) -- Societies, etc
Community organization -- Haiti -- Grand'Anse (Department)
Social values -- Haiti -- Grand'Anse (Department)
Folk songs, French Creole -- Social aspects -- Haiti -- Grand'Anse (Department)
Folk songs, Creole -- Social aspects -- Haiti -- Grand'Anse (Department)
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- General.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Anthropology -- Cultural.
Community organization.
Peasants -- Political activity.
Peasants -- Societies, etc.
Kleinbauer
Social values.
Ländlicher Raum
Sozialer Wandel
Haiti -- Grand'Anse (Department)
Haiti
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9781501717970
1501717979