Witchcraft, bureaucraft, and the social life of (US)AID in Haiti
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James_Witchcraft bureaucraft.pdf
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627.12 KB
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Adobe PDF
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Author(s)
James, Erica C.
Date Issued
February 2012
Journal
Cultural Anthropology
Publisher
Wiley Blackwell
Citation
James, Erica C. "Witchcraft, bureaucraft, and the social life of (US) aid in Haiti." Cultural Anthropology 27.1 (2012): 50.75. Copyright 2012 American Anthropological Association.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
In this article I discuss the unintended consequences of humanitarian and development assistance provided to “victims of human rights abuses” in Haiti in the years following the restoration of democracy in 1994. Such targeted aid was a component of international political and economic development aid intended to facilitate the nation's postconflict transition. I argue that in much the same manner that witchcraft discourses signify moral struggles over the distribution of resources in small-scale societies, the cultures and moral economies of humanitarian and development aid—well-intentioned activities that nonetheless include opaque bureaucratic practices and competition over knowledge, scarce resources, and institutional territory—can produce similar phenomena as has been described regarding contemporary witchcraft. I draw on the literature on witchcraft, bureaucracy, and secrecy to analyze accusations of malfeasance, scapegoating, and violence directed toward both providers and recipients of humanitarian and development assistance. I characterize such processes occurring in relation to compassion economies by the term bureaucraft. [witchcraft, bureaucracy, bureaucraft, humanitarianism, democracy, insecurity, human rights, Haiti]
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Program in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology, and Society
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Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1360.2012.01126.x
