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PEASANTS,THESTATE ANDDEFORESTATIONINHAITI'SLASTRAINFOREST By PAULFRANCISMONAGHAN ADISSERTATIONPRESENTEDTOTHEGRADUATESCHOOL OFTHEUNP/ERSrTYOFFLORIDAINPARTIALFULFILLMENT OFTHEREQUIREMENTSFORTHEDEGREEOF DOCTOROFPHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITYOFFLORIDA 2000 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Iwouldliketothankmywife,JoanFlocks,forallshehassacrificedand contributedtothisdissertation. Herunwaveringsupportandeditorialdisciplinehave broughtthisprojecttocompletionandmadeitmuchmorereadable. Mydoctoral committeeandespeciallymychair,Dr.MarianneSchmink,wereverypatient,made extensiverevisionstothefirstdraftandhelpedmetofocusonpoliticsandpeasant stratification. Dr.Schminkhasprovidedguidancesinceshewasamemberofmy master'scommitteein1989. IreceivedcrucialhelponthestatisticsandtablesfromA.J. ShriarandPatrickBradshaw. JimSloanoftheUFDepartmentofGeographydidthe figures. Allerrorsandomissionsaremine,however. Otherswhohavesupportedmeincludemyfamily,mychildrenandinparticular, mymother,JuneMonaghanandJoan'sparents,JerryandWilmaFlocks. Theynevergot tiredofmyevasiveresponsetothequestion,"Whendoyouthinkyouwillfinish?"Itis becauseoftheirsupportandmanyhoursofchildcarethatIfinallyhavetheanswer. Finally,IwanttothankthepeopleofMalfiniandthosethroughouttheMacayaregion whohavewelcomedmeovertheyears,answeredmyunendingquestionsandalways invitedmeback. IhopethattogetherwewillonedayseethecommunitiesofMacaya becomeasbeautifulastheforestthattheyhelpedtopreserve. 11 TABLEOFCONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii ABSTRACT v CHAPTERS 1 INTRODUCTION 1 AVillageintheUpperLaHotteMountainRange 1 ResearchDesign 7 HaitianPeasantDifferentiation 16 ChapterOutline 21 2 THESETTING 25 Introduction 25 PhysicalSettingoftheUpperLaHotteMountains 28 HumanHistoryintheUpperLaHotteMountains 39 VillageofMalfini 43 Conclusion 52 3 HOUSEHOLDORGANIZATION 54 Introduction 54 HouseholdMembershipPatterns 55 DomesticLaborTasks 59 TransformationoftheTraditionalHousehold 64 Conclusion 67 4 FARMINGSYSTEM 71 Introduction 71 AgriculturalCalendar 73 GardenTypes 75 in PrincipalCrops 80 StrategiesofLandAccess 87 Conclusion 89 5 INDICATORSOFWEALTH: LIVESTOCKOWNERSHIP ANDWAGELABOR 92 Introduction 92 LocalLivestockProduction 94 LivestockOwnershipPatterns 100 LaborMobilization 102 PatternsofTraditionalandWageLabor 104 Conclusion 109 6 PEASANTHOUSEHOLDSTRATIFICATION Ill Introduction Ill HousingandLivestockasIndicatorsofWealth 113 HousingConstruction 114 TestingtheWealthIndexValidity 116 HouseholdCharacteristicsandtheWealthIndex 119 Conclusion 130 7 ORIGINSOFWEALTHSTRATIFICATION 132 Introduction 132 MigrationHistory 133 PoliticalConnectionstoStateLand 135 Conclusion 139 8 CONCLUSION: LESSONSFROMMALFTNI 141 Introduction 141 SummaryofChapters 142 ConservationoftheMacayaForest 143 FutureoftheHaitianPeasant 144 REFERENCES 146 BIOGRAPHICALSKETCH 151 IV AbstractofDissertationPresentedtotheGraduateSchool oftheUniversityofFloridainPartialFulfillmentofthe RequirementsfortheDegreeofDoctorofPhilosophy PEASANTS,THESTATE ANDDEFORESTATIONINHArTI'SLASTRAINFOREST By PaulFrancisMonaghan December,2000 Chair:Dr.MarianneSchmink MajorDepartment:Anthropology ThisdissertationanalyzesimportantchangesoccurringinaremoteHaitian village,whichIcallMalfini. Thiscasestudyillustratescurrentproblemsfacingthe Haitianpeasantry,focusingonthepoliticalrelationshipsthatareattheheartofthese problems. Thethreechangesareanincreasedeconomicstratificationamongpeasant farmers,anincreaseduseofwageworkinsteadoftraditionallabororganizationanda rapidlydisappearingenvironmentalbaseduetoerosionandlossofsoilfertility. Malfini islocatedonthemarginsofthelastremainingrainforestinHaiti,andcontinued environmentaldegradationwillresultinaseverelossofHaiti'sbiodiversity. Iconductedethnographicandsurveyresearchoverseveralyearsandcompiled datafromthisresearchinthiscasestudy. In1997,1conductedahouseholdsurveythat focusedondemographicfeatures,incomeindicatorsandagriculturalproduction. I analyzedthosedatatoanswerseveralresearchquestions. Thesequestionsincludethe following:Isthegapbetweenpoorandwealthypeasantsmeasurable,howwouldsucha gapaffecttraditionalfarmingpatternsandwhataretheoriginsofsuchagapinMalfini? Icreatedameasureofhouseholdwealththatcouldpredicttheextenttowhicha householdboughtorsoldlaborandinvestedinlivestockorcashcrops.Inorderto explaintheoriginsofthesemeasurabledifferencesamonghouseholdsinMalfini,Itested householdvariablessuchastheageandgenderofhouseholdhead,internaldependency ratio,migrationhistoryandconnectiontothestatelandsystem. Householdswithconnectionstothestatetaxbureausinthelowlandtownshave directaccesstothestate-ownedforestsofMalfini,andthisbecamethebestvariablefor predictingcurrentwealth. Theabilitytodirectlyleasestatelandistheresultofpolitical connectionsbetweenPort-au-PrinceandanelitelivinginthehinterlandsofruralHaiti. TheDuvalierdictatorshipgavestatelandleasestomembersofitsruralmilitia. Thus, holdingsuchaleasebecameamatterofpolitics.Althoughithasbeenmorethanadecade sinceJeanClaudeDuvalierleftthecountry,thelegacyofpoliticaltiestothelandin Malfinicontinuestoaffectconservationanddevelopmentprogramsintheregion. VI CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AVillageintheUpperLaHotteMountainRange ThevillageofMalfini(theHaitianCreolewordforthecommonred-tailedhawk) islocatedbelowPicMacaya(2347meters),thesecondhighestmountainpeakinHaiti. MacayaiscalledthepotomitanofthesouthernMassifdeLaHottemountainrange, referringtotheheavypostthatsupportstheceremonialstructure{hounfo)forVoudon dances. Itisapowerfulsymbol,astheVoudondeities(Iwa)waitinthepotomitanuntil theyhearthecalloftheirparticulardrumrhythmsplayedduringtheceremony,before joiningtheworshippersbelow(Herskovits1937).TheupperslopesofMacaya,hiddenin thecloudsmuchoftheyear,receivefrom4000-6000mmofprecipitationannually, sometimesinmassivefloodsfromhurricanes(WoodsandOttenwalder1992).Fivemajor riversflowoffMacayaineverydirection(Figure1-1)likethepolesthatbranchoffthe roofofthehounfo.ApproximatelyonemillionHaitiansliveandfarmbelowtheslopesof themassif,inthewatershedsandlowlandplainsformedbythePort-au-Piment,Roseaux, L'Acul,RavineduSud,andGlacerivers(Erlichetal.1985). RapidlyascendingfromtheCaribbeanOcean,theslopesoftheLaHottearethe mostimportantphysicalfeaturesofthesouthernpeninsulaofHaiti. Coastalandalluvial plainsaresmallandintensivelyfarmed. AmajorityofpeasantsintheSouthfarmon steephillsides(Street1960).Mostofthetownsinthisregiondotthecoastlineorhave developedaroundthefertileplainsoftheMacayawatersheds.Thesetownsusedtobe Atlantic Ocean V,N_- DOMINICAN ^'6,'So >ea JAM<AIVCA> _>atr*e^a—•'enlSarg—ed1^fR^E^P~U—B—Lv\IC. LPRIU_CEOR>T"O MapScale 1:1,000,000 Figure1-1ThesouthernpeninsulaofHaiti activeportsfromwhichcoffee,indigoandcottonwereexported,buttheydeclined substantiallyduringtheyearsoftheDuvalierdictatorship(1957-1986). ThelargestandmostfertilelowlandplainbelowtheLaHottemountainrangeis LesCayes,whichsuppliesthenationwithbeef,riceandsugarcane(Erlichetal.1985). AtthetimeoftheHaitianrevolution,LesCayeshadmorethan100sugarplantationsand thesurroundinghillsidesofthesoutherncoastwereplantedincoffee(Fick1990).The slaveswhoworkedontheseplantationsplayedessentialrolesintherebellionofthe southernpeninsula(Fick1990). Today,theplainstillhasahighpotentialforgreater agriculturalproductionifirrigationwereimproved(Erlichetal.1985). Thepastthree decadesofdeforestationintheupperLaHottewatershedsthreatensanyplansfor improvedirrigationaswellascoastalroadsandbridges,homeslocatedontheriverbanks, andahydroelectricgenerator(Coffeyetal.1984). PlantationownershadnotclearedtheforestsandsoilsofthehighestLaHotte watershedswhentherevolutionbrokeoutin1791andthelandrevertedtothestateafter theplantationsystemwasdestroyed.Later,recipientsofpresidentiallandgrants, squatters,homesteadersandrenterswithannualleasesfromthetaxbureausettledinthe forests. PeasantslivinginthelowerwatershedsofMacayaclimbedhigherupintothe slopes,bringingtheirtools,farmingtechniquesandcropsfromthelowlandswiththem. Somealsobroughttheirpoliticalconnections,whichtheyusedtocontrolland,the primordialelementintheHaitianpeasanteconomy(Smucker1982). Almostathirdof allresidentscurrentlylivinginMalfinihavemovedintotheupperLaHottesincethe 1960s,clearingthelastoftheforests(Cohen1984). Manyoftheseindividualsandtheir familiesarenowsquattersonstateland. Thisdissertationwilldescribethreeinterrelatedtransformationsinthepolitical ecologyofMalfinioverthepast70years:theincreasedconcentrationofwealthamonga fewfamilies,thegrowingimportanceofwagelabor,andtherapiddegradationofthe forestenvironmentsurroundingthevillage.Thesethreetransformationsdirectlyaffect effortstoconservetheremainingforestssurroundingPicMacaya.Malfiniislocatedin thebufferzonesurroundingtheMacayaNationalPark.Atanestimated5000hectares, theparkcontainsthelargestcontinuousareaofmontanerainforestinthenation. Fragmentedforestandoldgrowthstandssurroundingthevillagehostsomeofthelargest populationsofendemicspeciesontheislandofHispaniola(WoodsandOttenwalder 1992). TheforestsoftheupperLaHottewatershedswererelativelyunpopulateduntil the1960s,longaftermostwatershedsinthecountryhadalreadybeendenuded(Erlichet al.1985). Threeaerialphotographstakenbetween1957and1984documenttheperiod ofdestructionofHaiti'slastrainforest(Cohen1984).Theremainingforestresourcesand therichsoilsbeneaththecanopyareattheheartoftheconflictbetweenconservationists, localfarmersandlogginginterests(KingandBuffum1996). Ofthethreetransformations-wealthstratification,increasedwagelaborand deforestation—wealthstratificationisthemostimportantbecauseitpredictsavarietyof behaviors,fromcashcroppingtocapitalaccumulationandtenancy(seeChapter6). In ordertoexplainthemeasurabledifferencesinwealthinMalfini,severalindependent variablesaretestedusinganalysisofvariance(ANOVA). Thesevariablesinclude