Geographies of empire: Infrastructure and agricultural intensification in Haiti.
The implementation of US‐backed agricultural initiatives under what became known as the Green Revolution (1945–1970) reshaped populations, ecologies, and landscapes worldwide. While most investigations into the implications of this era focus on the development of intensive farming in places such as...
| Publicado en: | Geographical Journal Vol. 189; no. 4; pp. 625 - 638 |
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| Autores principales: | , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
| Publicado: |
Wiley-Blackwell
Dec2023
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=173657653&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 173657653 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00167398 GEO jtl: Geographical Journal issn: 00167398 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Dec2023 vid: 189 iid: 4 pid: 480 pub: Wiley-Blackwell artinfo: ui: 173657653 10.1111/geoj.12506 ppf: 625 ppct: 13 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T db: hlh ui: 173657653 – @attributes: type: P db: hlh ui: 173657653 tig: atl: Geographies of empire: Infrastructure and agricultural intensification in Haiti. aug: au: Moore, Sophie Sapp Koski‐Karell, Victoria affil: Rice University, Houston Texas,, USA University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Michigan,, USA su: Haiti Green Revolution Environmental justice Land reform Environmental rights Environmental degradation Agricultural intensification Agriculture sug: subj: Green Revolution Environmental justice Land reform Environmental rights Environmental degradation Haiti Agricultural intensification Agriculture keyword: agriculture Caribbean environmental justice green revolution peasants' movement agriculture Caribbean environmental justice green revolution peasants' movement ab: The implementation of US‐backed agricultural initiatives under what became known as the Green Revolution (1945–1970) reshaped populations, ecologies, and landscapes worldwide. While most investigations into the implications of this era focus on the development of intensive farming in places such as Mexico, India, and the Philippines, few offer critical analysis of its Caribbean manifestations. This paper examines the role of the Green Revolution in the production of environmental injustice in Haiti. Historically, we situate Green Revolution technopolitics in a broader trajectory of US‐led imperial and neoliberal interventions that spans from the Occupation of Haiti (1915–1934) to the 21st century. We draw from our long‐term ethnographic research to show how Green Revolution transformations impact agrarian life in Haiti's lower Artibonite Valley and Central Plateau today. Integral to the Occupation were efforts to (re)establish production of export commodities. We demonstrate how such attempts, regardless of outcome, generated indelible material, social, and ecological entanglements that served to intensify empire. In 1949, the US and Haitian governments established an agency tasked with extending Occupation‐era irrigation infrastructure throughout the Artibonite Valley. After these efforts stalled, 1970s interventionists sought different inroads for increasing agricultural production, particularly of rice. Their initiatives paved the way for post‐2010 ventures that perpetuate many of the same consequences, including hunger, economic insecurity, and environmental degradation. We show how the history of imperial intervention in Haiti created the conditions for the ongoing production of environmental injustice through agrarian reform. Ultimately, we argue that the Green Revolution transformed Haiti's agrarian geographies in ways that intensified environmental harms and advanced a project of US empire that continues to shape Haiti today. We examine the contemporary implications of this century of transformation for farmers, who carry on a legacy of agrarian justice that has contested the project of the Green Revolution since its inception. The Green Revolution describes a series of US‐driven technopolitical interventions that reshaped global agriculture and agrarian life across the globe between 1945 and 1970. In Haiti, this project maps onto a broader trajectory of US‐led imperial and neoliberal interventions that spans from the US Occupation (1915–1934) to the 21st century, which we illustrate through the example of the transformation of the rice sector. We draw on a combined decade of research and engagement in Haiti's lower Artibonite Valley and Central Plateau, where we argue that the Green Revolution transformed agrarian geographies in ways that intensified environmental injustice and advanced a contested project of US empire that continues to shape Haiti today. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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