| INURED currently runs seven thematic Research Laboratories. The Research Laboratories are responsible for implementing research and community intervention programs aimed at priority areas of economic and social development in the country. Each Laboratory works in partnership with a variety of national and international bodies and institutions (public and private universities, specialized research centers, the Haitian State, civil society, local communities, NGOs, international and multinational organizations, foreign ministries) and operates in close liaison with the Institute’s Documentation Center and the Scientific Library, responsible for centralizing and diffusing knowledge. Research Laboratory on the Study of Violence Paradoxically, the advent of democracy in Haiti has been accompanied by numerous forms of violence that threaten the foundations of the rule of law and destabilize the traditional relations of local communities (political violence, criminality and delinquency, domestic violence, etc.). This situation demands the systematic study of the different forms of violence, their causes, their modes of reproduction and transformation, the relation between criminal violence and political violence, and so on. The laboratory currently pursues four lines of research: 1. Modalities and Experiences of Exclusion 2. Security, Violence, Democratization and Institutional Politics 3. Youths in the Cities: Gangs, Generations and Identity Practices 4. Lasting Reconciliation Projects in progress Research Laboratory on Environment and Patrimony Environmental preservation is a universal problem now acutely felt in Haiti. The Environment and Patrimony Laboratory’s mission is to study the structural causes responsible for the environmental crisis in Haiti. The laboratory looks to comprehend the modes of appropriation and organization of urban and rural space in Haiti, the contemporary relations between the social crisis and the acceleration of environmental degradation, the frameworks for managing biodiversity and environmental protection, the transformations in cultural practices in the rural environment, the evaluation of public policies, and external interventions in the area of environmental preservation. The studies are intended to support practical interventions, especially in the domains of alternative energy sources and forms of sustainable development, the management and prevention of natural disasters, education and the transformation of sociocultural behaviors. Projects in progress Research Laboratory on Health, Family and Migration The theme of health in Haiti is closely linked to those of the Family, Migration and Religion . The sweeping social and political transformations experienced by Haitian society – such as the contemporary crisis of authority and the state’s failure to take responsibility for the population, the phenomenon of the diaspora, the transformation of the peasantry and urban communities, and so forth – have engendered new kinds of social ties. What are the implications of these transformations for public health policies, strategies for fighting diseases, and the logics of decision-making at familial, local, national and transnational levels? The Laboratory themes intersect a set of inextricable issues: generations, processes of collective identification, conceptions of pathology and normality, the production of social ties in the context of the transnational circulation of people, ideas, goods, values, technologies and sociocultural practices. The lines of research currently being developed in this Laboratory are: 1. Mobility, Risk and Disease 2. Migration, Family and Social Order 3. Violence, Sexuality and Domesticity Research Laboratory on Economy, Money and Markets This laboratory aims to build a space for discussing and investigating the relations between money, markets and transnationalization in Haiti and in the Caribbean region. The Haitian social and economic situation demands a unique analytical approach to economic processes and facts. The laboratory’s study of production and markets is based on an evaluation of contemporary economic practices in both rural areas and towns, the urban and rural organization of markets, the inclusion of individuals and families in multiple national and international market and migration flows, and the social significations and notions of credit and money in Haitian society. The Laboratory currently includes four lines of research: 1. Money, State and Society 2. Markets and Transactions 3. Family and Reproductive Networks 4. Economy and Religion Projects in progress Research Laboratory on Education The Haitian state’s investments in public education have dwindled steadily over the last thirty years. Primary, secondary and higher education has increasingly been taken over by the private sector, churches and NGOs. This situation makes control of the programs difficult and prevents the standardization of a unified, state approved curriculum. The laboratory will examine the history and functioning of –primary, secondary, and university education in Haiti, the structural causes for the degradation of the public educational system, and the experimentation with alternative approaches to education management. Projects in progress Research Laboratory on State, Justice and Public Policies This laboratory is dedicated to the study of the different ways in which the State functioned during the 19th and 20th centuries and its relations with Haitian society. The areas of investigation focus on the social history of the Haitian State after its emergence in the transition from the colonial system to independence until the end of the Duvalier dictatorship. The laboratory also examines the current sociology of the state through empirical studies concerning the administrative system, the judiciary and police, legislation, citizenship, territorial groupings, social movements and state elites. Haiti’s relations with the Dominican Republic, Caribbean countries and the international community in general will be a significant focus. One of the empirical dimensions of the field of research involves evaluating the State’s practices through a close analysis of public policies. The laboratory is currently composed of four lines of research: 1. The State and the Structures of the Peasantry 2. Social Movements and the Constitution of Civil Society 3. History of the State and Public Policies in Haiti and the Caribbean 4. Social Elites in Haiti: State, Market and National Culture Projects in progress Research Laboratory on Religion and Society This research laboratory unites and stimulates studies exploring the contemporary dynamics of the Haitian religious universe. An intense relationship between the domains of religion and politics was central to the constitution of Haiti as an independent nation in 1804. Religion, especially -Vodoun, has since been closely associated with the imagery of Haitian national culture. For some decades, the growing presence of Evangelical and Pentecostal churches, as well as the emergence of new religious movements (Rasta, Muslim Rasta, Charismatic, and others) alongside Afro-American and Catholic religious practices, indicate important transformations in the relations between religion and society in Haiti. The studies pursued by the laboratory pay particular attention to transformation in the relations between religion and different domains of contemporary Haitian society, taking into account population movements and the flow of sociocultural forms through the Haitian diaspora, and the transnational processes that traverse the Caribbean and Latin American region and destabilize traditional religious outlooks and practices in Haiti and elsewhere. The laboratory currently includes four lines of research: 1. New Religious Movements in Haiti and in the Haitian Diaspora 2. Religion, Economics, Politics and National Culture 3. Religion, Migration and the Environment 4. A Mapping of Religions in Haiti Projects in progress Projects in progress - Research Laboratory on the Study of Violence • The Rapid Assessment Project on the Impacts of International Aid on the Living Conditions of the Inhabitants of Cité Soleil. Principal investigator: Louis Herns Marcelin, Ph.D., Co-investigators: John Bryan Page, Ph.D. and Merrill Singer, Ph.D. Research assistants: Ricar Laurore, B.A. and Steve Michel Petit-Homme. A participative research project carried out between February and June 2008, the outcome of which were concrete intervention proposals offered by the population and based on their own priorities. The project was funded by the Public Affairs Department of the Embassy of the United States in Haiti. • Gangs, Violence and the Democratization Process in Haiti. Principal investigator: Louis Herns Marcelin, Ph.D.; Co-investigators: Edward LiPuma, Ph.D., James Vivian, Ph.D., Yves-François Pierre, Ph.D., Laura Kallus, M.A. Research assistants: Ricar Laurore, B.A. and Laurie Knopp, B.A. A study of the nature of gangs, their characteristics and their social, political and criminal activities. Currently being financed by the Inter-American Development Bank. • The Haitian Peace Management initiative. Principal investigator: Bertrand Laurent, Ph.D. A study of the feasibility of peaceful negotiations in an extreme conflict situation in gang prone areas in the inner city Port-au-Prince. (Currently being assessed for funding). • Urban Violence Observatory. Principal investigators: Jean-Marie Théodat, Ph.D. and Louis Herns Marcelin, Ph.D. Establish a mechanism for ensuring that the phenomenon of urban violence becomes a relevant concern for public policies. (Currently being assessed for funding). • Evaluation & Assessment of Progress of the Haiti Stabilization Initiative in Cité Soleil. Principal investigator: Louis Herns Marcelin, Ph.D. ; Co-Investigators : Alexis A. Gardella, Ph.D. and James Vivian, Ph.D. Research assistants : Ricar Laurore and Steeve Michel Petit-Homme. Funded by the Haiti Stabilization Initiative (USA). Projects in progress - Research Laboratory on Environment and Patrimony • Environment Research Workshop. This workshop will be held in Port-au-Prince in 2009 in collaboration with the Ministries of the Environment of Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Brazil. It will set out the strategic areas for an environmental policy for the next fifteen years. It will also enable the identification of the key lines of research for the country and the development of a strategy for educating and training staff specialized in environmental management. • Restoration of fortifications and natural disaster prevention. Principal investigator: Henry-Robert Jolibois, Architectural Engineer. This project is currently being elaborated in collaboration with the Ministries of Tourism and the Environment. Its objective will be to formulate a restoration strategy for the fortifications system inherited from the post-independence struggle in Haiti and to integrate the management of these barriers within a natural disaster prevention strategy. Projects in progress - Research Laboratory on Economy, Money and Markets • Markets and Money in Port-au-Prince. A collective ethnography of the international space (2008-2010). Principal investigator: Federico Neiburg, Ph.D.; Co-investigators : Lygia Sigaud, Ph.D., Omar Ribeiro Thomaz, Ph.D., Natacha Nicaise, Ph.D. Research assistants: Flávia Freire Dalmaso, B.A., Felipe Evangelista Andrade Silva, B.A., Pedro Braum A. da Silveira, B.A. Research project conducted by the Economy and Culture Study Center (NUCEC), Postgraduate Program in Social Anthropology (PPGAS), National Museum (MN), Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). Financed by the National Scientific and Technological Research Council (CNPQ) – Brazil. • The Loas and the Orixas, Afro-American ancestors: a comparison of the social meanings of money, property and market in Haitian Vodou and Brazilian Candomblé. José Renato de Carvalho Baptista, M.A. Doctoral student at PPGAS/MN/UFRJ – Brazil, in collaboration with the Research Laboratory on Religion and Society. • The Water Market in Bel Air : Social Networks, Distribution and Commercialization. Principal investigators : Federico Neiburg, Ph.D., Natacha Nicaise, Ph.D. ; co-investigator : Herold Saintjoie, BA, Jean Sergo Louis. The general aim of the research is to offer a qualitative perspective on the organization of the market for water in Bel Air that takes into account the way distribution and sales networks for water are structured, the variety of agents involved and the sales modalities, the mechanisms for setting prices, the different uses of water, the perceptions that individuals have concerning interventions by the Haitian state and international aid agencies in the region. In consultation with the Center for the Study of the Economy and Culture (NUCEC), the Post-Graduate Program in Social Anthropology (PPGAS), the National Museum (MN), the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)/VIVA RIO. Funded by VIVA RIO, Brazil. Projects in progress - Research Laboratory on Education • Research Workshop on Education: An Overview. This workshop will be held in Port-au-Prince in 2009 in collaboration with the Ministry of Education. It will enable a diagnosis of the current situation, –an in-depth discussion of the general questions of the Laboratory, the identification and prioritization of lines of research, and the development of a strategy for national education, the production of specialized staff. Projects in progress - Research Laboratory on the State, Justice and Public Policies • The Social Reproduction of Haitian Elites: Distinction, International Flows and Family Dynamics (1948 – 2007). Omar Ribeiro Thomaz, Ph.D. (University of Campinas – Brazil). |