musings

I just recently read the articles about Haiti and mental illnesses that were posted earlier on the blog, Thank you for posting them Dr. Campeanu -I found them both to be intriguing reads.

The recent discussion about Haiti has been particularly interesting to me. It has been unsettling to realize how little I actually knew about this country before the earthquake. I was not aware of the social and political history of Haiti beyond the bullet points concerning its poverty and how the country is home to the first successful slave revolt in the history of the world. With news of the earthquake, the news frequently repeated that the Haitian government was ill-equipped to handle this crisis. However, as Ashley Smith wrote in her article, "this is true. But they left out why." However, as Angela Davis mentioned in her talk last week, how was that instability and poverty created - how did the earthquake cause such a magnitude of destruction? Even if the devastation was powerfully exacerbated by a natural disaster, the particular situation in Haiti didn't just "happen."

In another one of my classes, we are discussing how different viewpoints approach issues such as poverty. The comparison and contrast of the Ashley Smith and David Brooks articles definitely illustrated that discussion between social structures and individual behavior. I thought Brooks argument for " intrusive paternalism" was kind of unsettling. It definitely raises questions about global aid and responsibility - how can countries such as the United States help without creating more problems than we solve? I liked what Angela Davis said during her talk - rather than seeing people as "victims" that we need to "save," it is important to stand with Haiti and recognize our positive/negative role and influence on this country - both past and present.

"Solidarity - not charity."

I found this particular paragraph from Brooks to be thought-provoking: "Haiti, like most of the world’s poorest nations, suffers from a complex web of progress-resistant cultural influences...There are high levels of social mistrust. Responsibility is often not internalized. Child-rearing practices often involve neglect in the early years and harsh retribution when kids hit 9 or 10."

It's interesting, because I would suggest that you could say such things about the United States as well- these issues are not unique to impoverished or developing countries. It also raises questions about how we define "progress."

So that's my mish-mash of thoughts - I'm still mulling this all over. Hope you all have a good week!