Haiti: An Archive of Occupation, 2004–

Abstract

Since 2004, Haiti has been under foreign occupation. The nature and history of this occupation are contested, but the facts of occupation can be easily documented. This essay deploys the timeline technique as ethnographic narrative and analysis—as well as testimony and archive—to demonstrate how consistent the imperial assault on Haitian people and Haitian sovereignty has been and remains. I see this project as offering a set of theoretical and analytical tools that force direct engagement with the messiness of neocolonial imperialism while showing how Haitian people themselves reject and contest imperialism's presumed inevitability.