Sex, Family & Fertility in Haiti

A significant and detailed contribution to the ethnological literature on traditional life in the Caribbean, this book analyzes peasant subsistence strategies in contemporary rural Haiti, ultimately showing how intensive work regimes make children necessary; how this necessity conditions sexual behavior, gender relations, and kinship; and why, despite massive contraceptive campaigns, birth rates in rural Haiti continue to be among the highest in the world. Schwartz offers a solution to a demographic paradox that some of the most prominent sociologists and demographers of the 20th century noted but were never able to explain: among impoverished small farmers, when more men are absent due to male wage migration, the women remaining behind give birth to more, not fewer, babies.

Author: Timothy T. Schwartz
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: 01/02/2012
Pages: 270
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.88lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.61d
ISBN: 9781468129663

About the Author
Timothy T Schwartz earned a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Florida and then went to live and work in Haiti for six years. His research included 15 months living with impoverished Haitians in the thatch-roofed huts of a remote fishing hamlet and three years residing in agricultural settlements and villages. He worked as a consultant for international aid agencies, including the German foreign ministry (GTZ), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), French ID (Initiative Developpment), and CARE International, the world's largest international charity. Since leaving Haiti he has been living in the neighboring Dominican Republic where he works as an international consultant specializing in Haitian-Dominican relations and coordinates social impact assessments for private companies. His studies have been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Curtis Wilgus Foundation and the University of Florida College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Recent publications include the Haiti entry for an encyclopedia of world cultures, Countries and Their Cultures (Macmillan Reference USA: Yale University), an article in the refereed Journal for Research in Economic Anthropology entitled Pronatalism and the Economic Utility of Children in Jean Rabel, Haiti, and an article published in the Caribbean's oldest and most prestigious journal, New West Indian Guide, entitled Subsistence Songs: Haitian 'téat' performances, gendered capital and livelihood strategies in Jean Makout, Haiti. He is also author of "Travesty in Haiti: A true account of Christian missions, orphanages, fraud, food aid and drug trafficking"

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