Haiti's history of cascading crises and political fragility

From earthquakes, to hurricanes, disease and drug violence, the Caribbean island of Haiti has faced a decade of cascading crises. In this week’s episode of The Conversation Weekly we talk to experts about what Haiti’s history tells us about its political fragility, and what that means for the country’s ability to recover from disasters.

Featuring disaster management expert Louise Comfort, professor of public and international affairs at the University of Pittsburgh and Haitian American historian Jean Eddy Saint Paul, professor of sociology at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York.

In our second story (at 27m40s), we talk to historian Susan Kamei, lecturer in history at the University of Southern California Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences about her new research chronicling the experiences of Japanese Americans interned by the US government during the second world war. 

And Kalpana Jain, senior religion and ethics editor at The Conversation in the US, recommends some reading from our coverage marking the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks (at 41m).

The Conversation Weekly is produced by Mend Mariwany and Gemma Ware, with sound design by Eloise Stevens. Our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. You can sign up to The Conversation’s free daily email here. Full credits for this episode available here.

Further reading:

• Assassinations and invasions – how the US and France shaped Haiti’s long history of political turmoil, by Jean Eddy Saint Paul, Brooklyn College
• Will recent political instability affect Haiti’s earthquake response? We ask an expert, by Louise K. Comfort, University of Pittsburgh
• Earthquake expert who advised the Haiti government in 2010: ‘Why were clear early warning signs missed?’, by Luigi Di Sarno, University of Liverpool
• Haiti: what aid workers can learn from the previous earthquake as they struggle to rebuild the country, by David Alexander, UCL
• The crisis in Haiti reflects the failure of the international community to stabilize the country, by Chalmers Larose, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)
• How memories of Japanese American imprisonment during WWII guided the US response to 9/11, by Susan H. Kamei, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
• Why some Muslim women feel empowered wearing hijab, a headscarf, by Kalpana Jain, The Conversation
• At the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, ancient Greece and Rome can tell us a lot about the links between collective trauma and going to war, by Joel Christensen, Brandeis University